The Stallions stormed into a four-goal lead in a ruthless first-half display in a 4-2 win over local rivals Alresford Town

The hosts thought they had struck inside the opening minute when Cam Stone managed to lob keeper Ben Barnard, only for the offside flag to cut short the celebrations.

They did not have to wait long. Just nine minutes in, Cal Archer threaded a pass into the path of Sam Woodward, who slid a low finish beyond Barnard to hand the Colden Common an early lead.

It should have been two soon after. Will Erdinc’s clever cut-back found Brad Lethbridge lurking, but the former Portsmouth midfielder could only guide his effort wide. Woodward then stung the palms of Barnard with a half-volley, while Owen Sims was foundinto acres of space on the right, only to see his dink drift off target.

Alresford briefly threatened Former Stallion Josh Bowerman capitalised on a loose back pass from Archer, racing through one-on-one, but James Egeland-Jensen stood tall to block and preserve the lead.

Colden Common punished the visitors as they struck twice in quick succession to take control. Joao Ferreira managed to curl home a composed finish after being picked out by Lethbridge, before rounding Barnard moments later to slot in his second. 

Sims nearly added a fourth before the break, his low corner falling to Stone on the edge of the box, but the midfielder dragged his effort wide.

Alresford thought they had a route back when skipper Tom Henderson finished off a swift counter-attack, only for the flag to once again but this time to deny them. Moments later, Colden Common were awarded a controversial penalty for handball, and Lethbridge stepped up to convert from the spot, sending Steve King’s side into the break with a 4-0 lead. 

It was one-way traffic after the restart. Sims continued to find space on the right and picked out Woodward, but the forward could not keep his effort on target. Lethbridge then saw a golden opportunity smothered by Barnard as the Stallions pushed for more.

An unmarked Henderson managed to head home Jack Welch’s delivery and pull one back for the Magpies. .

There was still time for more late drama. Matty Driver rattled the crossbar on his return, while a hopeful long ball forward from Barnard caused panic in the Colden Common defence. Henderson’s initial effort was blocked on the line by Sam Middleton, but Bowerman reacted quickest to force the ball home against his former club. 

Next up for Colden Common is the visit of mangerless Blackfield and Langley, whilst Alresford host Frimley Green.

Mark Carney rises to address world leaders, businessmen and bankers at the World Economic Forum. 

As the Canadian Prime Minister, he has faced constant attack from the US President Donald Trump with Trump stating that “they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States”.

Internationally things are heating up, Trump’s America is involved in wars in Gaza, occupying Venezuela, threatening to disband NATO by forcefully taking Greenland, Iran is in civil unrest and America is threatening strikes, the war in Ukraine is still ongoing and trump seemingly wants Ukraine to surrender land as the ‘only viable option’ for peace. He references Vaclav Havel’s essay: ‘The power the powerless in which it is proposed that the only way to bring down an oppressive state and challenge it is for the people to stop believing in its lies and engaging with its systems using one such example of a greengrocer placing a sign in his window stating “workers unite” in soviet states. Not because he believes it but rather as compliance with the state and only when they defy the state by taking the sign out of the window will anything change. 

“We know that the rules based order is fading, the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer” Trump has been throwing tariffs on any nation that challenges his perspective, since the end of WW2 Nato has served as a harbour for European and international powers for peace and prosperity and with potential attacks on Greenland the US is possibly going to bring an end to the alliance. His speech serves as a call to action for the middle powers and neighbours of larger powers (the UK, Canada, Mexico, lots of eastern Europe) to band together in a trade bloc against Russia China and the US in-order to demand more equality away from the three modern superpowers. 

The stance Mark Carney takes opposes the stance trump takes on public forums. His speech is careful, considered and most importantly, pragmatic. Carney isn’t directly placing the blame on any nation or asking specifically for help and partnership but rather is dog whistling to smaller nations that nothing will change unless we band together, speaking on global issues at a global forum; compare it to trump’s speech at the same forum and it’s like night and day. The first statement that leaves his mouth “I’ve come to this world economic forum with great news from America” and continues on a monologue about his perceived achievements on home soil, very little time is actually dedicated towards international issues at the WORLD economic forum. We see this in all of Trumps international appearances, you only have to harken back to his speech at the UN where he does the same tactic: speak on domestic issues at an international forum bringing the attention onto him rather than issues that actually matter. 

Carney and Trump’s speeches are direct mirrors of one-another; pragmatic and focused and rambling/egotistical people onlooking them can only hope that there are more world leaders upcoming with the stance of foreign policy that Mr Carney has. 

People find solidarity in groups and are more confident when they know people agree with them, so as protests rage on in the US over ICE and the killing of innocent civilians and Trump’s presidency you can only ask; are the greengrocers taking their signs out of the window?

It’s a trademark of the McCartney songbook: Silly Love Songs, My Love, Maybe I’m Amazed, When I’m 64, Martha My Dear – the list could go on and on, including his solo work outside of The Beatles and Wings. When people say “they don’t make songs like they used to” I refute that it is a quality issue. Music has never sounded better and artists can lean on decades of history and innovation to create brand new sounds but rather the “soul” of the music isn’t as strong; metaphors are layered on and the messaging isn’t as simple (a byproduct of a postmodern world in which connection is becoming increasingly difficult), so in an effort to bring the soul back to love music I want to highlight my favourite “yearning” songs from two of the greatest to ever do it, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. 

Here there and everywhere 
Here there and everywhere stands out as a completely individual song, the Beatles’ harmonies are much more prevalent in the mix creating a soft and intimate atmosphere as Paul tells us in the first lyric ‘To lead a better life I need my love to be here…’ .
He is wholly consumed by his love and nothing outside matters even in the slightest “Both of us thinking how good it can be. Someone is speaking but she doesn’t know he’s there” the simplicity is what sells it, everyone understands the feeling of being in love and being drawn to a singular person like a bee to honey. There’s no level of complexity that can sell how simple the intangible feeling is.
A subtle guitar and drum track is only required on a song that easily could’ve been a cappella. Even when you don’t have them near you they’re all you need as “to love her is to need her everywhere”. Having girlfriends and wives around the studio would be one of the straws to break the camel’s back in the Beatles but their devotion to loving their wives can never be understated and is reflected in all of their works, especially Paul’s. 

As 
An epic in every sense of the word spanning seven minutes (distinctly longer than the average length of four minutes a song was in 1976) and having three separate worlds each having their own voice, we open the song melodically as Stevie tells us “You can rest your mind assured. That I’ll be loving you always” and “As now can’t reveal the mystery of tomorrow. But in passing will grow older every day”. These themselves paint a picture of true love but to yearn it consumes your whole soul and being to yearn is to need no one else. How long will Stevie love this person?
‘Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky. Always
Until the ocean covers every mountain high. Always
Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea. Always
Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream’ 
We shift dramatically down a few octaves as a choir begins backing Stevie up forming a cacophony of noise, the piano is getting louder, the drums are getting faster like a heartbeat we feel his unmatchable desire. But this love isn’t just for him this world is for the world to understand, we’re buried into the instrumental’s increasing pace and intensity when a new voice blasts out; raspy, at his wits end, devoted screams out at us
‘Change your words into truth and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children’s grandchildren
And their great-grandchildren will tell I’ll be loving you‘
‘As’ stands as a testament that no matter what is going on in the world love will always survive and it’s the only thing that unites all of humanity together as an all-consuming feeling.

Knocks me off my feet 
There’s a sense of worry within a relationship; am I love-bombing or becoming repetitive and they’re gonna stop loving me as intensely as I love you as the phrase ‘I love you becomes null and meaningless’. Stevie sets the scene in a park strolling with the one he loves personifying the as an ethereal listener taking the words from their hearts and making them be felt ‘I don’t want to bore you with it. Oh, but I love you, I love you, I love you.’ The words could stretch on forever and take up all the time in the day as a pure show of devotion and love with it being mentioned 25 times in the song. 
‘I reach out for the part of me that lives in you that only our two hearts can find.’ The unity that love and relationships provides acts like a safety blanket for those internally. If this song were released more contemporaneously, you’d find some metaphor about a night out or a reflection on the togetherness yet there is such a simple tenderness in referring to a solution only being found through conjoined hearts and minds in a relationship.