blog

Litter is a by-product of no discipline or manners

2010-02-27T18:15:47+00:00

The other day I got so sick of the site of litter where we work & live that I bought us some littler pickers & we all went out & picked it all up. It got me thinking though that when you look for litter there is actually loads of it around & what sort of individual can’t be bothered to take their McDonald’s & Lucozade or, Red Bull home with them & tosses it out of their car window on a regular basis into an area of Outstanding National Beauty! Mindless moron(s) blighting our country. The reason I am banging on about this here is that I believe littering is an element to having no discipline & degrading people’s freedoms. It is unbelievable that some litter wardens now have to wear stab proof vests in order to protect themselves from cautioning someone for being in the wrong and dropping litter in the first place plus what form of plankton picks up dog poo only to then toss it and all its contents into a bramble bush or, hang it like a trophy on a railing?! So, we decided to do something about it & apart from the satisfying nature of cleaning up an area & we have registered a few domain names like Litterloathers.com in order to establish a community based initiative to get more people involved & be non-apathetic about litter. As part of this initiative we will look at urging people to lobby their Councils & MP’s re: litter they see or find & put pressure on to instigate a litter tax on the companies who do not do enough to clear up or educate their clients on the vulgarity of littering.

Rugby needs a boot up the backside

2010-02-27T17:55:50+00:00

Rugby. What is it doing to itself at the moment! The administrators need to take a hard look at themselves & simplify the game. It used to always hold the higher ground against football in terms of morality & leading the way on refereeing, lack of crowd trouble, new regulations, using technology etc. However, the game is becoming so complicated & overly technical that you hardly see a proper scrum take place anymore & as for this endless kicking the ball from one end to the other hoping to gain territory & for the opposition to make a mistake is soooooo Dull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus, more & more football copycat play acting is beginning to creep into Rugby in the pro era- perfect example of this was when an opposition player motioned his head towards Gloucester Hooker/Prop Olivier Azzam he went down like a sack of potatoes. The following week he cracked heads accidentally with another player & left the opposition player poleaxed, but continued playing on as if nothing had happened. Another good example of this behavior is when a three quarter kicks the ball into the opposing half & chases his kick & “looks’ for a penalty for either blocking by an opposing player or falls over at the slightest touch. That player should be sin binned immediately! Too much back-chat to referees as well is creeping in. And why does it sometimes take an age for a video ref to make a decision when in many cases it is blindingly obvious what the decision should be. Some simple changes and some stamping of authority by the administrators would make the game a hell of a lot more fast flowing & better viewing. This lack of scrummaging & punting malarkey is ruining the direction of the game. Plus, I really hope we do not get to the situation where the club game becomes more important than the national team like winning the Champions League seems more important in Football than winning an international against Brazil or Germany. Lastly, it seems ludicrous to me you can have a player who has played international rugby for New Zealand and then be allowed to play through residency for England or Italy etc. I personally believe the rules should be tightened up in sport generally & you only qualify for an international team through the country of birthright or via the country of birthright of their parents (maybe going back to grandparents). Certainly, once you have played for Samoa you shouldn’t then be able to play for another International country - in my opinion. Cricket is just as bad…

Ralph Lauren Wimbledon & Rugby.com

2010-02-27T17:45:03+00:00

I know we live in a commercial world, but how on earth has Ralph Lauren hijacked an essentially British style in clothing and won the right to sponsor Wimbledon & how did they get hold of Rugby.com? These millions & billions should have been going into UK fashion designers pockets!

The Times & Ricky Ponting today

2009-08-10T22:17:37+00:00

Best headline & picture of the year so far for me showing Ricky Ponting with his young daughter laughing with the caption: “Who is the daddy now!” The day after annihilating England at Headingly. Still want to wipe the smile off his face - for goodness sake England find real steel, inner strength, make your own luck, but play as a team.

An Anglo-Irish entente cordial

2009-08-10T06:50:04+00:00

Interesting to see that the uptake of soldiers joining the British Army from Eire has massively gone up. I would have thought this is a good sign that the general populous are now evolving to ignore the old school bigots on both sides of the border and putting age old hatreds to one side for a better life, job and future for themselves. How ironic in some ways though, to go from one guerilla terrorist/freedom fighter war that is almost finished to fight for the recent protagonists in another…

Shane Warne Persil or Daz

2009-08-10T06:37:52+00:00

I reckon Daz - those teeth are just too dazzling. Nearly blinded me when we were up close just recently. Maybe he is trying to distract his Poker opponents. Sledging aside he must be up there as one of the all time greats and in recent times he changed the face of cricket which could push him into No1 spot. Quite some feat although Sir Ian Botham is still up there for me in recent times along with Imran Khan, Dennis Lillee & Richard Hadlee.

Princes Trust & a Queen’s Trust?

2009-08-10T06:35:19+00:00

Has anyone ever thought that The Princes Trust might be discriminatory on age i.e. it is only open to those aged 18-30. Given the aging population and extending retirement age perhaps HM The Queen could set up an equivalent organisation for those aged 30+ & preferably those aged 45-70. If you are old enough you are good enough at either end of the spectrum.

War, what is it good for - the world economy?

2009-08-09T15:22:03+00:00

I do occasionally venture to think that there maybe a sinister conspiracy to endlessly perpetuate wars around the globe. If we didn’t have so many conflicts then who would protect and control the drugs trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan etc & who would control the oil fields of the middle east and how many trillions+ would be lost to the fragile world economy if we didn’t order new tanks, aircraft, ships, missiles and so on? I really hope the spirit of brave men and women is not being manipulated (which history often shows it is) by politicians & the powerful mandarins behind the scenes. Whatever, you think about the rights of going to war with Iraq & Afghanistan you surely cannot have anything but the up-most respect and admiration for these people who put their necks on the line for their country and the kinship they show to their mates.

As a footnote, I/we of people of my age and later (in my forties) are flippin’ lucky we have never had to go off or, be conscripted into a war but, then global warming and dramatic climate change maybe our battle/war in the coming years perhaps.

Monarchy or not?

2009-08-09T15:08:51+00:00

I can never quite understand all those people who would like to see rid of the Monarchy on economic grounds. Can’t people see how much they bring to this country in terms of tangible and intangible business. Without the traditions of the Monarchy what would Britain have to call Great (apart from its Armed Services & beautiful landscape)? This viewpoint is still made given that the majority of my family background is Irish.

Lights out at Lords

2009-08-09T14:36:22+00:00

When it comes to cricket I do find it more lovely than not to celebrate & revel in the traditions & characters of the game. However, there are a few tweaks I would offer when it costs so much to attend one day of a test, especially with the chance of losing it all with our continuing unpredictable summer time(s). Surely, if Lord’s have spent tens of millions on floodlights only to use them for about half an hour or so a time this is ridiculous and not a good return on investment. This rule about seeing shadows when the ball is placed near to the ground is ludicrous. If players agree to play under flood-lights then that should be the end of it. Why should this take a year or two to change this rule - do it immediately; it WILL happen anyway. Plus, if time is lost to rain how about if both Captains agree they forgoe lunch or afternoon tea to make up time? This is where tradition is nonsensical for me when rain can delay play by an hour or two & lunch is still taken. People pay too much to be deprived like this.