Category: Uncategorised

While I’m ranting on today… Blimey. Lot of text down there isn’t there? Anyway, something I caught a bit of on Radio 5 Live this morning. Apparently there “aren’t enough black managers or Asian players in British or European football”. My response to this is simply “Why should there be?”

There could be several reasons why this is the case – racism possibly being one but I really don’t think so. How about the following as possible reasons:

• Virtually all managers are ex-footballers and in their forties or older. Go back to their playing days. How many black players were there then? Factor in the fraction of players who’ve gone into management and you have a very small number of potential candidates
• Take today’s black players. They’ve started to become a notable percentage of the playing staff in the UK at a point where footballers get paid a stupid amount. How many would have a need to stay in employment once they retire from playing?

Those are two ideas off the top of my head. As far as Asian footballers go, maybe it’s just because there aren’t any good ones? Yes, I know that Asians make up a huge number of the people on the planet, but how big is football (as a participation sport, rather than as a Man U t-shirt buying one) across the Asian continent? If a player’s good, then any team with any common sense will show an interest. They’re interested in winning games, not by what colour or race a player is. If Ronaldo was Chinese, he’d likely still be playing at the top level… if he’d had the exposure at the right time.

Players have to be a) very good and b) noticed to get anywhere. If a nation or continent’s league is poor then the players aren’t going to be seen and won’t be picked up. Look at Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton and Man U. All have, in recent years, made ties with various Asian countries. None, to the best my knowledge, have brought in Asian players as a result. Sun Ji Hai (apologies for bad spelling) is the only Asian player in the Premiership I could name.

To look at it from another point of view, Scotland currently has a very poor squad or at least a national team that’s not playing well. How many Scots play in the English Premiership? Or any top European league? Hell, how many play for the top couple of teams in the SPL? You can’t call that racist – it’s the teams with the money buying the best players they can afford – nationality not coming into consideration, even when it’s the home nation of the team itself!

Frankly, other businesses and walks of life should be like football. Hire the right person for the job regardless of what colour, race or nationality they are. No “positive” discrimination either. If you interview 10 candidates for 6 positions, you shouldn’t be looking for 3 white, one Asian and one black to “keep the numbers right”. You should be looking for 6 good, reliable and effective employees.

I draw the line, however, at mackems.

Jeez, I’ve been serious today. I’ll try to resume a normal service shortly.

Time to pick holes in the headlines, I suppose. It’s either that or do some “real” work, and as I’m sat in the office, that is hardly an option. Especially as I feel like I may be starting off on the road to ‘flu-dome and a couple of days off. Well, it’s pointless starting any jobs I’ll not be able to finish.

I like the BBC’s News scrolly thing. Nice, succinct headlines that often pick the wrong words. Today’s choice one is “Azerbaijan Fear Rooney”. I know they’re a small, fairly poor country in footballing terms but I’d have thought they could supply enough fish & chips to keep him going without fear of famine. Also, lock away all the pensioners and he won’t go trying to shag them. Maybe it’s just the fact that he looks like an ogre. Haven’t they seen Shrek? Turns out he’s a nice guy after all. For a big-eared freak.

Actually, I don’t think I’ve posted the following bit before. If I have, apologies but it’s a good story so deal with it. I know someone who used to work in Virgin in Bradford. A mate of his worked in the branch in the centre of Liverpool and was/is a staunch Reds supporter. This is going back about 2 years when Rooney had just burst onto the scene as the Premiership’s youngest goalscorer or whatever.

Jug-lugs appeared at his counter with a copy of some game or other for the Playstation and a wadge of cash. Too young to own a credit card, you see.

“Sorry, sir. I can’t sell you this game. It’s got an 18 rating.”

Cue a red face, disgruntled expression and one the most famous (and overused) footballing outbursts of all time:

“Don’t you know who I am?!?!”

“Yes, sir. I do. Which is why I know for a fact you’re under 18 and can’t buy it. Now **** off before I tell your mummy on you.”

Class.

This in turn reminds me of a story in a restaurant. I think the footballer involved was one of the Neville brothers. The scene – posh restaurant, maitre’d stood at the podium near the entrance. Overpaid ball-jockey and (most likely) stunning partner enter the premises.

“Table for two, please.”

“I’m sorry sir. Do you have a reservation? We’re full this evening.”

“I don’t need a reservation. Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, sir. You’re the gentleman who’s taking his girlfriend to McDonald’s for dinner.”

Again, priceless.

Other News

Well, Christopher Reeve died. I’ll skip the whole “curse of Superman” bit as that’ll have been kicked about by every other site (including Twenty Major). Suffice to say, he wasn’t the greatest actor ever but to someone who grew up through the 70’s and 80’s he was Superman. He still looked the same whether he wore glasses or not, though. Mind, the wheelchair was pushing it in a bid to cover his secret identity.

Someone less famous also died. Well, was murdered. Ken Bigley, who nobody outside of his family and workmates had any knowledge of, leapt to the headlines when a bunch of mentally unstable ***** kidnapped him and two Americans a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, the aforementioned camel-******* retards decided it was in their best interests to kill this innocent man to show the world they “mean business”. Well, so did David Koresh and he was a ******* nutjob as well. As was Charles Manson. And any number of other fruitcases.

What’s most sad is that this chap’s passing is pretty much down to one guy. One, pathetic, manipulated, illegally-operating, uncaring, selfish, stage-hogging, animal-shagging, country-leading ******… George W. Bush Jr. This pathetic, big-headed, blinded-by-his-own-self-importance PRICK decided some months ago that he was bigger than the United Nations. As a result, many innocent Iraquis have died, British soldiers and civilians have been killed, US servicemen have lost their lives needlessly and all over some tenuous information that ended up being completely wrong anyway. Bush isn’t just guilty of negligence, he’s guilty of war crimes and should be treated as the criminal he truly is. Think about it – get this little **** executed and that one life may well save many more. A fair trade, in my opinion. The world would be a better (and safer) place without him and other who are too big for their “world leader”-sized boots.

There is an interesting story on New Times regarding Bush’s crimes against humanity and complete disregard for the Geneva Convention. As it says at the end, all it takes is one brave congressman to file for impeachment and at the very least people will find out the truth about him. One can hope that someone out there has the guts to commit what would effectively be political and career suicide, but for all the right reasons.

I now expect my service provider’s rack mount servers to be impounded and taken away for dissemination by the FBI, just as they did to Indymedia. Free speech, my ******* arse.

I’m going to have another go at speed cameras, penalty points and so on. This time, though, it’s in relation to someone I know and I think it proves how overblown and ludicrous the punishments for speeding offences can be. Please note that at the time of writing, the person involved is awaiting a court case where he’s hoping to plead his point of view and retain his license. This coming Tuesday, in fact.

For those who don’t know, 12 points on a license and you lose it for a varied length of time. Speeding generally gets you 3 points per shot, plus a cash fine of £60. The points stay “live” on your license for three years from the date of the offense, after which they don’t count toward the total any more. They can be physically erased, for a fee, after a further 12 months.

He’s actually hit 10 points having been caught twice in quick succession, though the last 3 haven’t actually come onto his license yet. The court case is for the latest ones.

The thing is, look where and when he was caught. Twice on the same, straight, stretch of road. OK, that’s just daft being caught on there when you know you’ve been caught in the past. But the road isn’t an accident blckspot. It’s flat, level, well-surfaced and offers plenty of visibility to the six or so cars a day (no exageration from what I’ve been told) that use it. In addition, the last offense on that road was in May but he wasn’t notified until September. I’m guessing Scottish law may be different, but in England and Wales if they don’t notify the registered keeper of the vehicle within 28 days of the actual offense, you can just tear up the notice and use it for toilet paper for all it’s worth.

The other place most recently was on the M6 southbound somewhere in Cumbria. One of those evil temporary vans on the roadside caught him doing 86mph on a moderately empty road.

So, basically, he’s driven sensibly, well within the bounds of safety, in a new car with good working steering, brakes, tyres and so forth. All occupants were securely belted in. No other traffic was at risk from his driving style.

Yet here’s where the punishment really starts to outweigh anything that even a sensible person can regard as fair. He and his partner currently live in the arse-end of nowhere up in the wilds of Scotland. The nearest major conurbation is Inverness, and that is a 90 minute drive away (in clear traffic). His partner is due to give birth to their first child in a few weeks, and she can’t drive anyway.

To remove his driving license means that:

1. they cannot easily get to a hospital in case of emergency
2. grocery shopping prices will escalate as they will have to use the expensive local shops rather than get to the Tesco in Inverness. This will hit them especially hard after the baby is born
3. as he is currently looking for work, finding a job will be nigh on impossible, There is little in the way of employment where they live and public transport is nearly non-existant

The only alternative they would have would be to move, probably to Inverness. So, not only will he have to pay over a hundred pounds in fines and lose his license, all the money they were trying to save for the child will instead have to go on finding a new house. Something that, in itself, would be hampered by the lack of license.

Effectively, the court would be sentencing their new baby to a life of poverty from the first day of its life.

There is one other factor. The reason he moved to where he is, is that he has – or had – a serious drug problem. He used to live in a city rife with drugs and took it upon himself to move somewhere as far as he could get from the temptation. So far it seems to have worked.

For them to move down to Inverness would be to move closer to an easier supply of hard drugs. I’m not criticising Inverness as such. I doubt it’s anywhere near as bad as where he came from. Regardless, it will be massively easier for him to fall back into bad habits, and trust me – he’s weak, were he to move back to a large town or city.

So again, the punishment for a couple of speeding offenses would vastly outweigh the severity of the crime. Not only would it affect his freedom to drive, it would seriously affect the financial stability and security of himself, his partner and their new baby at a time when a family really (if it ever can) withstand such a hit. On top of that, it could put him back onto the slippery slope of drug addiction and screw up the rest of his family who are already extremely concerned about him and the upcoming new nephew/niece/cousin/grandchild/whatever.

Comment, please. Who – out of the handful who read this – honestly think that the punishment fits the crime? Frankly, compared to the piss-ant suspended sentences given to scum criminals who really screw with peoples lives and cause misery, this is a ******* joke.

All this and, in all honesty, I don’t get on with him very well mainly because of the druggy past. On the other hand, I care a lot about his family and they’re going through more stress than they deserve right now as a result of this. Not that the fuckwits who put speed cameras up in stupid places really give a rat’s arse about people’s lives.

Just a few things to waffle about before the England v Wales match kicks off. I traipsed into Leeds this morning for a tutorial on my Relational Databases project. Definitely worthwhile. Every time I go for one of these things, I come out feeling all positive and great. Then I realise how much stuff I have to do, regardless of how easy it is, and I **** myself.

Excuse me while I wipe.

Miniature highlight of the day, though, was on the way back. To go to Leeds, I tend to park at Pudsey (free) and get the train from there. It’s easier than driving and cheaper than parking at the extortionate prices they charge in the city.

I got off the train on the way back and there was a little lad – can’t have been more than 2-3 years old – with his dad on the footbridge over the tracks. The kid was obviously fascinated with the train. As it pulled out of the station towards the bridge, the driver tooted the horn and waved at the bridge. You should have seen the lad’s face! Aaaaaw!

I had a little struggle at Morrisons on the way home. Rattled round and got my shopping (far too much fruit juice, some chocolate cake for Sharon’s birthday do tonight and some kitty treats). Straight for the “baskets only” queue and handed over my VISA card.

Guy at the till slots it into the chip and pin machine (though I don’t use that yet – next card will have it, I believe) and we wait. And wait. And wait.

After about a minute, it comes back as “declined”. Hmmm. I used it to buy my train ticket about 3 hours earlier. The chap at the till was all for telling me to leave – no offers to try it again or anything. But I told him to, so he did. This time it worked, no problem.

So I hold the queue up and look like a crim with a dodgy card. Upon getting home, I checked my receipts including the one for the failed transaction. The one with “Switch” emblazoned on it. The daft prick had pressed the wrong button on the till, trying to send the card through as a Switch when it’s a VISA. No wonder it bounced it.

Given that he looked at both receipts before returning the card, and got it right second time, you’d think he’d known what he’d done. A small apology wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Grr.

I am sat in the office, my ears are ringing and I have some wonderfully painful welts on my arms and shins. Yup, I was at a gig last night. Hatebreed (who I missed most of), Slayer and Slipknot.

Contrary to early fears, due to the early start we actually got the better part of 90 minutes out of each of the two headliners. Slayer could have played for another 90 without running out of good material. Disciple to open, Hallowed Point, War Ensemble, Chemical Warfare, Dead Skin Mask, Post Mortem, Raining Blood, Angel of Death…

Slipknot also put on the usual good show, but with slightly less of the effects I saw at Leeds a couple of years ago. Again, a good variety of tracks with the obvious choices thrown in – Wait and Bleed, Duality, Pulse of the Maggots and so forth.

I think we caught the last four or five Hatebreed tracks. From what I heard, they were quite good and managed a very impressive feat for a support band – virtually all the seated area on their feet for the last track.

If I had to make a complaint, it was that the sound wasn’t great. I went with Mike who’s more a watcher than a participant (and therefore ends up much less bruised than I do). The sound for Slayer was rather “muddy”, while Slipknot was so loud it was actually distorting. Not great for someone who’s not that familiar with their stuff and just came along for the show.

With the actual length of time on stage from the two headliners, great value for money and a really good crowd. Particularly impressive was a rather short 11-year-old lad who was kicking ass with the rest of them (including people easily 4 times his body size). His dad was proud! Mind, the little bugger hit me in the nuts more than once. Damn his short stature.

It’s also great to see more women jumping into a pit and not getting all girly and crap when they realise that it’s actually as violent as it looks. Also, they don’t get groped any more. I’m only going back 5-6 years and women were really just treated like **** at the heavier concerts.

Next up is Machine Head in Leeds on the 29th of November (followed by Blink 182 in Newcastle 2 days later). I think I need the rest…