Category: Football

Isuppose it was/is inevitable that spending on Defence is going up but in general it seems to be going in the right places, although I am hesitant about nuclear submarines. What is much more sensible is a proposal to limit education trust executive to a max of £174000 – this is still high, but I doubt if any will be resigning or going on strike! Similar provisions could and should be made for all public servants especially Councils where executive salaries are way to high, universities and the NHS Trusts. If they are good enough they can take industrial jobs and boost the economy in that way. This educational initiative comes after a report stated that schools were failing white working class children, and that many children were spending too much time in isolation. Education was a kinder place when I started teaching in 1975. Local authorities provided essential services a head teacher was provided for each school rather than spending time between several? With academies I see no improvements, other than services being privatised – diners at Churchill Academy have certainly plummeted, kids cannot even sit to enjoy their food and friendships – no wonder so many are fucked up!

Trump has gutted the USAID organisation which has resulted in a lack of contact with local NGO’s around the world; so what! It has saved $millions – but there is a catch. The earthquake disaster in Venezuela has left the US Government clueless a govt. spokesperson said aid was going to be big, fast and effective. Well the fast bit is already a lie, it will probably be big in terms of cost (Trump needs to keep his newest friends sweet), but effective needs good contacts with local NGO’s – so that is a no. Iran has revealed that Trumps belief that power is correlated with military might is totally false. Influence is a much more difficult factor to control, and Trump has destroyed much of the goodwill that tempered the brash behaviour of governments in the past. Copious funding may seem to be wasteful, but the alternative posited by Trump is “do as I say or I will bomb you back to the Stone Age”. He and his supporters are all thick as and talk shit!

There are many things wrong with commercialisation of this World Cup – but a positive has been the lack of crowd trouble, I guess charging people a few grand keeps the knuckle draggers at home, I have not heard of any trouble, and maybe at last a positive regarding Brexit. Now we are out of Europe can the EU ask for visa applications – all with a violent past could be banned, or would they use the small boats abandoned by migrants. If the groups were lined up there is no argument of whom wins. And the football has been – good at times and often tedious – especially the universally hated hydration breaks. Scottish fans again were wonderful, Curacao did themselves proud and Cabo Verde through to the last 32 is the stuff of fiction and dreams. That is why football is so lovely, accessible to all, supporters will not be priced out – just move to clubs like United of Manchester, every season starts with fresh hope and desires, when they crumble, inevitably, there is still the occasional flash of light in the tunnel. Whilst many youngsters are swayed by kit or publicity to support one of the top teams, most remain loyal to either their roots or their first loves. I have done so, I wss brought up to a hammer or spur, but at the age of 11 chose Sunderland, never been their or even close- at the age of 14 I was taken to WHU to see them score 8 against a hapless Sunderland. But once selected it is ingrained in the DNA. My son is the same with Everton. Most of the time we can rely on players to perform at their best (if we could only say the same for duplipitous, corrupt MP’s swayed by false importance and arrogantly thinking they are better than the rest of us – a footballer soon gets brought down to earth by the wags in the crowd. Yes they are millionaires but they are playingba game they love and most donate copiously to charity notably Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling.

A thrilling storm yesterday evening, originally I thought it was all mouth and flashing, but then the rain started and boy oh boy, what rain – it seemed to be attempting to batter the windows down for a while. It was so dark that the solar panels stopped working. But it was not finished – a hot and humid night ensued and then it started to get light before 4am. So I had watered the greenhous, from my now full water butts and had breakfast and coffee before the rest of the street was awake! Train services are curtailed and people advised not to travel, some schools and businesses are changing their operating hours. Perhaps people will have to adapt to climate change (which of course is a left wing fantasy!). Supermarkets and offices with car parks should be compelled to invest in solar panel covers that would save them money on hot days (a local supermarket said its chilled units stopped working when it got too warm! My garden offers wildlife a haven from the heat of the barren lawns that are still 95% of the frant gardens in my road (although none would come close in biomass and diversity. At 10.03 40-7% of our electric was coming from renewables at a price cheaper than gas, explain that arseholes!

World Cup – not only did the USA prevent the Iranian team from residing near their matches, but also refused to let them have a match ball to practice with – how fucking petty. the footballing minnows of Cabo Verde and Curacao have done the football world proud, whilst those who splash the cash to get in with the big boys, i.e. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are bottom of their repective groups and could both be heading home.

Much hoo-hah in the press about the next PM – who will be Andy Burnham, and who will find that the City and Israel exert their muscle to ensure that he cannot make a damned difference! The main stream press are already sowing the seeds of discontent by talking about tax rises, Net Zero has gone quiet for a couple of days! and a left wing take over. Andy burnham might have more charisma than Starmer, but left wing he is not – unless compared to Hitler, Farage, Tice and Lowe!

Even Truss and Johnson knew when it was time to go. In many ways he has done an alright job, but voters do not take to him. Yes he won a wapping majority at the last GE, but the last few years had been dire – there was not a lot of opposition, and the bar had been set very low as an act to follow. He has not given the people hope – yes Trumps fantasy game in Iran has not helped the economy, but neither has unimaginative initiatives. Net Zero should have been embraced in such a way to make it impossible to back track – it already contributes –
The UK net zero economy currently supports over 1 million full-time jobs, generating \(£\)105 billion in economic value. With green roles offering higher-than-average wages and superior productivity, demand for STEM-based skills is soaring across energy, transportation, and building retrofit sectors.

So Andy Burnham get your act together and do it so we can start the winter with hope again. How will I vote given that I have joined the Green Party? Tactically I think – anything to keep toad face and his even worse rival in their sewers!

Little stories tell the biggest truths! An article in today’s paper states that premium b-b-q sales have spiralled despite the supposed strain on the cost of living. So conclusions are that either the papers are wrong about tthe strain on families, or the rich are getting richer at the expense of the workers? – I suspect the latter. After all who can afford £1500-4000 for ab-b-q to use at best maybe 10 times a year (I am thinking weekends here, although some people seem to enjoy a burnt meat diet.

The Met. Office have issued hot weather warnings for most of England and Wales. So we await news of further young lives lost needlessly – Favorite spots are well known locally, perhaps the local councils could arrange for volunteer lifeguards to be in place (expenses paid) – each death costs £000000 at least.

Garden good, World Cup football entertaining, cricket (I no longer recognise any names!), tennis boring, golf boring, Ascot amusing watching the rich fuckers make arseholes of themselves.