Who is he trying to fool?

From the BBC website:
The Prime Minister spoke for just under an hour, ending with an attempt to boost the morale of party members shaken by polls suggesting they are heading for a massive defeat, telling them New Labour was "not done yet".
He urged activists to "dream big dreams and watch our country soar" and "reach inside ourselves for the strength of our convictions" and to "fight" for victory - earning a standing ovation in the hall.
Honestly, who is Brown trying to fool? Himself? His loyal followers (both of them I mean)? The British public?? I know that a week is a long time in politics (so they say) but Labour are dead and buried. There is no way that they are going to win the General Elections next year. The only way for Gordon Brown to avoid a crushing defeat at the polls next year is to step down as PM and hand over the poisoned chalice to someone else. After all Tony Blair played this trick on him when Labour had started to lose support so Brown may as well do the same.

Greedish Airways

Just before the last weekend I heard that British Airways are going to charge their customers pay to reserve specific seats. Those who want to make sure they sit in a group or have a preference for aisle, window or exit seats will be affected.
This really is what I call scraping the dregs of the barrel. They may as well paint a big harp in blue and yellow on their aircraft and start calling themselves Ryanair... as there will be very little distinction between these two airlines once this ludicrous charge is introduced.
British Airways are not exactly the cheapest airline as it is... now quite frankly I will think long and hard before booking another flight with them as this is just one step too far.

How to sound rather stupid

“What a fantastic dream to have, to keep winning promotions and get Notts County back into the Premier League”, by Sol Campbell.
For a start, a pedant may argue that Notts County (or any other club for that matter) cannot get back to where they have never been. They have played in the top flight before but the Premiership only started in 1992 and the last time that Notts County were in the top flight was many, many years before, definitely in ‘black and white’ (pun intended, considering these are their club colours).
Anyway it looks like Sol is offski after only one match played for the League Two outfit. So what happened to the dream of winning back-to-back promotions Sol? So much for loyalty to your new fans eh?! A decent footballer you may be but the sharpest tool in the box you ain’t Sol.

Bye-bye Briatore

To be honest with you I don’t give two hoots about Formula One as a sport. In fact, I don’t even consider it as a sport as – in my opinion – the role of the driver is far too minor compared to the car’s.
Anyway, even though I don’t follow F1, I couldn’t help raising a chuckle today when I heard about the life ban imposed on the above mentioned sleazebag.

Here is an excerpt from the Guardian's website:
The former Renault Formula One managing director Flavio Briatore was today effectively banned from motor sport for life, for his part in a scandal that the sport's governing body said was of "unparalleled severity".
However, the World Motor Sport Council effectively gave Renault a green light to continue in formula one. The team, who chose not to contest Nelson Piquet Jr's claims that he was asked to crash into a wall during the 2008 Singapore grand prix in order to hand an advantage to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso, will be permanently banned only if they commit a "comparable breach" by the end of 2011.
Although unable to take action against Briatore personally, after he left Renault last week, the 26-member WMSC said it would not sanction any event involving him "in any capacity whatsoever".
It also said it would refuse to renew licences to any driver associated with Briatore in any capacity, meaning that all those managed by him will have to extricate themselves from their contracts. They include Alonso, Piquet, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen.

Japanese Matsuri Festival

Yesterday I went to the Japanese Matsuri Festival in Spitalfields, near Liverpool Street, which featured Japanese art, crafts, food, and various performances. Apparently this festival was held in honour of 150 years of Anglo-Japanese relations.
To say that this event was mobbed from the early afternoon is a major understatement. In hindsight – which we all know is a great thing – the organisers should have arranged to have the stalls spread out over the whole Spitalfields area, not just a section of it.
It’s a shame that it was so popular as I was absolutely looking forward to trying some of the Japanese delicacies on offer. However the queues for any sort of food and drink were humongous and I had no intention of queuing up for 45 minutes so... it’ll have to be next time. Lesson learnt – never brave this sort of events on an empty tummy!
It was also very nice to meet up with Eva and Mark. We bumped into some of our colleagues and their partners and had a nice chat with them. Altogether it was a very pleasant way of spending a sunny afternoon in London.

Basel away

Got to Basle just before 11am on the Easyjet flight from Gatwick. I was quickly reminded of how efficient the Swiss are as the bus into town left right on time and took exactly 17 minutes as promised. The same journey by taxi would have cost me approx. 40 CHF, which served as a reminder of how bloody expensive that country is.
I was unable to check into my room at the Youth Hostel until 3pm, which incidentally is also when my mates from Rome were meant to arrive in town, so had a little wander by myself around the city centre. Very nice, clean and organised, just as you’d expect a Swiss city to be.
Wherever I go I try to sample the local cuisine, however on this occasion the Basel Building Society had failed to advance the necessary funds for a decent lunch so yours truly had to make do with Turkey’s finest (pide and kebab).
Approaching 3pm, I went back to the Yoof Hostel to check in, and the reception guy cheerily told me that unfortunately I had to wait just five more minutes. I looked at my watch and it was 2.55pm. I thought he was joking.... he wasn’t (sad ‘James Blunt’). Before going to my room, he asked me to follow him into the next room, where I’d be able to pick up my bed sheets. Then he asked me ‘would you like to get a towel as well?’. Unfortunately I think that my sarcasm (‘I’ll take it, you never know, that could come in handy...’) flew well over his cuckoo’s head.
In the end it was a good turnout for the lads from Rome. We had almost 100 in the pub before the match, and another 50 or so joined us outside the ground. I’ll try and post a picture or two this time, I promise.
The least said about the match, the better. AS Roma players had better get their arse in gear or we may be in for just another very long, hard season.

Kenyon out

From the BBC website:

Chelsea have announced that Peter Kenyon will be leaving his chief executive role at the end of October. Kenyon, who left Manchester United in 2003 to join Chelsea, will continue at the Blues as a non-executive director. The 55-year-old will also continue to represent Chelsea invarious capacities, including committee roles with European governing body Uefa.

Am I being too cynical if I think that 1) there is a strong link between Chelsea's transfer ban and Kenyon's departure?; and 2) he will be completely out of the door within the next 12 months?

Personally I don't think it could have happened to a nicer bloke as I have NEVER liked Kenyon - first and foremost, he's a Manc and I was gobsmacked when Abramovich offered him a job at Chelsea. Secondly I don't think he has any style, he's just a glorified shirt seller FFS. That's what he's good at, that's what he should have kept doing, rather than darkening Chelsea's doorstep.