Friends, who'd have 'em?
This week has seen friends falling out with each other, getting married, getting pregnant, telling lies, behaving strangely, being brave, being foolish, you name it, they've been up to it.
I guess it's what makes life interesting.
Friends, eh? Who'd have 'em?
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Who's watching who?
Lets face facts, this is not a blog that will ever set the world alight, it was never intended to be. It was simply meant to be a record of the thoughts of one individual. So it's no real surprise that I've never been inundated with readers. I am aware of 5 individuals who regularly read this blog, of whom 3 leave comments, the other two I happen to know personally in the "real world".
There are though others and I've started keeping a vague track through the little map on the right hand side. Now according to this there are others that have been reading my thoughts and philosophy. And that, in my personal opinion, is a good thing. These have though accumulated only slowly, bit by bit.
Untill the last few days that is, and I wonder why? Actually I don't wonder why, I have a reasonable idea.
One of my favourite blog is the enemies of reason. You can link to it from the list on the right, go explore and see what they have to say, it's worth the read. Now recently it's author had had a "full and frank exchange of views" with members of the BNP via the comments on one post and claims in one of his posts to have received a large number of other messages from them.
Now I chose, and it remains to be seen if this was sensible, to enter into the fray on the authors side and left a post that may be described as "picking a fight" with the BNP wankers that had been hanging around. Since then the number of visitors here has gone up steeply. Coincidence? Who knows, it's difficult to say. I have my suspiscions however.
I await developments with interest.
Lets face facts, this is not a blog that will ever set the world alight, it was never intended to be. It was simply meant to be a record of the thoughts of one individual. So it's no real surprise that I've never been inundated with readers. I am aware of 5 individuals who regularly read this blog, of whom 3 leave comments, the other two I happen to know personally in the "real world".
There are though others and I've started keeping a vague track through the little map on the right hand side. Now according to this there are others that have been reading my thoughts and philosophy. And that, in my personal opinion, is a good thing. These have though accumulated only slowly, bit by bit.
Untill the last few days that is, and I wonder why? Actually I don't wonder why, I have a reasonable idea.
One of my favourite blog is the enemies of reason. You can link to it from the list on the right, go explore and see what they have to say, it's worth the read. Now recently it's author had had a "full and frank exchange of views" with members of the BNP via the comments on one post and claims in one of his posts to have received a large number of other messages from them.
Now I chose, and it remains to be seen if this was sensible, to enter into the fray on the authors side and left a post that may be described as "picking a fight" with the BNP wankers that had been hanging around. Since then the number of visitors here has gone up steeply. Coincidence? Who knows, it's difficult to say. I have my suspiscions however.
I await developments with interest.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Unknown Terrorist
Richard Flannigan
Yes folks, it's book review time.....
This is one of those books that in some ways, and I'm sad to say this, was somewhat of a dissapointment. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, if you enjoy a good ripping yarn and aren't too fussed about the need for a happy ending then do give it a crack, because I thought it was a great read. The trouble is that it promised so much more that it never quite delivered.
The story is a modern reworking of The Lost Honour of Katharine Blaum and centers on Gina Davies, (AKA The Doll or The Black Widow or Krystal), a Lap Dancer in Sydney who has a one night stand with a man who later turns out to be a suspected terrorist. Over the next few days her life is ripped apart and distorted by a hysterical media that just wants a good story leading to a climax in which she confronts the main journalist repsonsible (I wont ruin the ending for you).
Regular readers will know about my contempt for much of the media and indeed my astonishment at the hysteria there is over "the war on terror" so maybe it is for this reason, ie my passion about these subjects, that I found this book to not quite hit the mark. The drug smuggling sub plot veired it too close to a thriller and the crudely dealt with side issue of the adequacy of love with it's unecessary prologues and epilogues was, to be blunt, just self indulgent. In addition the hail storm in the build up to the climax was cliched beyond belief.
What it is missing is the cold and clinical breakdown of Davies life by the media that featured in the original. She goes too quickly from dismissing it all to running in fear of her life, it's all too rushed. And given the complexity of the character this is something that there was so much scope for.
I wouldn't want you to think that I hated this book, because I didn't. Flannagan is clearly an angry man and I share his anger. The scene in which Wilder (Davies best friend) describes to Davies how she has been interrogated by the police is truly chilling and a brilliant peice of writing. I just feel that this novel had the potential for so so much more.
Richard Flannigan
Yes folks, it's book review time.....
This is one of those books that in some ways, and I'm sad to say this, was somewhat of a dissapointment. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, if you enjoy a good ripping yarn and aren't too fussed about the need for a happy ending then do give it a crack, because I thought it was a great read. The trouble is that it promised so much more that it never quite delivered.
The story is a modern reworking of The Lost Honour of Katharine Blaum and centers on Gina Davies, (AKA The Doll or The Black Widow or Krystal), a Lap Dancer in Sydney who has a one night stand with a man who later turns out to be a suspected terrorist. Over the next few days her life is ripped apart and distorted by a hysterical media that just wants a good story leading to a climax in which she confronts the main journalist repsonsible (I wont ruin the ending for you).
Regular readers will know about my contempt for much of the media and indeed my astonishment at the hysteria there is over "the war on terror" so maybe it is for this reason, ie my passion about these subjects, that I found this book to not quite hit the mark. The drug smuggling sub plot veired it too close to a thriller and the crudely dealt with side issue of the adequacy of love with it's unecessary prologues and epilogues was, to be blunt, just self indulgent. In addition the hail storm in the build up to the climax was cliched beyond belief.
What it is missing is the cold and clinical breakdown of Davies life by the media that featured in the original. She goes too quickly from dismissing it all to running in fear of her life, it's all too rushed. And given the complexity of the character this is something that there was so much scope for.
I wouldn't want you to think that I hated this book, because I didn't. Flannagan is clearly an angry man and I share his anger. The scene in which Wilder (Davies best friend) describes to Davies how she has been interrogated by the police is truly chilling and a brilliant peice of writing. I just feel that this novel had the potential for so so much more.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Moan, moan, bloody moan
So the final result of the big game of the weekend was Man United 2 Arsenal 1.
And I ask you, am I the only football to fan to turn around and declare that they really couldn't give a toss? Really I don't. We keep being told that the Premier League is the greatest league in the world. How? In what way?
Here is a league which only 3, maybe 4, teams have a realistic chance of winning. Where newly promoted teams are considered to have performed miracles if they get into the top half of the table.
Once upon a time I could tell you the likely line up of most of the premier league clubs, but now I couldn't. Simply because I take no notice, because it's boring, it's dull, and that is tragic for our national game.
And it's not even like any of the clubs give me any reason to care about their fortunes. Today after the game the radio phone ins were filled with Arsenal fans moaning. Yes, the fans of a club that looks like they will have finished 2nd in the country two years running, who finished top the season before, got to the last 8 of the Champions League, have won more trophies over the last 10 years than I've had hot meals are moaning. Now what does that tell me about that club?
This year the FA cup will be won by an unfashionable club, which ever way it goes, and thank God for that. And will you hear the fans of the losing finalist moan? Have you heard the fans of the losing semi finalists moan?
Of course not.
Now THAT is football!
So the final result of the big game of the weekend was Man United 2 Arsenal 1.
And I ask you, am I the only football to fan to turn around and declare that they really couldn't give a toss? Really I don't. We keep being told that the Premier League is the greatest league in the world. How? In what way?
Here is a league which only 3, maybe 4, teams have a realistic chance of winning. Where newly promoted teams are considered to have performed miracles if they get into the top half of the table.
Once upon a time I could tell you the likely line up of most of the premier league clubs, but now I couldn't. Simply because I take no notice, because it's boring, it's dull, and that is tragic for our national game.
And it's not even like any of the clubs give me any reason to care about their fortunes. Today after the game the radio phone ins were filled with Arsenal fans moaning. Yes, the fans of a club that looks like they will have finished 2nd in the country two years running, who finished top the season before, got to the last 8 of the Champions League, have won more trophies over the last 10 years than I've had hot meals are moaning. Now what does that tell me about that club?
This year the FA cup will be won by an unfashionable club, which ever way it goes, and thank God for that. And will you hear the fans of the losing finalist moan? Have you heard the fans of the losing semi finalists moan?
Of course not.
Now THAT is football!
The ones that get away
One of my cubs quit this week. It was no great drama and lets face it it's a pretty minor event on the world stage. She didn't fall out with me, there was no great upset, she just decided she didn't want to come any more.
This doesn't happen that often, it must be over a year since the last time that happened, yet each time I can't help but take it personally. It's stupid I know, really stupid, this is a hobby, it's not something that is going to change the world, yet i always end up wondering, could I be doing my job better? Is it something that I did or said?
Yes I know it's absurd, if I was losing kids hand over fist then I might do well to ask that, but I'm not so I shouldn't!
Time to pull myself together a little.
One of my cubs quit this week. It was no great drama and lets face it it's a pretty minor event on the world stage. She didn't fall out with me, there was no great upset, she just decided she didn't want to come any more.
This doesn't happen that often, it must be over a year since the last time that happened, yet each time I can't help but take it personally. It's stupid I know, really stupid, this is a hobby, it's not something that is going to change the world, yet i always end up wondering, could I be doing my job better? Is it something that I did or said?
Yes I know it's absurd, if I was losing kids hand over fist then I might do well to ask that, but I'm not so I shouldn't!
Time to pull myself together a little.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Lessons Not Learned
I'm afraid that it's time for me to return to one of my pet rants, and that is that it is abundantly clear that in many places the lessons of the Hillsborough disaster have simply not been learned.
Hillsborough was caused by far more than just terraces and permiter fences. It was the whole design of the stadium and negligence of the worst kind in how crowds were policed and stewarded.
Football clubs have had 19 years now to put their house in order in this respect, to ensure that crowds can come and watch football in safety and not feel at risk of being involved in an accident that could send them home in an ambulance or worse, a body bag. This may sound over dramatic but lets not forget that 97 people died at Hillsborough and 52 at Valley Parade. Those are are shocking numbers.
And so that is why I was utterly disgusted when I went to Loftus Road yesterday to see QPR v Preston North End and found myself in what I can only describe as a death trap, the upper tier of the "school end". I was there as a strict neutral although in with the North End fans (friend of mine is a season ticket holder there).
So what was wrong exactly?
Lets start with getting in, to acces the turnstiles you are invited to que down a very narrow alley way with no exit other than from the way in to it at the back or the turnstiles at the other end. Any delays and that alley way is going to get seriously packed out, and by the way there were no stewards or police keeping an eye on how many people were moving down it that I could see (there may have been CCTV watching this, but I couldn't see any cameras). Now the capacity of the upper tier is 1200 and judging by the numbers in there it must have been 90% full, lets say 1000+ people trying to get in (regardless of the ticket collection fiasco, but that's another story), and how many turnstiles did the club decide to open? Er..... 2 out of the 6 they had there. That's right 500 people per turnstile. To get a license to run a stadium you are meant to have an absolute max of 400 people per turnstile.
On finally getting through the turnstiles you have to go up an extremely steep and narrow stair case which the stewards were allowing people to hang around on looking for their friends. Now yes these fans should nothavebeen so stupid but the stewards should havebene shifting them and quickly, because this was bloody dangerous.
Now the turnstiles and the stewarding of the stairs are operational issues and can be easily fixed, (although the alley way is a disgrace) but now let us turn to the upper tier itself, the designof which is sickening.
On getting to the upper tie you find yourself on a concourse that is poorly lit, extremely narrow and horribly crowded. Just how cramped is it? The toilets are tucked underneath the seating and there were areas of those toilets that I could not stand up straight in. The way the bars stick out means that there is horrible crushing when people are trying to get a drink or food, and the stewards were doing naff all about if. The exit was in a different place to the entrance, which is potentially disasetrous in the event of needing to evacuate quickly (ie very confusing).
The seated areas themselves are steep, not the steepest I've encountered, but the steepest I've encountered with out any kind of rail to hold when going up and down. The seats are tiny and people are packed in like sardines. I would hate to have to get out of there in a hurry.
The experience of attending a game here can't be put into words, you would have to go yourself, although I would by no means recomend it.
People have died and it seems that in places only lip service is being paid to the lessons that came from it.
I'm afraid that it's time for me to return to one of my pet rants, and that is that it is abundantly clear that in many places the lessons of the Hillsborough disaster have simply not been learned.
Hillsborough was caused by far more than just terraces and permiter fences. It was the whole design of the stadium and negligence of the worst kind in how crowds were policed and stewarded.
Football clubs have had 19 years now to put their house in order in this respect, to ensure that crowds can come and watch football in safety and not feel at risk of being involved in an accident that could send them home in an ambulance or worse, a body bag. This may sound over dramatic but lets not forget that 97 people died at Hillsborough and 52 at Valley Parade. Those are are shocking numbers.
And so that is why I was utterly disgusted when I went to Loftus Road yesterday to see QPR v Preston North End and found myself in what I can only describe as a death trap, the upper tier of the "school end". I was there as a strict neutral although in with the North End fans (friend of mine is a season ticket holder there).
So what was wrong exactly?
Lets start with getting in, to acces the turnstiles you are invited to que down a very narrow alley way with no exit other than from the way in to it at the back or the turnstiles at the other end. Any delays and that alley way is going to get seriously packed out, and by the way there were no stewards or police keeping an eye on how many people were moving down it that I could see (there may have been CCTV watching this, but I couldn't see any cameras). Now the capacity of the upper tier is 1200 and judging by the numbers in there it must have been 90% full, lets say 1000+ people trying to get in (regardless of the ticket collection fiasco, but that's another story), and how many turnstiles did the club decide to open? Er..... 2 out of the 6 they had there. That's right 500 people per turnstile. To get a license to run a stadium you are meant to have an absolute max of 400 people per turnstile.
On finally getting through the turnstiles you have to go up an extremely steep and narrow stair case which the stewards were allowing people to hang around on looking for their friends. Now yes these fans should nothavebeen so stupid but the stewards should havebene shifting them and quickly, because this was bloody dangerous.
Now the turnstiles and the stewarding of the stairs are operational issues and can be easily fixed, (although the alley way is a disgrace) but now let us turn to the upper tier itself, the designof which is sickening.
On getting to the upper tie you find yourself on a concourse that is poorly lit, extremely narrow and horribly crowded. Just how cramped is it? The toilets are tucked underneath the seating and there were areas of those toilets that I could not stand up straight in. The way the bars stick out means that there is horrible crushing when people are trying to get a drink or food, and the stewards were doing naff all about if. The exit was in a different place to the entrance, which is potentially disasetrous in the event of needing to evacuate quickly (ie very confusing).
The seated areas themselves are steep, not the steepest I've encountered, but the steepest I've encountered with out any kind of rail to hold when going up and down. The seats are tiny and people are packed in like sardines. I would hate to have to get out of there in a hurry.
The experience of attending a game here can't be put into words, you would have to go yourself, although I would by no means recomend it.
People have died and it seems that in places only lip service is being paid to the lessons that came from it.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Planning in Advance
This week we started seriously planning for our big camp in 2009. This may seem a little premature given that we still have 5 to go in 2008 but this is a week long afare, Cubjam, a Cubs only jamboree at Gilwell Park in May 2009 (see link at the side, it's going to be great!). Anyway, the logistics and effort taken means that we have to start outting out info now and of course that means considering which cubs will no longer be with us then and who will have arrived from Beavers.
And it's very strange because there is this whole generation of kids who despite the fact I will see them once or twice a week for some time to come, and I had to sit there and take them out of the mailing list. It was a very strange feeling, not sure quite what it says about the relationship between leaders and their little bands of horrors but it certainly says something. It was quite unpleasent scrubbing them off like that but also the feeling that they will have moved on to bigger and better things. Plus ofcourse the anticipation of the new generation still to come!
Something to ponder.
This week we started seriously planning for our big camp in 2009. This may seem a little premature given that we still have 5 to go in 2008 but this is a week long afare, Cubjam, a Cubs only jamboree at Gilwell Park in May 2009 (see link at the side, it's going to be great!). Anyway, the logistics and effort taken means that we have to start outting out info now and of course that means considering which cubs will no longer be with us then and who will have arrived from Beavers.
And it's very strange because there is this whole generation of kids who despite the fact I will see them once or twice a week for some time to come, and I had to sit there and take them out of the mailing list. It was a very strange feeling, not sure quite what it says about the relationship between leaders and their little bands of horrors but it certainly says something. It was quite unpleasent scrubbing them off like that but also the feeling that they will have moved on to bigger and better things. Plus ofcourse the anticipation of the new generation still to come!
Something to ponder.
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