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Matt McDowell
@yorkhillyankee.bsky.social
Historian in sport management/policy area. Books on football & surfing; writing another on the Island Games. Events. Curling. Methods. Scottish-based, Garden State attitude. Views my own. aspectaculartableau.wordpress.com
239 followers348 following583 posts

You can say this re my two published books (the latter of which I spoke about today) but also in my upcoming one re the Island Games: what does this event tell us re the recent history *of these places & people*? I'm not saying the sport is secondary... but it's the lens more than anything else.

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Indeed, I would say that there is a spectrum of awareness (not necessarily universal awareness) of that fact.

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

(I can't necessarily point to academic research that discusses Falkland Islanders' relationship with the Chagos cause, but there is a great deal of discussion about it in the pages of the Penguin News from the 1990s onwards. "We got to choose our relationship with the UK, and so should they.")

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

I also think it's probably meaningless re other UK territories (& that's right & natural). The Chagos Islands were the rare point of agreement between most Falkland Islanders & Jeremy Corbyn, so this final decision represents a much broader swathe of opinion than just "left" opinion.

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

*When* this happens will be interesting. Not just when Starmer says it's going to happen, but when Biden (or Harris, or Trump -- and he totally cares about international agreements!) says it will happen. I can see a real "international exigencies" clause being written into the final agreement.

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

Spam is the appropriate use for AI-written emails.

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

My expertise does shine through, though, thank you! I thought you might have wanted to talk about the Scottish Surfing Federation, Hurlford Football Club, the 1986 Commonwealth Games, the RCCC, or the Isle of Man Year of Sport -- but no, AI, my profile shouts that as well, so that's totally cool!

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

Imagine all of the Arsenal hospitality you can purchase with gold bars. Now imagine all the hospitality that you can buy at **Falkirk**...!!!

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MMyorkhillyankee.bsky.social

Because I know both, I can tell you that the "which country is better"/"whose sport culture is better" hot takes on here are quite often pure nonsense, & this is why: you'll have equal examples of the bad & the good, & whatever point you're trying to make. you'll find a way to prove it.

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Matt McDowell
@yorkhillyankee.bsky.social
Historian in sport management/policy area. Books on football & surfing; writing another on the Island Games. Events. Curling. Methods. Scottish-based, Garden State attitude. Views my own. aspectaculartableau.wordpress.com
239 followers348 following583 posts