We had joy, we had fun

Quite an interesting week in all. I'm struggling through the seemingly endless The Shape of Things to Come and really wishing it would end, although the ideas are very interesting. The problem I've found is that the stuff which speaks about the current and future worlds is far less interesting than the historical chapters - those concerning the First World War and the inter-war years. Having said that, the whole concept of a World Government is something which seems particularly resonant at the present time, where it's clear that the structures of capitalism and the legendary democracy we're supposed to be so proud of are crumbling before our eyes.

The weekend's TUC march would have been a must-attend for me a few years ago, especially in the current climate of fear and suffering inflicted on so many people. For personal reasons (I'm too old, and too worried about the potential impact on my work life... I am as scared as everyone else, I suppose) and as a result of my thoughts on where we are headed, I did not go, did not feel the need to go. Protest itself (at least as it's done these days) seems somehow unsatisfactory. Like so much of modern life, it all feels so corporate and hollow. What will Ed Miliband contribute from the stump at Hyde Park? What will he say that is going to make a blind bit of difference? A dead horse is a dead horse, whether it's wearing blue or red livery, I say. So the pleasure of seeing Andrew Mitchell resign, as well as Osborne and the first class fiasco, delicious as it was, still had the edge taken off it slightly by the fact that there really isn't any alternative.

How utterly insane is it that there are now articles in newspapers stating that the slump is over, and that we're on the road to recovery? How does that mean anything to the mother who has to borrow money for her Lidl shopping, or the family living in a dingy B&B, trying to get their kids through school? Where is the sense in the opening of a vast new restaurant, actually an old warehouse, specialising in meat in EC2 when huge numbers of people are either starving or morbidly obese?

Anyway, to stop another of my directionless, depressive rants, I will console myself with the fact that I got the result right at the Hawthorns, even if there was a very late goal from the fabulous Dzeko (Oh-ohhhh, Edin Dzeko, oh-ohhhh, Edin Dzeko!) to clinch it.

   

 Now, I hope that my prediction for Ajax tomorrow will be wrong, because a draw will really not be good enough for us in the Champions League. I don't know enough about the Dutch side at the moment, only that they are not playing terribly well, so I can't really say whether I think we can win it. Let's see.

Overall, the performances have been just about good enough, and we're only a couple of goals adrift of the Rags, with Chelsea maintaining good form and looking very hard to beat. I am struck by the fact that journalists base so many of their assumptions on a single match: City are showing the form of champions; Dzeko is a super sub; all the other guff that gets spouted. When I went to Fulham a few weeks ago, I thought they were a pretty terrible side, largely bereft of attacking ideas at home for at least the second half, and yet they are 6th in the table. It all points - yet again - to a dearth of really good teams in the Premier League.

Overwhelming

'I turned my face away, and dreamed about you.'

It must be approaching the festive season again, as Shane and Kirsty have started to seep into the consciousness. Overwhelmed as I am with the sheer weight of news at the moment, I feel the need to stick my head in the sand and hope it all just goes away. I was not a big fan of Jimmy Savile, but I did like Jim'll Fix It when I was about 10 years old (though probably not as much as he would have liked me, by all accounts) and besides that could not - even in the context of the wild and woolly 70s - really understand why he was such a prominent figure on the BBC. Still, even though I had heard nodding, winking, paedo gags about him for many years, which I assumed were just of the vindictive/silly type, it has been increasingly shocking to watch the truth slowly come out; astounding to see his ostentatious gravestone torn up and smashed to pieces, so that even death is no refuge for him. Hearing some of the horrific, almost unbelievable stories, neither should it be, I suppose.

Then there's Hillsborough, still (rightly of course) rumbling on, the forthcoming US presidential election, the Syrian war and Turkey's involvement, the never-ending Eurozone crisis, Lance Armstrong's reign of terror, Conservative and coalition cuts, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Juilan Assange, Andrew Mitchell, Gary McKinnon, Abu Hamza...

It's all too much for me, and in those circumstances, a bit of footy usually does the trick. So, a review of City past and City yet to come, with some words on England sandwiched in between.

My trip to Craven Cottage was a delight, in a very Fulham sort of way. Not for them the standard pie or burger on the way to the ground, oh no. Instead, a slice of artisan goat's cheese and spinach pizza (at a very reasonable £4 for a large slice. Recommended) was the pre-match choice. Seats were excellent, just on the edge of the City support, who were in fine voice and happy to see a good win over a poor side. Then it was off to South Wales for a few days' break, where the Dortmund match was played out in a pub called The Corvus in St Clears. Nice little place, tiny snug bar with a Calor gas heater and a few sardonic Taffs at the bar. How we survived that torrid but entertaining night is purely down to Joe Hart, and they looked a frighteningly good side, full of vim and vigour, passing the ball well and closing us down at every turn. Some slight encouragement in the chances we made, but I don't hold out much hope for the return leg. What with that and a visit from Jose's men to come, the result against Ajax might make all the difference in the world, though if I'm honest, I think we'll be looking at Thursday night football again at the end of the group stages.

By contrast, Sunderland was all too easy, despite (if you listen to Bobby) being played at the crack of dawn after 2 hours' kip. A strolling romp at home (yet again) and a bit of a disappointment from O'Neill's boys, who I thought might have tried a bit harder. Having Richards back is a good thing, though it does raise more questions about the recent acquisitions. Ironic perhaps that these players were brought in in preparation for the Champions League campaign...

As far as England go, I'm in agreement with most sane people, who question the logic of having San Marino in competition at this level. What is the sense in it? Five nil was just about a satisfactory result for England, and that surely makes a mockery of them playing each other at all. Now we eagerly await the re-scheduled kick-off in Poland and... Oh, fuck it, I can't be bothered to write any more about the England football team. I just hope that something is done about the racism levelled at the Under 21 side in Serbia, but I'm not holding my breath.

Something should also be done about the bloody French, causing damage to Silva before our crucial matches at West Brom and against the Dam united. I'm hopeful of a 2-1 win at the Hawthorns and perhaps a draw with Ajax. Let's see.

St-st-stutter

This will I think be my last post of 2011. An eventful year,  but I'm already sick of this "was it the biggest news year ever?" crap and the way in which these things are packaged nowadays. Normally (along with the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, which are now - of course - on BBC4, and although I think iPlayer is a great idea, I never use it as much as I think I'm going to, so I probably won't watch them) I really like the news review programmes at this time of year, but the ITV News one scheduled for this evening is a big turn-off for me - based solely on the write-up I saw in the Sun this morning, which made me want to spit my cornflakes out. Something along the lines of: '...an amazing news year featuring the death of Colonel Gaddafi and the marriage of Kate and Wills...' Need I say more? And the thought of Mark Austin's bovine, yet strangely sinister face spouting bullshit at me makes me want to smash the TV set, so I think I'll give it a miss.

My own review of the year just gone would centre around desperation. A sense of the death of hope and a demonstration of the total, abject failure of our so-called democracies to bring about any real change. The Libyan adventure was utterly shameful, from its conception to its dreadful conclusion, and the fact that it is being held up as some kind of standard for the great Coalition project actually turns the stomach. Obama has been no sort of beacon, though it was certainly foolish to expect anything else, with the only real joy associated with his becoming President being that he was not George W Bush. Yet his capitulation to those frankly certifiable Tea Partiers and the soul-destroying compromises of the Finance Bill stand-offs, have been little short of horrific to watch.

Graft, corruption and glad handing have been the hallmarks of our own great institutions, from Cameron and Coulson, through the Met Police and the Ministry of Defence, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs... You name it. The abyssal hole in the public's respect mystifyingly unfilled by any genuine Opposition parties, and so left to a bunch of tent dwellers outside St. Paul's Cathedral to try and make some 'sense' of it all. Thousands upon thousands of jobs lost, companies going bust, the impending collapse of the Euro... It all adds up to a pretty grim picture - especially for those unfortunate enough to be starting out in life, or for those who might find themselves on the wrong side of the employment line, or worse with a disability or illness to deal with.

FWIW, I think that the Euro will collapse; that there will be some fundamental changes to the global financial models (though I don't believe these will mean a more equitable arrangement) which will not be without pain. I would have said that the Coalition will fail, but have become even less convinced that anyone in the Westminster village has anything even approaching principles, so will not be holding my breath. I believe that military action will start against Iran. How else will yet more job losses be avoided in the arms industry? I think environmental pressures will continue to mount, and that water will become an ever more precious commodity, leading once again to vast migrations of starving people in Africa, and some terrible catastrophes in the natural world.

After our performance at the Hawthorns the other day, do I think City have a chance of winning the league? Well, yes I do. I don't think it will be easy, because the fucking Rags are somehow persuading otherwise resilient teams to roll over and show their bellies. Spurs are looking good at the moment, though whether that will continue while Harry's doing a bit of porridge in the Scrubs (I hope his cell mate isn't a Gooner or a Southampton fan) remains to be seen. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all look decidedly inadequate, so I think the league is a two (or maybe three, if Spurs can keep up their form) horse race in reality.

See you in 2012.

Hi Ho Silver Lining

Bloody good weekend that, unless you're a West Ham fan of course.

Having the pleasure of watching the Rags get eaten by Wolves was deeply satisfying, and the astonishing capitulation by the Gooners up on the Tyne was a sight to behold. Now, with the London Huns (as a good Glaswegian friend of mine so succinctly put it) continuing their trajectory of shiteness, the title's in the mix again for City in this strangely stuttering season, where I thought early on Saturday morning that we would be lucky to grab a top 4 spot.

What can you say about Tevez, really? Marking his 27th birthday with another hat trick and drawing level with Lord Berba in goals tally whilst - according to the Guardian at least - appearing only half interested and missing a couple of beautiful chances. It's frightening to think where we might be without him, but luckily enough that's not a thought that needs to cross our minds for the moment. Dzeko seems to be struggling a little, and was keeping his arse warm for a good while on Saturday of course, but I still think he'll come good. Balotelli (presumably) remains in Colorado with his frozen knee and tortuous training schedule, and in any case I have to admit that he has so far (despite his 8 goals from relatively few games) failed to convince me as a striker.

And, with AJ out for the bulk of the rest of the season, we will need someone to start banging a few in. In contrast to Balotelli, Kolarov (not a striker I know, but an accomplished wing back) has impressed me thus far, and he seems to be stepping up his game now, just when we need him most. Silva - undoubtedly brilliant as he is - should perhaps be putting the ball in the net a bit more often, but that might be something of a harsh criticism.

I'm not going to swagger, despite the obvious lack of quality and depth in the Rags, not to mention that they lost to the team bottom of the league, with the derby coming up. I must admit that we have more than a few concerns at the back which were not evident a few weeks ago. Though not in the same hilarious league as Petr Cech yesterday (I swear he was scared of Ivanovic after having a go at him) Hart continues to make bewildering decisions on occasion and gives me cause for concern, as do others in the back line, including Boateng (disappointingly) Lescott (obviously) and even Kompany in recent games (surprisingly). No doubt we will play a different kind of game when it comes to derby day, making more use of De Jong and trying to slam the door shut, but this tactic can easily fail if there is just one error in the back line.

But it's onwards and upwards; standing toe to toe with the big boys and all of that jiving around. Bring it on.