In Review

Rape? Not a lot!

Everybody's doing it, so why not me? The year in review now follows.

In the UK, it was a year defined most starkly by Savile and the Olympics, with the former being much more of a marathon than the latter. Quite staggering, with the recent de-classification of the correspondence with Thatcher, and the unbelievable access granted to the white haired tracksuit man to so many organisations. So much more is yet to come in this story, I think we can safely say, and it beggars belief at every new revelation. For me, the Olympics had a personal touch, thanks to my duties on the front line of customer services for the travelling public. It was a good couple of weeks in all.

Huge amounts of revelations up to and through the Leveson inquiry, with no discernible outcome other than mild embarrassment for Cameron because he thought LOL meant lots of love. Nothing was done to remedy the sickness at the heart of the relationship between HMG and Rupert Murdoch; nothing will be done to regulate the worst excesses of press intrusion. And we'll all sing along like before.

The fiscal cliff atop which we are all apparently standing has never been very far away. Greece burning, Spain floundering, France posturing, Italy imploding, Germany dictating and Japan stagnating. Obama's victory over the lunatic Romney - though only 7 weeks ago - now seems lost in the distant past, overshadowed by the apparently endless (and pointless) gerrymandering of the US political machine. I've been reading about deficits, public debt relative to GDP, etc., and I have to say that I can't really understand a bloody word of it. I'm not the cleverest man alive, but I'm not completely illiterate, and can struggle through most subjects given time, but this is all a mystery to me. If somebody could explain it in clear terms, then I would be very grateful. It seems to boil down to the basic fact that we are all fucked, but that it is not possible to levy higher taxes on the wealthy in our societies.


It was a year when City's billions finally clinched the champions' spot, in truly stunning fashion. A fantastic way to end the season, followed by a largely very enjoyable European Championships (England's dire displays notwithstanding) as a welcome antidote to the depressing spread of receivership and collapse among clubs large and small. A bit like United this season, Fabrice Muamba died, refused to roll over, and came back to life. Racism has been everywhere, infusing everything, and again I'm not sure if we have really made any progress in sorting it out.

Do I feel, as Mr Cameron says I should, optimistic about 2013? In short, no.

I can see nothing in my (admittedly somewhat confused) view of the economic situation to make me think that there will be any way out of the morass we're in. We seem paralysed and unable to do anything about even the most egregious examples of political graft and downright criminality. The environment continues to deteriorate at a truly terrifying rate, and nobody even wants to talk about it. Floods and misery descend on the poor benighted folk of this strange land with alarming regularity; farmers - their livestock pumped full of hormones, anti-biotics and god knows what chemicals - are struggling to survive like everyone else. Children are living in increasing numbers in B&B accommodation while luxury hotels sprout up and the value of houses continues to rise.

As far as the beautiful game goes, I think there is cause for some springing forth of Pandora's greatest gift. It has been an enjoyable season, with some great matches already played, and a lot more to come. The Norwich match was thrilling right up to the 7th minute (!) of added time, although we do have the bloody Potters up next. Now, at the halfway point in the current season, it could still go any way. Spurs are putting together some good play with some encouraging results, and Arsenal are doing all right. Liverpool looked set to tumble down a mediocrity hole, but have scrabbled back to the lip again, led firmly by the marauding Suarez. Not to mention Everton, who of course couldn't quite do Chelsea when it mattered most. At the moment, I would definitely say that the top 3 will be: City, United and Chelsea - though not necessarily in that order.

That concludes my review. I wish all my readers a happy new year, and hope that 2013 at least treats them a little better than 2012 did. I will be back with my meanderings to cheer you all along.

The Cold 500

To the minute, it is 5 years since I started this blog adventure. This is my 500th post. Incidentally, I have also tweeted 5,000 times. So that's the housekeeping done. I had hoped to mark the occasion with a celebration (win or lose) of the England team's adventure in Eastern Europe, but no.



Not with a bang then. It could have been so different, and for a spell of about 10 minutes early in the first half, I'm sure we all dared to dream. But then England depressingly, predictably, reverted to type. Or tripe. Pube Head was clearly struggling, and had contributed precious little to the cause, and yet he was kept on. Politics, and the big name syndrome won the day yet again. None of the players really covered themselves in glory, but surely it would have been better to have kept Welbeck on and taken Rooney off instead? Surely?

Perhaps, but who knows what goes on in these situations? Once more, England have shown that they cannot perform the most basic elements of the game; cannot pass or retain possession; cannot apply presuure to another team, allowing them to range forward at will. And of course they have shown that they cannot take penalties. So it's all over. Again. On the road to Rio with our tails between our legs and the search for the magic formula. Still think that Germany have the ingredients to win the thing, but we'll see.

With luck and a following wind, in another 5 years I'm sure I'll be writing the same depressing torrent of bilge about our national squad. God bless em.

Off!

Less than an hour to go and I must admit that I am at last getting a little bit excited.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that this is one of the most low-key championships they can remember. My friends aren't feeling it; people at work aren't feeling it; and I wasn't feeling it either, until I realised this morning that there is daily football on for the next couple of weeks.

It is of course the Tournament of Racism. England are not alone in being embroiled in this (though many of the 3 Lions' problems arise from their own mealy-mouthed political pusillanimity). I think the management could have nipped this issue in the bud by simply leaving Terry out of the squad as well as Ferdinand. There is too much reverence for the dead eyed little shit if you ask me, and I think we could get along just as well without him. I only hope that the Polish and Ukrainian skinheads don't do some serious physical damage to anyone, and it will be a nice change for the England fans not to be the biggest bunch of racist yobs at a major tournament.

There are some juicy games coming up, which I hope will exorcise the ghosts of the terrible World Cup in South Africa, and I have made my own wallchart just in time. My prediction: Germany...

Living is Easy

Well now that's out of the way, it's on to the summer, such as it is.

Euro 2012. No Euro in 2012. Who can tell?

A debate on 5 Live the other day focused on the lack of interest in England's tilt at the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine this time around. As ever, all thoughtful comment was edited out, only to be replaced with the dimwitted foghorning of some idiot who was 100% sure that there was 'plenty of money about' and that the poor showing was all down to the incompetence of the FA. I'm no fan of the gentlemen from Lancaster Gate, don't get me wrong, and there are many things relating to the decline in the game in this country which I would squarely lay at their door. However, the fact that your average (insane, surely? I mean, where do they get their money from?) travelling England supporter is less likely to fork out thousands of pounds for a ticket to the latest circus is not one of them. More importantly, will there even be any sort of infrastructure left in Europe by the time the damn tournament comes round anyway?

That said, what are my thoughts on Roy's team selection? Ferdinand is no surprise - perhaps a mixture of pusillanimity over the racism issue (a disgrace) and pragmatism due to the fact that he's well and truly past it. Terry is also past it, and is - at the very least - a thug, so I find it hard to condone his inclusion in the squad. Richards' exclusion is difficult to fathom perhaps. Although he has been something of a second choice at City in the latter part of the season, he is still among the quickest and most powerful defenders in an admittedly strong field of defenders.

It's up front where I think we will struggle. Carroll. Defoe. Welbeck. Pube Head. Nuff said.

Ah well. This blog reaches its 5th birthday towards the end of June, and my avowed intent is still to reach 500 posts by then. I will need some help to do that, and am hopeful that there will be some guest bloggers on here in the coming days to help me out.