When Niall Quinn was approaching the end of his Sunderland career in 2002, the club decided to reward him with a testimonial. He had spent nearly 18 years playing professional football for Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland. The game was arranged against The Republic of Ireland at the Stadium of Light, and with thousands of supporters expected, Quinn stood to make a considerable amount of money. But he had other plans for it. Quinn had enjoyed the lifestyle that came with being a professional footballer. However looking back, there were things he regretted. “This is my way of fighting my demons.” “I have abused the privileged life I have had and if this match is anything, it is me paying my debt.” By then, footballers were earning more money than ever, and Quinn had started questioning the world he had spent almost two decades living in. “I’m uncomfortable with the way football is going, has gone.” “If I hadn’t become a professional footballer, if I had stayed in Ireland and got a job, I think I would have been a far better person.” “I’m convinced of that.” So instead of keeping the proceeds from his testimonial, Quinn decided to give the lot away. He wanted to raise £1 million for children’s charities, with £500,000 each going towards hospitals in Sunderland and Dublin, alongside support for disadvantaged children in Calcutta. And he wanted the other players involved to do something as well. Rather than buying them expensive watches or gifts, Quinn arranged for each player to receive a letter explaining how they could sponsor a child’s education overseas. “It might prick a few consciences.” “And it may just ease mine.” “I’ve been 18 years in dreamland and now it’s pay-back time.” When tickets went on sale, the response was extraordinary. £200,000 was raised in the first two hours before the telephone lines crashed under the demand. Stewards, ground staff and other workers offered their services for free. People who could not attend were given the opportunity to buy special non-attendance tickets so they could still contribute. But reaching £1 million was proving harder than he had hoped. With just days remaining before the testimonial, the fundraising total was around £750,000. Quinn was determined to reach his target, even if it meant continuing to raise money after the game. “If I have to come back next season and do some more then I will.” On the 14th of May 2002, 35,702 supporters turned up at the Stadium of Light. Quinn walked out with his two children, to a standing ovation, before playing part of the match for Sunderland and part for Ireland. Ireland won 3-0, but afterwards Quinn was more interested in what everyone had helped achieve. He called it his, “night of all nights” and the highlight of his career. And with the final total still uncertain, he made another promise. “We’ve got some totting up to do, but anything short of a million and I’ll come back and top it up.” By November, they had reached £1 million. £450,000 went to Sunderland Royal Hospital, another £450,000 to Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, with the remaining money supporting street children in Calcutta. Quinn was later awarded an honorary MBE for his charitable work. But despite all the praise he received, he never really saw it as giving away a million pounds of his own money. “In truth I never had the money in my pocket to give away.” “So it doesn’t feel like I gave away any money.” #football

Breaking News: Meta must pay $25 billion, one of the largest penalties levied against the tech giant, for deceiving users about data privacy. nyti.ms/4yvv5yZ

.@michaelbd said this is a monster from from why liberalism failed, I’ll go him one better- it’s straight out of Peter Mair’s Ruling the Void, a state trying to pass micromanagement of private behaviour off as governance because it’s all they’ve got left

Cuando gobierna un dirigente de ultraderecha, solo trae guerra, inflación y pobreza. Lo que no quieres para el mundo, no lo quieras para tu país. Sentid el orgullo de ser ZURDOS y ZURDAS. Nosotros hemos traído los mayores avances en la historia de la democracia de nuestro país, y los vamos a proteger con nuestro voto el #29N.

Ireland, I’m unbelievably disappointed and disillusioned with you. I’m beginning to think it was all fake and that we are actually the most insincere fuckers in Europe. The thousand welcomes and the so-called “craic” all seem sickeningly fake to me now. There’s a reason our most brilliant artists hated the place. There comes a time when even a nation must look at itself honestly.

Dr. Christopher Stubbs is joining our Long-Term Benefit Trust. Chris is an experimental physicist and a former Dean of Science at Harvard University. He has also advised the US government on national security and arms control. Read more: anthropic.com/news/christoph…

Underrated life advice: Keep a list of the people who believed in you early. The teacher who pushed you. The boss who took a chance. The friend who told you to go for it. Every now and then, reach out. Update them. And tell them just how much you appreciate what they did for you.

In case anyone is wondering why Meta tried to squeeze claims from another cover-up into its massive $19B child harm settlement, this testimony was in a filing last night, “warned "to not pursue investigating Cambridge Analytica specifically" because "it would be career suicide."