(delayed) Monday Moan 4

Jeremy Watch

Endless excitement in the Hunt household about the brilliant part being played by South West Surrey in the Olympics success story.  Huh?  Yes, SWS has won 12.7% of all Olympic contracts (being such a well-known hotspot of manufacturing), the torch is being carried through Godalming (thanks to Jeremy’s lobbying skills) and, best of all, SWS even has an Olympic event – the Road Race will whizz through. Hopefully the riders will not be too startled by the Dorking Cockerel.

Whether to worry about the weather forecasts

OK, British people love to moan about the weather so maybe this isn’t news, but I’ve had it with the weather this year.  It’s past midsummer and I am still being tempted to put my heating on in the evenings. My Arctic duvet has not been put away yet. On Sunday we had sunshine – except for the 20 minutes I went to the shops, when it bucketed down and left the washing on the line as wet as it had been four hours earlier when it was put outside.

Isn’t it about time the Govt did something? I’m sure the last Administration would have acted by now.

Euro and out

So, England are now out of the Euros (football story, nothing to do with the economy), after a poor and mind-numbingly unadventurous display against the kings of the defensive approach on Sunday.  At least we have been spared the bleatings about how unlucky we were and how our ‘golden’ generation of footballers just needed a good leader for them to be able to rule the world (think back to South Africa 2 years ago – or any tournament in the last 10 years).  No, at least this time most people recognise that we were lucky to get away without an embarrassing scoreline against us and that we probably got further than we deserved.

That won’t stop pundits telling us what we need to do to resume our rightful place at the top table.  But stop for a minute and think what our rightful place should be, and you ought to conclude that it’s not at the top table at all.  Since we won the World Cup on home turf in 1966, England’s position in world football has been somewhere around the middle band of performers – occasionally near the top of the group, but not very often.  And that won’t change until players learn how to control the ball when it is passed to them, how to create space so that those with the ball have somebody to pass to, and how to pass the ball to such colleagues rather than aimlessly hoofing it upfield hoping that someone will be able to ‘get on the end of it’. 

Mogadon for the masses?

Talking of the Euros, I find myself in a difficult position regarding the Germans.  I remember when Man Utd were playing Bayern Munich in the Champions League final a few years ago and an ex-boss of mine, who was a Fulham supporter, said “Man Utd or the Germans, it’s a difficult decision isn’t it?”  Well no, actually I thought it was easy – Bayern got my vote without a moment’s hesitation. 

But this time it’s more difficult.  I should be supporting Spain – who play ‘beautiful’ football, where they love the ball and do wonderful things with it.  I loved it when they won the last Euros and the World Cup.  They had so much skill and even played with a striker or two.  But, but….. Am I the only one who thinks this Spanish team is now sucking the life out of games, sending opponents, crowds and tv viewers into a deep sleep with their endless pit-pat passing and no end result?  The latest stat being presented for us to admire is how many passes each side is making in a game.  The Spanish win this one every time, but isn’t that because they indulge in endless short passes back and forth without ever looking to make a run forward, or an attempt on goal? Mogadon for the masses? 

I have to say I prefer the German approach which allies supreme ball skills with something I recognise as football – exciting play designed to beat your opponents and create chances for goalmouth action.  I hope they beat the Spanish in the final – assuming both teams get there. 

Julian Assange – just too creepy?

The Julian Assange saga continues to rumble on – his court appearances and attempts to play the system resembling those of Cap’n Hook Hamza.  So many threads to this, but how about just two – didn’t he ever think what might happen once he upset so many people by his self-centred conceit that he knew better than everyone else what should and shouldn’t be considered private?  And why do we have a legal system that seems incapable of reaching a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time, preferring instead a seemingly never-ending series of appeal possibilities?

Monday Moan 3

 

Chiller

It seems that part of the reason for the frosty exchanges between Lord Leveson and Michael Gove when the latter appeared before the Leveson Inquiry in May was that the noble Lord had taken exception to earlier comments from Gove apparently questioning the impact of the Inquiry on free speech. Reading between the lines, Gove probably wondered something like 'how can we do our job supporting the Murdoch empire when this Inquiry is taking place?'

Apparently he referred to this Inquiry having a "chilling effect".  Hmm.  A little like the cold shiver readers may be experiencing now having looked at Gove's picture?

 

Fly me - please

The cable car over the Thames is to open on 28 June - having cost some £64m by all accounts. Quite possibly the BBC reporter and spokesperson for the service interviewed in May who both made disparaging remarks about the possibility that it would be open before the Olympics might wish their interview to be dropped into the murky waters of the river on its first journey.

And if you ever come across Tim Clark, president of Emirates, you might like to ask him if he had been drinking some of that water when he gave this quote - "The Emirates Air Line will bridge people closer, enabling them to discover, connect and express their ideas about this diverse city through crossing its majestic river, providing an incredible travel experience for residents, commuters and visitors alike." People were worried about the possibility of David Walliams contacting unmentionable illnesses when he swam the Thames recently - seems like Tim Clark has contacted a bad case of verbal diarrhoea.

Gorgeous

His Bradford constituents must be pleased to see that Gorgeous George is a media star with the independent Iranian news service PressTV.com.  Getting to grips with constituency issues has  always been a key thing for George.

The poor man has to listen to all sorts of waffle from callers to his programme and it can sometimes take the patience of a saint to wait for them to finish.  George is not a saint.  He gave this caller about 50 seconds of air time before he leapt in with his own rant.  Priceless. 

Where would UK politics be without George?  In a better place you say?  Surely not.

Don't call me ....

And finally, Harold Hackett has apparently decided that the modern world and its multiple ways of instant communication are not for him. Instead, he prefers to rely on an older method, first devised by those who found that their dream cruises did not take them to the destinations they had expected. Relying only on bottles and messages produced in large quantities, Harold has sent more than 4,800 messages on their way from the shore near his home on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Thing is, the 3,100 replies he has received since he first started in 1996 constitutes a response rate that direct marketing professionals can only dream about.

Perhaps there's a message in that for us all?

Monday Moan 2

Jubilation - what's the story

Jubilee celebrations - OK, I go with that. Not really sure why every such event has to have a big concert attached to it - all to do with our celeb culture I suppose. If we have to have one then I get the idea of major artists who have spanned much of the Queen's reign - Elton John, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, Peter Pan, etc. Even Lenny Henry as host, I suppose. BUT Cheryl Cole, Jessie J, will.i.am, Grace Jones ........... what on earth possessed the organisers to engage such people? An embarrassment of riches? No, just an embarrassment.

Still, at least we were spared George Michael.

And don't get me started on Fearne Cotton, Tess Daley and 'Bambi' Matt Baker .......

Swansong for the monarchy?

No Royal celebrations would be complete without some 'balancing' moan in the press somewhere (thank you this time to the Independent) about how the great British public are all being duped by the establishment and the time is coming when the anachronism that it the Royal Family will have to go. Unfortunately, serial anti-Royalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's argument was rather undermined by her list of 'gifted' British people who might be considered for the role of titular head of state - Joanna Lumley, Colin Firth, Jenni Murray, Carol Ann Duffy, David Beckham, Jamie Oliver and Ken Loach amongst them. At least her last nominee - Helen Mirren - has some experience in the role .........

Euro 2012

The next few weeks will be full of Euro 2012 articles - beautifully juxtaposed with the euro articles we have been seeing for the last couple of years. Based on evidence so far, it looks like Greece (sponsored by Germany) could be the first to leave the competition, having displayed no imagination and provided no excitement at all in their quest to stay in the fold. Poland look to have had stage fright in their first test and seem destined to remain in the second level of Euro powers. The biggest surprise so far has been that Italy appear to have got the jump on Spain, despite widespread predictions of Italian fragility and instability. The more fancied Spanish have so far suggested that they'll get round to some decisive action when they feel like it and not when everyone else thinks it is necessary.