June will soon be here

Personally a quiet couple of days, where the two most memorable events were constructing the cage for the strawberries at the allotment, and burying Marmite the Cat's ashes and planting the shrub in his memory in the garden.

I thought it would be a quiet weekend for political news, but you can always count on Israel. The decision to launch a commando attack on a humanitarian ship heading to Gaza that was in international waters would be judged piracy if it was not carried out by a nation state. It clearly contravenes any form of international law, and rightly has drawn widespread condemnation. In the past Israel has largely ignored international opinion, only time will tell if that response suffices this time. Most of those killed during the night raid were Turkish and indeed the ship was Turkish too, in the past turkey has been Israel's only ally in the middle east, that's about to change for sure.

England completed a satisfactory win over Bangladesh in conditions that in no way could be described as summery. Finn took 9 wickets in the game, and a fast bowler who stands 6ft 8ins tall obviously needs nurturing ahead of the Ashes series next winter. Lords allowed children and pensioners in for free on the last day, and as a result over 9000 turned up , many of whom might have otherwise been priced out of test cricket.

Congratulations to Dagenham & Redbridge on gaining promotion to League 1. It seems many years since I watched their forefathers Leytonstone/Ilford and Redbridge Forest. In John Still they have a manager who has not and will not sacrifice the existence of the club for short term success. His principles and financial discipline have taken the club this far. One of the D&R sub plots regards Paul Benson who moved from White Ensign in the Essex Intermediate League to now Division 1 via Wembley success and a well taken goal.

Watched the Damned United over the weekend, I had the DVD for a while, but having read several biographies of Brian Clough, who I held in high regard as a manager, I was reluctant to commit to the biopic treatment of his 44 days at Leeds United. Clough remains a legend and possibly England's finest manager, what he achieved in the late 70s -early 80s at Nottingham Forest may never be repeated.

Reading : Sections from "When the lights went out" about the Gay Liberation Movement and the Womens' Movement during the 1970s and remembering my own political journey as a student during 1971-74.

Listening to: High Violet by The National, now firmly fixed as a favourite.