Colonel Irrelevant

With Twitter offering immediate interaction with the world, I’ve been sadly remiss with blogging.

So, a random summary just to get back on track:

Budget cuts politically motivated: unnecessary risks for no benefit: Coalition government means Clegg swallowing everything Cameron wants despite the fall in support and lack of manifesto connection: Gratz to Spain on World Cup win: Season starts v Leeds and you all know how I feel about Leeds: Savage! looks like a fun read: Cricket going well even against a bunch of kids who need to mature: Madrid not as warm as it was last year: Stop! Thief!!!: Dog sitting is fun: some local wine is good, others is bleeauugh: pool filter is bust: Anne Rice is being misunderstood and she has some valid points BUT there is more than one Church out there and not all are as portrayed: Richard Dawkins is annoying: Cameron needs to keep his mouth shut until he knows that what he is going to say makes sense and won’t start a war: in 1941 the British Empire was alone while the Yanks sat home and fiddled.

There may be other stuff but in the meantime there you go!

Well, England are out. It was only a matter of time despite all kinds of delusion that we had some kind of Golden Generation that were positively going to win the cup.

The tournament was a sad sight to see. England weren’t good enough in most departments, the selection remained static, players went missing and only the fans came out with any credit.

And the credit for the fans came because no one rioted, which should of course be the basic level of behaviour. Anyway, the point of this isn’t to disect the playing. Oh no. That way lies insanity and opinion and no hope.

What I have seen this past few weeks has been a sick organisation being bypassed in every department. Sure we can point the fingers at Capello at the issues lie at the top of the game.

The FA sold their soul to the Premiership. By handing control of the money to the Clubs it pandered to every tribal desire of the football fan. When players like Cantona, Gullitt, Zola, etc. arrived we all got excited. Now we see Fabregas, Tevez, Torres, Vidic, van der Saar, etc. and we don’t have any excuse because these are the bed rock of our game and deliver success for our clubs. Which we like!

Add to this foundation a structure that is biased towards bottom end coaching rather than top level and the problem gets worse. Spain have 10 times more uefa A coaches than there are in Britain … And you could argue it shows. When school kids in Spain get top level coaching and our players may not you have to wonder. Where do you look for leadership on this stuff? The FA again.

They are making a hash of the world cup bid, can’t seem to have any continuity at the top level and show no leadership. When commercial relationships make more impact than the issues of using an unfamiliar ball should we be questioning the leaders? Damn right.

The Germans slaughtered England on Sunday playing flexibly and breaking quickly. Kids beat massively paid superstars. So back to coaching.

And finally, the managerial fiasco. Capello is a good manager. Better than Sven, better than Steve. But he missed a chance because he was inflexible, players didn’t stick to their roles or made mistakes or didn’t show up. But before the tournament major club sides we’re sniffing around Capello so the FA decided to renegotiate their contract. That was a rational choice. Now they need to stick with it, rebuild and move forward. Keegan and MacLaren weren’t good enough. Sven did OK.

We need to look long and hard at the situation. We don’t need an English manager, we need an overhaul from top to bottom. We need to concentrate on young players and bring them on like Spain and Germany as a team. But whilst the Prem teams continue to chase foreign talent over developing youngsters we will stifle the development of the England team in pursuit of winning a Premiership game.

On a final point, can someone remove Alan Green because he needs to do more analysis and less opinion.

The one thing we all learnt from the expenses scandal was the depths to which our elected representatives would stoop too to feather their own nests. Not all, of course, but enough.

The days since Friday have seen the political parties, egged on by the media, continue to press for their own advantage despite the people not voting for a winner.

The Tories didn’t win, Labour didn’t win, no one except for the Greens and Alliance won, really. The most popular party commanding less than 40% of the cast 65% or so of available votes is hardly a win unless you are totally shit at maths and/ or a politician.

Now we’ve seen Clegg messing about trying to negotiate a deal with the Tories, based on little common ground. In case you hadn’t noticed, the Tories are aligned with a bunch of reactionary homophobes and anti-Semites in the European Parliament and they want to risk the recovery for ideology.

A little common ground on ID cards and education is hardly likely to be worth risking the Union on because a Tory Government is hardly likely to be welcomed in Scotland.

But Nick wants to be king maker and now he is getting pressure for that decision. In the short term he may have got some influence but he hasn’t got PR and he may have signed up to a nasty backlash at the next election.

The Tories have produced a neat trick of claiming a win when they didn’t. To spring an offer, publically, of a referendum on AV at the 11th hour is another example of vested interest and power winnig out over the wishes of the people.

And the Labour party have been sadly deficient in service to the country with their half hearted attempt to form a coalition.

In case it needs saying again, no one won the election. My fear is though that the people will lose again as public sector cuts bite, the Market runs things into the ground and the rich get richer while the poor are left with no support.

The winners are the politicians again. They always are. But now they can blame the people.

Well Gordon Brown has announced he is standing down as Labour leader. This opens the door to the Rainbow Alliance of the left-leaning parties. People are predicting this will be an unstable mix because of the differences in policy buy realistically it is likely to be no more or less stable than a marriage between Tory and Lib Dem with little common ground.

But for the moment I think we need to see the sacrifice Brown has made. He is stepping down with some dignity. He has been dignified as the Tories and Lib Dems have talked about forming a Government and seems to have applied little pressure to the situation.

Let’s not forget he did a great job as Chancellor. The rich may have got richer but I think it’s fair to say that the poorer also had their lot improved. Things aren’t perfect but at least I can look at society now and feel no shame unlike the Thatcher years.

So thanks for making the brave decision. I suspect the history books will take a better view of your service than the politically motivard media of today.

Oh what nonsense we have. One weekend full of coverage based on opinions, speculation, punditry and nonsense. Cameron failed to win the election by the measures used. Clegg failed to increase either seats or vote. Brown is fulfilling his assigned role under what passes for a constitution. He won’t resign until a stable government has been established which is sensible. Just think how stupid the markets would be without any government when they are already as stable as a nineteen stone drag queen in 6 inch stillettos riding a skateboard and slugging Tequila.

Clegg has the problem to resolve. He needs to back the Blues or join the rainbow.

But Brown could have the solution. He needs to offer a simple Queen’s Speach with electoral reform at the heart and a budget to address the deficit. He needs to also pass a bill that guarantees Parliamentary elections every 5 years. I’d suggest that he has the first one scheduled this October, under full PR or something. Mandatory voting with a bank holiday for voting.

The other thing should be an agreed budget to take care of the deficit. I’d even suggest that the deficit should be secured against the Banks shares that we own.

Brown should also offer to resign as PM and stand down in October ensuring a sure transition.

There is a way forward but it needs brave people to look at what the people have said over the months – that we are sick of politicians, politics and the markets.

So the airlines want bailing out. Brilliant. What next? Donkey ride owners claiming for a bad summer?

Your business may have suffered but so have the important people in all this – the passangers.

The imperitive to agree some limits seems to have been in the airlines court for years and they haven’t done anything about it.

Only when things stop do they look at the issues and only then when financial ruin beckons.

Anyway

don’t any of the airlines have Business Continuity Plans?

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to vote (and you are THE one, dear reader), but all of the nonsense about ‘weakness’ and ‘indecision’ from Cameron makes me laugh.

I was a kid when Thatcher was elected. I voted at 18 in 1983 and had to watch as the Tories dismantled our industrial base and public services. In a country where self reliance is master the decline of a society is predictable.

I remember Blair Peach being killed. I remember the miners strikes and still hate certain parts of Billy Elliott because of the reminder of the desperation people felt.

So now Cameron wants more strong Government and Leadership. That is the old way. The failed way. The outdated way that keeps politicians riding the gravy train.

If the people want a new politics I doubt we will get it unless we have a different type of parliament. One that serves the people and not policy or business or whatever.

Bring on a hung parliament because then you might understand what our point of view is. We want you to change. You David, you the one born with a Stirling silver 108 piece canteen in his mouth. We want you and your cronies to see that petty sniping and preserving the old ways is not wanted anymore.

And personally, if I never see the Tories in power again it will be too soon. Thatcher’s legacy lives on, you see, and although Labour may not be great and the Lib Dems are mad as frogs in some policies I’d rather have them than a bunch of Tories damaging my society whilst looking after their own.

Listening and Reading to the latest on the volcano disruption makes me smile. Stopping planes flying for safety reasons is sensible. But it costs money. So business gets upset. Ryanair seem to be refusing to pay for expenses because they aren’t flying and Willie Walsh is bleating.

Well Ryanair can swivel because being tight in these circumstances stinks. Willie can swivel because he caused strikes that cost money and now he’s bleating because he can’t fly. Well tough.

Until the manufacturers set some limits on safe flying and the airlines agree then these blanket limits will be applied. So get over it.

I had a considered piece that got lost

so in sumary

Nick done good
Gordy was better than expected
David you are still an odious Tory

Volcanic ash is dangerous to planes. The dust turns to glass causing engines to stop which is a Bad Thing. Engines stopping at 37000 feet is never good even if you can get them started again.

So NATS suspend flights because planes falling from the sky is bad for the plane, the airline and the passengers. No one is to blame for the disruption because it is a volcano.

But you wouldn’t believe some of the reports and comments. A woman from the US is stranded in the UK and is upset that there isn’t a contingency plan. What plan do you want lady? A private volcano proof jet? A rowing boat? There is nothing anyone can do unless you get to Europe and fly from an unaffected airport.

Then there are a bunch of athletic kids stranded in Portugal. It’s a volcano. No one is at fault. If you can’t get out on a plane then drive or something but don’t be shocked that there are no planes and you need a hotel!

And mister I don’t want to pay £400 for a night at Heathrow all I can suggest is you go a little further away and enjoy a couple of days in England because you aren’t going very far!