Is Football Just A Load Of Balls ?

Israel and England played out a disappointing 0-0 draw in their Euro 2008 qualifying match yesterday, which begs the question "Are we actually any good at football?"

In short, I have no idea as football isn't my bag really and I don't follow "the beautiful game" all that much. I don't know good playing from utterly useless, however, when tournaments such as the World Cup, FA Cup and various other excuses to fly players and their trashy other halves around the globe come around, I can't help but notice that we always seem to be doing rather rubbish and lose quite a lot.

Whether I think this is all a waste of time or not, it is impossible to avoid hearing about the celebrity lifestyles of the sport's "A list" players and the cash that goes with it, so they can't say that they are not getting well paid. I know that Bentleys, country mansions, indoor AND outdoor swimming pools, dim witted girlfriends who wouldn't know a real day's work if they stepped in it, costs a whole heap of cash BUT value for money it can't be, surely ?

Or am I missing something ?

Losing Count.....

Another youngster lost his life last night after he was stabbed to death in the Plaistow area of East London.

I really am starting to lose count with all these stabbings and murders involving children. It is getting to the point where I watch the news and wonder if they are talking about the same incident or has someone else just been killed. It would be awful enough if those involved were were adults, but these are kids who seem to see no value in another human life and are turning on each other with such frightening regularity, that there could come a time when it will no longer shock us.

The lad who died last night was just fifteen years old and on his way home from the cinema. Whether or not he was a decent and honest young man who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I have no idea, but no one deserves to die that young and in that way. I've lived twice as long as him and still consider myself to have a long life ahead of me. It's terrible to think that somone can lose their life in such a violent way at such a young age.

I'm assuming the victims of these awful crimes aren't being done in with a bread knife taken from a kitchen drawer, so where are these weapons coming from ? Maybe if possession of a knife meant five years in prison, it may give those carrying them something to think about before going around "tooled up".

It may sound drastic, but I think maybe something like the Police in riot gear, or maybe even the Army, should start patrolling some of these areas and start rounding up those who are carrying weapons. I know that might sound a bit radical or over the top, but we can't go on as we are. After all, this is happening somewhere that is only an hours drive away. It's practically on our doorstep.

How many more people have to die before something real gets done about it ?

What A Bargain !

Oh good, I am so pleased, my council tax bill has arrived !

Yes folks, it’s that time of year when the Ministry for hanging baskets in bus shelters, flowers on roundabouts, "isn’t it time we changed the name of the council again?" and generally squandering the public’s hard earned dosh, have carefully totted up how much I need to be giving them over the next year.

Of course, we need to pay for public services and the bin men, street lighting, libraries etc all come at a price, but I can’t help get the feeling that “value for money” isn’t top of the list of priorities when it comes to making budgetary decisions.

I know that Council Chief Executives like to trouser a nice hefty pay packet and that the biscuits eaten during those long meetings need to be of a certain standard, but what exactly am I getting for my money ? I only have to walk from one end of the road to the other to see that street cleaning can't be happening all that often for a start. Everywhere I turn, I seem to see empty drink cans, half eaten food in discarded wrapping, dog mess, fag ends and spat out chewing gum. We seem to live in a society where people actually think it is ok to drop litter. Sure, that's a whole other debate, but suffice it to say that when recently hearing of suited, middle aged business executives hurling half eaten fish and chips onto the end someone's driveway, it emphasised to me that it isn't just rebelling teenagers who need a bit of re-education on the subject.

What I want, and do not think is unreasonable from my "Council Tax Cash", is a clean street, regular rubbish collections (if mine is cut to once a fortnight, I think I will be tempted to leave a beautifully tied bin bag on the steps of the council offices once a week), Policemen on the beat (on foot, rather than hiding in the "Area Car" - not totally sure if this is the right phrase, but I heard it on "The Bill" and it sounds good!), parking meters that give change and don't just eat money, a local councillor that is more "visible" in general, rather than just at election time etc etc.

I could go on, but I'm sure you see my point. I am more than happy to pay for local services and expect costs to rise, but I do think that we should be getting above average services in return. Therefore we should be more demanding, write more letters of complaint, be more awkward and refuse to be fobbed off.

One final thought to throw into the mix.........

When it comes to electing local councillors, the turnout from the electorate tends to be around 35-40% which is hardly record breaking.

Maybe it is time we, as residents, took things a bit more seriously too ?

MADeley AS HELL !

A nineteen year old woman was mugged for her mobile phone, while she popped out for a sandwich on her lunch break in London yesterday.

A pretty everyday occurrence really, in fact it's very likely to be every minute of the day somewhere, both in London and elsewhere in the UK. What made it rare was that the victim, Chole Madeley, was the daughter of teatime telly presenter, Richard Madeley, thus giving the crime a pretty huge profile. I would doubt that the theft of a mobile phone has made the front pages before, unless the bloody corpse of it's owner had been left behind as the thieves legged it as fast as they could.

However, come five o'clock yesterday evening, live on Channel 4 with "Richard & Judy", Chole's dad was shaking his fist with rage at the mugger on national TV. I'm sure it was very unlikely that the "girl hoodie" thief was actually watching, having probably exchanged the phone already for God knows what, however you can't blame him for boiling over. It was only when his wife and co-presenter, Judy Finnigan, gave him a thump on the knee, that he calmed down.

It's a shame it takes a TV presenter's daughter to get mugged before such crimes get noticed properly, but I think Richard was totally right to mention it during the programme. Obviously the vast majority of people don't have their own TV show with which to draw attention to such things happening to their family, however, who wouldn't have done the same if they did ? Therefore I think Richard spoke for a lot of frustrated, law abiding people who are fed up with nothing being done in these sorts of situations.

"No doubt the police will be bending over backwards to find their daughter's mugger." Rather an unsympathetic response by a viewer via the programme's forum on the Channel 4 website.

Sure the police will work harder on this case than others and I hope that this shows the gaping holes in our justice system and maybe, just maybe, something might get done about it. I hope the police do go the extra mile for Chole Madeley, so the "girl hoodie" who mugged her does end up in court. The fact the thief mugged the daughter of somebody famous isn't going to mean that, if caught, she'll get any kind of decent punishment. It will be the usual slap on the wrist and let's all feel sorry for a deprived childhood, followed by the usual bleeding hearts situation. If that does happen, I just hope the "Richard & Judy" cameras are there to show the British legal system for the farce it can be.