Xmas 2010

Christmas is a time when days seem to mege into each other. The world of politics seems to be put on pause, while families come together. Presents are opened and food is eaten. Our Christmas Day was anything but uneventful. With Graham's key breaking in his lock, we finished up calling out a locksmith at 1am. Strange to walk around the village while the bulk of the population slept and Santa made his way to childrens' bedrooms. The next morning the oven failed to deliver a cooked turkey and as a result the meat had to be moved to Caroline's to be cooked. I wondered what more could happen.

The weather cold, frosty and with snow still on the ground put football on hold on Boxing Day.
As a result I put myself on Melbourne time and got up at 4am to watch the 4th Test Match, an amazing first day I was watching the recording and had reached Australia 37 for 3 when Elaine awoke and told me that Australia had been bowled out for 97.

By the 27th December it seemed likely that England would retain the Ashes, a fantastic achievement following a Jonathan Trott marathon effort of 167 not out. The next 24 hours were perhaps one of the best sports days of the year. Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-1 . A result that Gooners have waited some years to see. Phil Taylor made his way into the last 16 of the world darts championship, England pressed on and stood on the verge of an Ashes victory, and finally the Dons, the next afternoon got back into League action defeating Eastbourne 3-0 to ensure that they finish 2010 as Conference leaders.

Ironically there was a major politics issue over the Xmas period. Just days before the holiday the government announced that it was slashing the Bookstrust's funding. The scheme that gives books to disadvantaged children. The sum saved insignificant but once again this government chose to hit those least able to fight back. Fortunately in the next 48 hours authors responded and gained publicity for the campaign against the mindless cut. Within days the government announced yet another u turn. Egg on face time, although sadly it received less publicity than it might have received at any other time of year.

Days

Television in any month produces few memorable programmes. Christmas schedules succumb to the populist,and therefore it was a real delight to see the programme "Imaginary Man" charting the life and musical career of Ray Davies.

Davies was in many ways the English songwriter of the 60s. While Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards developed world reputations, Ray Davies belonged to London. The early Kinks hits were the first 45s I bought. As I listened to him explaining how he wrote "You really got me" I remembered vividly how I took my pocket money to Hurleys in Balham High Road, listened to the disc in a booth and handed over my 6 shillings and 4 pence.

The Kinks singles on Pye have ,when compared to many sixties songs, stood the test of time, many such as Dead End Street and Waterloo Sunset seem timeless. Others were the backdrop to my teenage years. Davies has never strayed far from his North London roots and it is as a London songwriter that he should be cherished.

A fantastic songwriter and an excellent programme.

Tis the season to be jolly

Normally by now politics is closing down for Xmas, but today it's open season on the Lib Dems. Yesterday the Telegraph exposed the fact that Lib Dem /Coalition Business Secretary had revealed to undercover journalists posing as constituents that he was unhappy with elements of the coalition agreement, and could walk away which he described as the "nuclear scenario".

Strangely the telegraph omitted the key news that Vince Cable had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, multi media owner is attempting to purchase a controlling chunk of shares in Sky, and Cable's dept have to regulate any such deal. The transcript of this conversation was leaked to Robert Peston of the BBC who made it public on his blog.

Now Cable may well have thought he was being clever, an attack on Murdoch would undoubtedly sure up his position amongst Lib Dems, let's face it his reputation was tarnished almost beyond repair after the student fees bill. However had he had been a Tory cabinet minister he'd have been forced to resign, for the moment because of his place at the coalition table he hangs on to office. His remit regarding the regulation of broadcasting has passed to Jeremy Hunt (no comment).

Cable made his name by stating in Parliament that Gordon Brown had transformed from Stalin to Mr Bean. Today Cable should reflect that in spring he was seen as St Vince, the economic guru who foresaw the banking crisis, yet by winter he resembles Baldrick, he had a cunning plan but in the words of Blackadder "it was bollocks."

Transport

Two stories that conflict. Once again the last 48 hours have shown the weaknesses in the British transport infrastructure. Our major airport has ground to a halt, as snow blocks runways and planes ice up on their stands. Thousands left stranded in departure lounges. Meanwhile some roads are again impassable and delays become near inevitable often as the result of lorries and commercial vehicles being unable to cope with the weather conditions. Finally the rail network is beset with delays and cancellations.

The public are beginning to ask why do we not do better ? The old line about snow catches us ill -prepared because its so infrequent doesn't really wash any longer. How ironic then that today the government have revealed the proposed route for a high speed rail connection linking London to Birmingham. There is plenty of opposition most of which reeks of nimbyism, however it would be worth arguing that what available investment there is should be spent upgrading existing services and ensuring the country moves when snow falls. The high speed train will it is stated sharve 40 minutes off the journey time. Is speed that important ? The bulk of the population would just like to be able to move about the country without delays, cancellations, and with a fare structure that was easy to understand and transparent.Some hope.

Mid December

Strange Days. In the space of three days my mum's 85th birthday and my wife's retirement from work. Inevitably I've been thinking how life comes in stages, and how ours is gradually moving into a new phase. Over recent weeks more and more people ask me what I'll do when I retire. My answer at the moment is to say "watch more cricket". In the back of my mind is the speech John Major gave on resigning as Tory party leader in 1997, when he was asked what he planned to do, and he answered go and watch cricket at the Oval.

That neatly leads me onto the 3rd Test Match and England's defeat early on the 4th day. Our inability to cope with the pace and bounce of the Perth pitch was exposed by the swing of Johnson and Harris. So its 1-1 with two to play. A student said to me on Thursday, its a shame the Ashes are so one-sided. Clearly we underestimated the power of recovery within the Australian camp.The Ashes are just sport at its finest, and once again test match with its ebbs and flows is the game's highest form.

Yesterday the snow returned with a vengence. The sporting calendar was decimated. We travelled to see my mother in Surrey and drove into a snow storm, the return journey after the snow had fallen took 5 hours as all but the motorways were brought to a standstill. This is the second bout of snow this winter,and still the public are being fed it's just a bad winter.

With nearly a week till Xmas there's a chance to listen to some music, and do some reading.

The snow will ensure that we stay local. Currently listening to Great Lakes : Art of Escape, while back cataloguing Ryan Adams while waiting for his new album. As for reading its magazine time - I bought the Christmas edition of the New Statesman ,I'm weighing whether to invest in the subscription so thought getting this would help me make up the mind.

A local snippet - The Times yesterday named our local area as the best place to take a country walk this Christmas . Now expecting groups of Times readers to descend on the village any day.

It's undoubtedly good publicity and may aid the local economy.

Don't count your chickens

The last week saw Arsenal qualify for the knock out stage of the Champions League. A 3-1 victory over Partisan Belgrade who were pointless coming into the game, was anything but convincing. When the visitors equalised midway through the second half, Arsenal were dicing with the possibility of early elimination. An inspired substitution by Arsene wenger bringing on Theo Walcott, who in fairness was simply dire only a few days earlier against Fulham, changed the game. Walcott scored and it was left to Samri Nasri, who has been in inspired form to make the result beyond doubt.

Arsenal as a result found themselves top of the league, in the Carling Cup semi final and the Champions League without playing particularly fluently. The league positioned owed much to the Gunners away form and the inability of others to capitalise on Arsenal's unconsistent home performances.

On Tuesday night I settled down with a beer and a bag of peanuts to watch Arsenal's game at Old Trafford. The passion of the days of Keown/Van Nistarooy is long gone. In the build up I thought about how Arsenal won the league at Old Trafford and how United ended the Invinsibles 49 game unbeaten run. In recent years there's no point arguing Arsenal have not competed on level terms with either United or Chelsea. I suppose as a result I was optimistic that the team could get a result. When United went ahead just before half time the writing was on the wall, and although Arsenal had more possession i the seconmd half, chances were few.

At one level 1-0 was not a bad defensive display and our 19 year old goalkeeper did enough to suggest that he may turn out to be a better prospect than the other keepers in the squad. However United were able to flood the penalty areas with defenders and Arsenal failed to show sufficient guile or craft to back this defensive wall down. Ironically next Saturday Arsenal play Stoke at the Emirates while United go to Chelsea on Sunday, by Sunday night the league table could be all change. It's that type of season.

Talent, what talent ?

This weekend reached the climax of X Factor , a TV talent show. I have never watched this programme, indeed I have worked hard to avoid it. It offends both my musical tastes and represents to me a perfect example of how the media is dumbed down in Britain. Yet in spite of having never seen it, I know who won, because the BBC ( and it's not one of their programmes) announced it on their TV news this morning.

The result was announced on the front page of the nation's largest selling paper, it was one of the most popular topics on twitter and apparently it attracted one of the largest viewing figures of the year. I assume that the World Cup attracted the highest.

Now I'm not a fan of singers who belt out ballads, especially when they have not written the song. Immediately after on TV , Elton John was interviewed, he attacked X Factor culture from the viewpoint of the performer. To Elton, TV appearances and stage managed panels, are no substitute for learning the craft by doing live appearances touring. In music like in many areas of life you have to pay your dues and learn your craft, all the glitz and hype of X Factor can replace the road.

What hope is there ?

Part of political maturity is the realisation that mainstream politics revolves around the short term while the most important political issues inevitably are long term. The last few days have been a wonderful illustration of this.

Now I'm deeply unhappy about the cuts to higher education funding and the withdrawal of EMA from a number of my students, however are these matters more or less important than the UN Climate Conference in Cancun in Mexico ?

Over the weekend the delegates made an agreement to attempt to restrict the rise in temperature to 3.2 degrees. Most people who take an interest of climate studies will be aware that anything over 2.0 degrees will be disastrous for many parts of the world. So I'm left to conclude that while a poor target is better than no target, the representatives especially those representing the world's largest creators of emissions still haven't got a grip on the severity of the problem.

On Thursday Labour leader Ed Milliband refused to pair UK minister Chris Huhme to stay in Mexico. Now Huhme would undoubtedly have voted for the imposition of increased fees for students, but was not the greater interest served by allowing him to stay in Mexico. Would it not have shown some gravitas to have announced on this occasion, the future of the world should come first. No instead the leader of the opposition played parliamentary games.

On Sunday I picked up the Sunday Times expecting an analysis of the Cancun agreement, at first I believed that it had failed to make the deadline, silly me, tucked away on an inside page was a short article saying "nothing much." Even more galling was a larger article on Environment Secretary , Chris Huhme's maritial problems. How ridiculous that the breakdown of his marriage and his domestic arrangements should be given more column inches than the focus of his attention this past week.

The Price you pay

Thursday 9th December may be the day that the Liberal Democrats committed mass suicide alternatively it may also be the day that a generation realised that they were being screwed. By 21 votes the Con Dem government won a vote in Parliament that allows universities to impose fees up to £9000. This is as a result of the government massively cutting the funding of higher education.

Some Lib Dems voted for, some against and some abstained. The manifesto/mandate theory that has bound British politics for generations was effectively shot out of the water. Coalition government ultimately did for it. 21 Lib Dems felt they owed greater loyality to the Coalition than to the pledge they signed before the election. In May they were the only major party that claimed they were anti-fees, no longer they cornered the student vote. In seats such as Norwich south, a four way marginal, it could be argued it was the deciding factor.

The media focussed not surprisingly on the violence that erupted after the vote was announced. Personally a campaign of NVDA would have been strategically better but students are young, frustration and emotions run high and NVDA requires self discipline.

Whether the public lose sympathy with the students is open to debate, based on TV programmes last night , public opinion is split. The funding of higher education deserves a more serious debate and the events in London deflected from the debate. The Green Party can now say that they are the only party that supports universal free education, they support the proposal to fund it from business taxation. This policy needs selling, as mixed with the campaign against tax avoidance it can put the spotlight on the fact that if everybody paid their taxes as those who are on PAYE have to do, there would be no shortage of funds for higher education.

The fall guy in all this is Business Secretary, Vince Cable. The Lib Dem doing the dirty work for the Tories. The one time St Vince, said he was proud of the policy. I doubt many share his emotion today. politics is about perception and at the moment the perception is that this government is hitting those who can least afford it hardest, while their fat cat friends barely suffer.

Testing Times

I can't remember the last night I've had two mancolds inside a month, at times I've doubted whether the first one had gone before the second struck. I struggled through Saturday making it to the Arsenal game, but realising that sleep would be difficult and knowing that I could watch the cricket I decided to stay up. Sunday was a restricted day here, the snow may have all but dispersed but the pavements have turned to ice making walking a dangerous pastime, Feeling sorry for myself I ventured out to get a paper but scuttled back home as quick as I could.

With Monday my day off I could again put myself again on "cricket time". Woke at 4am but for a period few wickets seemed to tumble, and I began to think that Australia might hang on for a draw especially as the likelihood of rain was increasing by the minute. After a rain delay KP changed the game, with the ball, dismissing Michael Clarke with the last ball of the day.

I was cheered during the day by the news that BBC Radio 4 presenter James Naughtie had introduced Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt as Jeremy Cunt. Apparently the error was confounded later in the day when Andrew Marr committed the same error. Not surprisingly Naughtie found it hard to contain himself coughing and spluttering as he tried to read the 8am news. This follows on from the news that students marching on Parliament had adopted the chant of Nick Clegg - Dick Head. It seems that politicians need to look more carefully at their names before they venture into government.

Almost by magic, I received a message to say that school had to be cancelled because an electrical surge had dismantled the alarm system. Immediately I realised that Day 5 became viewable. On Tuesday morning in the UK cricket fans celebrated. England won by an innings in Australia. That's a result that many of us have waited a quarter of a century to see. Graeme Swann who by his own admission had underperformed at the Gabba, produced a spell of 41 overs and took 5 wickets to send the Aussies to defeat.

It's a great time to be an English cricket supporter, the Ashes are very special and the Aussies hate losing. Good to be a Pom.

The Lost Week but a storming weekend

A lost week, in the sense that much of our area shut down because of snow. While the press focussed on England's fail world cup bid and the Wikileaks scandal, the bulk of the population talked SNOW and how major parts of the country became all but paralysed.

Fortunately on Saturday morning the great thaw began. Our road had been clearly a day earlier because of the preparations for the village Victorian Evening, a somewhat more low key event this year I felt.

Struggling with another mancold, I woke up several times during the night, but thanks to the blackberry and twitter I was able to keep up to date with the test score from Adelaide. I thought back to the days of my youth when I went to bed with a transitor radio so I could hear commentary from Australia. On saturday morning I got up in time to see England go past Australia's first innings score for only the loss of two wickets.

I struggled the morning and dropped the idea of making the start of the Climate Change rally & March. My original aim was to go to Hyde Park and then slip away to Arsenal in time for kick off. London transport was at its weekend worst and I went straight to Arsenal. The first twenty minutes Arsenl could have scored five but settled for just one, then Fulham equalised. It seemed yet another home game where needless points would be dropped, but with 13 minutes remaining, Sammi Nasri beat two men and scored from an acute angle. Nasri had earlier scored a contender for goal of the season. Leaving the stadium the chant of "we are top of the league" went up, but still a long way to go.

Listening to all things DBT and Jason Isbell, and dipping into 1980s Steely Dan - "they call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blue"

Let it snow ?

I'm writing while looking out of the window, for the third day snow has fallen. Work is cancelled, transport across he country is badly affected. On a personal level we've spent three days largely at home, making a swift trip to the shops in the village to get a morning paper and some bread.

I've never been a huge fan of snow, I suppose the fact that it inevitably imposes restrictions frustrates me. Sport , one of my main life interests is obviously badly affected. As I watch it fall and gust outside the window, I see clearly how "cabin fever" can start. The notion of being forced inside.

However amidst media stories of plucky workers taking hours to make a 45 minute journey and stranded commuters, there is one aspect that is completely ignored; snow in late November /early December is very rare for Britain, snow itself was by no means an annual occurance. Arguably we are always ill prepared for just that reason, countries where snow is as common as rain is here, adapt their infrastructure accordingly.

You would think that there would be some discussion as to why our climate is changing, why the prevailing weather patterns are being affected from the east. The public are left to believe that this some freak of nature, like the floods in Pakistan, the fires in Russia, or the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Until more people start to join the pieces together, the argument will always be about whether the buses and trains continue to run rather than the future of the planet.

Which plane to get on Dave

This week the media are devoting column inches and time to England's World Cup bid for 2018 and this week "big hitters" have been flying out to Zurich to harness support ahead of FIFA deciding on Thursday. Now getting the World Cup would be great for the UK economy I have no doubt, and for those younger than me who never experienced 1966 it would be a great occasion, leaving aside our chances of success on the pitch.

The presence of David Beckham clearly gives the bid significance in the eyes of the world media. This week he's been joined by Prince William and PM David Cameron. Now I'm not sure whether William is a big selling point, but for what reason is Cameron there ? To my knowledge he is no great enthusiast of the game, more to the point there is somewhere else he should be.

While the media focus on Zurich across the Atlantic Ocean at Cancun in Mexico the UN Climate Change talks go on all week. 43 small islands are fighting for their history , their right to exist. If sea levels rise they will cease to exist. It is estimated that up to 1 billion people will be adversely affected unless the world reduces global temperatures by 4degrees centigrad. To me this is where the Prime Minister should be,as much as I like football, the lifes of these people and the sustainability of the planet is more important.

Pleased about - Arsenal reaching the Carling Cup Semi Final
Reading: Not a lot but Alastair Campbell's diaries arrived today ( acquired for 59p)
Listening to: New Band - Great Lakes and dipping into Jim White.
Want to watch - the death of Leslie Nielsen at the weekend will no doubt make many revisit the Naked Gun trilogy and Airplane. Not sophisicated humour but very funny indeed. RIP Leslie.

All square after the Gabba

After a few days of getting up between 4am and 5am I'm beginning to think that I'm living in a different time zone. The reason, the Ashes. After three days England's back was up against the wall, we trailed by more than 200 and it seemed iyt would be an uphill task just to make the Aussies bat again.

Enter Strauss, Cook and Trott, all of whom went on to make centuries.

Cook in fact broke the highest total record at the Gabba, his 225 not out, overtakes Bradman's long standing record. Trott,quietly goes on accumulating runs. England got into a position where they couldn't lose, and then declared. The wicket was flat and offered little help to the spinners. Nevertheless England's comeback suggests the momentum is with us, as the squads head to Adelaide.

The key question is whether either of the two teams can manage to take twenty wickets to win a match. For England that means one thing, will the wicket take spin, and if so can Graeme Swann repeat the form that he has shown on English wickets to the tracks in Australia.

A few days rest before it all starts again on Friday..

Away from the cricket, Sunday offered the chance to watch the East Anglian derby, Norwich City against the old farm enemy, now renamed " Roy Keane's Ipswich". Not sure how I started to take an interest in Norwich's results , but they've become my football league team, and the chance to hear updates on our regional TV helps. On Sunday the Canaries secured the bragging rights with a 4-1 victory, with Grant Holt bagging a hat trick.

Snow stops trip

I'm not a fan of snow, it disrupts my life and within hours it's a slushy mess. On Friday night the friends who we were scheduled to visit in Somerset this weekend phoned to say their area was under several inches of it. The decision was quickly made to reschedule the trip in the new year. As a result I was able to go the AFC Wimbledon's FA Cup tie v Stevenage.

Yes it was on TV, and on a free to view channel as well, that meant even my old Mum could watch the game, however for me TV is no substitute for being there. A mix of weather, tiredness and wanting to save cash meant that I decided to travel to Kingsmeadow by public transport. No one makes these journeys easy. Our railway line was closed yet again foe engineering work, so I drove to the nearest underground where the car park was closed. The shortcut from north to south of the river was also shut, and they wonder why people use their cars.

The presence of Tv did not inflate the crowd but did mean that various notables were in attendance. Sadly the Dons didn't turn up in the first hour, and although the Stevenage opening goal owed more to poor decision making by Seb Brown than to the quality of the free kick, the visitors deserved their goal lead to half time.

The second half performance was much improved, but with tewn minutes remaining we conceded a second, and the dream of drawing one of the premiership giants in the 3rd Round was over for another year.

On te plus side the TV exposure that this cup run has generated is very welcome and of course the TV Match fees are quite substantial for a club the size of the Dons. It was a cold day and 12.50pm is an unusual kick off but we can have no complaints and Stevenage will go into tomorrow's draw with my good wishes, if for no other reason than they prevented us having to meet the Franchise.

Climate Change Sceptics

Yesterday Rupert Reed , Green councillor from Norwich and lecturer at UEA tweeted that there were more climate change deniers as a percentage of the population in the UK than in any other country including the USA. Now apart from the fact that this is stunningly depressing, it led me to think why do people, some of them educated human beings, doubt the findings of science.

At one level my immediate thought was that some humans are ostriches and just ignore unpleasant facts. Smokers continue to smoke when the medical evidence of it being a major contributor to cancer and heart disease is irrefutable. Some people of faith choose to ignore Darwin's work and bizarrely claim the world is only 10,000 years old. I've felt that many meat eaters choose to ignore famine in the third world because meat production makes feeding the world's population so much harder.

Is this the reason for denying climate change ? It seems clear that those involved in the oil and motor industries have strong motives to denigrate climate science. Their pursuit of profit and power will outweigh any slight concern for the future of the planet. Of course climate change deniers go way beyond that, so what other factors are at work. I'm led to conclude that most politics focuses on the short term, governments are driven to tackle the now in order to get re-elected, and many people only focus on the now because ultimately in the words of Keynes "in the long run we are all dead". Embracing climate change means some unpleasant and inconvenient truths- the need for lifestyles to change, that further prosperity and economic growth will not be able to continue in the industrial world, the fact that less for many may prove to be more sustainable than more.

Now I'm not saying that the these issues dominate the thoughts of the bulk of the population, clearly they don't when they are drip fed a diet of talent shows and reality TV. However I sense that many realise that to tackle climate change requires profound changes and that for many reasons they can not handle it. As a result we are propelled towards ecological disaster.

Ashes

There's no sporting contest like it. England v Australia at cricket. Over 130 years of history. This year once again England hold the ashes and go to Australia aiming to retain them. The England team has improved in depth and performance since they were whitewashed in 2007.

The 1st test starts late night, England time. The Gabba in Brisbane, the heat, tension .Think I'll stay up and watch a bit. There's only work in the morning, and cricket symbolises much of what England means to me.

Today via social network site Twitter, my son Graham and I took part in a question and answer session with Alec Stewart, one of my all time favourite cricketers, a legend of Surrey and England. Just terrific.

Looking Back

Sunday isn't a day I associate with non league football. Premiership fans have to take whatever time the Tv channels decide, but for non league fans football means 3.00 Saturday. Well, not if you're in the FA Cup and are told that your game will be televised on Thursday evening. Not surprisingly the manager and coaching staff knowing that players require recovery time,negotiated a Sunday afternoon kick off.

We set off early to avoid the happy band of shoppers who by now with 33 days to Xmas will be flocking to Lakeside and Bluewater. Our aim was to set up the Silent Auction well before the 12.30pm start. The journey took less time than expected and we were ready to go, by the time the auction ended at 2.30pm, it was calculated that we'd made around £3000.

The game itself seemed to be all over inside 30 minutes, the Dons stormed into a 3-0 lead, which arguably should have been more. However Thursday night caught up with the players and in the closing minutes they were hanging on for a 3-2 victory, which took the Dons back to the top of the league. Just the confidence boost that's needed ahead of next Saturday's cup game v Stevenage.

After the game, we stayed the night in Tooting. Strange going back to the house and road where I grew up. Although I've visited many times over the years, staying there still seemed unreal,. I went out to get my paper and groceries this morning and saw a wave of people heading to the Underground,a scene that I've not witnessed for many years.

Whilst on the theme of Looking Back, 20 years ago today, Thatcher resigned. Sadly her ideas have lived on. I described her to students recently as the archtypical"marmite" politician. Its either love or hate, and I comfortably fit into the second group. Will show film on her tomorrow, become aware in last week that my students were not even alive when she came crashing down in November 1990.

Happiness is ....

In the last couple of weeks there has been much talk of the government trying to measure whether people are happy. Reasonable enough given that success criteria in the past seems to only focus on wealth. However yesterday showed me how fragile happiness can be.

Firstly I've gone down with a Man Cold. I've spent the last 36 hours sneezing and blowing my nose. Put mildly it's made me miserable.

Then on Saturday afternoon I watched Arsenal go from 2-0 up to lose 2-3 to Spurs. Black mood, anger, repeatedly asking the question how? It's the first time that Spurs have beaten Arsenal at Arsenal since 1993. Well that's not long enough for me.

Later today off to AFC Wimbledon for the game against Kettering and the Silent Auction, my main fund raising event of the year, it seems that after expenses we should top £2000, which is very good given the financial situation in the country.

Bird on the Wire

Friday night and BBC 4 are showing three hours of Leonard Cohen, now I've come to accept that Leonard is not everyones idea of a fun Friday night. Perhaps because I've gone down with a "Man Cold" I've been looking forward to seeing the programmes. The Bird on the Wire film showcases Leonard's 1972 European tour. As well as concert footage there were short interviews and some behind the scenes stuff including Leonard being propositioned by a young woman.

I first heard Leonard Cohen when I purchased a sampler album called " The rock machine turns you on". Strange really because to describe Cohen as rock stretches a point beyond reaking pint. Anyway from hearing Sisters of mercy, I was a convert.

His first two albums were compulsory at university, like many I was attracted to the imagery of his songs, his biblical themes and uninhibited sexual references. Yet Leonard was already 37 when he toured in 1972, nearly a generation older than many other of the singer songwriters that acquired popularity.

His songs from those two albums have stood the test of time, and come 2008 at the age of 74 he returned to the O2 Arena in London in a concert that will live long in the memory. On Friday night I reflected that I've been listening to him for over 40 years, and for the past 20 yeas Sisters of Mercy has often been on my lips as I arrive at work in the morning.

Leonard is proof that talent transends age. The music industry seems to make a virtue out of youth, now 76 Leonard goes marching on towards closing time.

48 hours in the life of a Don

Tuesday night, and I'm gazing at the BBC live text page, why? MK Dons it pains me still to type the name are playing Stevenage in the 1st round FA Cup replay. There's a chance, that we might have to play them, that pains me more. Stevenage pull the proverbial rabbit out of the bag and score in additional time, to take the tie to extra time. No more goals so penalties. So follows a penalty shootout via a website, its hell and also time delayed. The BBC textpage can't keep up, and alleges that Stevenage had won, when n fact spot kicks were still being taken. Like all Dons I was Stevenage till full time, and they did it.

Move the clock on 48 hours and I'm driving over the Dartford bridge to Gravesend, to watch the Dons take on Ebbsfleet. the form book says AFC wimbledon should have won the first game, but Ebbsfleet proved difficult opponents and there was nothing in the first half to suggest that anything had changed.

Thursday night is not football night, but ESPN want to show the game and no non league club can turn down the TV exposure and the cash rewards reputed to be £35K. At half time we're 2-1 down and although we led Ebbsfleet look the better side, and its hard to see us scoring once let alone twice.

Ebbsfleet ride the early second half storm, and the game seems to be running away from us. Terry brown makes an unlikely sub taking off a striker for bringing on ex-fleet player Luke Moore. Luke near ever present last season has been in and out of the team mainly through injuries. On the night however he produced a quality cross with 90 seconds of stoppage time and Sammy Moore prodded the ball past the stranded keeper with the outside of his right boot and the game was going to extra time.

A late night for me but at least no tunnel toll to pay as there was no chance I'd be crossing the Thames before 10pm. the thirty minutes seem to be failing to break the deadlock and on the terrace we were bracing ourselves for penalties when a hopeful ball was played into the Ebbsfleet box. The defence looked to the lino's flag but he waved play on and Sammy Moore took his time, remained composed and planted the ball firmly into the net. A minute later the whistle blew and the Dons were in the second round of the FA Cup for the first time as AFC Wimbledon.

On the way home the radio was full of "old tory" Lord Young, saying ' we'd never had it so good ' for most of the population this was a crass statement, but for Dons fans last night, it was undoubtedly true.

Not a fan of weddings !

Yesterday was the perfect opportunity to bury bad news. The media were besotted with the story that William Windsor is to get married. His fiancee is painted as an ordinary middle class girl, this ignores the fact that daddy is a millionaire. Anyway as someone not really that interested I thought it far more interesting to read the stories that might have made it big but..

Without a doubt the paying of compensation to those kidnapped and taken to Guantellimo Bay where they were imprisoned without trial and tortured should have dominated the media. The previous may wriggle and say they didn't know, but the fact remains that British citizens were subjected to such treatment,.

Second Cameron is forced to back down and take his photographer off the public payroll, arguably the first climbdown, and a blow to those who think the media image is what politics is all about.

Finally floods hit Cornwall, now the news is treating this as an isolated incident, strangely no mention of the dreadful floods last November in Cumbria or the floods along the river severn in 2007. No mention of either the cuts to our flood defences or of course the fact that more extreme weather is likely to become more common as a result of climate change.

On a personal note my article on the Green party's success in Brighton Pavilion has been accepted for publication by Politics Review for their January online edition . I have to report that early this morning I finished reading the second volume of Chris Mullin's diary. Once again I was genuinely sorry to have reached the end of the book. I think you can't give a book a better recommendation.

Hello Paul - got a new motor !

Well the answer's yes. More eco-friendly engine, and a "lifetime guarantee". New cars look so shiny, but within a few hours birds had deposited and I'm out there with a cloth. How long will that approach last ?

As much as I'm trying to cut down on car use, there's no getting away from the fact that away from major conurbations public transport is over priced, very restricted and more important erratic.

A very full day and night

Sunday morning an opportunity to get on my bike and cycle down to Seymour Field to watch Sunday Morning football, in fairness the short cycle ride was more worthwhile than the game, but anyway back home in time to make a curry and settle down to watch Arsenal's game at Everton. Very good display by the Gunners, and really never looked in danger until the final few minutes when Fabianski once again proved that as a shot stopper he's more than competent, its just the set pieces that worry me.

While Chelsea were taking a thrashing at home I was making making my way across london to Shepherds Bush to see Drive by Truckers. Fortunately for me, the Central line was running, 7 other lines were not. Travelling around London at the weekend is a nightmare and really ought to be a major issue leading up to the next mayoral election.

And so to DBT, firstly a new venue, for some reason I'd never been to the old Shepherds Bush empire,secondly a good opening set from Danny, Champions of the World. A few minutes after nine DBT came on stage. I'd been looking forward to seeing them since I unfortunately missed their previous tour two summers ago. Two songs in and Patterson Hood launches into Putting People on the Moon. When people say no one writes political, angry songs anymore they haven't heard this. Cooley plays " A Ghost to Most"and the other highlights for me were the Southern Rock opera tracks especially Zip City, Women without Whiskey and Let there be Rock. It was a stunning, energetic, leave nothing in the tank set. The venue seemed full and we got a few rows from the front, Petterson and Cooley compliment each other brilliantly throughout the set. Just a great night.

Let there be Rock was still ringing in my ears as I tried to make my way back to Essex, or more precisely Newbiury Park station car park. Anyway back home at 1am. The life I lead.

I predict a riot !

Used this title (copyright Kaiser Chiefs) because the events of yesterday were so predictable. First the good news, over 50,000 students came to London to protest against the imposition of ftuition fees of up to £9,000. Fees that would effectively deter many from entering higher education. Fees that will undoubtedly see the introduction of a two tier university system in Britain. Now however agreeed for the march to make its way down Millbank past Conservative HQ must have been demented. A small number when you look at the size of the demonstration, went on the rampage, but allowing them close tpo Tory HQ was like showing a red rag to a bull. As someone who doesn't condone violence to people, I'm less worried about property, its easy to see the media's response which sadlt deflects attention away from the cause. However I'm left wondering whether the same number of column inches would have been devoted to a peaceful march and rally.

Away from politics a great away win for the Dons at Altringham on Tuesday night and Arsenal away at Wolves on Wednesday. After last weekend performances it was good to see some goals and the resulting points.

fireworks, but not on the pitch !

Its the weekend and you're looking forward to football. It's the 1st Round of the FA Cup for non league teams that means either the chance to pit your wits against a league team. Oh well we got drawn at home to Ebbsfleet United, from the Conference South. Nevermind there's the hope that with an easy tie you can progress towards the third round and the possibility of finding the holy grail , an away tie against one of the premier league big guns., with all the additional finance that that might bring.

In all honesty Dons v Ebbsfleet never caught fire , it stayed 0-0, and apart from a couple of sending offs there wasn't much left to report. While I was thinking that the replay would at least give me a midweek game, conveniently not far from home, the draw was made for the next round. This was the first time that AFC Wimbledon have been in the hat for the second round even if pending a replay.

It turned out to be the worst possible draw potentially pairing us with franchise. Of course we'd have to play them one day, the chance that we would pass each other like ships in opposite channels was too good to be true. However that doesn't make it feel any better. That said there are many obstacles to clear before that fixture becomes a reality, for the time being iut's just a nightmare onb the horizon.

Sunday was a Father & Son trip to the Arsenal who also failed to set the world alight against Newcastle. Arsene said the team never got out of second gear and that'd fair. Many players unperformed, some seemed less than fit, Van Persie just back after a lengthy lay off for instance. Yes Arsenal hit the post twice, yes their keeper made two fine saves, but the record books will show we lost 1-0 and once again the hapless Fabianski was at fault.

Finally then the fireworks, in of all places , Billericay. The Annual Firework display, a family outing and a genuine spectacle. Apparently £19,000 worth of fireworks and a large crowd hopefully raised a sizeable sum for local charities.

Union Chapel Islington

Monday 1st November and we're travelling to Islington to see Court Yard Hounds at Union Chapel, Islington. After a pint at the Compton Arms, a proper London "backstreet pub". We made the short walk to the Union Chapel. The Chapel is London's Ryman Auditorium. The acoustics are stunning, the seats wooden pews, and being a church the seats are not reservable. It's first come, first served, and for the Hounds there's a bit of a stampede.

After a support act that I never really warmed to, I admit I was tired and the lyrics and musics seemed to me to be a reasonable cure for insomnia. A little after 9pm the Court Yard hounds or two thirds of the Dixie Chicks took to the stage. The sell out crowd appreciated an 80 minute set that centred on their 2010 album and at no point lurched into the Chicks back catalogue. The musicianship was excellent, Emily Robison (think she's changed her surname since divorce) showed not only what a talented songwriter she is but also a musician who comfortably switches between instruments. Altogether an excellent night.

Homage to Kefalonia ( with apologies to George Orwell)

A week away with a room with a stunning view of the sea, a piece of headland and a small bay. In the far distance the coast of Greece was just visible encircling the outline of Killini. Kefalonia was my first visit to Greece since 1971, and I have to admit to thinking back to my last visit and all that life has given me in the intervening 40 years.

After years as independent travellers we succumbed to a package , but in all honesty I couldn't have chosen a nicer hotel. Arriving Sunday I settled into traditional English holidaymaker mode by watching premiership football on the hotel big screen. My defence is that it was Manchester City v Arsenal, and a 3-0 away win is not to be missed.

After a few hours where I was visited by the resident mosquitos, we had a quiet Sunday night until the storm started, lightning and thunder on a grand scale through the night, meant that a brisk walk into town the next day became let's avoid the deluge. Our plan to travel around the island by bus was grounded when we discovered that the bus service ended in early October. As a result a car was the only option.

A few miles along the cost lay Poros, the ferry port connecting Kefalonia with the mainland.

Poros had the harbour side feel that put me immediately at home, the owner of Kentpikon catered to my vegetarian request and then went the extra mile. We would make three visits to the restaurant during the week and each meal seemed like a feast.

Sami, we were told, had been the setting for Captain Correlli's mandolin, and it was the largest harbour on the island. The town nestled amongst hills ,small fishing boats were tied up and with crystal clear water, fish were clearly visible from the quayside. After strolling around the town, it was off to find the Acropolis of Ancient Sami, except that our pathway was blocked first by goats and then by a herd of cows who showed no desire to move off the warm tarmac.

The study of ancient history stopped by slow moving bovine creatures.

In fact goats were a constant feature of the week, and the sound of bells was never far away. Like many warm weather countries road drainage is rarely even an afterthought , shame because on Wednesday night we certainly could have use some. Torrential rain cassaded down the hillside onto the coast road making it barely passable. The road was turned into something approximating to a ford, and our passage through was not helped by the late sighting of two horses who obviously wanted to watch the mad englishman who was attempting to steer a course through a road littered with debris and water.

Thursday 28th October is a national holiday in Greece to remember to Greeco-Italian War of 1940. When the Greek people repelled an invasion planned by Mussolini. it was the 70th Anniversary, so we made our way to Argostoli , the capital of Kefalonia, to witness the parade.

Marching past local dignitaries came school students, college students, local sporting and voluntary groups plus the crew of a hip in formal naval wear. Local people crowded into the town square to witness the march pass to the sound of two marching bands. Once again I was left to reflect that here the Greek people were passing on their history, heritage and culture, in a way that surprisingly in Britain we do not. When my mother's generation die what will remain of memories of World War 2? Remembrance Day remembers the dead of all wars, but repelling an invasion seems somehow different. With hindsight I'm left a little surprised that VE Day was not made a national holiday in the UK.

The final days in Kefalonis, the sun shone, we visited the peninsula, less developed, and we witnessed the closing down for the end of the season. Tavernas, hotels and businesses were either completely shutting up shop or were retrenching to prepare for the winter period, when the holiday island is left to the natives of the island. I considered how these people tend to earn enough in 7 months to survive 12. I looked at the number of half finished construction sites that seemed to herald an uncertain future.

After several weeks of barely picking up a book I'm pleased to record that I read three during the week away:

Harold Larwood by Duncan Hamilton, quite simply one of the best sports biographies that I have read.

Michael Foot by E.O.Morgan - an interesting portrayal of someone who seem to embody English Labour values during my youth.

The General Election of 2010 - always interesting, as Hennessey say " A British General Election is not over till this book appears"

Music of the Week - Greece in 2010 led me back to Leonard Cohen. Cohen spent a number of years living on the island of Hydraa, it seemed only right to be singing and humming his work.

Hammersmith Odeon, I mean Apollo.

Last night a trip across London to Hammersmith to see Gaslight Anthem in concert. Gaslight came to my notice after supporting Bruce Springsteen's tour last year. There is some similarity, both stem from New Jersey, and there is a 'New Jersey sound'. The band showed enough to suggest the 'hype' is justified, they are a driving rock band, whose music is designed for listening to while driving a car. On the night I thought the mixing was too simplistic allowing the guitars at times to blot out Brian Fallon's vocals. The material some of which came from earlier albums, was well received by a sell out audience. For me who has only heard the American Slang album it was a slightly uneven set, yet one with many highlights.

Standing on the side of the hall I remembered my first visit in 1969 to see Aretha Franklin in concert, the following years saw me witness Ike and Tina turner and Santana. In recent years I've had the pleasure of seeing Alison Krauss & union Station, Counting Crows and the legendary Neil Young. On the night however I found myself thinking back to Hammersmith's most famous night when Springsteen played there in 1975.

The concert gave rise to an immortal live album and dvd. I was wondering whether the Gaslight Anthem concert would mean as much to the younger sections of the audience who spent much of the evening in a see of movement on the floor, including a couple of crowd surfers who were ejected by security. Gaslight have most definitely paid their dues to Bruce. Brian Fallon in one of the quieter moments of the evening explained how when he first came to London he drove past Hammersmith, and asked the band whether one night they'd play there. Well they've arrived and will probably play bigger venues.

For all that perhaps it was the first concert where I've realised that I was one of the oldest members of the audience. A moment to reflect upon without doubt.

A tale of two cities

well it makes for a good headline but actually a city and a town. Having spent the last week watching the citizens of Paris and other french cities take to the streets in opposition to the plan to increase retirement age to 62, I went to Chelmsford to attend the demonstration against the Cuts in the public sector in Britain. For the three million in Paris, twenty five in Chelmsford.

Yesterday Osborne announced his so called Comprehensive Spending Review. His speech cleverly overplayed the small parcels of money given to certain politically sensitive areas such as the NHS and Schools, meanwhile the blunt of the cuts is destined to hammer those least able to afford them.

Councils revenue slashed by 7% per annum for four years, public sector workers already on a pay freeze asked to pay an extra 3% of income in pension contributions. Rail fares likely to soar, welfare benefits cut, women's retirement age raised to 66 by 2020. And so it goes on.

Sadly in Britain, there is still a sense of resignation. The main opposition party offeres little in terms of a political alternative. Their attack is simply to argue that the cuts are too deep and taking fast. There's little doubt that had Labour won the general election earlier this year, a scaled version of the same would have been introduced. The real difference is that they wouldn't have attacked working people with such a smug smirk on their face.

Five hundred thousand public sector workers to lose their jobs, plenty of private sector companies will be adversely affected as contracts from the public sector dry up. There is a crying need to leadership but the Labour movement is ill equipped to offer it.

In recent days news leaked out that Thatcher has been hospitalised with what has been diagnosed as flu, she might not be in good health but her ideas are flourishing inside the Tory Party. Those who have harboured the desire to cutback the role of the state are having a field day, while spouting that there is no alternative and "we all in it together." Hopefully soon an alternative will be heard.

A great European night

I've come to regard the Champions League nights at the Emirates Stadium as great nights out. Firstly I'm usually able to get a good seat, often in the lower tier (it's cheaper there),and the atmosphere of watching football under lights is still special to me. Some European club sides that visit the Emirates are prepared to attack, unlike many premiership clubs who assume the way to frustrate Arsenal is to stack their penalty area and hope to make something out a rare set piece opportunity.

Tuesday night's game was just that an away team who ventured forward and held out for over twenty minutes. Once Alex Song had scrambled home the opening goal , it was a matter of how many. Nasri added the second, a Fabregas penalty awarded when the referee decided to grappling and hurling the attacking player to the ground was not good defending, made it 3-0 at half time.

The pick of the goals was a delightful run and finish by Jack Wiltshere and the hard running, fully committed Chamakh made it five. Late in the game the visitors introduced Eduardo into the game. Arsenal have in recent years made an effort to welcome back past heroes, none more so than on Tuesday night. Eduardo came onto the pitch and left it to tremendous applause and the chanting of his name ringing round the ground. He made his mark by scoring a consolation goal close to full time.

Three wins out of three means qualification for the knock out stage is near certain, however I'm already looking forward to the last group stage home game against Partisan Belgrade later this year.

We are top of the League

Probably best not to gloat, wouldn't want to offend the footballing gods, but last Saturday afternoon, over 3300 watched the Dons go top of the Football Conference. Yakubu's headed goal followed at the death by a saving tackle by Ed Harris meant that the 3 points went to the Dons, meanwhile Crawley dropped points, and so AFC Wimbledon sit proudly in first place.

There's a long way to go, but for a few days Dons fans need to take a deep breath and reflect on how far we've come since Sandhurst in August 2002.

Where will it end ?

The Times today calls for the scraping of the universal provision to pensioners of winter fuel allowance. Suffolk County Council calls for out sourcing of all its services including libraries and care homes for the elderly and apparently those convicted of violent assaults may not face imprisonment as the government attempts to cut back on public spending on law and order.

Anyone who thinbks these are not ideological assaults on the public sector in the name of "the small state" and the enabling council as opposed to the council that delivers services is deluding themselves.

On Tuesday night the Lib Dems voted against the amendment to the Electoral Reform Referendum Bill in Parliament. After years of campaigning for PR, they dropped it like a hot potato. The same day the so called St Vinve abandonned his idea of a graduate tax and hoisted tuition fees in fact creating a free market allowing elite universities to price middle income students out of places.

Today I've been reading the Living Planet report of the WWF, it highlights that our current rates of consumption, we'll need another planet by 2030. Yet in his interview on Sunday, Ed Milliband calls for more growth. Sustainability and wealth distribution is what is needed, but to get mainstream politicians to see what's under their noses....

The only good news was yesterday the media were getting ready to celebrate Thatcher's 85th birthday, but fortunately and ironically that was upstaged by a group of miners !

The Village that time forgot

A weekend away visiting old friends in Dorset. Now for many, Dorset is rural tranquility , a county that is really detached from the pull of London and South East. Dorchester is definitely getting bigger and the Prince of Wales creation , Poundbury, will soon join up to form a conurbation if such a thing is possible amidst the rolling hills.

On Sunday we travelled to Tyneham , a village that time forgot. Now Tyneham was suffering from rural depopulation, the school house was closed in 1933 when there were only 9 pupils remaining. However in preparation for D-day , the government decided that all remaining inhabitants should move out in 1943. The assumption was that they would be allowed to return whenever the war ended. Sadly in 1945 the goivernment already making plans for the onset of the Cold War decided that the site was too valuable to the military, and it seems the inhabitants of Tyneham were effectively tossed to the wind. In 1943 these villagers who were mostly agricultual labourers, fishermen or people who worked in the "big house" received nothing in compensation.

The homes lacked basic amenities even by the standards of the time, there was no running water and no electricity. Yet there was a post office/village store and a church. Some years back the military decided to allow visitors to see the site at weekends. The houses are but shells, the schoolhouse has been restored and the church now serves as a small museum to the village sacrificed in order to defeat the Nazis.

On one level it was intriguing to see a place locked into another time, without the tourist trappings of today. A place where families main adventure came from nature , the fields and the beach. Yet at the same time one is left considering the plight of those whose lifes must have been turned upside down by a government decision never rescinded. Many people lost their homes in the second world war I know, but not many of them in the UK were taken away by the MOD.

Cameron's attack on the Welfare State

I'm still collecting my ideas on the snippets received at Tory party conference. I remain convinced that the cuts, in other words the assault on the public sector, are ideologically driven. The " we must reduce the deficit, we're all in this together, what a mess Labour left us in " mantra, is I'm sure a cover disguising the long held belief of Conservatives to reduce the size of the state.

Osbourne who appears to be firing the bullets, has said no one on benefits can be better off than someone who is working for the average wage. As a soundbite on the news I'm sure many would be nodding along, however life is a bit more complex. Housing benefit at present may allow poorer members of society to live in some of the more prosperous parts of the country. As far as I can the changes that Osborne is proposing will ghettoise those on benefits and affluent areas of the South will become poor free zones.

Meanwhile the decision to cut child benefit for those on higher levels of income tax has caused a stir in areas of the Tory Press. They see it as an attack on middle class mothers who stay at home. A family with one parent at work earning £45K no benefit, the house next door with two working parents 2x £40K they receive benefit. Now I think child benefit needs a review, it needs weighting and to needs to taper , however the most interesting comment came from Rupert Reed, who argues that this attack on universal benefits is part of a strategy to detach the middle class from the welfare state. The Tories want to devalue the welfare state and by restricting it to those on middle incomes or lower is the first step on this road.

I've been thinking that once high earners feel they are not part of it, why shouldn't they ask for tax rebates for services that they don't use, why pay for the NHS when you have private health care or state education when you send your kids to private schools. I sense that the child benefit issue still has legs, and I sense by the end of October other universal benefits will come under attack by the Con Dem government.

Win, Lose and Draw

The weekend is admirably summed up in the above phrase. After a Friday night sampling the delights of local ale from the Brentwood Brewing Company at the White Hart , in conversation with old friends Nige & Kim. I should write more in support of local breweries, and how lucky we are to have a local micro brewery producing such good beer.

On Saturday I really wanted to be in Manchester for the Rugby League Grand Final but was convinced that for a number of reasons we needed to visit my mum and therefore allowing us to get to the Dons v Forest Green Rovers match. The first five minutes fizzled with goal mouth action as corner followed corner, however the ball never entered the net, and when FGR scored with their first real attack it seemed that it would be a bad day. Christian Jolley who seems to improve with each game, scored great equaliser in the second half but a share of the points was the best the Dons could do.

Saturday evening was initially blighted by a crash on the M25 but if nothing else it ensured that cooking was replaced by a visit to the chip shop as we settled down to watch the Grand Final, Wigan v St Helens. There's no better rivalry in Rugby League. This season Wigan have literally blown teams away in the opening minutes of games, and Saturday was no exception. That Sam Tomkins was to reach out and score the try in the second half that broke the Saints resistance was just reward for a player who has lifted Rugby league in the last 18 months. Sadly Pat Richards, recently voted Man of Steel, left the field wirh a severe leg injury, otherwise his conversations might well have stretched Wigan's advantage.

My interest in League has developed with Sky's coverage, and I imagine that many others living away from the sport's heartlands have become enthusiasts as a result of the televised game. In the early 90s Wigan dominated the competition but over the next decade they were caught up and overtaken, so on Saturday I , for one, could rejoice in the reemergence of the Cherry and Whites.

Sunday was all about Chelsea v Arsenal. Since 2003 and the arrival of the dodgy Russian at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal have struggled to compete on the field with Chelsea. The building of Emirates Stadium has also restricted player purchase at Arsenal. On Sunday Arsenal minus several regulars through injury, competed admirably yet could not break through the home defense. That Chelsea scored goals just before half time and full time left a feeling that we'd given them our best shot, but in spite of appearing to be "on the ropes." Chelsea hit the Gunners with sucker punches. Good but not good enough.

Normal service resumed.

After last weekend's defeats, midweek salvation. Arsenal went to Belgrade, literally a cauldron of sound and secured a 3-1 victory. Once again I winced at the treatment handed out to Jack Wiltshere, and had my view confirmed that five match officials are really no better than three.

By the time the next round of matches come round the squad should be stronger, and a number of those recently absent through injury should be available. After Almunia's performance last Saturday, he developed an elbow injury. I don't have a problem if Arsene Wenger uses "dipplomatic injuries" to conceal dropping a player whose confidence must already be low. Anyway Fabianski took over in goal, and in spite of all our fears, came through unscathed He conceded only from the penalty spot, and in the last tem minutes with Arsenal sitting on a comfortable 3-1 advantage, he saved a spot kick and made a very good reaction save. One can only hope that this helps build his confidence, for the games ahead, starting at Chelsea on Sunday.

Last night in dreadful weather conditions the Dons took three points, to restore their second place in the Conference. The first half saw some great football but no goals. An injury to Yakubu saw Franks come on in the second half, and the substitute centre back scored twice, his goals the 1st and 3rd were separated by a goal from the very pacey Christian Jolley. The Dons looked excellent from wide positions and it was no surprise when Ryan Jackson was chosen as MOM. Hopefully the Dons can maintain their strong home form this Saturday when Forest Green Rovers are the visitors.

The wrong Ed

On Saturday afternoon while I was watching Arsenal capitulate to West Brom, Labour announced that Ed Miliband was the newly elected leader of the party. The Labour conference held this year in Manchester ( what's wrong with seaside towns) was the venue for the announcement . Of course the media picked up on the closeness of the result, the fact that Ed Miliband did not secure a majority vote amongst members or MPs and the Mail coined " Red Ed !"

Ed Miliband's strategy to become leader was all too obvious, the only way he could defeat his brother was to position himself to the left and hope to pick up second preference votes. The strategy worked, In the 24 hours after the result was declared, Ed Miliband appeared on the Andrew Marr programme, and Miliband worked at showing that he was not "Red Ed". However the real performance of the weekend was Jon Soppel's interview with Ed Balls, who produced the type of performance that suggested that he was the one Labour headliner who could battle the Coalition in Parliament.

In all honesty I'm far from impressed by Miliband, perhaps because as Minister for Climate Change he tended to talk a good job, but failed to deliver, none more so than at Copenhagen.

Whether he genuinely wants to reduce inequality and tackle climate change only time will tell.

Round Up - 100th entry

Let's start with politics its the week of the Lib Dem conference, and my chance to rant at Chris Huhne. Months ago i wrote that nuclear power would be the breaking point of the coalition; it seems I was badly wrong. I thought that nuclear power was an issue on which you could compromise, you either believed it was a safe alternative to carbon based fuels, and its cheaper or it remains deeply flawed , is fundamentally unsafe and leaves waste that is not disposable in any ethical sense. Well its seems you can compromise, Huhne says he still opposes nuclear power but will build new reactors, because they will be privately financed and anyway its part of his party's sacred deal with the Tories. The perfect case of power before principle.

On Tuesday night Spurs played Arsenal in the Carling Cup. arsene Wenger was banned from the touchline , but out foxed Redknapp and the Gunners came away with a 4-1 victory. Very sweet, I doubt whether Spurs will be bringing out a DVD of that game.

Wednesday and England rounded off an excellent summer by defeating Pakistan 3-2 in the ODI series. The last month has been ravished by controversy over spot betting and match fixing, but nevertheless its to England's credit that they remained professional and saw the job through. Today the Ashes squad has been announced and delighted that Surrey's Steve davis, Chris Tremlett have made the touring party. I'm also pleased that Monty Panesar is seen as the back up spinner to Graeme Swann. Monty may spend a lot of time carrying water bottles but that is in large part to Swann's magnificant performances over the last 18 months. He must walk away with the player of the year awards and could easily be rewarded with the ICC World cricketer of the year, he has been that good.

It's two months to the Ashes, and the weeks ahead will see me give greater priority to football,unfortunately I'm missing the AFC Wimbledon v Crawley game which has been moved to Thursday to suit TV; even at Conference level someone other than the fans is calling the tune.

A night out in Luton

Friday night isn't made for football, but because of Tv contract the Dons were obliged to travel to Luton on a Friday night. Now for me that isn't too much of an ask but for anyone finishing work around 6pm in South London, forget it.

After initially getting lost somewhere around the Luton town centre I discovered the route to Bury Park. The other news item of the day of course was the Pope's visit, and his comments about English society. Now Bury Park is one of the most multi cultural areas in England. Put bluntly it is dominated by muslim schools, community centres and what are described as ethnic shops. Nestling amidst these is Kenilworth Road, the home of Luton Town.

Luton is an usual town in southern England, rows and rows of back to back terrace houses, front doors directly onto the street that seem to have been transported from a Lancashire mill town. It is worth noting that Luton is represented by the only Labour MPs in eastern region at present.

Ironically I found myself in the press box doing the match stats and accompanying Mikey T on WDON. First time I've acted as guest summariser, and a real pleasure. Shame about the result.

Luton deserved the win , the final score of 3-0 was a reflection of how well their keeper played and how poorly we defended set pieces.

Luton is one of the first times as AFC Wimbledon that we have faced a Club with more supporters than ourselves, fans who are not in awe of us. Last season to quote Mikey T it was a bit of a John & Yoko love in, as both sets of fans united in their hostility to MK Dons, last night usual hostilities were restored.

On the way home I listened to a debate on the Pope's visit. What became apparent during the programme and in discussions during the day, is the acceptance by catholics that they can pick and choose which is the Pope's views that they follow. Its obvious that most British catholics do not follow the church's teachings on contraception, yet this is accepted with a shrug. As I said it's the equivalent to someone claiming to be a vegetarian while devouring the Sunday roast. Of course the Church decides to turn a blind eye in this country, while denouncing birth control in the third world.

Wednesday night in Highbury

It was the first Champions League game and perhaps a mixture of low key opposition, televisation and the sense that we've been here before meant that there was a rather muted atmosphere before the start of the match.

It only took a few minutes to change that, Arsenal without the services of Van Persie, Walcott, Diaby and Vermaelen simply dominated from start to finish. The Portuguese opponents, SC Braga, literally must have wondered what hit them. It was a great night, after two penalty appeals , one of which looked "half decent", Fabregas threaded the ball through to Chamahk who was upended by the keeper, and the referee pointed to the spot, Fabregas obliged.

Arshavin made it two, again Fabregas the provider. An audacious back heel from Wiltshere set up Chamahk for the third. In the second half Arshavin hit the post before crossing for Fabregas to head home the 4th, and finally substitute Vela hit numbers 5 and 6.

When Arsene Wenger started to make substitutions Chamahk and Song went off to a great reception. Song already established as a crowd favourite but Chamahk worked tirelessly , was always available and was a constant threat. The loudest reception greeted the introduction of Eboue who had previously acted as leading cheerleader. Eboue has great spirit and clearly loves his cult status, what a change from 18 months ago.

6-0 and a bag of chips after the game, can't beat that.

Not welcome

So the pope arrived today and warned against "aggressive secularism", he congratulated Britain for its traditions of tolerance, how ironic for as head of a church that is anything but tolerant.

There are so many areas of discussion. How is the pope afforded the privileges of a state visit, no other religious leader would be so treated. When public services are being cut what defence can the government have for the expenditure on such a visit.

The pope congratulated Britain on its fight against Nazism, yet of course he was involved in that fight as a member of the Hitler youth movement and at 83 he is certainly the age to have fought for Hitler's Germany. The facts that the media seem to not want to dwell on. Of course the pope also rehabilitated the priest who was a holocaust denier.

The Catholic Church remains fixed in its views that deny equality to women, and labels gay and lesbians as incapable of good. Meanwhile over years to has shielded priests who sexually abused children, this new found attitude of care for the victims is opportune, but what about bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Meanwhile the Catholic Church vetoes the use of condoms in 3rd World nations , while turning a blind eye to the fact that in Europe those who follow the faith obviously practice birth control. It opposes abortion even for victims of sexual violence and abuse, and attacks stem cell research that offers hope to many who have to live with what are currently incurable conditions and diseases .

Frankly the last thing we need is to be lectured about civilised behaviour by this man. If members of the church wish to hear him no problem, but as to why those of us who believe in equality should have to foot the bill , no way.

Council Elections and Conference

Thursday night and sadly the Greens didn't take control of Norwich Council. The Party won an additional seat taking them to 14, while Labour held 16. Nevertheless it's the largest green group of councillors in the country and Norwich as a city should be able to mount a campaign against the cuts that the Con Dem government will surely attempt to impose.

The day after the Green Party Conference began in Birmingham. It's the first conference since Caroline Lucas won the seat at Brighton Pavilion, and the importance of that fact was confirmed when she was interviewed on Radio 4 and 5 in the morning. BBC News carried a short soundbite from her at the conference, and the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph carried reports the next day.

Her speech focussed on welcoming those disillusioned with the three main parties, she ridiculed the choice put in front of Labour members in the current leadership contest. In fact she could have been speaking to me, since leaving Labour I've not felt compelled to return. I was energised by working for the Greens during the election campaign, but in truth the yawning gap between the level of debate at national level and the near moribund state of the local organisation deters me from involvement. I sense I have to resolve this in my own mind during the remainder of thw year.

The Boys of Summer are gone !

Wednesday 8th September at around 4.45pm, the rain began to fall over the Oval. Play had stopped for bad light some minutes before. Grey sky overhead indicated that the rain was not going to relent, and so I decided to make my way to the station.

For me the cricket season was over; there are two more days of the game remaining but work commitments will prevent me taking seat at the ground. I came to realise that next year , once I retire, I'll be able to watch much more cricket.

Sadly between now and then is a long winter. In November England will travel to Australia to defend the Ashes, and I should be able to watch a fair amount on TV, but cricket is all about being there. Warm days, warm beer and a pasty... until next April.

Back to Politics

After a fairly quiet month the chance to chew over a few political stories:
To start with the Labour leadership, there would have been a time I'dhave been waiting for the ballot paper to drop on the mat. Now I can look from the sidelines, and to quote Diane Abbott it does look like "four geeks in suits". Of course there's little to choose between them on policy, they all , bar Abbott, served Blair/Brown loyally. What should anyone make of apologies or regrets over Iraq or other contentious issues. It hasn't been a contest to light up the media, and it seems likely that it will be a shoot out between the Millibands ( son of Blair v son of Brown). Strangely in terms of fighting the coalition in Parliament , Balls has the right credentials, whether his close relationship with Brown has done for him is debatable.

Meanwhile in London , Labour members have to select a candidate to challenge Boris Johnson for the London Mayor post. While Ken Livingstone will be attacked by the Tory press he offers so much more than Oona King. king has always come over as a Blairite politician, and her defeat by Galloway in 2005 caused few tears to be shed. Ken in the last election benefitted from the 2nd preference votes of the Greens something that King could in no way guarantee. Ken Livingstone has a sound track record over more than 30 years for progressive causes, and in spite of a few indiscretions he is deserving of support.

This week should see the Bill introduced into Parliament that will ensure a national referendum next year on the electoral system. It will be FPTP or AV ? Therefore once again it has been left to Caroline Lucas to propose an amendment that give voters a wide choice than in her words " two types of vanilla". Between AV and FPTP it a tough call .

Finally on Thursday there are Council Elections in Norwich. Normally not the sort of issue to cause much of a stir, but there is a good chance that the Green party could finish up as the largest party in the City. More thoughts on this later in the week.

A change of plan

Last weekend I'd said I'd travel to Kettering to catch the Dons on Saturday, during the week circumstances changed and we decided to spend Saturday on the south coast. The attraction of a trip to brighton was the chance to watch Kevin Pietersen pull on a Surrey shirt and play for Surrey against Sussex in CB40 competition at Hove.

I must admit to be less than happy with the parking restrictions close to the Hove ground, but once in the ground, any annoyance soon vanished. On what I suspected would be the last Saturday of summer, the chance to spend the day sitting in the sunshine watching cricket could not be beaten. KP was soon at the wicket, and the ground was soon filled with more than 5000 spectators.

Pietersen's innings of 116 had a good collection of boundaries including four 6s. Assisted by Jason Roy ( a real prospect) Surrey reached 240. Sussex started well , then struggled as wickets fell and the boundaries dried up. That Sussex scored 14 runs in the last over, meant the game was tied. However in a week when the allegations against several pakistan players has damaged the game, this game showed its inner strength. Pietersen's century, some excellent outfielding, the reception that the crowd gave to Kirtley as he left the field in his last game for Sussex, these were what will live in my memory.

After the game e walked down to the sea, went for a short walk along the promenade, bedecked with beach huts. Hove often seen as Brighton's less exciting partner, seemed very attractive if hilly.

As for the Dons they won 2-1 away and regained top spot in the Blue Square Conference.

A Journey but not one I'd care to take.

Yesterday saw the publication of Tony Blair's autobiography " A Journey". I'd made up my mind that there was no way I wanted to buy the book, even though the profits are now going to a charity. Nevertheless with Blair prominent on the front pages of most papers the book was inescapable.

Last evening Blair was interviewed by Andrew Marr for BBC2. Marr for ever the professional took Blair through his relationship with Brown, the War in Iraq, and a short analysis of the Peace Process in N.Ireland (which I'm sure history will judge as his greatest achievement).

There was nothing left to be gleamed about Iraq, although I doubt if anyone expected to hear him say he got it wrong. It was all a mistake etc.

Perhaps what was more revealing was his belief that Labour lost the 2010 election, not so much because of Brown's leadership but because it deviated from the New Labour plan. His recipe for revival was more public sector reform, frankly when commentators said that Cameron was the natural successor to Blair, I sense they were right. Blair claimed to be a progressive and denied vigourously that he was a Conservative. However what was clear is that Blair left the Centre-Left of politics long ago.

Significantly the media is hinting that David Milliband has asked Blair not to back him for the Labour Party leadership, his support could just be the kiss of death. Blair himself feels that he was liked by the public rather than the Party. Frankly it's not surprising, he stripped any vestige of socialism out of Labour, his social policies although an advance on the past, could arguably have been pursued by any liberal politician. What separates Blair from the left of centre is his view that the role of the State should be restricted and reduced. On last nights performance Blair could fit snugly alongside the Con Dem coalition.... as part of a much wider consensus on the centre right.

It's not cricket

The allegations against 4 Pakistan players places a dark cloud over the entire game. Whether a few no balls here and there influences the outcome of the game or not is not the point. The issue is that the sport becomes corrupted. Its easy to understand the temptation for Pakistani cricketers who earn a fraction of what their counterparts here, in Australia or of course the IPL earn, however that can not excuse the deed. One can only hope that the ICC respond swiftly and decisively.

Meanwhile Kevin Pietersen has been dropped from the 50 over and T20 series against Pakistan. His form has been poor by his own extremely high standards this summer , but at first glance it seems strange to omit him from the forms of the game where he has traditionally excelled. On the plus side the fact that he is turning out for Surrey on loan till the end of the season is an exciting development, that will hopefully bring a few more spectators to the Oval.

A New Start

Its September 1st and it seems like a fresh start. On a personal level last night I wrote my letter of resignation from work, there can't be many people who give a year's notice, but I have my reasons, not least my lack of trust in the Government and my belief that they will attack public sector pensions sooner rather than later.

As part of the fresh start I wrote myself a list of things I wanted to do over the next twelve months. I'm working part time now so I've enrolled at the gym so that I can dovetail my working hours with trips to get some exercise. We went and bought the bike I chose yesterday. At the moment I'm a bit like a kid with a new toy, but I want to get out and about round here and leave the car at home. Finally I'm keen to find time to pick up the guitar I bought some years ago, I always said it was a retirement project.

I'll still be at work most days but now the die is set, my mind is made up with very few reservations.

Middle Class benefits

In recent days the media has been softening the public in advance of what I'm sure are some unpalatable cuts. Yesterday the Times in its editorial focused on what it deemed Middle Class Benefits. The areas under consideration were child benefit, winter fuel payments, and the free bus pass.

On BBC News the "freedom pass" was raised, when a journalist mentioned that some of her colleagues who were over sixty travelled to work for free. Now I'm sure these are the exceptions.

Rather than lumping all these benefits together under the "middle class benefits" label, as the Times did, it would be better to consider each in turn. The Times was reluctant to grasp the nettle of Child Benefit. Obviously universal benefits are made to a proportion of the population who are not in need, but Child benefit replaced a tax allowance and was designed to be paid to mothers. Two points need to be made, firstly the benefit should be skewed towards the first child, where the largest costs are involved and towards the early years when many mothers are economically disadvantaged. On the other side should government continue to pay women for every child. Should benefits be used to encourage large families/over population ?

With winter heating payments, there is no doubt that elderly people spend a higher proportion of their income on fuel payments. Whether these should start at age 60 is debatable. There is a very strong case that some of this money would be better spent on insulating the homes of elderly people. It is fair to assume that 40% of heating is lost through inadequate insulation.

Finally the Bus Pass, I'm convinced that this would be a political own goal for the Coalition government. People choose to have children, they don't choose to be old. The Bus Pass is an unreal cost, as many buses would travel with empty seats if it wasn't for the elderly.

I'm sure that this is a philosophical debate that will rumble on in the months ahead. The key issue is what facilities or benefits should a society provide for its citizens ? Should some of these only be granted to the most vulnerable ? Ultimately is it benefits such as bus passes that make Britain a decent country, ? If they were to be abandoned we might reduce a deficit but at what cost ?

Saturday news

While I was focused on the Test Match at the Oval. The Dons were in action at Kingsmeadow and maintained their 100% record with a 3-0 victory. Meanwhile at the Arsenal, Theo Walcott hit the headlines scoring a hat trick in a 6-0 demolition of newly promoted Blackpool, pleased to report that Abou Diaby ( the name on the back of my shirt), scored one goal and made another. Norwich City left it late in defeating Swansea 2-0.

Away from sport, my attention was drawn to the Australian election. Parallels with the situation in England are too apparent. On the plus side of a "hung parliament", the australian Greens won their first seat, in Melbourne, and my find themselves in a pivotal position. Meanwhile in the Australian Senate the Green vote went to 12% which should ensure greater representation. Significantly these two results show the difference between AV and STV when it comes to representation of small parties.

Test Cricket

Few of us made our way to the Oval with any great expectations of an England victory and things didn't improve when England lost their last wicket in the first over of the day Leaving Pakistan with a modest target of 148. At lunch the visitors seemed to be moving steadily towards their target, however immediately after the break Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann took three quick wickets and for 45 minutes the impossible seemed possible. Perhaps that's the great attraction of Test Cricket, the way the game ebbs and flows, how wickets often fall in pairs, how the unexpected happens. It leaves the spectator exhilarated. Pakistan deserved their victory and it means that the series is still alive going to the final test at Lords next week.

The Oval test in recent years has become the sporting highlight of my calendar, over in four days it leaves me wanting more, yet knowing that there is a long Ashes winter ahead.

Testing Time

After three days of Test Match Cricket England have a long way to go to save the match. It seems strange watching an Oval test match knowing that there is another test match to the played. The opening day was an unusual day for me, sitting quietly on the Pavilion Terrace. Its rare that I sit on my own, just letting the game sweep over me. Very relaxing. As I walked round the ground I reflected on a few points, firstly in the past a test series between England and Pakistan would have seen large contingents of Pakistan supporters supporting their team. Over these three days this has not been the case. This is in stark contrast to the World T20 Tournament last year.

Perhaps Asian cricket fans have abandoned test cricket with the rise of T20, I must admit to be disappointed about that. Test Cricket , for me, remains the highest form of the game. One issue did amuse me at lunchtime, deciding to walk round the ground I saw large number of England fans at the Curry stalls, while Pakistan supporters queued to buy chips. Perhaps that says something about culture in London.

The game over the first three days has been disappointing from an England viewpoint. The only highlights have been Graeme Swann's bowling performance in the visitors first innings. Swann has been England's standout performer over the last 18 months, a bowler who can hold down an end and also be an attacking threat. England 's second innings after Alastair Cook scored a century to restore his reputation, collapsed after lunch, with 6 wickets falling for just 26 runs.

Yet such is the appeal of test cricket and as England cricket fans are long suffering, that we'll be back tomorrow hoping that England can set a target of around 150 and hope for good bowling conditions.

First game of the season

Tuesday night saw the Dons first home game of the season against Histon. Histon are the epitomy of the Club punching above their weight. With John Beck as their manager they won't make many friends, but I sense they'll make it difficult for home sides, and along the way they'll collect enough points to survive.

The Dons attracted more than 3000 for a midweek game, which suggests a steady growth in support. The first half saw the Dons play some good football and with more assured finishing would have had the game wrapped up by half time. As it was it took till time added on for the beakthrough.

The visitors were reduced to ten men, needlessly when the only player who had received a yellow card decided it was smart to kick the ball away after a stoppage in play. The referee obliged by producing a second yellow. Minutes later Danny Kedwell was fouled in the box and got up to score the resulting penalty. A minute later the points were safe when Kedwell set up Wellard to make the score 2-0.

The game also marked our friend Mark 40th birthday, so the victory and Mark's birthday was toasted after the game with beer and cake !

100 days and there's worse to come

It's 100 days since the Lib Dems got into bed with the Tories and inflicted a government that seems to take such pleasure out of cutting the public sector and anciliary agencies.

The Guardian focussed on proposed cuts to conservation and environmental projects. After all the hot air of being Britain's most green government, it's come to this.

That organisations such as the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and the Ramblers' Association have to campaign against the government is an indication of where we are at:

The scope of the proposed is best summarised in the Guardian article below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/13/plan-sell-nature-reserves-austerity-countryside

Boys' Own Cricket

Saturday saw the final days of the T20 competition. After weeks of glorious weather, rain returned in the couple of days leading up to the final Saturday. The four sides who travelled to the Rose Bowl had played 16 gams to reach that point. In the semi finals Hampshire (the outsiders) defeated Essex, and in the second semi final many peoples favourites , Notts met Somerset. Now Notts were able to recall their England stars Stuart Broad and Graham Swann, and it seemed they were on their way restricting Somerset to an average total and progressing towards that target. The game changed when West Indian international Kieron Pollard plucked a stunning catch out of the sky, one handed, on the boundary rope at long on. The game was interupted soon after by the rain that was a regular visitor across southern England. The game somewhat unsatisfactorily was decided by the D/L method.

The final would therefore be Somerset v Hampshire. The Somerset batting looked by far the stronger, and Marcus Thescothick started the innings by hitting two well placed sixes, Kieswetter carried on the good work, and when he was out, Pollard despatched two huge sixes into the grandstands. In the 18th over with Somerset well set, the game was changed by a short pitched ball by veteran Cork, which smashed into Pollard's helmet. The grill did not save him and pollard was led from the field his eye already swollen and closed.

The Somerset innings limped to a close and perhaps more significantly they lost pollard's 4 over spell, meaning a part time bowler would have to step forward. Hampshire started well and seemed on course when in the 17/18th overs wickets started to tumble. In a frenetic last over , runs were run to the keeper. The last ball and the game still in the balance, Hampshire -one run and victory, even though the game would be tied they win it on losing fewer wickets. Somerset needed a dot ball. The ball was fired into the batsman's pads , lbw was the appeal as Hampshire ran a leg bye. The umpire turned down the appeal, and Hampshire who few gave much hope to were champions.

So many twists I doubt many would have written such a script.

All a Broad

Three days away in Norfolk. How have I reached my age and not visited the Norfolk Broads before. There are a beautiful and interesting environment. We stayed just 8 miles from Norwich , yet it could have been hundreds of miles from urban life.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust centre at Hickling takes pride of place. Walkways, hides and a really interesting boat trip on the Hickling Broad, which is the largest in he system. Learned about the Broads origins, the trades that grew up along the Broads, and the lifes of those who worked there.

Wroxham is the commercial centre of the Broads, for most visitors its where you head to hire your vessel. Yes it is a holiday centre, but stays in keeping. Its not tacky but it provides the services that both the local population and tourists need. My knowledge of Wroxham had previously revolved around their non league football club, now I know more of its origins and development. The fact that it has a railway station linking it with Norwich and the rest of the country is hugely significant.

Our final visit was to Barton Broad and here the Broads Authority run a solar powered boat, the Ra, a chance to see birdlife close up, and experience life at 4MPH. What's so pleasing is the respect for the environment shown by those working on the Broads, hopefully that rubs off on the tourists.

We stayed in the village of Coltishall, now lacking local knowledge I wasn't aware that it was once the location of a RAF base (now closed). The village itself by the River Bere, allowed some lovely walks and the Red Lion , a good pub for an evening meal and pints of Wherry Ale.

Norfolk has many attractions, far enough away from London to have an independent culture and approach to life. I'm left with both a desire to return and to experience some days on a boat on the Broads. Putting it on my list of "to do".