A gutfull of bile

19 Feb 2007

A gutfull of bile

Current mood:contemplative

Hell is other people - Sartre

Isn't technology great eh, computers, dvds, TV's, Ipods etc. Hasn't it really helped humanity, with all this information at our fingertips haven't we all become more enlightened, educated, intelligent, and happier human beings. Of course not, I heard once that a quarter of the Internet is just porn, and what is porn, well its good or bad depending on your take on it but if you said to the inventors of the Internet exactly how much of the Internet do you envisage being taken up by films of men with massive cocks fucking women in every hole and bestiality, I doubt they would have said a quarter. When they came up with the Internet the inventors weren't thinking of a way of avoiding the embarrassment of going into a newsagents to buy a copy of Razzle, unless I'm horribly mistaken.

The reason I have a distaste for to much technology (aware of the irony that I'm writing a blog on a computer to be posted on the internet) is I was brought up in a Rest Home. I have been surrounded since my earliest days not with people that go on about the second world war but by people who actually fought in the first world war and have the shrapnel wounds to prove it. The attitude of people who haven't seen the offerings of our technology is startling. Imagine never having seen a gangster rap video, Big Brother, I'm a celebrity, a soap opera trying cack handedly to deal with the topics of aids, homosexuality, crack addiction rape and murder, Jamie Oliver. Pop Idol Etc. Or any TV advert, all tv adverts say is 'you need to buy this product and you'll be happier like the people in this advert using it'. They never say 'you've got far to much stuff already, I mean, fucks sake what difference is different coloured bristles on your toothbrush really going to make to your life'.  The residents in the Rest Home where used to rationing, nowadays supermarkets are full of food and also the damaging chemicals in them and has this gamut of choice made us any happier?  If top of the pops came on TV the old ladies would recoil in embarrassment,  their generation fought for equality while now tv is full of women rushing to debase themselves flaunting their bodies off in an attempt to sell their music. Spice Girls', girl power was infact wank power, they where wholly the invention of men who created them to make money for themselves and provide teenage boys with a wank fantasy. Queer artist Andy Warhol once said everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, sadly so many people want to prolong that 15 mins by degrading themselves in a jungle eating spiders etc. for our entertainment.  Mark Twain once said something along the lines of 'wanting to be the president is the reason you should be barred from standing' I feel the same way about celebs, in the old days fame mean't something because you were famous for being good at something, now the currency is totally devalued.  Idiot celebs like  Jade Goody are now rich, why can't they just bugger off back to their homes and stop wanting to appear on our screens.  What vacuity  is there within their heads that wants attention on them the whole time, like they've anything worth saying?

  The people in the Rest home had a totally different attitude to life, they didn't look as though they feared being mugged if they went out, they had a confidence that its OK to walk the streets.  Its so sad that now people who fought against Hitler for freedom  find themselves scared to go out of their own houses.  Secondly they where often quick witted and funny.  Thirdly their body language didn't look as though they had spent the major part of their life staring at a TV sucking the life out of their eyes, don't forget that's all you do at a TV, just sit down and stare, it isn't reality, its a small 2 dimensional box with flashing lights, it should never replace reality.  But more than anything they hadn't spent their formative years viewing  mind numbing shit on TV like a monkey, fantasizing about one day being in the position of the person their looking at, i.e. being on TV. and thus famous.  Roger Waters' album 'amused to death' had on its cover a picture of a monkey staring at a television depicting an eye looking at him, it brilliantly sums up what is going wrong, we are, content to be stupified.  Far from enlightening us TV manipulates us, tv often keeps us stupid by reassuring us that we're not any stupider than anyone else, with chummy news presenters on TV telling us what the powers that be want us to think is going on in the world.  In Bill Hick's words 'Go back to bed America, your government has worked out how it all transpired, watch american gladiators, here's 57 chanels of the shit'

 Sure there are good things that have come from technology, washing machines, fridges but more often than not technology that makes life easier can also make us lazier.  Technology is also being used to spy on us and restrict our civil liberties barely a day goes by without the government finding a new way to fine us by using technology, the latest idea is to  use CCTV to fine people for parking and litter offences. 

Big Brother ? anyone. 

Jamie Oliver the case against

16 Mar 2007

Jamie Oliver the case against

Current mood:pessimistic

If you've been living in a cave in Afghanistan spending your time plotting ways in which to destroy infidels, then Jamie Olivers inexplicable rise to fame may have escaped you. Otherwise you'll know what I'm on about. Somehow his ego has become so bloated he feels the need to wade into areas his minuscule IQ has little hope of comprehending with staggering confidence.  Namely his futile attempt to end obesity by changing school dinners. If you like me went to a state comprehensive then the food on offer in the tuckshop and canteen where about the only things that made the experience bearable. Dipping into caramel slices, jam and cream donuts, pizza slices etc. at break times will stay in my mind as my happiest memories of school. But that pleasure is now under serious threat because of Jamie Olivers fevered ego. In his programmes he is seen berating canteen staff, losing his temper, swearing etc. as he fails to understand why dinner ladies on minimum wage aren't all Haute cuisine chefs. He himself acknowledges that even with all his culinary skills the kids would rather eat the food traditionaly served by the staff than his stuff. He sometimes even gets upset with the kids and uses scare tactics to wean them off chicken nuggets by blending a chicken in front of them and then saying that the resulting goo is what goes into a chicken nugget. Of course that's going to look unappetising but his alternative is to cook real chickens which is time consuming and leaves the kids having to remove the bones, fat and skin off their chickens themselves, something that is bound to create a mess which gets thrown around the canteen
The problem here is also a class problem, I know for a fact that the prices in Jamie's restaurant are exorbitant, I heard cheese on toast was £8. Its all do with an unnecessary class snobbery which dictates that we should all have cultivated palates which naturally would want to be eating (or more likely seen to be eating) the stuff he serves in his restaurant, as if after a few beers most peoples palate couldn't be reduced to craving a fat donner kebab or mighty meaty pizza. The obesity epidemic is not caused by school canteens scrimping on lentils and cous cous its caused by unnatural food additives and other chemical put into nearly all processed food. A plate of chips, egg and bacon at school though causing Jamie Oliver to go apoplectic is in fact very healthy as it contains no artificial additives.
In school I was taught there where 4 basic tastes Salt, sweet, Sour and Bitter but there are infact 5
MSG stimulates specific receptors located in taste buds such as the amino acid receptor or other glutamate receptors like the metabotropic receptors which induce the taste known as umami,
MSG, Monosodium glutamate, sodium glutamate or flavour enhancer 621 as its called is found in most canned soups, most beef and chicken stocks, most flavoured potato crisps and other snack foods, many frozen dinners, instant meals etc.
In Scientific studies MSG has been shown to cause obesity in lab rats.
Because MSG is absorbed very quickly it could spike blood plasma levels of glutamate. Glutamic acid is in a class of chemicals known as excitotoxins, high levels of which have been shown in animal studies to cause damage to areas of the brain unprotected by the blood-brain barrier and that a variety of chronic diseases can arise out of this neurotoxicity. The debate among scientists on the significance of these findings has been raging since the early 1970s, when Dr. John Olney found that high levels of glutamic acid caused damage to the brains of infant mice.
Basically its very bad stuff for your brain, especially if your a mouse.  And in any case we should err on the side of caution. But the 1991 report by the European Community's Scientific Committee for Foods reaffirmed MSG's safety and classified its "acceptable daily intake" as "not specified", the most favourable designation for a food ingredient. In addition, the EC Committee said, "Infants, including prematures, have been shown to metabolize glutamate as efficiently as adults and therefore do not display any special susceptibility to elevated oral intakes of glutamate."
Which can be read as Corporate lobbying has lead the E.U. into taking no action to reduce our intake of it.  Is it any suprise we have record levels of Obesity, dyslexia and other problems like attention deficit disorder when kids food is pact with chemicals designed to make you crave it.  If Jamie Oliver wanted to do something to stop obesity he could highlight the dangers of eating foods stuffed with nasty chemicals and promote sensible home cooking to be taught in schools rather than take his middle class snobbery of thinking I know what's best and you into our schools.  I for might part emailled My local MP Hazel Blears on the subject I and I believe to date she's done fuck all about it.
Postscript, since writting this I have received a letter from Hazel Blears in which she tries to fob us off by saying that chemical in foods are regulated at an E.U. level.  The truth is she probably couldn't do anything about it even if she wanted to because her government has ceded all powers of food regulation to the E.U.
Feel free to leave comments

Smoking the case for

16 Mar 2007

Smoking the case for

Current mood:cynical

If you possess consciousness then you'll be aware that in the eyes of the government smoking is akin to peodophilia. Cigarettes and very heavily taxed in this country a fact that creates an illegal black market which only helps criminals. You might think that its good of the government to tax something which is unhealthy to discourage us from using it, but former chancellor Nigel Lawson admitted that cigarette tax never gets above a level that would ultimately lead to a fall in tax revenue. Soon smoking will be banned from all public places which will devastate many small pubs and clubs whos regulars are used to enjoying a relaxing pint and cigar.
Again its a class problem, MP's in the House of commons who don't understand the relief and pleasure a fag break during a long shift at work can bring see themselves as doing this for the public good but Winston Churchill was famous for his cigars and Tony Benn and Harold Wilson rarely seen not puffing on a pipe.  Princess Margaret was often seen smoking through a posh cigarette holder.  Bill Clinton puffed cigars after being blown by interns in the Whie House and Che Guevara wouldn't be the same without his.  Albert Einstein, Carl Jung Eric Morecambe and Van Gogh all smoked pipes.
The health problems aren't caused by the tobacco itself their caused by the chemicals added to the tobacco
More than 600 additives can legally be added to tobacco products.
These include coffee extract, sugar, vanilla, cocoa, menthol, oil from clove stems, caramel and chlorophyll, the compound that gives plants their green colour.
Many appear to be present simply to add flavour.
But they may also have more sinister effects. For example, cocoa when burned in a cigarette produces bromine gas that dilates the airways of the lung, and increases the body's ability to absorb nicotine.
Menthol is also suspected of enabling the smoker to inhale more easily by numbing the throat.
Researchers claim that other additives have been expertly developed by tobacco companies to manipulate the delivery of nicotine with extreme precision.
Techniques employed by tobacco companies include the addition of ammonia compounds, which speed the delivery of nicotine to smokers by raising the alkalinity of tobacco smoke. These compounds also distort the measurement of tar in cigarettes, giving lower readings than would actually be inhaled by the smoker;
Addition of chemicals, such as acetaldehyde and pyridine, that act to strengthen nicotine's impact on the brain and central nervous system.
There is also concern about the so-called "burn enhancers" that cause cigarettes to remain ignited and may lead to additional fire hazards.
The tobacco companies have also developed ways to increase the nicotine content of cigarettes. These include adjustment of tobacco blends by using high-nicotine tobaccos and higher nicotine parts of tobacco leaves to raise the nicotine concentration in lower tar cigarettes;
Addition of nicotine to fortify tobacco stems, scraps and other waste materials, which are processed into reconstituted tobacco - a product that is used in significant quantities in most major cigarette brands;
The genetic engineering of tobacco plants to substantially boost nicotine content.
Other additives may cause harm by increasing the use of tobacco.
For example, sweeteners such as sugar can also be added to cigarettes, making them more appealing to young people. A spokeswoman for the UK charity Action on Smoking and Health said: "The problem with additives is that they are not just about altering the flavour of cigarettes. Research has shown that the key purpose of putting extra additives into cigarettes is to improve their potency and ultimately their addictiveness.
"It is incredible that the tobacco industry has been allowed to get away with putting these compounds into their cigarettes without any requirement to say what they are there for."
The tobacco manufacturers argue that no compounds can be added to cigarettes without government approval, and agreed levels cannot be increased without permission.
But is it any surprise that the government don't take action on the problem when you find that people such as former Chancellor Ken Clarke was Deputy Chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT) (1998-2005) and has faced allegations over the activities of BAT in lobbying the developing world to reject stronger health warnings on cigarette packets. If the government are serious about stopping people dying from smoking related illnesses they should make public houses install smoke removing air conditioning on their premises and make cigarette manufacturers remove all the ghastly chemicals which are ultimately what cause deaths. Again I've emailed my local MP Hazel Blears and she wrote back saying the chemicals in ciggs are regulated at an E.U. level and there's nothing she can do.
Feel free to leave comments if you agree or disagree with what I've written
Postscript, since the smoking Ban Pubs in the UK are closing at a rate of 26 a month, and also that the pubs that are closing aren't the trendy city theme pubs or the big Chain pubs like weatherspoons but rather the traditional Village or country pub that is full of history and a character. 

Missplaced altruism

18 Apr 2008

Missplaced altruism

Current mood:irate

Four Plymouth women who goaded toddlers into fighting and filmed it have been given 12-month suspended sentences.
Carole Olver, 48, and her three daughters, Zara, 29, Serenza, 29, and Danielle, 19, admitted child cruelty charges at Plymouth Crown Court.
During the case, the video was shown. A boy wearing a nappy was called a 'wimp' for not hitting his sister back after she struck him.
The four women are heard laughing as the toddlers are urged to fight.

The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by his three-year-old sister and is told by one of the four women in the room 'not to be a wimp or a faggot' and to hit the girl back
 I don't have a particularly high regard for women from the British Isles. Just recently we have seen Faye Turney on our screens, the woman who would rather serve in the Navy than bring up her young offspring. I've nothing against women who don't have kids to bring up serving in the Navy but what was she doing in a front line position where she could and did get captured. Wouldn't she be better advised to rear her children?
Another British woman who made it onto our screens recently was Jane Goody and her mother. When the fat idiot Goody was presented with a intelligent foreign woman in the form of Shilpa Shetty she spastically jerked all her toys out of the pram and her real racist nasty self was laid bare for all to see.   Her boyfreind is a criminal jailed for assault.  Being unintelligent is one thing, willfully ignorant another.  Another famous british woman is Amy Winehouse who's husband is a tattooed drug addict who made a video of Amy singing a racist song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75yifjn7bHo is also a criminal convicted of assault.

Why is it that Italy a Catholic country where condoms are prohibited doesn't have anything like the teenage pregnancy rate of the UK. Figures out recently suggest that poverty after 10 years of a labour government is actually on the increase. This provoked the chancellor into raising child benefit in an effort to alleviate the problem. Unfortunately it will only make it worse, he should have cut income tax for the poor because tax cuts can be aimed specifically at people in need and child benefit is eligable to practically everyone regardless of income.  Poverty is created by poor people giving birth when they can't afford to bring up their kids, giving these people more benefits is only going to encourage them to be irresponsible and give birth as many times as they like without having to pay for it, thus creating more poverty. I think it is the absolute height of arrogance to bring someone into the world in poverty and expect others to pay for them.
I've nothing against young mothers having children but they should pay for them.  The way to prevent spiraling teenage pregnancies  is to stop giving them benefits.  We should give the Child Support agency real teeth to get money from absent fathers.  During the sixties the contraceptive pill was invented. This you would have thought would lead to a massive decline in  unwanted teenage pregnancies, but unfortunately it didn't because this was the time when Harold Wilson introduced generous benefits to single mums and the result was a boom in teenagers getting pregnant.
Some teenage single mothers have only taken from society and never needed or sought to gain the social skills nessesary to go out and get a job, this then can get passed down to their offspring. 
Since writting this blog the story of Shannon Matthews has come to light, the missing girls mother Karen is now being charged with child neglect and and perverting the course of justice, she has had seven children by five different fathers.  Karen Matthews has never been in full-time, long-term employment.  She rakes in £400 a week on benefits and has three computers and one widescreen television.  According to one witness one of her babies would have a carrier bag or a towel taped to his bum. Instead of spending money on nappies, she would spend it on stuff like crisps, sweets etc.  Her boyfriend, Craig is being charged with possessing child pornography.  She is a staggeringly low slag and a prime example of the type of scum the misplaced altruism of the benefits system can breed.  I'm not the only one you takes this opinion a new group on Face book has been formed called  'Shannon Matthews family should be slaughtered...SCUM!!!'  It can be viewed here
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14241366718&ref=mf

Ding dong Blair is gone

11 May 2007

Ding dong Blair is gone

Current mood:satisfied

First I'm going to list All of Tony Blairs great achievements
both of them
He removed Betting Tax and introduced 24 hour drinking.
The easiest thing in life is to find fault with something and we all know what his faults are I don't need to list them here but instead say what improvements could easily be made that help our country
1) removal of chemicals from cigs
2) Privatisation of the BBC, and give the shares to the people of Britain.  The argument that the BBC needs the license fee to make quality programmes that wouldn't be made elsewhere is just rubbish, Look at any BBC schedule and you'll see its chasing ratings trying to compete with ITV. Lady Thatcher introduced measures forcing the BBC to Broadcast material from outside producers. Look at many of your favourite shows and you'll see that their actually made by private production companies like Hat Trick productions. Hat trick was set up by 3 friends in a cramped office north of Oxford Street in London in 1986, its responsible for 'Have I got news for you', 'Room 101' and 'Father Ted' etc. Baby Cow productions is responsible for 'Ideal' 'The Mighty Boosh' etc. if the Beeb didn't buy their stuff it would be sold to other channels. After the Andrew Gilligan affair which resulted in the BBC Director general being sacked for standing by the journalist who claimed that Blair had sexed up the case for war, the BBC can have no claim to be independent they rely on the government for the licence fee and therefore do whatever the government say.  A privatised BBC could become a real world leader in the media world, challenging Rupert Murdochs sky.
3) Tuition Fees, unannounced in any manifesto the government did away with grants for students and replaced them with loans, How about a system which rewarded excellence by re-inbursing tuition fee's dependant on your grade, the CBI could tell the government which degrees industry and the economy needed and students doing these degrees would get their maintenance loan paid for students doing other nonessential degrees would pay their maintenance loan, then with all courses If you get a first class degree you get your tuition fees back in full a 2/1 you get 3 quarters, a 2/2 half, a third class a quarter and if you fail get nothing back.  I'd also do this for GSCE's it costs quite a bit of money to put pupils through exams, this money could be re-imbursed to the student on them leaving, further education, buying a car, deposit for a flat, equipment to start a business or what ever they wished. Again the amount of money would be dependant on the grades. People getting a 'A' would get the whole cost of that exam given back to them, this would decrease down the grades.
4) Education vouchers, Blairs proud of saying how much money he's poured into the education system, yet higher numbers than ever are choosing to go to private school.  Comprehensive schools are a disaster, and faith schools will be an even worse disaster.  Schools should be able to choose their pupils by academic excellence, but not religion, this would allow bright children from whatever background to be educated along side people of a similiar ability, the comprehensive system idea of putting thick people in with intelligent people thinking it will make the thick people brighter is as stupid as the idea of putting me in a class with mozart and expecting his genius to rub off on me, it isn't going to happen.  Though I was happy to go to a shit school because the atmosphere was much slacker than other stricter schools.  If the money that was spent on each pupil was given to the parents in voucher form they could decide to spend that voucher at the state school, or top up that voucher and go private. The same idea could be applied to the Health service, were people have chosen to take out private health insurance they should receive a tax break, this tax break would be 4 pence off income tax for those in the basic 20 pence bracket and 2 pence of for people in the 40p bracket and nothing off for those in the 50p bracket as you've taken yourself out of the public health system you should receive some of your money back this would allow many more people to be able to afford private health care and take theburden off the NHS.
5) Legalisation of most drugs, except the most harmful destructive shit like crystal meth.
Cocaine, Opium, cannabis ecstasy etc. could all be made available in chemists and post offices, to prevent problems you could only purchase a legally safe amount of each drug each week and you would have to give the chemist you national insurance number and you would only be entitled to the drugs if you paid income tax.  The drugs could be taxed just like tobacco and alcohol.  I would also legalise and tax prostitution, making one of the worlds oldest proffessions illegal is futile and fuels human sex slave trafficking, pimping and diseases 6) Pull out of the E.U.  At an inquest into  Myra Hindleys death, it was revealed that she had asked doctors not to resuscitate her if she stopped breathing. Ironically, Myra Hindley would have been freed under an E.U. Law Lords ruling that came two weeks later, which would  have embarrassed the government and outraged the public had it come to fruition.  Ask yourself I've Myra was happy to die then why did she  launch a series of legal challenges to win her freedom.  She was allowed to die so the government could escape the embarrassment of her being freed by the E.U. court of human rights. 
Maggie Thatcher in her final book 'statecraft'  puts forward the case for leaving the E.U.  not every country in Europe is a member, switzerland, Iceland  and Norway aren't in the E.U. so why can't we set up a free trade agreement with the E.U. and leave it at that.  Four out of five of our laws now come direct from the E.U.  EU regulations impose extra costs on every business in the country – including those that never export and those that export only to non-EU markets.  The argument that  the E.U. has prevented war in Europe is rubbish as the debacle in yuguslavia proved.  Only Britain and the U.S. showed the political will to stand up to Slobodan Milosevic.  Whats prevented a major war in Europe is nuclear weapons, namely that Britain and France have them and Germany don't, because there not allowed them because there very naughty, and mustn't ever be allowed to play with them for the good of the world. 
In 2003 the UK gave £12 billion to the EU
(Gross Contribution).  The EU handed back to the UK £7.5 billion of its money as rebate and EU grants.  So in 2003 the UK gave the EU £4.5 billion,  to put this in context The Iraq war and its aftermath has cost the UK almost £3.1 billion
 As Churchill said "We have our own dream and our own task.  We are with Europe, but not of it.  We are linked but not combined.  We are interested and associated but not absorbed". 

Why I like to gamble

23 Jul 2007

Why I like to gamble

Current mood:thankful

I love gambling and today gave me a great example of why I like it.  The first test between England and India at Lords should have been a high scoring affair if the form book was to be believed, both sides have stronger batting line ups than bowling, the England seam attack was paricularly inexperienced with one player making his debut and the Indians have one of the all time great batsmen in the form of Sachin Tendulkar.  Every player who scores a century at lords has his name carved into a board at the venue.  Sachin had never scored a ton at lords, and this was to be his last chance.  England won the toss and closed the first day at a respectable 268 for 4.  It was here that I checked the unpromising weather forcast for forthcoming days and decided to put my money on the draw.  A decision which was looking wise the next day when the entire morning session was written off due to rain, the ground resembled a lake shortly after midday and any play appeared a remote possibility but, after the drainage system worked its magic, the Test took a dramatic twist as england suffered a batting  collapse of 6 for 26.   England's innings, which resumed on a healthy 268 for 4, subsided in less than 11 overs, oh dear, well at least with England's inexperinced attack and India's great batting line up we can expect to see a couple of days of batting with India surpasing the England total.  But England quickly removed several of india's big guns and India finished the day on  145 for 4.   England and India continued to trade blows as the first Test moved on apace despite more weather interruptions during the third day at Lord's. James Anderson claimed Test-best figures of 5 for 42 as he and Ryan Sidebottom dismissed India for 201 with England securing a lead of 97. 

England then ended then day on 77 for 2.  The forth day would be make or brake.  Cricket is a curious game often in order to win a game you have to put yourself in a position where you could lose it and with this being the first test of the series it was unlikely England would contemplate letting India win by declaring for anything under 400.  But the decision of a declaration was taken out of Micheal Vaughans hands when England where bowled out for 282.  India where therefore set a target of 380, which had they achieved it would have been a record for Lords but they had plenty of time with which to make it.  India ended the day on 137 for 3.  The weather forcast was predicting heavy rain but play started on day 5 and India steadily lost wickets and  grimly hung on hoping for the weather to intervene.  The light was steadily worsening and England captain Vaughan had started to bowl his own offspin for the first time in years with Monty Panesar also spinning from the other end in order to prolong play and stave off having to leave the field for bad light.   Just before the tea interval at 3.33pm bad light stopped play with England needing only one more wicket to win.  Had the fast bowlers been operating the decision to offer the Indian batsmen the light would have been taken earlier. 

Play was halted and the question was, is there going to be any more play?  at   4.09 pm Umpires Steve Bucknor and Simon Taufel  inspected conditions, and they decided it's good for play.  Play would resume at 4.40 pm, 4.25 pm The drizzle  returned and the covers  went back on. The 4.40 pm start is doubtful now.  It continued to rain till 6.20 pm Well that's it. The match has been called off. England have been denied by the rain, India have been let off the hook, it's a draw. Lots of relieved faces in the Indian dressing room. And several frustrated ones in England's.  The rain I'd been praying for all day had finally come to my rescue and the match ended in a draw.  the bet lasted for four days and came down to a whisker of rain appearing 10 minutes before england could finally wrap up the Indian innings.  Not very patriotic you might say but then I am one of Englands most famous traitors.

Manchester was to be the home of Britains first super casino but new PM Gordon Brown has vetoed it.  Manchester, Blackpool and various other councils will have spent thousounds of pounds of council tax payers money on lobying the government to allow them to become the home of a super casino, all of which have now gone to waste.  But Gordon Brown's record on gambling is mixed, he got rid off betting tax to allow british bookmakers to take on the world and become world leaders and also because all the UK bookmakers had gone abroad to Gibralta to avoid the tax anyway.  He has also overseen a massive proliferation of the national lottery to almost daily draws and countless scratch cards.  Yet he won't allow a super casino which could regenerate run down areas, promote tourism and provide hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue.   None of the arguments against a super casino hold water, especially given there are already normal sized casino's and its now easier than ever  to gamble online.  The idea of a national lottery appears in George Orwell's 1984

'They were talking about the Lottery. Winston looked back when he had gone thirty metres. They were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the running of the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons. In the absence of any real intercommunication between one part of Oceania and another, this was not difficult to arrange.'
When the idea of a national lottery was suggested to Margaret Thatcher she rebuffed it writting at the bottom of the paper which proposed the idea 'over my dead body' 

The Spirit of the game

12 Aug 2007

The Spirit of the game

Current mood:betrayed

 'Cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.' - Robert Mugabe

 I have to declare I love sports.  It amazes me that the government  don't do more to promote sport, given the feelgood factor that sporting success brings to our nation.  Harold Wilson milked the 1966 world cup win making the players play in red and calling the election that year, even though the last election was only 2 years previous.  Given how well paid sports men are I think it should be treated more seriously in schools, and a schools sporting record should be given as much prominence as its academic record.  Sports are an area where people who aren't academically gifted can excell, as Brian Clough once said 'Academically I'm thick, but a footballer needs to have his brains in his feet'.  Teachers should be paid extra to stay after hours in schools to give extra training, and teachers should be made to teach cricket in state schools  not just rounders or some such easy option idiocy.  In Australia cricket is the main sport in there schools so its not suprising that they keep beating us.  The BBC should be privatised so it can compete with  Sky TV in bidding for sporting events.  the FA shouldn't have allowed the formation of the premiership, the real purpose of the premiership was to allow the top division in English football to keep all the money it raised from TV reciepts to itself, instead of sharing the cash with the lower leagues as used to be the case when the F.A. controlled the league.  Since the formation of the premiership the top clubs have grown much richer and used there extra revenue to buy foriegn players, as a result we now have some teams like Arsenal who regually field no English players, and as a result the national team has suffered with the failure to qualify for this summers European Championship a prime example of that.  Since the formation of the premier league only 4 teams have won it, only 3 teams that have won it more than once, and only 2 teams have won it ore than twice.  Ticket prices and footballers salaries have rocketed, but precious little of the billions of pounds the premier league raises goes back into grass roots football. 

 The Government should stop selling off school playing fields and allow ball games to be played in school playgrounds.  And why not design vandal proof tennis courts with an unbreabable perspex net and erect them in inner city areas.  Snooker, Darts and 20/20 cricket should be made olympic sports to help with our medal tally.  Sports are one of Britains greatest gifts to the world, If anyone asks, 'what has Britain given the world' you can reply, Football, Rugby, golf, tennis, cricket etc. and the spirit of fair play, freedom and chivalry that allowed such games to develop.    The following demonstrates the British attitude to sport, where the spirit of the game, and not just the result is the most important factor.

THE PREAMBLE – THE SPIRIT OF CRICKET

Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that

it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit

of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes

injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit

of fair play rests with the captains.

1.

conduct firmly on the captain.
Responsibility of captains

The captains are responsible at all times for ensuring that play is

conducted within the Spirit of the Game as well as within the

Laws.
Player's conduct

In the event of a player failing to comply with instructions by an

umpire, or criticising by word or action the decisions of an

umpire, or showing dissent, or generally behaving in a manner

which might bring the game into disrepute, the umpire concerned

shall in the first place report the matter to the other umpire and to

the player's captain, and instruct the latter to take action.
2. Fair and unfair play

According to the Laws the umpires are the sole judges of fair and

unfair play.

The umpires may intervene at any time and it is the responsibility

of the captain to take action where required.
3. The umpires are authorised to intervene in cases of:

¦ Time wasting

¦ Damaging the pitch

¦ Dangerous or unfair bowling

¦ Tampering with the ball

¦ Any other action that they consider to be unfair

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4. The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for:
¦ Your opponents

¦ Your own captain and team

¦ The role of the umpires

¦ The game's traditional values
5. It is against the Spirit of the Game:

¦ To dispute an umpire's decision by word, action or gesture

¦ To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire

¦ To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance:

(a) to appeal knowing that the batsman is not out

(b) to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when

appealing

(c) to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by

harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise

under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one's own

side
6. Violence

There is no place for any act of violence on the field of play.

7. Players
Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a

cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important

contribution to this.

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The players, umpires and scorers in a game of cricket may be of

either gender and the Laws apply equally to both. The use, throughout

the text, of pronouns indicating the male gender is purely for brevity.

Except where specifically stated otherwise, every provision of the

Laws is to be read as applying to women and girls equally as to men

and boys.
postscript
 
Premier League chairman Sir David Richards says the England team is being hampered by overseas players.
Richards gave a damning verdict on the league's impact on the England team when he spoke at a conference in Dubai at the end of May.
"Does the Premier League hurt the national side? I think the answer has to be yes," Richards said.

"We created a system of academies and every club spends about £3m a year developing young players. But it hasn't worked, because the availability for us to go out and buy the best stars is an easy thing.
"In fact, I would probably go as far as to say the Premier League has probably cost him (Steve Mclaren) his job. Because what we've done, we've actually bought all these foreign players in."

Research by BBC Sport last month found that the number of England-qualified players in the Premier League hit an all-time low last season.
Only 170 of the 498 players who started matches in the top flight in 2007-08 were English - just 34.1% of the total.
It marked a big slide from 2006-07, when 191 (38%) of the starters were English.

There are two Laws which place the responsibility for the team's

THE LAWS OF CRICKET