daveydave

I finally bought a Kindle

2011-07-07T20:46:00.002+01:00

I have at various times over the past few months had a Kindle in my Amazon basket, but have managed to summon the strength to remove it. Last week, I finally gave up resisting.

The idea of an eBook reader has appealed for a while. My Dad got a Sony Reader a couple of years ago and he really likes it. He's never actually bought any books for it yet (plus it's impossible for me to buy him one indirectly for a present) but he's been happily working his way through the sizable collection of free classics that are supplied with the device. Of course, you can carry a lot of books around with you in one of these things.

Kindle plus points? Well, it's compact, the screen is lovely and clear to read and it is very easy to get books onto the Kindle: you don’t have to use dreadful software to get books onto the thing. So the system works (wake up Sony), the books are not stupidly overpriced (i.e. more than a hardback - wake up Waterstones) and, though you can easily find books for pennies on Amazon Marketplace, there are a loads of Kindle books available for free such as all of those fabulous classics you've heard about but never read. And the real Brucie Bonus (tm), is being able to preview a book is a fantastic idea and a feature I've made good use of on the phone.

[One very minor note on samples: I got a sample of a book on the English legal system and by the time I got through the table of contents, table of figures and tables of cases, the sample was over so I didn’t actually get to read any of the book itself. Having said that, on the whole it’s a great system.]

So why did it take so long? A few reasons spring to mind. First off: I have piles of books in the house that I haven't read yet. I was supposed to clear the backlog first. FAIL.

Secondly, the tactile nature of holding a book would be a loss to me, although this seems less of a problem as I read things on my phone's Kindle app and the Kindle itself. On a related note, I think reference books may be a bit of an issue, where you need to flick through a book to check references or stuff you've forgotten from a chapter or two ago. I'm currently reading a book on Turkish language reform, and this is proving a bit of a issue. Not a huge pain, but I just know a book would be easier to deal with in this situation.

Thirdly, I read in the bath. Dropping a book in the bath is fine, dropping a piece of kit worth over £100, less so.

Finally (that I can think of for now) is the social aspect of real books. You lend and you borrow them, they are a tangible and welcome gift (usually). This all vanishes when you enter the realm of the eBook. On a related point, I’m still not sure what happens to libraries...

But regardless of all that: I’ve caved, I bought one, and I love it.

A final note: I really hope this approach to selling books gives more authors a chance to make a decent living. Not just the select few with the big book deals, but all those who manage to write books worth reading.

What has James Murdoch achieved today?

2011-07-07T20:09:00.004+01:00

Well... I like him even less than I did yesterday, which is saying something.

I've never made much of a secret of the fact that I dislike News International. The organisation has far too much influence for my liking - although a good point has been made on this evening's news: that the influence is probably more in the minds of the politicians than anything else - did everyone who reads the Sun vote Tory last year? Doubt it. Regardless, the politicians in their infinite wisdom, curry favour with the Murdochs and no doubt BSkyB was a sweetner for News International's support of the Tories last May.

On to the News of the World. My initial response on hearing about its imminent closure was one of satisfaction. A deserved kick in the eye for News International given the appalling revelations that have come to light. However, when you sit back and think about it, that act has done nothing towards atoning for the wrongdoings of the past. The editorial team currently at the News of the World have been the ones to turn the paper around and their reward appears to be the sack. I feel for those guys and gals, I really do.

So something strange has happened tonight, I find myself in the peculiar situation of agreeing with Ed Miliband:

"lots of people are losing their jobs today but one of the people who's remaining in her job is the chief executive of News International who was the editor at the time"

Yep, can't argue with that,

"I'm interested in those who were responsible being brought to justice."

Me too Eddie, me too.

But James Murdoch is perfectly happy with Rebekah Brooks and she looks set to stay in post. It remains to be seen who actually takes the fall for the apparent endemic hacking, bribery and corruption. It won't be Murdoch, that's for sure.

And finally: it appears that we will now have to stomach 7 editions of the Sun each week rather than 5. God help us.

Internet on the telly

2011-01-31T22:09:00.007Z

Around fifteen years ago, a 28" television rattled off the Philips production line - in an era where the UK just about had 5 terrestrial channels. Tonight, it showed me video from the internet. Here's how:

The internet arrives from the outside world through a filter and into an ADSL router. Out of the router via a short length of network cable, it enters a powerline network adapter and through the domestic 240v power system at 130Mbps. At the other end it comes out the socket, into a 4-port adapter and through more Cat5 to the FreeSat box. There, it travels the short distance to the TV through a SCART lead and lo... BBC iPlayer arrives on the screen.

It may not be a holiday on the moon, but it's a little bit of future.

Another gig round-up

2010-11-13T16:23:00.003Z

Continuing with my "not writing proper reviews" thing, here is a list of gigs we've been to since the last round-up in April.

So, where was I... Woody Pines at the Cluny 2 in April. Right, here we go. We went to see Crowded House at Newcastle City Hall in May, they were really excellent, and the lovely Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis was at The Sage (Hall 2) in June. In July there were back-to-back gigs as part of the Mouth of the Tyne Festival by Seth Lakeman (at the newly refurbished Whitley Bay Playhouse) and James Morrison (Tynemouth Castle - fine backdrop for a concert).

No gigs in August, which just feels wrong to be honest, but The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain were splendidly bonkers entertainment at The Sage in September. A folky night at The Sage (again) highlighting the songs of local songwriter Ed Pickford was great fun and the truly fabulous Spiers & Boden at The Cumberland Arms the following night rounded off October.

Final push, honest. Salsa Celtica are a mighty interesting mix of Irish and South American tunes, they were joined by Julie Fowlis for an evening of great rythmn and even some dancing in Hall One of The Sage. A real shame more people didn't turn up. Monday night is the modern face of English folk music, Bellowhead at the Sage and next Saturday we're up at Backworth Miner's Welfare Hall for a gig by a local band: Appletwig Songbook who will be performing a load of mining songs (including some by the aforementioned Ed Pickford).

I think that's only 13 gig for the year so far, which isn't too bad is it. Oh yes, and in amongst all that we've also managed to rehearse and perform in 2 charity concerts. Busy times.

I suspect the lack of proper gig reviews will continue for the foreseeable future, but I do occasionally remember to mention gigs (amongst other random twaddle) on my Twitter feed, should you be interested.

Live music roundup

2010-04-22T16:02:00.001+01:00

It's been a pretty busy 12 months or so for live music and although I have pushed out a few Tweets, I thought I'd do a proper round up on here. However, I've left it so long that I really can't do proper write ups of all the acts, so I'm just listing who I've seen since the start of 2009. Dull, I know. Maybe I'll get some proper reviews done in future....

So, I saw an Abba tribute in March '09 who were pretty good, April was an Indian Classical music double bill and Rumours of Fleetwood Mac tribute band. 10cc in May, Naturally 7 in June, James Morrison at Durham CCC's Riverside Ground in July along with incredible guitarist Preston Reed and a latin double bill including pianist Roberto Fonseca and brilliant Columbian Salsa band La-33. September saw some Taiko Drummers at The Sage, and October was a busy month with the other incredible guitarist Newton Faulkner, the real Fleetwood Mac at Manchester Arena and the awesome Buena Vista Social Club. The irrepressible folk duo Spiers & Boden came along in November with Bucks Fizz in December. The Transatlantic Sessions were at The Sage in February 2010, Seth Lakeman in March and Woody Pines at Cluny 2 in April.

To come over the next couple of months are Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, and I've got Seth Lakeman lined up again at the recently renovated Whitley Bay Playhouse, as well as James Morrison at Tynemouth Priory both as part of the Mouth of the Tyne Festival.

Lots and lots of music.... happy days!

Nick Griffin on Question Time

2009-10-30T12:23:00.008Z

So much has be said and written about the BNP leader's appearance on BBC Question Time that it scarcely seems worth adding more to the discussion. But on the drive in to work this morning I thought I'd jot down a couple of brief points.

Many people were furious that Griffin had be invited to join the QT panel, some to the extent of turning up at BBC HQ and causing a ruckus. To those people I say that, in my opinion, it is far better to get this debate out in the open so everyone can see exactly who this person is and what he represents. Trying to suppress the BNP, ignoring or denying their existence is essentially appeasement-by-default and thoroughly counter-productive. Griffin and his party have, for various reasons, gained a percentage of the national vote. Ignoring this fact is dangerous. Winning the open debate is, to my mind, the only way to ensure they make no further headway.

The BNP's recent electoral successes are a wakeup call to the mainstream parties who must locate their backbone and discuss those important topics that the BNP are claiming as their own. The current government in particular are masters at ignoring public opinion and it is this sort of behaviour that pushes people towards the likes of the BNP. Listen to the people and address their concerns... it's pretty basic politics.

It is also a wakeup call to those people who do not usually vote. The BNP have now moved beyond local councils - they have two seats in the European Parliament. That such a party currently represents the UK in Brussels absolutely disgusts me. If you don't bother voting, you are partly responsible. Get off your arse next time round and vote for a sensible political party.

A final point and another important one. It is not the job of the BBC to censor. We have a free press in this country so it would be wholly unacceptable for the national broadcaster to determine what political views can and cannot be broadcast. So, I believe they were right to include Griffin however unpleasant his ideals. However, what I would say about the BBC's handling of this is that they made two mistakes: firstly, making a huge deal out of the appearance of Griffin on the show. This sensationalised the whole event and reduced its worth as a journalistic exercise. Secondly, it wasn't a normal Question Time: a large portion of the show was given over to attacking the BNP and while this is a very worthwhile enterprise, it is beyond QT's remit and so made more of Griffin's appearance than should have been made. For a proper deconstruction of BNP policy, get Griffin on Newsnight and let Paxman at him. That I would like to see.

To conclude. I'm not going to resort to personal attacks on Griffin, other than say that I don't believe he did himself any favours during his performance. I detest the party he leads and the policies they champion. It is down to us, the majority of UK voters, to ensure that we do our utmost to show the world that these people do not represent and thus misrepresent us, our culture, our history and our society. We are, as a nation, much better than that.

Stretching the writing muscles

2009-08-27T09:52:00.002+01:00

I used to be able to write with reasonable coherence, I was never a master craftsman, but what wrote was normally readable to a fashion.

Having just re-read yesterday's post on the HTC Hero, it looks like I'm out of practice. Well, it has been months since I wrote anything longer than a tweet, so perhaps I shouldn't rely on Twitter so much, and actually write some posts for this blog.

We'll see how that works out...

Template issues

2009-08-26T21:02:00.001+01:00

Anyone got any idea how to get rid of that annoying gap to the left of the post text? Come on Mal, you must know! :)

A week with the HTC Hero

2009-08-26T16:21:00.008+01:00

Technically, the T-Mobile G2 Touch, but it's an HTC Hero really.

First, I'll tell you where I'm approaching this from. I have been using a Nokia N95 for almost 2 years and I use pretty much all the features on my phone: GPS, web browser, email integration, etc... The N95 does the job very nicely, so much so that when I was due to upgrade last year, I didn't. Yes, it has its problems (I'm not a great fan of Symbian), but it is a very effective package. So, I was interested to see how much better Google's Android system and the new hardware were.

The company I work for has just kitted out its staff with Heros. We use Google Apps to service our email, contacts, calendar requirements and as Android is a Google product, you'd expect these things to work together pretty seamlessly. And yes, they do. Setting up the phone to talk to my Google account was simple and in no time all my contacts, emails, etc. were synchronised.

Whatever tools, gadgets and applications you fancy using were easily downloadable from the Market and after a bit of orientation, it was quite simple to get them linked on the home screen which is fully customisable, much like your computer's desktop.

Everything talks to everything else: application needs Wi-Fi and GPS? No problem: the user is asked for permission at install time and that's it done.

An iPhone-using colleague of mine has pointed out that this sort of thing is, shall we say, non-trivial and has declared his conversion to the HTC/Android cause, I think that says plenty.

So, how's it shaping up? In a nutshell: lovely, just lovely. Perfect? Not quite - I am taking my time getting used to the on-screen keyboard, I'm so used to T9. But I think that's about the only gripe I have so far. Early days, but oh what grand days for a gadget lover.

All I need now is for O2UK to actually stock an Android device (they currently refuse to stock the Nokia N97 and only offer the iPhone as an alternative, which I won't entertain) and I'll be banging on the door of the upgrade office.

God bless Amazon MP3 Store

2009-02-25T21:08:00.003Z

This is exactly how legal downloads should work.

I was looking around to see if Yasmin Levy had a new album out and Amazon, as it does, suggested a few alternatives it thought I may like. I previewed The Beauty and the Sea by Mor Karbasi and liked the sound of it, so I coughed up my seven quid and downloaded it using the little Amazon download gadget.

Now for the best bit. Having bought and downloaded the album at work, I copied the MP3s on to my USB key and transferred them over to my system at home. Within a few minutes I was listening to the album on the telly (via the wireless media streamer) - no hassle, no error messages telling me I wasn't allowed even though I'd paid good money for it or any of that caper. Absolutely spot on and exactly the sort of thing I couldn't do, thanks to the damn DRM infection, the first (and last) time I downloaded music.

Music and video producers/sellers take note: make legal downloading as nice and easy as this and people will buy. Continue making it inconvenient and people (not me, obviously) will use torrents.

Cricket umpire course

2009-01-28T21:48:00.005Z

I've now done 3 weeks of the level one umpire course. I must say I'm enjoying it, although there is a lot of stuff to learn. The course and supplied materials are free, so now I know where at least some of the money from Sky is going!

More later. (if you're interested)

Finally gave way to Twitter

2009-01-28T21:44:00.003Z

Had to be done eventually I suppose. I'm on Twitter. To be fair, posts to this blog can be few and far between, so perhaps I can do better when I'm confined to just 140 characters.

I have added the little widget thing to this blog so you don't even have to navigate to the Twitter site. But if you feel the need to follow me or whatever, you can find me here.

Oh yeah.... and I'm also available on FriendFeed.

President Barack Obama

2008-11-07T17:41:00.004Z

He won then, convincingly. As a UK citizen I obviously had no say in the election itself, but I'm delighted Barack Obama won. While I don't believe an administration under a President McCain would have been anywhere near as damaging as the last two terms under Bush, I can't quite align myself with Republican policies. They represent the extreme of the selfish, me-first capitalism that I find so distasteful.

Barack is a fine speaker and is backed up by a fine speech-writing team. His victory speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning was as masterful as it was moving. I have watched it several times. I sincerely hope that he can deliver on that which he has promised so eloquently and which is so desperately needed.

A quick word on John McCain. I don't subscribe to his polices nor do I feel particularly comfortable with his choice of running mate, but his final speech of the campaign conceding defeat to Obama showed him to be a decent and honourable man. It is a real shame that his supporters could not show similar character that night.

Come Inauguration Day, the USA will have ushered in a new political era and the citizens of that country will be hopeful of better times ahead. Of course, there are many people around the world, myself included, who also celebrate this victory and look forward to a more digestible US foreign policy. But let us not forget that Obama is first and foremost the President of the USA and his decisions over the months and years will reflect the needs within his own borders. For non-US citizens, our hope must be that those needs, and the policy decisions that will be taken to address them, will be in harmony with the wider world and not as abrasive and destructive as those of the Bush years.

Congratulations Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

References:
Barack Obama's official site.
Office of the President-Elect
Barack Obama's victory speech (BBC)
John McCain's speech after his defeat (BBC)

House of Lords reform

2008-11-05T18:43:00.003Z

My posts tend to ramble (especially anything remotely political) so I'm going to try and keep this one short.

I like the House of Lords, I like the fact they are unelected and therefore (put simplistically) beyond the reach of the party whips. I believe they perform an invaluable job in keeping a check on Government legislation - they are highly qualified and experienced experts in their respective fields. They are not career politicians.

I do not support the Government's proposals for an elected upper house and I doubt I ever will. I do not believe that the job the Lords have done so well (e.g. amendments to the Identity Cards Bill, throwing out 42 days, etc...) can be achieved as effectively with elected politicians under the rule of the whip's office.

By all means modify: reduce the size of the house, change how they are appointed, look at the legitimacy of appointed Government ministers in the Lords. But don't replace it with an entirely partisan body full of politicians. I personally think this would do great damage to our legislative system that seems to work so well.

There, that wasn't too long was it?

Musical bus stops

2008-11-05T18:22:00.005Z

Haymarket Bus Station is located at the north end of Newcastle-upon-Tyne city centre. It is a very busy station serving Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland and it is very badly run. I've used this place for years and never cease to be amazed at how shockingly bad the organisation is, and watching one girl miss her bus this evening has prompted me to vent.

First, a little more background. The roads around Newcastle are not the best and they get busy. Once the clocks have changed and late Autumn arrives they get busier. If there is even the slightest hint of rain, they get busier still. Result: buses run late.

So to this evening. The X1 was due to leave for Blyth at 17:25. It arrived in good time to deposit its passengers and meet that departure time. However Stand T, where it was supposed to park up, was occupied by the X4 that was running late. The X1 parks up at Stand S prompting the queue of people waiting at Stand T to push their way through crowds and round barriers to get on board. The X4 leaves. Stand T is now empty, but the X1 stays on S. A girl arrives at T and mills around as if waiting for a bus that isn't there yet.

With me so far? Ok, the bus that is due to leave from Stand S at 17:30 arrives, thinks about parking up on T, but instead beeps his horn to alert the X1 of his arrival. The girls waiting at Stand T sees what's going on, realises her bus is at the wrong stand and rushes round the various queues and barriers to get on the X1. The X1 driver backs out of Stand S. As it's not yet time to leave, I think he's going to park up in T to return karma to the bus station. But no, he leaves early ignoring the girl who has just tried to get on board.

So this poor girls arrives in good time but misses her bus.

This is by no means an isolated incident. Even when the weather is fine and the services are running almost to time, they have a knack of parking buses that aren't needed for a while on stands that are. There is an almost constant migration of people as buses arrive at the wrong stands, and never any information about such changes. No one controls the flow or positioning of the buses. It's a complete farce.

Dusting off the walking boots

2008-09-21T20:12:00.003+01:00

I finally got round to hitting the countryside and going for a walk. OK, it wasn't a big walk by any stretch, but it was a start. I headed up to the Simonside Hills, just south of Rothbury and ambled around for a couple of hours. You know what, it was great. I'd forgotten how much I like hill and fell walking, and how fantastic the scenery is in Northumberland.

I'd also forgotten how curiously satisfying it is to sit in the boot of a 4x4 and just look out at the scenery. It's a comfy place to change out of your walking boots and, should it rain, the tailgate will keep you dry.

There was also a slightly geeky side to the walk. Having a mobile that is equipped with GPS enables me to figure out where I am, but it also allows me let everyone else know where I am too. I tried the system for the last 10 minutes of my walk today and, sure enough, the route appears on the website. Had you been looking at around 3.30 today, you could have followed my progress as I walked down the hill and back to the car. It's kind of useless, but also kind of cool - which a lot of techie things tend to be.

How much of your shopping bill is tax?

2008-09-16T21:59:00.003+01:00

You probably don't know, I certainly don't. So few of our receipts list VAT and none list other taxes such as fuel or alcohol duty. You know how much income tax, national insurance and council tax you pay, but you don't know how much you pay in indirect taxation.

Personally, I'm in favour of transparency in such matters. If the government is going to take my money off me, I want to know how much. So I was interested to see that Nigel Evans, Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, introduced a Private Members' Bill on the 1st of July this year. The Transparent Taxation (Receipts) Bill aims to make it a legal requirement that receipts list the total amount of tax paid.

Its second reading is on the 17th October and while Private Members' Bills hardly ever make it onto the statue books, it should be an interesting debate. I'm sure, like me, you'll be eager for the publication of Hansard on the 18th. No? Just me then.

Beijing Olympics

2008-08-24T17:57:00.003+01:00

As two weeks of hard-fought sporting greatness draws to a spectacular close, attention moves swiftly from Beijing to London. How quickly the Olympics pass. Years of preparation, not to mention the $42bn spend, over in an instant. But what games. China had something to prove to the world and it did that emphatically. These games were supremely well organised, visually stunning and magnificently entertaining.

I hope now that the UK (or GB as it has been for the last 2 weeks) will work to make a real success of 2012. I know people are complaining about the cost, about the fact it's mostly benefiting London, that £26 million is a lot to spend on cycling, etc., etc. But let's be honest, there are always people who will complain - we are after all, a nation of self-deprecating - almost self-loathing - whingers.

For me, sport is worthy of proper investment. You simply cannot can not put a price on how the success of Team GB has lifted people in this country, how much of an influence it will have had on youngsters who may feel compelled to put down their game controller of choice and do something sporty. This has to be a good thing, not only for general health levels, but also for our self-belief as a nation. I don't wish to sound jingoistic or pointlessly over-nationalistic, but sometimes it seems the only thing we are good at in the UK is putting ourselves down. We can do great things here, and not just at the velodrome or in the pool.

And really, the costs are not that great. Yes, in comparison to the contents of your wallet or purse, £26m is a lot. However, in the context of annual UK tax receipts of £550bn, even the projected cost of £9.5bn over 6 years isn't really that much. If you wish to bang on about wasting money (and that is fair enough) then read The Bumper Book of Government Waste and take it from there.

I must, of course, mention the athletes. They have had much better support from the country over the past few years and have repaid that support handsomely. Our 4th place in the overall medals table is incredible considering back in 1996 we finished 36th. The cyclists, rowers and sailors have produced dominating performances that have really shown the world that the UK can do well. Not to forget others such as Becky Adlington in the pool and Christine Ohuruogu on the track. So many fabulous performances and there could have been more medals. It was a fantastic team achievement and the potential for 2012 is huge. There have been so many wonderful performances by athletes from all nations, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt spring to mind - they really have been a joy to watch.

So we move to London for what promises to be very different games, they will have to be as we simply cannot afford to put on a show like the Chinese. However, as our 8 minute slot in the closing ceremony showed, we can do modern, we can do wit and I believe we will put on a games worth remembering. Yes, I still have faith in my country.

Kevin Pietersen (pt 2)

2008-08-09T13:00:00.004+01:00

I had a little chat about KP last week, so now that he's England captain I feel I should probably post a follow up.

Last week I had called into question KP's place in the Test side because I wasn't convinced that he could control himself long enough to get the big scores required of him. Well, now that he's skipper and his place is guaranteed, giving him the authority and responsibility he so evidently craves, is it going to affect his game as it has others? I can't honestly see his average slipping, in fact it'll probably improve. But what of the flash shots? Well, we were reminded on Friday that he can resist the glory shot and play very well indeed. This could be just what he needs to go from a brilliant if sometimes rash batter, to a genuine great. Only time will tell.

He's lucky that he has this dead game to captain (South Africa have already wrapped up the series win, so the 4th Test at the Oval is for pride and practice only) as it gives him much needed experience without so much pressure. His first real test will be the one day series starting on the 22nd August and of course the tour of India, where he will be responsible for both Test and one day series.

For what it's worth, I reckon he'll thrive on the responsibility but may struggle initially with managing the field (particularly in the 5-day game) as he has so little experience in such matters. I have no idea what he'll be like to work with as skip, but if he can keep his ego out of his man-management skills, then it could be a very interesting and - dare I say it - successful period for English cricket. We'll only really know which way things will go once he takes charge in games that mean something.

Trips around the UK

2008-08-01T20:12:00.003+01:00

Those of you who have read my inane drivel over the past couple of years will know I've been about a bit. No, no, not in that way. I've been lucky enough to visit quite a few countries around the world at the expense of my carbon footprint.

You will also know that, despite moaning about it, I'm a big fan of public transport and trains in particular. So in an effort to be more green, and to actually see some of the country in which I reside, I intend to have a poke about the UK by train this summer, starting with a day trip to picturesque Whitby on Sunday.

I'll be jotting my random thoughts down on this and future trips, and I'm sure you'll all be looking forward to reading them soon. Ahem!

Kevin Bloody Pietersen

2008-08-01T18:19:00.004+01:00

KP, FigJam, call him what you will, Kevin Pietersen is an outstanding batting talent. When on song he is fantastic to watch and is capable of getting you many many runs. The problem is, although he has huge talent, he has a larger ego.

He was doing everything so well. When woefully out-of-form Paul Collingwood arrived at the crease, KP coaxed and cajoled him through the early overs to score some much needed runs. The two of them put together a fine, well-crafted partnership which started to look like giving England cause to consider a win.

However, as KP approached his century, the ego appeared and he started to play his more flamboyant shots. So, when he was on strike with 94 to his name, he decided to go for the glory shot over the long-on boundary and got himself caught.

Having put so much effort in to rescuing the game, to then lose his wicket not due to a fantastic ball, or an excellent catch, but to throw it away tending to his ego is unforgivable.

I know this may be controversial but, if he won't play responsibly when needed just because he doesn't play that way, then he should not be playing test cricket. He can play that way in limited overs games.

While I'm here I must make a short mention of Paul Collingwood who, as I type, has just reached his century with a 6. Oh the irony. Colly is a fine player who, although perhaps not the most naturally gifted cricketer in the world, makes the most of his skills and can produce fine innings with the bat and is also a useful change bowler. He has had a truly dreadful few months and hopefully this is him getting back into some sort of form.

Berlin: In review

2008-07-22T19:05:00.005+01:00

The live, in-the-field reporting rather tailed off there didn't it. I guess a mixture of mobile phones not being the best medium for writing even short copy on, and the question of who is really that bothered about hearing what I'm up to in real-time, brought that little experiment to an end. However, it did leave things a little open-ended.

So, my overall thoughts of the German capital? A very cool city; it has a bit of everything as all capital cities should. It obviously has a wealth of history, particularly recent history and a fine mix of architecture, obviously a lot of it is modern, but the quality of the design of the new buildings is pretty high on average.

What I really love though, is how they've managed to mix new with the remains of the old and, indeed, how they have reinvigorated some of the older buildings: the Reichstag in particular. Norman Foster has done great work with this famous old building and the views from the top are quite spectacular. One things that does strike you when taking in the Berlin skyline is how low it is. There are very few high-rise or skyscraper style buildings, with the exception of Potsdamer Platz and the TV tower in Alexanderplatz, so you can see for miles in all directions.

I know a lot of people who have never even considered a trip to Berlin and if you are one of those, I urge you to think again. It is a fine city to spend a week in. Lufthansa will take you there from Newcastle via Düsseldorf.

References:
My photos on Picasa

Berlin: Post-defeat

2008-06-29T23:26:00.003+01:00

I've been trying for hours to post something but no joy.

So, Germany defeated by the Spanish. Many many unhappy Germans filed passed this evening after the final whistle took away any chance of a German comeback.

Subdued is not the word. But at least it gave us the chance to enter the party zone. There was a hard-core still dancing at the stage closest to the gate, but that party came to an end just before midnight.

Back at the hotel now; shame Germany didn't win, it would have been fun, but what was great to see was calm resignation and that those Spanish fans who were visible were left alone and not given any grief.

Back to normal tourist duties tomorrow.

Berlin: Euro finals

2008-06-29T21:23:00.002+01:00

Well, the Brandenburg Gate area is crammed with half a million football fans, so we couldn't get in. Standing in a bar round the corner with 10 minutes to go. Not looking good for Deutchland.

Berlin: Day 3

2008-06-29T18:09:00.005+01:00

Today involved more walking, as these trips tend to. The morning was a visit to the zoo. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of locking animals in cages but I can see there is a scientific side to such establishments.

However, it was good to see the elephants, gorillas and the polar bears. Feeding time for the panda was pretty cool too because it meant the lazy oaf actually moved.

After lunch (guess what!) and a mooch about, I headed west to the old royal palace, Shloß Charlottenburg. Extensively damaged during the war, it has been restored and was an interesting visit.

The build up to the Euro final tonight continues apace. The train back to the hotel was full of locals suitably covered in black, red and gold. Tonight's destination is the Brandenburg Gate area, which is already very busy.

More later, hopefully.

Berlin: Day 2

2008-06-28T15:21:00.003+01:00

Greetings from Berlin.

Day 2 already and my feet are sore. Yesterday was mainly travel and the obligatory trip to the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag. Currywurst and a couple of biers too, of course.

Today has been mainly walking the city from the modern Potsdamer Platz area, the Holocaust Memorial down to Checkpoint Charlie. I won't go on too much as typing on a mobile phone is never easy, but the Holocaust Memorial was quite amazing and truly moving, especially as you read the last letter of a 12 year old girl to her father.

Leaving there to the sound of the B52s was a jarring experience as I found myself in the middle of a huge, loud and colourful gay parade.

This is certainly an interesting city.

Your correspondent in Berlin

2008-06-26T19:32:00.001+01:00

I'm off to Berlin tomorrow for a few days holiday. This conveniently coincides with Germany playing in the Euro 2008 final on Sunday. I'll try and blog over the next few days and let you know what's happening.

Charitable searching

2008-06-22T12:58:00.002+01:00

Use Google much? Click on those little ads when they show up something interesting? Wouldn't it be nice if instead of the money paid for that ad going to Google Inc., it went to a charity. That's exactly what's on offer with Everyclick: 50% of advertising revenue goes to charity, and if you sign up you can even tell them which charities you want to benefit from your clicks. So next time you reach for a search engine, think about using Everyclick instead of just defaulting to Google.

Indian Premier League is here

2008-04-15T19:05:00.003+01:00

Yes folks, the IPL is upon us. The official Twenty20 cricket league in India kicks off on Friday with Bangalore Royal Challengers vs. Kolkata Knight Riders.

Of course the tricky thing is who to support. Kolkata were an obvious first choice because one of their owners is Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan and let's face it, everyone loved Knight Rider, in spite of David Hasselhoff's hair. They have some great players, including captain Sourav Ganguly.

The bookies favourites are Chennai Super Kings, so they would have been a fair choice too. But no, I've gone for the underdogs: Rajasthan Royals because they're the outside bet, Shane Warne is captain and Dmitri Mascarenhas, the only Englishman in the league, is playing for them.

All matches are available (in the UK) on Setanta which means you're not tied into an annual contract. The only problem being the time difference, so the games are on during the day - perfect weekend viewing, however.

Pick your team!

I whinge too much

2008-04-14T20:29:00.002+01:00

It's true, I've turned into a cantankerous old git and it must stop.

I think the problem is that I try to follow politics and current affairs too much and, in general:

1. how the British Government operates annoys the hell out of me (bloody spin, useless, target-led management, policies geared towards sound bites and column inches rather than actually fixing things, the you disagree with me therefore you're wrong attitude of ministers, etc.), and
2. the way the press reports the news does the same (dangerous sensationalism, the fake patriotism of the gutter press, 24hour news with pointless and endless speculation, sticking the boot in when people are having trouble instead of showing support).
3. stuff like Tibet and the mess in Zimbabwe

I could continue, but we'll all end up in another of my endless rants and that is not the purpose of this post.

It all stops now. This blog is for interesting and witty posts on a range of subjects and there is to be no more whining. The end.

No problems here, oh no

2008-04-12T14:07:00.004+01:00

Here's a question: just how far up his own arse has Thabo Mbeki shoved his head? According to the South African president, there is no post-election crisis in Zimbabwe. This guy is a moron if he thinks the current situation in Zimbabwe is not a crisis. Of course, I shouldn't really be surprised, the members of the African Union have been a collective joke with regards to Mugabe's rule over the past few years. He may have been a hero in southern Africa 30 years ago, but now he's just a thug who has managed to bring what should be a successful country to its knees while making sure he and his cronies do very well out of it.

If you're interested in what's going on in that country at present, then point your browser at the This is Zimbabwe blog. Yes, it is depressing to read what the people who live under Mugabe have to deal with, but their incredible resilience is so uplifting. It also shows stark contrast with the political apathy of a large chunk of the UK's population.

Fixing Broken Britain

2008-04-01T12:25:00.002+01:00

OK, so this isn't my perfect plan to fix the bad bits of life in the UK - and if you believe all you read in the tabloids (which I hope you don't) there are a lot of them.

No, I've just read this story on the BBC news website. It's about a group of people who turned their estate from a place where people were to afraid to go out at night, into a proper community where people like to live.

I love stories like this, it shows that there are great people out there and that you don't have to live with graffiti, drugs and violence. It also shows that if you talk to the relevant authorities, it is possible to get things done. That's what we pay them for after all.

Absolutely spot on.

The Future of Cricket?

2008-03-31T20:26:00.005+01:00

Yeah I know, more cricket ramblings...

So I've just listened to this interesting discussion on Twenty20 cricket and its possible impact on the future of the game.

Twenty20 (or T20) was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) back in 2003. Some nations (Australia in particular) scoffed, regarding it as some sort of playtime version of the game. They're taking it more seriously now.

This form of the game has been hugely successful domestically, playing to sell-out crowds across England and Wales - unheard of for the counties. The inaugural World Twenty20 went down a storm in South Africa last year, and now the Indians have taken the lead. Firstly, the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) was set up promising big bucks to those who would brave international bans (ICL was not sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket's governing body). Then the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Indian equivalent of the ECB, set up its own Indian Premier League (IPL) in an incredibly short space of time and is due to start its 6 week run in April. The sums of money are vast, with some players making over £0.5m and if the success of the ICL is anything to go by, the grounds will be packed solid.

The ECB response? Well, I'm sure you can guess... veiled threats that players will lose their England place if they chose to play in the IPL (it will mean they miss part of both the English domestic season and New Zealand visit) and no real clue how to deal with it. Instead of being clever and working with the IPL/BCCI and using their success to advance the game in England, they've gone all negative. And where are the ICC in all of this? Well, nowhere by the looks of it. Thank god for forward thinkers like the CEO of Surrey CCC who has very good ideas for pushing Twenty20 in England.

You see, this form is fun, exciting, quick. All the things that the watching public want these days. Yet the ECB seem reluctant to even push the start of domestic T20 games back 30 mins or so to give people a chance to get to the ground after work. Come on guys, think of the punters. This is a great thing for cricket: new bums on seats; cash in the county coffers; possibly, in the longer term, new converts for test cricket.

And it is to test I must turn. My favourite form of the game. I can quite happily sit a listen to TMS all day, but I certainly can't afford to go and watch a 5 day game - either in terms of £40+ per day, or in holiday: I have to work for a living. It's even worse for the County Championship, they often play to almost empty grounds. 4 and 5 day games are difficult for spectators, no matter how much you love the game. Even at the international level, attendances are falling outside of England (which always seems to sell out international test matches).

The ECB must look at new ways to promote the long form at domestic and international levels, but they won't manage that by sticking their head in the sand, ignoring the Indian developments and well, getting all English about things. This is a great opportunity for the future of the game and we need dynamic, forward-thinking people in charge to make the most of it.

Personally, I'd at least ditch the Pro40 games, and maybe look at shortening county games to 3 days or introduce 3 leagues of 6 instead of 2 leagues of 9, so there are fewer long games played. This of course must be balanced against harming the international test side but the Australians seem to manage without playing so much 4-day cricket. The 50 overs Friends Provident Trophy has already had some changes for this season, so lets see how they work. But hopefully we should now have a bit of space for more Twenty20, and a bit of scope to shuffle the internationals around so players can play in India, and indeed overseas players can come and play in the English competition.

If they could organise it so that the English T20 competition ran between the departure of the first tourists of the summer and the arrival of the second (currently the gap is only about 2 weeks), you could have a real winner. A cricket competition, comprising international stars, that literally thousands of people would be happy to watch - in the grounds, not just on the telly.

Blimey, another long one.

Thank God for YouTube

2008-03-31T15:01:00.004+01:00

...and other such sites.

I know a lot of people (usually company execs) get a bit miffed at the YouTube thing - their precious content being screened for free - but in some cases if it wasn't for such websites, half of us would have no access at all.

Here's the latest example which has really peed me off - any one noticed it's getting much easier to annoy me these days! :)

If you've seen this blog before you'll probably have realised I'm a cricket fan. In the UK that means not getting to see much cricket on the telly because Sky has bagged all the rights - I have seen approximately 35 seconds of England cricket over the winter. So, I thought I'd sign up to ECBtv and pay for access to highlights. Nope, not allowed. I live in the UK, therefore I'm obviously not entitled to even pay to watch my own national team play. Make sense? No, not to me either.

Surely I can't be the only person who thinks this way. I mean, organisations that seemingly go out of their way to prevent people watching the sport they are charged with managing and promoting? Sports are spectator events... it's just crazy.

To top it, it turns out I can't watch half the sports clips on the BBC website either, including the British cycling team's recent success and even the interview with Kevin Keegan after Newcastle's win over Spurs.

Look you lot (and by 'you lot' I mean those who sign these bloody exclusivity deals) are you trying to drive fans mad? It's one thing to bang on about rights, money and piracy but quite another to ban home supporters even paying to watch their teams play. To my mind, this needs to be looked at seriously and quickly because restricting access like this can only have a detrimental effect on the future of these sports long term. What do you do with all this money anyway?

I absolutely refuse to pay £400 a year for Sky: I don't want to watch that much sport; but I'm perfectly happy paying a set fee for access to a game I want to watch - I don't expect everything for free. Someone somewhere has to start thinking of other, smarter ways to deliver media to fans - pay per view etc. God knows there are enough ways to deliver this stuff these days. Less exclusivity, more inclusivity. Thank you.

End of rant... (until next time)

The New Entente Cordiale

2008-03-27T22:17:00.004Z

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy has just spent 2 days on a State visit to the UK. He's a bit of a card isn't he, looking as nervous and uncomfortable as I would in such a glare of media and royalty, while his infinitely elegant wife looked on, calm as you like. But get him in front of a microphone and Monsieur Le Président comes into his own. Watching clips of his addresses to Parliament, at the banquet at Windsor Castle and at the Mansion House was like watching the nicest person you've ever met tell your mum all your best features.

Beyond the flattery though, one thing does look reasonably hopeful, and that is he seems keen to improve relations with his neighbours over the channel and this can only be a good thing. He may seduce us with words of his deepest respect for the UK and its new-fangled ways, but there are a number of things we can learn from France: modern nuclear power for one, and bloody good trains for another.

It was also nice to see the President call my country by the right name, unlike the President of our super-special friends over the Atlantic who persists in calling us Great Britain*. I must say I quite like Sarkozy, he's got something about him - a bit of character. Oh to have one of those at the heart of things.

References:
BBC News on President Sarkosy's wooing of the Brits
10 Downing Street
French Presidency

* Dull history lesson: The Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence on the union of England and Scotland in 1707 and fizzled out on union with Ireland in 1801 when the country became known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 when the Irish Free State was established, we renamed ourselves The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I'm sure Bush prefers to use the anachronism as the USA gained independence from Great Britain in 1783, but that was a long time ago George - things have changed. Although we don't seem very sure about it ourselves: our internet domain is .uk, but our athletics team wears GBR and our car registration plates bear the letters GB beneath the stars of Europe. It's all very confusing.

A Very British Launch Day

2008-03-27T20:21:00.003Z

Heathrow Terminal 5 (or 'T5' if you're into that sort of thing) opened today in what was a very British display of disorganisation, cock-up and chaos. The £4.6bn (€5.9bn; $9.2bn) terminal had already seen hundreds of volunteers through the doors to test the systems and make sure everything was working as per spec.

By close of play this evening however, only one of the 18 passenger lifts was working, over 30 flights had been cancelled and anyone wanting to fly tonight was going without their hold baggage. Beautiful.

Heathrow operators BAA seem keen to open a third runways at this place too. I can't wait to see what sort of mess that'll turn out to be. I tell you what, why don't we stop trying to squeeze the entire population of the globe through that horrible shambles of an airport and have more direct flights to/from the regional airports. You know, have British Airways act as an actual national carrier, instead of a feeder airline for its Heathrow/Gatwick operations. Just a thought.

And finally... I've been a little unfair to us Brits: the launch day of St. Pancras International Railway Station went swimmingly - and that was only £800m (€1bn; $1.6bn). So you see, it is possible to open new things in the UK without making a complete hash of it.

References:
BBC News
BA Terminal 5
BAA Terminal 5
St Pancras International
BBC News: First train from St Pancras arrives in Paris

Freedom of speech

2008-02-10T20:14:00.000Z

Remember that?

Or at least, when you could state a point of view without being treat like you'd just shat on someone's front lawn.

GPS on the Nokia N95

2008-02-05T09:56:00.000Z

For those of out there who have one of these phones (or are thinking of getting one) the GPS functionality appears to be a nice little bonus. However, if your phone is anything like mine, it probably had the worst possible settings by default, making signal acquisition and absolute nightmare - easily taking 10 minutes to get a position lock.

Nice and easy to fix though: Go to the Positioning settings through the menu (Tools/Settings/General/Positioning), select Positioning server, and then Access point. If you're with 02-UK you'll have 3 options: O2 MMS, 02 Mobile Web and O2 WAP (I guess other networks offer a similar choice) and the current setting will probably be WAP. This is far too slow, so change to O2 Mobile Web which uses GPRS or 3G. Bingo - much quicker initialisation of your GPS and suddenly it's a useful gadget.

Giant Carbon Footprint

2007-12-21T22:04:00.000Z

By all measures, this year has not been a good one for me and the environment. No, I'm not referring to my purchase of a 4x4, but the amount of time I've spent in aircraft.

It all started with a flight back from County Clare, Ireland following a fantastic few days away for New Year. Next was Paris at the end of March. Two days later I was off to the States with work for just over a week, including several internal flight and almost 1000 miles in cars.

Two days after getting back from the US I was off to Barcelona for 3 days, again with work, followed by a well earned travel breather, where any potential DVT could ease off a bit!

September saw me in South Africa for a holiday and then less than 2 weeks later I was off to Korea for a conference.

So having done the maths, this is what the figures look like:
29 flights taken during 2007 covering a total of 8 countries, 19 airports and (if we include car journeys) 9 US states. A total of just over 43000 miles in the air. That's a lot of flying and several tonnes of CO2. I'm not expecting a Christmas card from Greenpeace this year.

9 months with a Kia Sportage

2007-12-15T11:48:00.000Z

I meant to post about the new car when the '57' registrations came out in September (marking the car's 6 month anniversary) but obviously, I didn't quite make it. So having now owned the big brute for 9 months, what do I reckon.

Without getting too gushy, I've got to say I love this car. It's roomy, comfortable, 100% reliable so far, has sufficient toys to keep me entertained during rush hour, is hugely relaxing on the motorway with its 6 gears and cruise control and is fairly economical too - a good thing at this time of ludicrously high fuel prices.

There are only really two things that niggle: you really must keep the oily bits above 1800rpm when pulling away and the fact that it has a tendency to cancel your indicators at the most inopportune moments when negotiating roundabouts - a side-effect no doubt of there being no such things in Korea. But I think that's all pretty minor compared to the general niceness of the thing. I like it.

Obviously I'm not popular with the green brigade because the thing is also a 'gas guzzling 4x4'. However, I'm currently averaging 30mpg which I don't think is that bad. For comparison, here are the official figures for my car compared to the latest 2 litre diesel Ford Mondeo and (just for fun) the Range Rover TDV8 and the little Citroën C1:

	Kia Sportage 2.0CTD	Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi	Range Rover 3.6TD	Citroën C 1.4HDi
Power	138	140	271	55
Urban mpg (l/100km):	31.7(8.9)	37.2(7.6)	19.6(14.4)	53.3(5.3)
Extra urban:	45.6(6.2)	57.6(4.9)	31.2(9.2)	83.1(3.4)
Combined:	39.8(7.1)	47.9(5.9)	25.1(11.3)	68.9(4.1)
CO2 emissions	187	189	299	109

A final note on the dealer. Since parting with my £17k in March, I have not heard a peep out of them, and I suspect I won't hear anything until the next opportunity to relieve me of cash arises, i.e. the 12 month service. I really can't believe companies still operate like this, it is just so crap. Perhaps it's just because the company I work for tries hard to follow up with customers post-sale that I've become intolerant of others not showing me the same courtesy. A friendly note: if someone has just given you a pile of their hard-earned cash, give them a ring after a few weeks to see how they're getting on. You could even use the call to see if they've found a need to buy extra stuff. The current approach just feels like: 'I've got your money now, so until I've got a legitimate excuse to get more off you, you can bugger off'.

Signing the Lisbon Treaty

2007-12-15T11:28:00.001Z

Can anyone explain to me what Gordon Brown was playing at this week, turning up late to the signing of the EU Treaty?

As usual, the Number 10 press office was quick to refute any talk of snubs etc, but honestly, are they seriously expecting us to accept that this was a simple diary mix up? That the staff in Downing Street really didn't know that this treaty was being signed?

No, this can only be some half-cocked attempt to make a point to the rest of the European Union. The result however, regardless of your opinion of the treaty, is a Prime Minister that looks like a moron, and another embarrassing episode for the UK in international circles.

Brown, you're an idiot.

Reference:
BBC News
Number 10

3 million homes required

2007-11-03T14:26:00.001Z

According to our beloved government, we need to build an additional 3 million homes by 2020. No one seems to be asking why we need them.

One of the reasons given is that more homes on the market will reduce prices. Housing in the UK is very expensive, one of the main causes of this has got to be the massive increase in average people investing in property, either buying second homes or buy-to-let. Building more homes without controlling this kind of investment is not going to help make property more affordable.

With our population forecast to reach 70 million over the next few decades, we need to make some big decisions on where we see this country heading. Is our population getting too big? If not, how do we house everyone? Has anyone calculated how much of the current housing stock stands empty while investors wait for the right time to sell?

The government seems to be doing little to tackle the underlying issues behind this perceived need and is, as usual, trying to 'fix' things at too high a level.

Airline loyalty schemes

2007-11-03T11:30:00.000Z

They've all got them: BA and their Executive Club, Air France with Flying Blue and Emirates has Skywards. All the airlines of the world try to keep you loyal to their brand by enticing you with special offers for points earned as you fly, plus special privileges if you fly enough to reach the higher tiers.

I confess I am a member of all the above mentioned schemes, I joined them all this year and that's mainly because I've flown so much over the last 10 months.

Anyway, the purpose of this post... not sure really, but it was prompted when my Emirates Skywards package arrived this morning. Part of the deal with these things is how special the airline makes the customer feel as that, along with the actual flying experience, will be a driving factor in keeping you flying with them. They need to make you feel like a valued customer, the competition is just too great these days. So here is a run down of what I have received from each of the 3 airlines mentioned.

BA was the first to arrive, a card stuck to a letter. The card is very nicely designed and all that, but it didn't really feel very special and, as I am not made of money and therefore will only ever book the cheapest economy tickets, I will never reach silver or above status - you only get tier points for flexible, business and first class tickets. That leaves me with a sort of Air Miles thing.

Air France Flying Blue was the next scheme I joined. Their record has been truly appalling this year - booked on 8 flights, only 4 completed. And I have yet to actually add any points to my card (which therefore hasn't arrived yet) despite flying to South Africa with them at no small cost. (Well technically, flying home from South Africa... as they didn't manage to get me there).

Finally, Emirates. A lovely little package arrived this morning with my card and 2 personalised luggage tags complete with natty little leatheresque straps, plus a well drafted letter and a little booklet on how it all works. Yes it's marketing, yes it's gimmicky, but it prompted a little smile this morning - someone had actually put some thought into it. Also, I actually stand a chance of getting to silver level as you get tier points for all flights. Which is good, because no one likes being told they're too tight/poor/sensible to benefit. That smacks of corporate snobbery.

References:
British Airways
Air France
Emirates

New mobile phone

2007-10-20T12:23:00.000+01:00

That time of year again and after 12 months with a truly awful piece of junk (Samsung Z400) I couldn't wait to get back into the safe world of Nokia. My previous Nokia, a 6230i had been a great little phone, and I'd only chosen the Z400 because I'd had good Samsungs in the past, and it was 3G. The phone's operating system and syncronisation software are truly, truly dreadful. I could give you a long list of things I didn't like about the Samsung.... but I'll not bore you.

So now I move on to a phone that's pretty much a PDA: the Nokia N95. A 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Symbian operating system all stuffed into a tidy little package. It's a lot of kit and so far it's working out fine. I'm having to relearn button combinations of course, but once I'm familiar I suspect this is going to be a gem. The only bad reports I've seen are to do with short battery life. Perhaps this is one reason why this phone comes with a free car charger.

If I think on, I'll let you know how it shapes up over the next few months.

Cricket 2007

2007-10-20T11:31:00.000+01:00

By any measure, this summer has been a good one for me and the game of cricket. I made it to my first Test match, first trip to Lord's, saw my first Twenty20 game and went to my first international championship.

So the cricket-watching year kicked off for me back in June, with a trip to the Riverside to watch England vs West Indies in the 4th Test. We were very fortunate to see anything as the Friday had been a washout and there was only half a day played on the Saturday. Sunday however, was a nice day for cricket. It's always quite something to see the big names in the flesh and certainly seeing the likes of Michael Vaughan, Shiv Chanderpaul and KP playing at Chester-le-Street was great. Our batting performances late in the day were rather less entertaining, but you can't have it all.

Next was two domestic Twenty20 games against Leicestershire Foxes and Lancashire Lightening. I must say, this is a great form of the game and certainly when Durham captain Dale Benkenstein hoofed a six over long off only to have it fumbled by a spectator resulting in a satisfying thud as it landed on a player's car, we were all greatly amused. The Durham players on the balcony behind us were in stitches. Anyway, we won the first and lost the second. Durham didn't progress in the competition.

The first trip to Lord's was a special one. Durham had made it through to the Friends Provident One Day Final against Hampshire and I had managed to get tickets for dad and myself. Having decided to do the jet setting thing and fly down for the day (it was cheaper than the train by some margin) we set off to headquarters for what we thought would be a tight game. After walking around Heathrow for a while trying to get back to the Underground station (we were going to use Heathrow Express to Paddington, but what a rip off!) we headed off to St John's Wood.

Lord's is a lovely place to watch cricket: cosy and full of character and what a game to watch. Otis was inspired and I was still making my way back from the loo queue when the first 2 Hampshire wickets fell. It was a shame that the rain meant the game couldn't be finished until the Sunday, but it was still a great day.

Finally, nine games of international cricket at another fine cricketing venue: Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa. The first Twenty20 world championship was held in SA in September and very well organised it was too. A real testament to the authorities down there, which bodes well for the 2010 Football World Cup.

Over the 2 weeks I was there, I saw Zimbabwe, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Pakistan. Highlights? Zimbabwe beating Australia for sure, but also the New Zealand v Pakistan semi-final. Overall, a poor showing for England, but a great showcase for cricket. The next World Twenty20 is in England in 2009 - go and watch some games, although I doubt they will be as cheap as the tickets were in SA. (The ticket for the semi-final worked out at about £12, earlier games started at something like £3).

A good year for cricket overall, and it's certainly prompted me to think about going abroad again: The Ashes in 2010 springs to mind.

References:
General cricket photos
World Twenty20 photos

Another new blog

2007-06-21T20:21:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I created a blog - and this time I've created one with a purpose. Of sorts.

To tie in with my forthcoming trip to South Africa and the Cricket twenty20 World Cup, I've made a new blog that will act as a diary of sorts while I'm over there.

Those of you out there of a cricketing persuasion can have a look here.

Sport on the telly

2007-06-21T19:12:00.000+01:00

We all know that Sky has done its bit for sport - for good and ill. Those who choose to pay for the premium sports services that Sky offers undoubtedly enjoy very fine coverage of a wide variety of sports.

However, for those of us who do not like to pay £600 a year for telly, there is little regular coverage outside of football.

Yesterday, there were two semi-finals played. Had they been FA Cup related there would have been an almighty uproar that there were no highlights shown on any terrestrial channel. Because they were cricket matches, no one will bat an eyelid. It's sad really, cricket is supposed to be the second most popular game in this country and yet, during the season, it does not warrant a weekly programme along the lines of Match of the Day.

Channel Five broadcast very enjoyable highlights from England test matches, but there is a whole county structure in place that never gets any real coverage. Can you honestly see Match of the Day only being broadcast when the national sides play, totally ignoring the weekly Premiership games? No, neither can I.

The cricket twenty20 cup is about to get underway: the fastest and (for those a little unsure of cricket) most exciting form of the game, but I doubt there will be any coverage other than, perhaps, late night highlights of the final.

Now, I've banged on about cricket as it's a particular love of mine, but what about those other sports that this country has successful participants/teams in: badminton, squash, etc. So much good sport that just doesn't get the airtime it deserves.

We all know that Sky have paid big bucks for the exclusive (god, I hate that word) rights to almost all live sport in the UK, but not to have any sort of highlights show on freeview is unforgivable.

Those of us who enjoy sports outside football would like to watch some of it. More importantly however, the telly can play such a big role in getting kids interested in sports and I'm sure it helps in raising their interest in participating rather than just watching. We have a large number of digital channels available, why can't we use that bandwidth to show something beyond the norm?

twenty20 World Cup tickets

2007-06-16T11:57:00.000+01:00

I've gone and done it, I've bought tickets for the Cricket twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

The only time I've ever been to an international sporting event such as this before was the European Football Championships in 1996 and that was in England, so doesn't really count.

A couple of posts ago I raised a few points about the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies and the price of tickets in particular. So, it's fantastic to see that the organisers have pegged the prices down - quite unbelievably so. I've bought seats for 4 group matches and 4 super-8s. 8 matches, including games featuring Australia, South Africa and England for a total of 340 Rand. That works out at around £24.

Well done Cricket South Africa for making the games affordable for all.

I just have to sort out flights and hotels now and then sit back and look forward to a couple of weeks in Cape Town.

References:
Introduction to twenty20 on Wikipedia
Cricket South Africa
Cricket 20

Changing the reasons for war

2007-05-05T11:51:00.000+01:00

I have an excerpt from a speech for you:

"I have been looking at the various objectives and reasons that the government have given to the House of Commons for making war on Iraq, and it really is desirable that when a nation makes war upon another nation it should be quite clear why it does so. It should not keep changing the reasons as time goes on. There is, in fact, no correspondence whatsoever between the reasons given today and the reasons set out by the prime minister at the beginning."

Makes interesting reading doesn't it. Although I must admit to some deception on my part. You see, that paragraph is not from a speech on the current Iraq war, but one about the Suez crisis made in 1956: I have substituted Iraq for Egypt in the first sentence, yet the whole still holds true. Sobering.

Cricket World Cup

2007-05-02T20:58:00.000+01:00

Another international sporting event, another poor England performance.

We really haven't performed particularly well for the past few months, team spirit seems to be lacking, and rather a lot was put on Michael Vaughan's shoulders: cetainly too much for a player who had been out of the game for a year.

A word or two on the tournament itself. The thing really was far too long, a result of corporate interference I'm sure, and the tickets were too expensive and the security just too anal. So, instead of a Carribean festival, we ended up with a pretty souless event that seemend to drag on for aeons.

A word in ICC's ear: drop the Super 8s, just go from group to knockout and let's get things flowing a bit better for 2011; drop the bloody prices so we have some spectators. Oh yes, and get the umpires to read the rule book.

Now moving on to watching the games on the telly - or rather, not watching any games on the telly. Sky, of course, had the whole tournament sewn up so leaving those of us who refuse to be ripped off by Murdoch listening on Test Match Special (no bad thing) and grabbing highlights at midnight. Isn't it about time that either a) these tournaments were shared amongst the broadcasters (didn't something like this happen for the Football World Cup last year?) or b) sort out a pay-per-view structure. I have an old Sky box, but I'm not allowed to access PPV because I don't pay a monthly subscription - sounds like throwing money away to me. I could bang on for hours about this stuff - but I'll stop right now.

A final, just about related note: I've just booked tickets for the 4th England v West Indies test at Durham, neither team have performed particularly well recently, should be interesting to see how the series goes. Plus, I've never been to a test match before.

Free hugs

2007-05-02T20:33:00.000+01:00

Every now and then you see something nice, something that isn't sad, annoying, tragic, etc.. Basically, most of the stuff you see on the news these days. I know I'm 8 months late (no big surprise there!), and you've probably all seen it before, but I still wanted to highlight this video on YouTube.

It made me smile.

Film: 300

2007-04-22T19:10:00.000+01:00

If you like highly stylised films this is the one for you. The director has done a very good job of making it look like a comic book conversion with the grainy cinematography and excessive use of slow-motion. Plus a lot of the acting was ropey, or over-done to fit the style... I'm not sure which. Just not my cup of tea unfortunately.

Having said that, there were some nice comedy touches in the script and some nice effects, but I'm pretty sure Xerxes was not that camp in real life!

Overall: it was ok I suppose.

New car

2007-04-22T18:55:00.000+01:00

I'm a tad late with this post - I've had the new car over a month now - but I've been busy (see another post that I may get round to writing at some point).

Decision: the Kia Sportage. It was the only car I tested out in the end: I liked it, the deal was good, job done. I went for the 2.0 turbo diesel in top XS specification: it has many toys - climate, cruise, cd/mp3 player, heated front seats, leather, sunroof, etc... Plenty to keep me occupied in the slow-moving traffic of rush hour.

I also took the decision to get a black one, which looks good, but is a slight pain to look after. That is, you actually have to wash it now and again - silver cars hide a multitude of sins.

And so, despite saying I wouldn't buy another brand new car, I find myself in charge of a rather large 07 plater. On the whole it's been so-far-so-good, although I have only clocked up 500 miles. Everything is working and it's comfortable. You do need to keep the turbo spinning for safe exits at roundabouts and such as it's a heavy car, but that's the only problem I have with it to date - just a slight change of driving style required.

New £20 note

2007-03-03T12:39:00.000Z

This doesn't seem to have been particularly well broadcast, but the UK is getting a new £20 note on the 13th of March. For banknote geeks amongst you, it is the first of the new F series of notes (current notes are all series E) and features Scottish economist, Adam Smith on the reverse.

Trying to get clear images of the thing is proving remarkably difficult. The Bank of England's own site shows the current note in excellent detail - so you know how to spot a forgery. But I can not find any useful images of the new one - so you can recognise it as proper money when you first get one. The best I could do - after a lot of hunting around - was an image of the back of the new note on the BBC News site (link at the bottom of this post).

A week on Tuesday, these new notes are going to start popping out of cash points around the country (south of the border anyway) and I suspect it's going to come as a bit of a surprise to most people. It doesn't seem like the best way to roll out new money.

References:
Bank of England
BBC News article

Film: The Iron Giant

2007-02-17T20:56:00.000Z

I missed this film first time round, and having watched it this afternoon I'm wondering why.

A simple story about a robot (both iron and giant) arriving on earth and befriending a young boy. Stories and rumours start to fly around, especially when cars and other metal objects appear to have large bite marks out of them. In a similar fashion to ET, the government arrives to get to the bottom of things.

Once the cause of these occurrences has been identified, the army arrives en-masse and reverts to a fairly typical approach: we don't know what it is, so let's smash it.

I won't go into details of the final stages of the story, but of course everything turns out pretty well in the end. As a non-Japanese animated feature people may dismiss this film as one for the kids, but this would be a mistake. It's a wonderful, heart-warming film.

References:
The Iron Giant on IMDB

Film: The Last King of Scotland

2007-02-17T20:46:00.000Z

Idi Amin was a dictator, a mass-murderer and a nutter. Forest Whitaker is an actor, an excellent one and nails Amin's character beautifully. This is an interesting story, a mix of fact: the Amin is a nutter bit; and fiction: the young Scot, Nicholas Garrigan, becoming the dictator's personal physician.

Garrigan accidentaly lands the role of personal doctor to Amin and initially can't believe his luck. Amin seems like a joy to work for, gifting him an nice home and Mercedes convertible. As time passes however, and Garrigan becomes closer to the dictator, he realises what the man is capable of. Too late.

Whitaker is truley brilliant in the role of Amin and a very strong cast backs him up all the way. It is very well directed at a hectic pace at times, making this a thoroughly watchable film. It doesn't go into great detail on what Amin was responsible for during his time in power, so this is no Hotel Rwanda, but a definite must-see nonetheless.

References:
The Last King of Scotland on IMDB

Metro investment

2007-01-31T20:29:00.000Z

Last week, representatives of the Tyne & Wear PTA, Nexus, subitted a £600m, 20 year investement plan for the Metro light rail system.

The Tyne & Wear Metro was built in the late 70's and opened, in stages, from August 1980 - the first such system in the UK, outside of London. I used Metro almost from day one, and for the following 18 years, until work took me away from the reaches of the network.

It was a fantastic system in the early years, but like most large projects in this country, suffers from a lack of sufficient investment and a lot of the existing infrastructure needs replacing.

It has the potential to be great again, but it is also forecast to cease operating in 2012 should the necessary investment not be made. Hence the proposals delivered to Downing Street.

I cannot stress how important it is that these proposals are accepted - Metro caries something like 130 000 passengers every working day. Just imagine (those of you who know and love the roads around Tyneside) all of those people off the Metro and onto buses and into cars.

The government has made much of supporting public transport, but has not delivered nearly as much as it should have. I wish we could look at expanding the system, but central government has blocked that. However, even what currently exists needs upgrading, and £30m a year over 20 years is not to my mind a very big ask.

References:
Metro website
Metro re-invigoration plans

Photos on the web

2007-01-31T20:18:00.000Z

Having finally got my grubby mits on a digital camera over Christmas, I thought it would be a plan to review how I publish my pictures on the interweb. I have been using flickr for a while now, but I've hit the limit of the free service and it is time to pay. Before doing that, however, I thought I'd take a look at Picasa from Google.

So far so good for Picasa. The client software is excellent and allows you to manage your web albums very easily. I'm going to run with it for a while - until I reach my free limit of 250MB - and then decide which way to go.

For those of you who like looking a other people's poor attempts at photography, you can see some of mine on flickr or all of them on Picasa.

New car time

2007-01-31T19:39:00.000Z

I've harped on about this in the past, but the time is rapidly approaching when the Jimny must go and something must replace it. Now, I've thought about all sorts of possibilities, from cheap run-arounds to executive saloons. Latest thinking however, is for another 4x4 - boo hiss from the green brigade, but I like the high seating position.

So, I started making a shortlist. The Freelander is out straightaway because it's too expensive, I don't like the look of the X-Trail from Nissan, and I'm not sure why I'm not considering the CRV or Rav4. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is on there, because it looks smart. Others that sneaked on the list over the weekend were the Hyundai Tucson and the Kia Sportage. That's the 3 for now, although very much subject to change of course!

First thing you need to do is get yourself a big pile of brochures, and this is where you start to score the competing companies. So far we can sum up performance thus:

Suzuki GV 5dr: a smart looking car and quite comfy (no scuffing shoes when changing gear like in the Ford Focus I tried at the weekend) and the 5dr doesn't have Suzuki's ridiculous rear seat access 'system'. Plus, the dealer has been perfectly adequate over the last 3 years. However, the guy I spoke to on Sunday couldn't really be bothered - a point dropped there I think.

Hyundai Tucson: I haven't sat in one of these yet, but I ordered a brochure on Monday night which arrived today. Or rather, I ordered brochures for the Tucson and the Coupe III, and I actually received a price list and some information on the 5 year warranty. Not a good start. Another negative, the trip computer gives fuel consumption figures in miles per US gallon which is no use in the UK.

Kia Sportage: again, I haven't sat in one of these, but at least I got the brochures I requested from the website and in the same amount of time as Hyundai. So Kia takes an early lead simply by doing what I asked.

Next stop is to visit the local Kia and Hyundai dealers to suss them out, and then I suppose I'd better have a drive. And maybe add to the list...

References:
Suzuki Cars
KIA Sportage
Hyundai Tucson

Cricket: The Ashes

2007-01-05T21:33:00.002Z

I can't hold off any longer. It was all over weeks ago, but you like to think there may be a chance, however small that we may snatch even a draw. It wasn't to be. The last 5 wickets collapsed, leaving the Australians a meager score to reach to achieve a well deserved whitewash.

It's so very disappointing to see such little fight and passion from the England team. There were moments - Collingwood's 206 in the 2nd test, Harmison's 4/48 in the 3rd test, Monty's 5 wickets in the same innings - but they were few and far between. We were comprehensively outplayed by a far superior team.

So now we move on to the post-Ashes inquest. I suspect this will be run by those who ran the team and therefore produce no useful outcome. The press will be up in arms for a while before returning column inches to football. Nothing will be done, no real changes at the top, no radical overhaul of the way the game is run. And come 2009 we will be no nearer regaining the Ashes than we would be if we played again next week.

I don't want this to be a totally negative post. Tricky, I know, given results, but if I switch attention to the victors we see many great things. They are a quite awesome team. Sadly, due to the time difference and the fact that the rights were snapped up by Murdoch and his orbiting bin, I didn't see much of the games. What I did see though showed a supreme Australia, playing each test according to their well crafted (and not leaked to the press) plans.

Sadly, this series marks the end of a few careers at this level. Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are all bowing out on a high. I remember watching Warne all the way through the 1993 Ashes series. I thought he was an incredible talent then, and I have no reason to change my mind now. All three are excellent, top level cricketers and it's a shame we won't see them again. The problem for the rest of the world is, of course, that Australia have more fine talent making it's way up the ranks. Quite a scary thought.

One final note: after many years of excuses, the actual urn was allowed out of Lord's and is currently on tour in Australia. Aussie fans are, quite understandably, suggesting that it now stays in Oz - you know, to save damage on the long journey back to England. I agree with them. I can't hand-on-heart say we deserve the thing, so yes it should stay down there. And if it does have an extended stay in Sydney it might - just might - provide a little spark somewhere in the ECB, a little glimmer of pride, perhaps even a slight dash of anger, that may spur those who run English cricket into some sort of action to work towards getting the Ashes back to England when we have rightfully regained them. I won't hold my breath though.

At last: a Jaguar for the future

2007-01-05T20:59:00.000Z

A little while ago, I had a minor rant about the design of Ford's PAG cars. I was not particularly complimentary in places, particularly about Jaguar. At the time, the first photos of the new XK had been released and I wasn't sure about it but, sensibly, decided to wait until I'd seen it in the flesh before going for the jugular.

Fortunate for me that I did. As it turns out, the new XK is a rather good looking vehicle with a welcome, fresh look at interior design. (I.e. no bloody wood).

Of course, such a car is well beyond the financial means of mere mortals such as I, so I must rely on those offerings further down the range. At the moment, there is nothing there that I would consider buying new. X, S and XJ are fussy, throw-back designs that have, quite rightly, not sold well thus leading directly to Jaguar's current financial predicament.

However, the new XF concept has just been shown to the press and boy, what a stunner. It is expected that this car will form the basis of the new S-Type for 2008 - an exciting prospect indeed.

Oozing sporty aggression, it sits there full of purpose. It looks like a modern, luxury sports saloon should and is the sort of design Jaguar have been desperate for for many a year. The design team of Ian Callum and Julian Thompson have taken Jaguar from 1968 straight to 2008 bypassing 40 years of design evolution.

We've known for some time that Jaguar's have got the underpinnings, but the looks haven't matched. Now, finally, we've got something fresh and exciting from the leaping cat. Now, when's that new X-Type coming out?

Film: Pan's Labyrinth

2006-12-10T20:29:00.000Z

This is the first time I have seen a film directed by Guillermo del Toro, it will certainly not be the last. The Devil's Backbone comes highly recommended, so that will be going on the to-hire list.

This is a tale of a young girl growing up during the Spanish Civil war, her mother is widowed and now married to a brutal captain of the fascist regime. It is to the captain's base deep in the woods of northern Spain that the young girl, Ofelia, comes to live with her pregnant mother.

Life there is grim and terrifying for such a young girl, but she has the labyrinth to which she can escape. She is told on her first visit that she is really a princess and must complete three tasks in order to return to her true parents and gain immortality.

Moving between the world of war and the world of the labyrinth is handled beautifully by del Toro, both worlds are visually wonderful and the performances of the cast excellent. Civil war and fantasy do not sound like comfortable bedfellows, but this film is produced with such skill and precision that they become utterly complimentary.

Ultimately we are left with a nagging doubt of where the line between reality, and the fantastical imaginings of a frightened young girl actually lies. At the end of the film you feel momentarily uplifted, only to have hope removed by your own thoughts of what you have really seen. A tragic but wonderful film.

Back on the guitar

2006-12-10T00:22:00.000Z

I've recently been getting re-familiarised with my guitar after a bit of a break. This is not an unusual happening, over the course of the last 28 years I've been playing, there have been long periods of dust gathering - but for now: I'm a guitarist again.

I was just having a bit of a spring clean of my main guitar, a 16 year old Washburn Chicago Series KC90 and was pretty amazed how well it was shaping up - despite the fact I don't look after it very well. I bought it new with my first student grant cheque (as you do) when it was going cheap in a closing-down sale. I say cheap, these things were over £500 back in 1990 so even on sale I think I paid £350. It was expensive, yes, but the fact it's still in fine fettle (more than can be said for my playing) speaks volumes.

If I remember rightly, and apart from the elusive KC100, the 90 was pretty much the top-spec Washburn at the time. It's made up of the following:
- Contoured American basswood body
- 24 jumbo-fret, flat rosewood fretboard
- Maple neck
- Black hardware
- Tone and volume + coil tap
- Floyd-Rose licensed Washburn 600S trem system
- Two Seymour Duncan ALINCO singles
- One Jeff Beck Seymour Duncan hummer
- 5 way pickup selector
- Finished in transparent gold

I have to admit, the only reason I went for that colour at the time was the price, but now, 16 years down the line, I love the way it looks. It was always a very elegant piece of design, but the colour has really grown on me.

I remember trying out only 2 guitars before I decided on the Washburn. The other was the Fender Stratocaster HM model: one of the worst guitars I've ever played. I've played proper Strats and they're lovely, but the HM version was just awful, the neck felt so wide and uncomfortable. Picking up the KC90 afterwards therefore, was a joy.

I'm looking at playing properly again now, and perhaps buying a new electric (once I've got myself an electro-acoustic). The Ibanez JS appeals, but I know It is going to be difficult to find something that looks, feels and plays as well as my old Washburn.

Final note... it feels very good to be playing again!

Theatre: The Tempest

2006-11-26T21:47:00.000Z

Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Patrick Stewart. Newcastle Theatre Royal.

This is the first time I have seen the RSC. I am a bit of a fan of live theatre, and indeed Shakespeare, so it was grand to see the big boys treading my local (recently enlarged) stage.

I saw a production of The Tempest several years back, staged at Tynemouth Priory. Thoroughly enjoyable and atmospheric it was too. However, making the jump from a local, amateur group to professionals of RSC calibre was quite something to behold.

The whole cast were excellent. The guy who played Ariel and the gal who played Miranda standing out in particular. There was, however, no doubt who the star of the show was. Patrick Stewart of Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men fame, showed just what an accomplished actor he is. A quite brilliant performance I thought. Perhaps those with more Shakey/RSC experience may disagree, but he certainly impressed me.

It's performances such as this that make you want to go and see more theatre, and I certainly plan to. Including more RSC when they return for the Autumn 2007 season. I'd urge you lot to do the same.

References:
Royal Shakespeare Company
Theatre Royal, Newcastle

Film: Casino Royale

2006-11-26T21:32:00.000Z

I've always been a fan of Bond - particularly the Connery years - but I hadn't really paid much attention to the later films. I think the last one I saw at the cinema was Tomorrow Never Dies maybe? Whichever one that starts at the Millennium Dome.

Therefore... having heard very good things about the latest release and indeed Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond, I was looking forward to seeing Casino Royale for myself. Due to the immense popularity, I couldn't get tickets last week, so I went yesterday. It did not disappoint. Bags of action, a little bit of lovin' and the right amount of humour (without going too cheesy) made for a rip-snorting 2 and a half hours of enjoyable escapism.

It introduces the character of Bond, how he gained his double-0 status, and why he treats women the way he does. It does it all with a fair degree of style. The film is well produced, directed with the right pace all the way through and you could even forgive it a couple of places where you're not quite sure how something came to pass. Perhaps a second watch would clear these parts up - and it is certainly worth a second watch.

Great performances by the supporting cast helps keeps this film a-flowing, and most of the action sequences are visually quite stunning and I just have to give special mention to the freerunning/parkour scene: Sebastien Foucan is just awesome to watch.

A brief word on product placement: it was, on the whole, done reasonable well; not too in-your-face. But it was kind of like a very long advert for Ford PAG vehicles. Apart from the pre-production Mondeo that Bond is seen driving early on in the film, and of course the Aston Martin DBS (also pre-production), every car park and street scene seemed packed to the rafters with Jaguars, Range Rovers and the occasional Volvo XC90. It did look a tad bizarre at times. At least the Montenegrin Policija had Skodas. BTW: the bad guys are in Jaguars again (this time XJ8s).

My final words are reserved for the lead. Daniel Craig plays a fine Bond: cool, cold, merciless. A proper assassin. It is, however, interesting to see another, softer side to the character with the introduction of a girl he actually loves. I hope he sticks around for another couple of Bond outings.

A cracking film.

Film: The Return (Возвращение)

2006-10-09T15:23:00.000+01:00

Another Russian film this one, only this time the acting was spot on. Telling the story of two young boys whose father turns up one day after a 12 year absence.

Visually this is a very appealing film, showing stunning images of the Russian wilderness. It's quite a contrast: beautiful scenery that you should be happy to be surrounded by, mixed with trying to get on with a father you don't know, and who hasn't a clue how to cope with two young boys.

The two young lads who play the sons put in great performances opposite the abrupt and not-a-little-unpleasant father. Sadly, the 15 year-old actor who played Andrey drowned shortly after the film was finished.

The Return won a Golden Lion at Venice in 2003 along with 27 other awards, so it's pretty well though of by the experts.

We never found exactly where the boys' father had been for the last 12 years, what he did or indeed, what was in the box. Worth a watch though.

Film roundup 3

2006-09-23T12:38:00.000+01:00

Once again I've left it far too long, so this roundup is going to be of the did/did not like form, with very little useful information. Sorry about that. Ok, here we go:

Ella Enchanted
This is a film for kids, and girls at that. I really have no idea why I even thought about watching it. Anyway, the stop button was applied within 5 minutes.

Leon
Masterful. I absolutely loved this film. Well written, acted and directed.

Elling
The story of a couple of Norwegian guys who meet when living in a state institution. When they are released into the outside world they choose to life together and have to find their feet. A very worthwhile watch.

Team America World Police
Absolutely brilliant. It is, in parts, hilarious but obviously the main deal with this film is how it represents American foreign policy and attitudes. It is done so well it makes you cringe.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sadly I can't remember the details but I remember enjoying it a great deal. Slightly bizzare as you'd expect from Charlie Kaufman with great performances from Kate and Jim. I think I'll watch this one again.

War (Война)
Russian film about Chechnya. Some crap acting (particularly from the English guy who plays John) but intetresting to a point.

Tale of Two Sisters
I'm a big fan of Korean film, and this was a good one - I think I just got a bit lost along the way somewhere. Weird.

Reservoir Dogs
I know this may sound a bit odd, but I'd never actually seen this film. I still haven't seen it as I got bored after 10 minutes or so and switched it off. Perhaps I'm just passed the Tarantino stage now.

Le Château de ma Mère
A great French film, with some top moments of humour. Honestly.

Lady Vengeance
Probably needs another watch to get to the bottom of it. A pattern is emerging here... I get confused by Korean films!

Stormbreaker
It was ok I suppose - a James Bond for kids. Chris has already mentioned the product placement side of things in his review so I won't cover that here. It was ok I suppose, nothing startling and certainly devoid of any really outstanding moments.

Airheads
I'd heard good thing about this film, so was initially disappointed. However, after a slow start it turned into one of those entertaining, slightly bonkers movies with some classic comedy moments.

Cidade de Deus (City of God)
Pacey, flowing, well scripted, etc., etc. An exceptional film showing the harsh realities of life on the wrong side of the bread line, and how people cope (if that's the right word) and manage to eke out some kind of existence.

Hotel Rwanda
This was the first film I put on my LoveFilm wishlist when I joined in September 2005. The fact that it took a year for the ting to arrive shows the popularity of this film. It is well deserved too. This is a fantastic film covering a tragic period in Rwanda's recent history. Bleak and depressing, it shows the UN and western world in very bad light and really makes you question those who lead. At least it should. I wonder what the outcome would have been if Rwanda was rich in oil.

Turtles Can Fly
A film set in Kurdish Iraq just before the start of the 2003 invasion. It is a good film, and the performances from the mainly teenage and younger cast is grand. But it just didn't do it for me. Don't know why - just one of those things I guess.

Beware amateur scientists

2006-09-19T21:37:00.000+01:00

Just read this article; a most entertaining read, unless you happened to live in this kid's neighbourhood.

It outlines levels of ingenuity that amaze as well as endanger. One thing's for sure, there was never a proficiency badge in Atomic Energy when I was in the scouts.

Cricket: England v Pakistan (4th Test)

2006-08-20T20:09:00.000+01:00

Turned into a bit of a mess didn't it. From my reading of the situation, the Pakistan team wanted to make a small protest following the accusation of ball-tampering, which seems fair enough to me. However, the umpire wasn't going to put up with it and so we end up with the bails coming off signaling the end of the match.

It seems to me that the umpire could have done a much better job of sorting this out by talking with the Pakistani team about why they didn't take the field after tea. Listening to Mr Boycott on Channel 5, it looks as though there is some history between this umpire and Pakistan though, which really puts a big cloud over the game of cricket in general. The ICC needs to get to the bottom of this quickly.

Anyway, the bails are off so there is no point in playing the final day tomorrow. However, it seems that the players wanted to play today and I'm sure the crowd wanted to watch cricket, so why not have a friendly one day match tomorrow.

With a different umpire though.

Events for your diary

2006-08-12T16:34:00.000+01:00

A few events on the horizon for you. First off, Newcastle Mela. This festival of all things Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindi is in its 14th year. I've never yet managed to go but it's supposed to be a very enjoyable event. Sunday 27th and Bank Holiday Monday 28th of August 2006 in Exhibition Park.

If you are interested in European produce then why not have a look at the North Tyneside Continental Market in September. It will be at North Shields on the 1st, Wallsend on the 2nd and Whitley Bay on the 3rd. For more information see the TyneTown website or ring 0191 200 5733.

Also in September are the Heritage Open Days. They run from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th. A large number of historical buildings are open to the public as well as a number of guided tours and walks. Well worth a look as a lot of these places are not normally open to the public plus it's all free. There are apparently 181 properties and activities this year across the whole Tyne and Wear area. Further details available here.

A little later in the year is the Tyneside Irish Festival, sometime in October. More news when I get it.

Also in October, the British National Surfing Championships are being staged at Tynemouth. Why they're doing it in October and not when it's warm is beyond me but then, what do I know... Organised by the British Surfing Association, the championships are on the 7th and 8th of October at Long Sands.

Hopefully there is something there to tickle your bits.

Further flight destinations

2006-08-12T16:20:00.000+01:00

As it's been a while since I mentioned ways of getting away from (and indeed coming to) Newcastle, I thought I'd have a look at what new scheduled flights are available.

Jet2 have added to their list of destinations with flights to Chambery over the winter (for you winter sports types) and 2 flights a week to Krakow in Poland. I flew with them in July on their Menorca route and it was a very good service (apart from a delayed departure from Newcastle.)

Aer Lingus are back in the game at Newcastle with cheap daily flights to Dublin from 29th October 2006. This is in direct competition with Ryanair.

Eastern Airways have added services to Cardiff and Inverness.

Happy St Oswald's Day

2006-08-05T11:30:00.000+01:00

Who? You might well ask. Oswald was king of Northumbria during the early 7th century. He was king when the Northumbrians defeated the Britons at the Battle of Heavenfield in 635. This comprehensive victory over the pagan Britons resulted in the reunification of Northumbria and led to an the era of greatness for the kingdom. By 638, Oswald was secure at home and looking towards expansion. Bede suggests that the king was recognised as Bretwalda or overlord of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

Obviously, power breeds jealousy and King Penda of Mercia gathered a large force of Mercians and Welsh to bring an end to Oswald's reign. The armies clashed in 642 at Maserfield (now Oswestry or Oswald's Tree) in Shropshire and Oswald was killed on the 5th of August.

Oswald was hacked to pieces by the victors. The story goes that his body was taken from the battle field on a gold cloth which became soaked with the king's blood - so giving rise the flag that you should see at the top of this post. It is believed to be the oldest flag in the UK and forms the basis of Northumberland's county flag. Personally, I prefer the original.

Anyway, I'm Northumbrian and Oswald, along with St Cuthbert, is an important part of the area's history so may I suggest a pint of your favourite Mordue or Wylam ale and a pie.

World Cup: Portugal go out

2006-07-06T00:35:00.000+01:00

I know I've mentioned unsporting behaviour by a certain Monsieur Henry in an earlier post - and I certainly stand by that - but I have to say I am absolutely delighted to see Portugal dumped out of these finals by France.

You could jump to the conclusion that this is simply because they beat England in the quarter finals, but I can assure you this is not the case. I am happy to admit defeat when we are fairly outplayed - see earlier post covering the England v Sri Lanka cricket international.

There are actually two reasons I go for France over Portugal. Firstly, when he's on form, I just love watching Zidane: he's a wonderful player, sickeningly skillful and a joy to behold. Secondly, and probably the main reason I am so happy to see Portugal lose, is the manner in which they play.

What was heartening however, was hearing the crowds reaction to certain players. I'm not usually a fan of such behaviour, but I think we have the situation where the fans have seen quite enough and are reacting accordingly. The vast majority of people who love the game of football, despise the antics of these players and sadly, Portugal seem to epitomise this damaging, unhealthy aspect of the game. They are a disgrace to the game of football and, to my mind, appalling representatives of their country. I hope they look back over the videos of their games and realise - I suspect they won't.

I sincerely hope Germany do the decent thing on Saturday and show them the correct way to participate - as well as beating them by a healthy margin.

So to the final. If Italy play in the same manner as in their semi against Germany, and France perform as we know they can, it should be quite a game. However, I suspect it may be defensive and uninteresting, ultimately settled on penalties. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong and this well organised, friendly World Cup will finish on a high.

World Cup: Germany vs. Italy

2006-07-04T22:48:00.000+01:00

Despite the best efforts of Blatter and his FIFA cronies to turn football into a dull, no-contact sport, I am happy to report that the beautiful game is alive and well.

Much has been made of play-acting and bad sportsmanship over the course of these finals, Henry's face-cluthing display against Spain being a prime example. However, the game tonight was played, by both sides, with passion and commitment. There was no rolling around on the floor for no good reason, diving head-first into the penalty area if breathed on, and so on. Instead, we had handshakes and a quite fantastic spirit about the game.

The result? A truly remarkable game of football. Easily the best 120 minutes I have seen during this year's World Cup finals. Both teams were an absolute credit to the game and their countries.

I have to say the brilliant performance of the Mexican referee played a part in this. He let a number of firm but fair challenges go throughout the game that free-kicks would have been awarded for in other games. He just let the game flow, and flow it did. End to end for 2 hours. Thankfully, the game wasn't reduced to penalties with 2 excellent goals from Italy in the last minute or so of extra time.

It is a shame Germany are out, it is always good to have the hosts represented in the final game, but they can go away from this tournament with heads held high after playing some great football. And I think that goes for the whole country who have done a great job as hosts.

Blatter, if you watched the game tonight: that is how football should be played, you'd do well to remember that.

Film: Ghost in the Shell

2006-07-02T22:17:00.000+01:00

I am a bit of a fan of Japanese films as you may have noticed. This most certainly includes the animated variety.

Ghost in the Shell is 11 years old now, but what a fine Anime. Exploring the question of what make us human, this is an interesting and most enjoyable film.

Set only 23 or so years in the future, we see a world inhabited by cyborgs: humans who have had varying amounts of their bodies replaced by machinery. Human spirit/soul, call it what you will, living in a mechanical box - the ghost in the shell - at what stage do we stop being human?

This film follows a character who has become mainly machine, and a piece of software that now has human form. The questions of humanity come to the fore. What happens when you die? How do you produce offspring that are not simply carbon copies, but different from the parents - how to be more human. A fascinating watch.

How to steal a moped...

2006-06-30T12:35:00.000+01:00

(or motorbike for that matter) and get away with it.

Just read an interesting article on the BBC website.

Apparently some theives made off with this young chap's moped. The police refused to make chase because the theives weren't wearing helmets. The logic being that if there was an accident and the thieves injured themselves, they'd sue the police.

So it would seem the more laws you break the more likely you are to get away with it. If I went out on my motorbike without a helmet on I'd quite rightly get stopped. If I went out and pinched a bike but foolishly wore my helmet, I'd get arrested. Break both laws however, and I'd be fine.

Personally, if there is an accident and the theives get mashed up a bit, I don't much care. Involving innocent bystanders is a different matter of course, but just to let people go for fear of being sued is ridiculous.

Firstly, it's just another example of the law abiding types getting no useful support from the police and secondly, the very fact that the police think that a suit against them may actually make it as far as the courts shows a huge problem with the legal system in this country.

Makes you wonder why you bother sticking to the laws of the land, it costs you a bloody fortune.

Theatre: Kabuki at Sadler's Wells

2006-06-27T00:05:00.000+01:00

On a recent trip to London, a friend and I spent a very enjoyable evening at Sadler's Well Theatre watching some Kabuki.

Kabuki is a peculiarly Japanese theatre tradition, where all the parts are played by men. It is an arresting sight, hugely colourful and massively skillful. The story is played out by the many tiny details of posture, costume and music as much as the dialogue. Most of the subtleties were well beyond my grasp, but this did not spoil what was a truly fabulous experience

We were fortunate in having two of the best known Kabuki actors gracing the stage, and tickets very close to the front.

It's quite difficult to explain Kabuki unless you have some knowledge of Japanese traditional arts - being highly stylised, it is a very different experience to anything you'd expect to see in the West. Basically though, you have a small number of actors on stage, as well as the musicians. There isn't much in the way of dialogue, and what there is is not exactly delivered a-la Olivier.

There were two performances on the night: Fuji Musume (The Wisteria Maiden) where the magnificent Ebizo Ichikawa XI played the part of the geisha, followed by Kasane where Ebizo XI as the ronin samurai Yoemon, was joined by Kamejiro Ichikawa II as Kasane, Yoemon's lover.

Translation headphones were available, but I didn't bother - there really was no need. A little knowledge of the story was all that was required to follow the plot.

The skill and energy of the performances was quite exceptional. In fact my friend and I are looking into booking for a performance next year, at the Paris Opera House, where the Ichikawa family will be performing a number of pieces. Should be quite something.

External links:
Synopsis on the Sadler's Wells website

Cricket: England vs Sri Lanka (3rd ODI)

2006-06-25T17:05:00.000+01:00

While most of the nation's sports fans are focused on events in Germany, other national teams are also playing their respective games.

Yesterday I was at Durham CCC's Riverside ground in Chester-le-Street to watch the third in a series of one day internationals against Sri Lanka.

This is the second time I've seen an England ODI at the Riverside, the first being a couple of years ago against New Zealand. We were soundly beaten then and were even more so yesterday.

I know the squad is short of key players and I know Steve Harmison is only just getting back after injury, but this was an awful performance. Ian Bell put in a handy 77, but did it at a very leisurly pace - it took him over 100 balls to get there. In comparison, Sri Lanka's Jayawardene piled on 126no from 127 balls.

On the plus side, it was a good day out and a great atmosphere. We also saw some fabulous cricket, it's just a shame it was pretty much all from the Sri Lankans. Look out for them in next year's World Cup.

We have a lot of sorting out to do, the Pakistan visit starts in only a few weeks.

External links:
BBC Match report

Family history update

2006-06-22T22:24:00.000+01:00

Right, this is going to be a long post, so grab yourself a cold one.

Those of you who persevere with this blog may have read a post back in November about the search for my ancestors. You may recall that I was having a spot of bother with my great-great-great-great-grandfather.

A couple of weeks ago I was in London for the weekend - one of the main reasons being to visit the National Archives at Kew and browse the mariner records for the mid 19th century. The plan was to go in there, find one William Miller of South Shields in the master mariner lists and that would be job done. Well, obviously it wasn't that easy. The list of masters wasn't yielding anything useful, so I had to trawl through the standard seamen indexes and found 16 William Millers from South Shields.

After some further work I managed to get this list down to 5, any of which could have been the man I was after. I was stuck. Anyway, that was the Saturday and I was in London until the train left on Monday afternoon. So, on Monday morning I went to the Family Records Centre in Islington, conveniently just round the corner from the hotel. There, I spoke to a very helpful lady who, after much face pulling and shaking of head as I explained my predicament, suggested I did some cross-checking with the census records of the time: if one of these William Millers was at home on census night, I would know it wasn't mine. Brilliant. That got me down to 2.

Time was ticking and I could achieve no more. However, I knew from previous census browsing that he had died sometime between 1851 and 1861. So out of desperation I spent the last hour or so going through the death indexes by hand, looking for all the William Millers who died in South Shields between those dates. These indexes don't give age at death, or occupation or anything so it's hard to be sure, and if he died at sea he wouldn't be in these indexes anyway, so it was another long shot. I found 2.

I ordered copies of the certificates hoping one would be a master mariner and the address he died at would tie up somewhere. They arrived on Tuesday. Unfortunately, both were listed as seamen though one was a master. The master mariner died at 12 Thames Street which was agonisingly close to the 1851 census return for his family of 23 Thames Street, but not enough to be sure. I had hoped his wife Ann might be the one notified of his death, but it was an Elizabeth Miller of 13 Thames Street on the certificate. Now, he had a daughter Elizabeth, but she would only have been 9 when this guy died, so that was unlikely. The only possibilities left would have been a sister or daughter-in-law.

With me so far? Ok, this brings me to tonight's research.

William Miller's second son (his first was my great-great-great-grandfather, William) was a chap called James Hedley Miller, born around 1829. Now that unusual middle name had helped me locate the correct census entries for the family a year or so ago, because William's wife was Ann Hedley (married 1822) and it was very much James to the rescue again.

I had a look for his marriage entry and that, because of the way they were indexed in 1851, gave me 4 possible spouses - one of which was Elizabeth Bulmer. It was looking good, but nowhere near proved. Right, so now I looked for James in the 1861 census - he was carpenter and mate on a bloody ship at sea, wife nowhere to be seen. It looked like another dead end.

Having got the bit between the teeth however, I looked for an entry for Elizabeth Miller in the 1861 census - guessing her age but having a good idea where where she lived. There she was, at 12 Thames Street - husband not there of course, but her 4 year old son gave the game away: James Hedley Miller. Bingo. However, why was she at 12 Thames Street? Well, I looked at the entry for 13 Thames Street and who should be there but James' younger brother, George and his wife, believe it or not, Elizabeth.

So I think I am sure now that my great-great-great-great-grandfather, William Miller died on the 21st December 1852, aged 58 at 12 Thames Street, Westoe. His daughter-in-law Elizabeth who lived next door was there when he died.

His age of 58 gave me an approximate year of birth of 1794. Checking back at the mariner's records that I'd written down on my trip to Kew, I had one that I had not discounted by other means, who started his career at sea as a carpenter (same as James) with date of birth given as 16 December 1795. This could be him but further work is needed. Just as well I'm back in London next month.

Apologies for the length of this post - I hope you've found it at least slightly interesting. I felt I had to write it all out (actually not all, but near enough) to get it straight in my head and make sure I haven't missed any gaps in the logic.

This has been a long slog - over a year to find this much information about one man who was born 211 years ago.

William Miller, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, master mariner, probably born 16th December 1795, married to Ann Hedley at St Paul's Parish Church, Jarrow on the 6th of January 1822, died 21st December 1852. Father of 8.

Tonight has been a very successful night.

Eurovision 2006

2006-05-18T22:43:00.000+01:00

I'm not one of those rabid Eurovision fanatics, but I do find it quite an entertaining couple of hours once a year.

However, this year is special and I urge you all to witness the wonderment that is Finland's entry.

Not your typical Eurovision fare by any stretch and I'm delighted to see they made it through the semi-final stage. They will be gracing a TV near you on Saturday: there is a God after all.

Affluent Newcastle?

2006-05-17T13:58:00.000+01:00

If there were any doubts over the rise of the money set in Newcastle I think yesterday squashed them.

I saw not one but three Aston Martin DB9s in town yesterday. Not the same one thrice either. I'd gone out for a walk at lunch and while heading back to the office passed a brand new, black convertible DB9, top down, parked up and abandoned - rather brave I thought. While I was casting my gaze over that, a silver coupe drove by.

Then, walking down to the car park after work, I saw a black coupe.

This is an exceptional, but not altogether unique catch. I've noticed, over the last year or so, a steady increase in the number of flash wheels driving around the north - particularly Astons, Range Rovers and Bentley Continentals. We're certainly no match for the South-East, but there sure is some money up here these days.

Alan Shearer testimonial

2006-05-12T17:33:00.000+01:00

A brief follow up to my previous post on Alan Shearer.

I watched his Testimonial match last night (surely the first decent thing aired on ITV4!) and I've got to be honest, I was welling. A very emotional event.

I was one of the thousands who turned up on a wet lunchtime in July 1996 to welcome Shearer home, and I still can't quite believe that we won't see Alan in the Newcastle number 9 next season.

I'd like to add huge thanks to Celtic Football Club for coming o'er the border and giving us a very enjoyable game. Especially playing along at the end to allow Shearer, who I'm sure would have much preferred to play the whole game, to score the winning penalty. Yes it was an orchestrated end to the game, but it showed a huge level of sportsmanship and really was a credit to that team. Slainte.

Happy St George's Day

2006-04-23T09:26:00.000+01:00

At the risk of being labelled a racist, national front-supporting nazi by the über-PC idiots: Happy St George's Day.

Not just to the good folk of England, but also the citizens of the following countries, regions and cities where St George is also patron saint: Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Aragon, Catalonia, Genoa, Istanbul, Moscow and Venice.

I'm not a jingoistic flag-waver by any stretch of the imagination, but I do find it wierd that we English types seem to celebrate St Patrick's Day and even Australia Day more than our own patron saint. Shame really.

Have yourself a nice warm ale and a bag of chips.

External links:
BBC: St George's Day
Royal Society of St George

Alan Shearer

2006-04-22T20:14:00.000+01:00

I haven't been a season ticket holder as St. James for some years now, but I felt I must say something about Shearer and his retirement from the game.

I was there, outside the Leazes end 10 years ago, when Alan Shearer signed for Newcastle United. I had a very extended lunch and endured what seemed like hours of that idiot Alan Robson telling me what I should sing, just to see Shearer lift his arms to the sky that first time in black and white.

Last week, at the Wear-Tyne derby, we saw that action one last time.

It is such a sad way for Shearer to finish his career, limping off 3 games early after tearing a ligament in his knee. If there was any justice he would have been scoring a hatrick against Chelsea on the last day of this season. Sadly it's not to be.

Shearer has been a fantastic asset to Newcastle and England, a fabulous sportsman and almost impossible to replace.

All the best Alan, in whatever you do in your retirement - it's been an absolute pleasure watching you.

A new blog

2006-04-22T20:02:00.000+01:00

Those of you who keep an eye on this blog may have noticed a couple of posts on clay pigeon shooting.

In order to keep a reasonable level of focus on this new interest of mine, I've started a dedicated blog: Breaking Clays.

There isn't much there at the minute but, as I progress and learn more about the sport and the equipment, that is where I will post my thoughts and findings.

Film: Azumi

2006-04-22T19:38:00.000+01:00

A Japanese film based on a comic I believe (aren't they all)

The story revolves around a group of 10 kids who have been brought up and trained to serve one purpose: assassination. The central character, Azumi, is the only girl in the group.

Once the scene of early life and the training has been set, we quickly move on to the real task in hand. The group leave their mountain retreat, where they have been living in splendid isolation learning their craft, out into the outside world to await their orders.

Many battles ensue leading, naturally, to a big final fight. And boy it's a big one.

This film is not all about killing, however. Loyalty, betrayal and the questioning of your destiny all come out over the course of the 2 hours. Azumi is full of quality acting, breathtaking martial arts and wonderfully interesting characters: this is a gem of a film.

Quality moment: Azumi dispatches an arrow heading directly for her forehead with one swift application of her sword - the arrow is split in 2 lengthways, one half passing by each of her ears and taking out the 2 baddies behind her. Majestic.

Visiting Europe?

2006-04-22T14:04:00.001+01:00

For those of you who trot off to Europe on your hols and are used to dropping by your local Post Office for an E111 form: they are no more.

The humble E111 has now been replaced by the European Health Insurance Card. They are free and easy to get online by pointing your browser at the online EHIC application form.

I applied for one on Wednesday night and it arrived this morning (Saturday) which seems like a pretty speedy turnaround time if you ask me.

The EHIC does the same thing as the old E111 - that is, allows you to claim health services throughout European Economic Area countries and Switzerland. Very handy. It only covers treatment that becomes medically necessary during your visit to that country - so no free boob jobs.

You should also get proper travel insurance too - particularly those of you who love zipping down mountains on planks of wood.

Further information is available on the FAQ page.

This information is only valid for UK residents, not including Channel Islands or Isle of Man.

How would you feel if...

2006-04-10T20:19:00.000+01:00

...you were ordered to leave your home by your government, moved to some place 800 miles away that you've never been before, and told you could never return?

Pretty upset I'll bet, annoyed even. So here's a question: who do you reckon did this to a community 35 years ago. China, perhaps? North Korea?

Guess again. The community in question are the Chagos islanders and the government responsible is the British Government.

During the late 60's the British Government leased the island of Diego Garcia to the Americans for use as an airbase. Diego Garcia was part of the Crown Colony of Mauritius at the time. The people living on the islands to the north of Diego Garcia were served eviction orders and moved. Some ended up dumped in Mauritius or the Seychelles, others resettled in the UK. They have never been allowed to return, until last week. And then only for a short visit.

Diego Garcia is now part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, one of 13 remaining territories belonging to the UK.

The Americans refuse to allow repatriation of the northern islands for security reasons, despite their distance from the air base. A few hundred islanders are deemed more of a threat than the 2000 contract workers from the Philippines who work at the base. Security, my arse.

This is an appalling episode in the modern history of the UK and one that does not seem destined for an early, satisfactory conclusion. The current lease runs until 2016 with an option to extend for a further 20 years. Diego Garcia is a key player in the "War on Terror" as it is a base for B52 bombers to drop things on the Middle East.

In addition, the British Government believes repatriation is uneconomic and the islanders would require substantial financial support to survive there. The government seem to forget that these people managed on these islands very nicely before they were evicted, and that the amount of money required to resettle the islands would probably be dwarfed by the amount being spent on assisting other countries around the world. Sad that the British Government ponces around the globe with peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts, lapping up the feel-good media coverage - but won't get off its fat arse and right an atrocious wrong relating to its own people.

Makes you proud to be british doesn't it.

See also:
The Ilois Trust
UK Chagos Support Association
BBC News
UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, BIOT Country Profile
FCO humanitarian visit, April 2006
US Navy, Diego Garcia - background
US Navy Support Facility, Diego Garcia - homepage

Clay pigeon shooting: part two

2006-04-09T20:17:00.000+01:00

After an entertaining shooting lesson last week, I went back for more...

So, today was shooting lesson number two. Last week my instructor started me off shooting one clay at a time before moving on to report pairs (second clay launched on hearing the first shot.) Today it was straight on to pairs, so your 25 booms go by pretty sharpish.

We moved on to the second stage today: starting with the gun down from the shoulder. Shout pull, watch for the clay, gun into the shoulder, track and bang. I only missed 4 today, so I was well pleased.

I've got to say, Jack is an excellent instructor and has got me comfortable with the shotgun very quickly. His words to me on leaving the range were basically, you've got the basics, get a gun and practice.

Next stop: a gun case.

Film: Kingdom of Heaven

2006-04-08T15:00:00.000+01:00

I watched this film again the other night, even though I didn't really enjoy it when I saw it at the cinema after its release last year. The script is poor, the acting highly questionable in places and Orlando Bloom is totally wrong for the lead part.

The reasons I decided to watch it again were twofold: the look of the thing and the performance of Ghassan Massoud as Saladin. Totally believable in the role and projecting an on-screen presence that Bloom and others can only dream about. This guy seems a very fine actor indeed. I'm hoping to track down some of his other performances.

His latest film appears to be Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.

Worldwide visitations

2006-04-08T12:52:00.000+01:00

It's less than 24 hours after installing the new visitors tool, and I have a message from the other side of the world.

Hello to Ivan in Brazil, thanks for your visit. His blog is in Portugese but why not drop by: Ivan Goulart - Professor e Pedagogo

More blog-clutter

2006-04-07T16:50:00.000+01:00

Those hawk-eyed readers out there may have noticed a new addition to the righthand panel of this blog. Nestling comfortably between my flickr preview and the Google adverts lies a nifty little gadget that shows where visitors to this blog are from.

Looks a bit sad and lonely at present, as it can't take into account those who visited before the thing was activated. However, it should be interesting to see who actually wanders into this blog other than the 5 or 6 UK-based people who I know keep half an eye on it.

You can get this thing from NeoWorx

Get em, get those pesky clays...

2006-04-03T18:50:00.000+01:00

You may be wondering what the hell that title is all about. Well, it kind of starts with the Commonwealth Games (see earlier post) and the shooting in particular.

You know when you see something on the telly and you go, "yeah, that looks good." Or, "done that before, was fun." And then you change channels, buttocks remaining firmly glued to the sofa.

Well I got that sort of feeling while watching the men's skeet shoot, but this time I did something. I reached for the internet and then the phone.

That's a rather round about way of saying I went clay pigeon shooting on Sunday. Most enjoyable it was too. It's been a couple of years since I last handled a shotgun, but I think I smashed about half of the clays - so that's not too bad.

I think I have a taste for it now, so I'm booked in for another lesson next week.

It'll be gun certificates and so forth before you know it. You know how these things take hold...

Sue me, sue me...

2006-03-29T23:40:00.000+01:00

So, I see Apple has folded and released a way to limit the volume of your iPod - other than the volume control. (Ref: BBC)

In my opinion, any gormless idiot who doesn't check volume levels before sticking headphone in his/her ears, or is incapable of figuring out that loud music direct to the ears probably doesn't do them any good, deserves to go deaf.

From the BBC: "John Kiel Patterson, of Louisiana, is suing Apple in the US District Court in San Jose, California. He says his iPod is capable of generating more than 115 decibels, a dangerous noise level, and is not safe for prolonged use."

Free advice: don't turn it up full blast you moron.

I have a 100W guitar amp that is capable of far more that 115db, but I don't intend suing Laney if I turn it up too far and damage my hearing (or the brickwork of my house for that matter.) My car is capable of being driven into a wall at 80mph (just) - should I sue Suzuki if I get seriously injured doing it? Using my drill on my head would probably kill me, should my parents sue Black & Decker? If I get run over by a train should I perhaps sue the railways because I didn't realise running on the tracks was dangerous?

Two things at work here I reckon:
- those who are just thick: I've done something stupid, let's blame someone else
- those who are after a quick buck: Apple has money, so let's get some of it.

To cover the former, take all the warning signs off everything and let the problem sort itself out. To cover the second, imprison these people for wasting police/judicial time.

I have no time for cretins such as this.

Commonwealth Games

2006-03-27T20:56:00.000+01:00

I read this article by Michael Johnson the other day: his thoughts on the Commonwealth Games that have just finished in Melbourne.

MJ could only talk of substandard competitors and the requirement of if you're going to prove you're the best, you have to compete against the best. It's a pretty poor attitude: best or nothing. No mention of people turning up and giving their all. Those people who don't get the millions in sponsorship required to be full-time, professional sportsmen or women, but rather have to train after work or at weekends. Real dedication in my eyes.

There's no mention of sportsmanship or the joy of taking part or of pulling on the colours of your country. So what if someone was a second off world-best pace? They trained to the best of their abilities, turned up in Melbourne and said "hey I'm here and this is what I can do." Good on them I say and long may the Commonweath Games continue.

No, the Commonwealth Games are not the World Championships or the Olympics, and some groups of people could do well to remember that - and I believe this was MJ's point overall. But I think his attitude shows a real lack of respect for those who organise and more importantly those who compete in these games.

One interesting little contradiction in what he said: MJ complains that 20.47secs in the 200m and 10.03s in the 100m were not good enough for a proper medal. But the very next paragraph he says that to expect athletes to get their best times in March, when they're used to running in the summer, is not reasonable. So I'm assuming the Olympic and World champs are going to be a little off the pace at this time of year also...

I enjoyed these games immensely and the BBC's interactive coverage on digital telly was excellent.

I for one am really looking forward to the 2010 games in Delhi, and watching Melbourne 2006 has actually got me a little more excited about London 2012. Now there's a thing!

Islam in Afghanistan

2006-03-27T20:46:00.000+01:00

Here are 2 quotes for you:

"The Prophet Muhammad has said several times that those who convert from Islam should be killed if they refuse to come back"

"Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, kindness and integrity."

Opposite ends of the scale aren't they. Showing the moderates from the radicals?

Sadly not, both quotes are from the same man from the same interview. Looks contradictory until you read the sentence which follows the kindness and integrity bit, "That is why we have told him if he regrets what he did, then we will forgive him"

So, basically, it's do as we say or you're in for it. That doesn't quite balance with the tolerance motif.

The man who said this stuff is one Ansarullah Mawlafizada, judge in charge of the trial against Abdul Rahman, who converted to Christianity 16 years ago. Unless he converts back to Islam, under the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law on which Afghanistan's constitution is based, he could be sentenced to death. Note the use of the word interpretation.

I don't believe this sort of attitude and lack of respect for individual freedom reflects modern Islam. Unfortunately it seems to be the way Afghanistan is running its affairs, and it certainly does nothing for the image of Islam as a modern religion.

Ref: BBC News

Control yourself on eBay

2006-03-18T17:39:00.000Z

eBay is a real godsend at times - it helps you get rid of stuff you don't want anymore without throwing it in the bin. It helps you find stuff you want to buy on the cheap. It also shows that some people just can't control themselves when they are losing an auction. The urge to win seems to completely block out common sense.

I've just been watching an auction for an in-car sat nav system (Navman 320.) The buyer has said ok to paying a total of £185 for this particular one. Why's he done that then - you can pick up a brand new one for £150!

Ford - Premier Automotive Group

2006-03-11T11:36:00.000Z

I thought I'd do a couple of posts on the state of car design these days.
First up: Ford's extensive PAG portfolio.

For those of you who don't know, Ford owns a fair number of car makes both stateside and in Europe. The PAG encompasses it's European possessions: Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.

To my mind PAG, on the whole, has proved fairly successful in recent years - Aston and Land Rover are now knee-deep in currency.

The major exception is of course, Jaguar, which has not produced a decent design (apart from the old XK) for some time. I'll reserve judgment on the new XK until I've seen it in the flesh, but up to now I'm not hugely impressed with the exterior. Jaguars were clean, sweeping designs that made you yearn for one. The current crop are fussy and incoherent and in the case of the S-Type: fat-arsed.

Aston Martin and Land Rover have been very successful financially, and aesthetically - but I begin to fear for the future. Aston appears to have only one design (as the DB9, Vantage V8 and proposed 4-door are essentially all the same.) The same complaint can be leveled at Land Rover, especially now that the Freelander replacement seems to be a carbon copy of the Disco3. I understand the concept of the family face but come on guys.

Now Jaguar is in on the act - but obviously is can't copy it's own designs (honestly, who would) so it has had to borrow from Aston for the new XK.

Interesting to hear that the Halewood plant will be building the next Freelander - seemingly sounding the death-knell for the X-Type. So much promise, yet dropped without a fight. Jaguar, I feel, is in serious trouble.

I haven't mentioned Volvo yet, have I? Got to be honest, I wasn't too sure about the last raft of designs with the über-chiseled flanks. But that actually began to grow on me and the newer models (2006 S80 and C70) look great and the Bang & Olufsen style interiors are very very cool. Yes, I think Volvo's going to be ok.

Film: Syriana

2006-03-11T11:33:00.000Z

A depressing - though I suspect fairly accurate - portrayal of American government and corporate activities in the Middle-East.

A slow-paced and very well produced tale of corporate greed, corruption and interference in the internal affairs of Arab nations revolving around the black stuff.

An excellent film, but it does nothing for your sense of wellbeing as a westerner in the modern world. Given the current diplomatic situation with Iran, this film feels almost like a fly-on-the-wall documentary.

The search for a new car...

2006-03-05T17:01:00.000Z

The Jimny is now almost 2 years old and the time has come to ship it off and get something different. The thing is, pinning down something I really fancy is proving remarkably tricky. I think I'm settled on an Alfa but good examples for sensible money are elusive. I haven't even brought myself to drive anything yet.

I've looked at 3 156s this weekend and none of them impressed. One was close (Y reg 2.4JTD) but had nasty Kevved-up tinted windows. I would have been embarrassed to drive it - and that's coming from a guy with a Jimny!

I saw a decent 166 2.5 V6 yesterday, perfect service history (important for Italians) but no leather. That may seem petty but I do have to think about selling it on. Plus, it wouldn't fit in the garage. Nice car though. I may have to take it for a spin round the block - just to see.