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*The world is such a small place. This time last year, I was feasting on chicken pad Thai with my beautiful Geordie colleague Laura, in one of the dodgiest** joints in town. Fast forward almost twelve months and things couldn’t be more different. We’ve just come back from the same Thai place, but Laura’s only here on holiday. She’s packed up and moved to Australia.

Sour Grapes and Football Greats

On Thursday 2nd December 2010, football history was made as the winners of the 2018/2022 World Cup bids were announced. Polar geographical opposites, Russia and Qatar respectively, had nabbed the rights to host the World Cup on these two separate occasions, much to the surprise, and sadly, the horror of a worldwide audience.

Since Thursday night, a flurry of negative feedback has saturated news agencies, from both Western and Arab networks. Blogs, online newspapers, sport sites, Facebook-ers, Tweeters, radio stations and even President Obama, have dished lashings of sour commentary in response.

There have been some legitimate queries put forth, surrounding Qatar’s capability of fulfilling the promises made for the 2022 WC. Sadly though, most have been...well, bullshit.