So at the end of two days the need to catch up on the news. It seems ridiculous to focus on sport when the country's attention has been focussed on events in West Cumbria where a gunman went on the rampage killing 12 people. In the aftermath rather than centreing on the how the event unfolded it seems far more relevant to focus on the reasons why one person would want to destroy so many lives, before as is usual in these killing sprees turning the gun upon himself. I'm left pondering whether the taking away of life is the ultimate abuse of power, and how an individual starts with those to whom he holds a grudge and ends up killing indiscriminately.Perhaps this is just an extension of the psychology of the hunter, armed with a rifle, the hunter looks down the sight and knows he will deprive the animal of life. At that moment he either, sadly in my mind, glories in that power, or hopefully rejects that desire believing that he has no right to take life away from another creature.
T20 cricket has started for the 2010 season, there's more of it but judging from the early attendances the public's enthusiasm is holding up. On Thursday evening over 17000 spectators watched Middlesex featuring Adam Gilchrist lose to the Sussex Sharks.
Meanwhile the 23man England squad have headed to South Africa significantly without Arsenal's Theo Walcott. Two years ago Walcott set England on its way in the qualifying round by scoring a hat trick against England's main challenger Croatia. The last two years have seen Walcott suffer a number of injuries and he's only fleetingly shown that level of performance for Arsenal. However in the home tie against Barcelona, Walcott came on as substitute and made an immediate impact, with his blistering pace. I'm left wondering if England were losing 2-1 with ten minutes to go, isn't Walcott exactly the type of impact substitute that you'd want.
Arsenal announced that Barcelona had made a written offer of £33 million for Cesc Fabregas and the Arsenal board issued a strongly worded statement making clear that they had no desire to sell Cesc, who is under contract for a number of further seasons. Happier news is that Aaron Ramsey, who is recovering from a double leg break, has signed a contract extension. Ramsey
was beginning to make a real impact in matches before the injury, it seems he won't return to the close of the year.
The main news from AFC Wimbledon is the acquisition on long term loan of Vinnie Jones FA Cup winners medal. Jones had seemed to be less than convinced by the rise of AFC Wimbledon, and rumours periodically circled that Vinnie had gone over to the other side. Clearly his gesture in loaning the Club his medal to put on display, suggests that Vinnie Jones remains a womble at heart.
I'll conclude with two pieces of political news that have made me rejoice in the last twenty four hours. Firstly Ken Livingstone has announced that he will seek the Labour nomination for the London Mayor election scheduled for 2012. Ken is very much the embodiment of London Labour and has a great record on a number of environmental issues, and is very much "green on red". He offers something different to Oona King who I sense may be the choice of the New Labour establishment. Ken's record on London's public transport and his opposition to the Iraq War mark him out, as a cut above those like King.
Finally its not often that I'll congratulate the Con Dem government however its decision to scrap the General Teaching Council should be applauded. Never has an organisation done so little to enhance and develop the teaching profession. I'm so glad that we haven't paid this years compulsory subscription, let's face it few would pay the subs voluntarily.
At the end of two days I'm back home, the sun's shining and there's a chance to enjoy the last days of our half term break.
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