
'This could be a lot worse' - fans on stadium name
BBC Sport had a strong response from readers to Everton's naming rights deal for their new stadium, which will be called Hill Dickinson Stadium.Here is a further selection, with more lower down this page:Jim: Awful. These naming deals are nonsensical.Phil: A huge embarrassment to the fans. Do Everton get anything right?Greg: The name sets us up for an awful lot of stick, as if we have not already had enough. But we're going to have to get used to it, whether we like it or not.Jon: Just like Twickenham will always be Twickenham rather than the 'Allianz'. This will always be Bramely-Moore to fans. I get the revenue stream importance, but it sounds more like a bookies.Daniel: For all the ceremony and tears over leaving Goodison the naming of the new stadium shows that sentiment is dead. As Evertonians let's not kid ourselves the new stadium is all about income generation, profit and money. The new match day experience is now all about rinsing us fans of money before during and after the match. What's in a name? Hundreds of millions apparently.Mark: I hate naming rights deals as much as the next person, but considering some of the monstrous names inflicted on stadiums, this could be a lot worse. It's not an airline, a fast-food chain, or a company owned by an oligarch and the context has some class to it. It'll either grow on us or people will just use 'Bramley-Moore Dock'. But while understandable, anyone who held out hope it might be named after Dixie Dean or Brian Labone or Per Kroldrup was clutching at straws.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Rachel Reeves in stand-off over policing and council budgets days before spending review
Rachel Reeves has been locked in a standoff over the policing and council budgets just days before this week's spending review, which is set to give billions to the NHS, defence and technology. Yvette Cooper's Home Office and Angela Rayner's housing and local government ministry were the two departments still at the negotiating table on Sunday fighting for more cash, after weeks of trying to reach a settlement. Whitehall sources said the policing budget would not face a real terms cut, but there was still disagreement over the level of investment needed for the Home Office to meet its commitments. Rayner's department is understood to have reached an agreement with the Treasury late on Sunday night after last-minute wrangling over housing, local councils and growth funds. However, any failure to strike a deal would raise the prospect of a budget being imposed on an unwilling department. The spending review, taking place on Wednesday, is a chance for Reeves to hold up billions of pounds of capital spending as a sign she is working to repair public services after years of Tory austerity. After tweaking her fiscal rules last autumn, she has an additional £113bn funded by borrowing for capital spending. Her plans will include £86bn for science and technology across four years and an extra £4.5bn for schools – taking funding per pupil to its highest level ever. However, day-to-day spending is more constrained in some areas, while the NHS and defence swallow up higher allocations. As well as policing, the Home Office budget covers the border force and spending on asylum costs, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been battling for funds for the affordable homes programme, councils, homelessness and regional growth. Labour has manifesto pledges to build 1.5m homes and deliver 13,000 new police officers. Pressed on the policing budget, the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said Home Office and others would have to 'do their bit'. Funding for the police has the potential to become a politically difficult issue for Keir Starmer. Tory former shadow cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has been campaigning against transport fare dodging and Nigel Farage's Reform are also highlighting the issue. Asked about which public services will be prioritised, Kyle said 'every part of our society is struggling' and numerous sectors had asked Reeves for more money. 'On the fact that the police have been writing to the chancellor, they have,' he told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme. 'We also have letters from the universities, we have letters from doctors about the health service, we have letters from campaigners for child poverty writing to us, and other aspects of challenges in Britain at the moment. 'Every part of our society is struggling because of the inheritance that we had as a country and as a government.' He pointed to the £1.1bn extra funding already earmarked for police this year, as he defended Reeves's handling of the spending review process. 'We expect the police to start embracing the change they need to do, to do their bit for change as well. We are doing our bit,' Kyle said. 'You see a chancellor that is striving to get investment to the key parts of our country that needs it the most … You will see the priorities of this government reflected in the spending review, which sets the departmental spending into the long term. 'But this is a partnership. Yes, the Treasury needs to find more money for those key priorities, but the people delivering them need to do their bit as well.' While some areas of spending may be cut or receive only low increases, the NHS is set to receive a boost of up to £30bn by 2028, while defence spending is expected to rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. Kyle defended the chancellor's approach to public spending, saying she was like Apple founder Steve Jobs who turned the company around when it was 90 days from insolvency. He told Sky News's Trevor Phllips: 'Now Steve Jobs turned it around by inventing the iMac, moving to a series of products like the iPod. 'Now we're starting to invest in the vaccine processes of the future. Some of the hi-tech solutions that are going to be high growth. We're investing in our space sector. All these really high, highly innovative sectors. 'We are investing into those key innovations of the future. We know that we cannot break this vicious cycle of high tax and low growth by doing the same as we always have done. We have to innovate our way out of this and we are doing so by investing in those high-growth sectors.'


Times
22 minutes ago
- Times
10pm is the new 7: restaurants open late as Londoners stay out
If New York is the city that never sleeps, London is the city that likes to go to bed early. Restrictive licensing laws, residents' eagerness to file noise complaints, staffing issues, high rents and a cost of living crisis have combined to leave the capital with a sedate late-night offering. But as pubs close earlier and there are fewer dancefloors on which to shake your hips, another gathering place is emerging for those wanting to kick back into the wee hours — the restaurant table. Central London is far from the 24-hour party envisaged by Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor, and the 7pm to 8pm reservations window remains the most coveted, but upmarket restaurants are offering later booking slots as demand rises. Mountain in Soho, described as the 'most exciting restaurant this year' in a 2023 Times review, has pushed back its last reservation slot to 10.30pm. Tomos Parry, the owner, who also founded Brat in Shoreditch, said he was encouraged by the green shoots of a late-night dining revival. 'It's not back to those massive numbers and super-late night dining of the 1990s and 2000s but it is certainly starting to come back,' he said. 'II would love late-night dining to come back much stronger.' • How to eat out at expensive restaurants on a budget Parry said that the demand was driven partly by the return of a post-theatre dining crowd. Tourists staying at the growing crop of city-centre hotels and keen to try the city's most-hyped restaurants were also more willing to take slots after 9pm. Speedboat Bar, a thriving restaurant styled on a Thai sports bar, also accepts bookings at 10.30pm. On Friday and Saturday, it offers a late-night food menu from 11pm to 12.30am. At the recently-opened Noodle and Beer in Chinatown, tables can be reserved until 1.45am on Saturdays. At the Dover, a New York-styled Italian restaurant, guests can book a table until 11.30pm from Thursday to Saturday, when it will be between 80 and 90 per cent full. Jeremy King, one of Britain's most respected restaurateurs, who founded The Wolseley, The Delaunay, The Ivy and Le Caprice, called last month for a return to 1980s excess. • Giles Coren: my top 10 London restaurants if money were no object Recalling how, when he started in hospitality in the 1970s, last orders were often taken at 1am, King said: 'Now, it's almost impossible to get anything [to eat] after 10pm. I don't fully understand why it happened but I'm determined to redress the situation.' King has begun offering a 25 per cent discount for those who dine after 9.45pm at his restaurants, Arlington and The Park. 'I want to encourage people to rediscover the fun of late-night dining,' he told the Sunday Times. The shift towards earlier dining in London's restaurants was hastened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended the hospitality sector and changed dining habits to such an extent that the efforts of King and others may be futile. Healthy lifestyle choices are leading diners to prioritise sleep over late-night indulgence and flexible working has helped make 6pm — before the evening rush — an increasingly desirable slot. Earlier reservations are popular with parents and a younger crowd who often drink less and may not bookend meals with drinks elsewhere. In May, online booking site OpenTable reported a 6 per cent increase from January for tables between 4pm and 6pm across Britain. Leading restaurants have embraced the change to get people through the doors earlier. At Portland, a Michelin star restaurant in Fitzrovia, those who book between 5.30pm and 6.30pm are offered a special menu at £55, rather than its normal £110-per-head tasting menu.


Belfast Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Football clubs tackle climate change in £1.2m project
Goals for Climate Change will see participating clubs develop their own local climate action plans to include moves such as reducing single-use plastic and planting trees. The project, announced by the National Lottery Community Fund, aims to make an impact through a network of football clubs becoming more sustainable and leading initiatives in communities across Northern Ireland. It is being run by the charity Groundwork NI working in partnership with the Irish Football Association Foundation and Queen's University. 'The potential impact is significant, as they will become champions of environmental change, inspiring others to follow' Mark Johnston, director of Groundwork NI, said a Climate Champion Network will support club members, families and communities to create change. 'Each club will develop their own local climate action plans, including things like reducing single-use plastic, planting trees to prevent flooding and helping their community be more prepared for extreme weather conditions,' he said. 'This project is so important, as climate change is affecting everyone. 'We are excited to be working with the IFA Foundation and Queen's University, as together we will help communities make a real impact.' Local grassroots clubs of all sizes are being urged to come forward to take part. Keith Gibson, football for all manager at the IFA Foundation, described a 'fantastic opportunity'. He said through the project clubs can dive into environmental conservation, enhancing their facilities and encouraging working together and relationship building across communities. 'The potential impact is significant, as they will become champions of environmental change, inspiring others to follow,' Mr Gibson said. 'I would encourage local clubs to get in touch, as together we can pave the way for a greener, more sustainable future for football and our communities.' The funding from the National Lottery Community Fund's UK-wide Climate Action Fund offers multi-year grants from £500,000, and is currently open for applications from groups working in partnership that can link climate action to everyday lives. Kate Beggs, Northern Ireland director of the National Lottery Community Fund, said: 'Goals for Climate Action is a great example of communities supporting the environment and creating change in their local area. 'We look forward to seeing what will be achieved over the coming months and years through this project. 'The environment is a consideration in all our funding as part of our strategy to 2030. 'We continue to use learning and engage with the sector and communities on future plans.'