Key Quotes

"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist."
(Kenneth Boulding)




"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "

(Raymond Chandler)





"Live simply so that others can simply live." (unknown)





"I cannot live without books" (Thomas Jefferson)





"Sport is war without the shooting" (George Orwell)





"New York is a great city to live in if you can afford to get out of it" (William Rossa Cole)





The secret of a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits (Patterson Hood)































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Friday 30 April 2010

Clegg,Foggy and Compo (Part 3)

The focal points of Thursday were the Careers Fair in Brentwood, and the Parliamentary Leadership debate broadcast in the evening.

The Careers Fair will be seen as a success, attendance was good although the range of stalls was somewhat limited. I was pleasantly surprised to see Arsenal Football in the Community represented. They kindly gave me a publication highlighting their work over the past 25 years. I assume that most people would think that the priority is football coaching, but the scheme offers so much more to young people in some disadvantaged parts of London.

As I walked round the Careers Fair I realised that I still have an aversion to seeing the armed forces at these events. privately I have swerved inviting the forces into school over the last 15 years, mailings have been conveniently binned or recycled. Perhaps it's a hangover from my own background, but somehow I sense it is also rooted in my distaste for armed conflict. I understand that there is a need to defend the country, but coming from Britain the military in my lifetime haven't simply been used as a last resort, and that has led me to shun them.

Onto the 3rd debate, more of the same. The styles had been set, the presentation was more professional from the BBC. The hall at the University of Birmingham was an impressive backdrop. Cameron looked as if he'd escaped from Madame Tussards , he had a strange sheen !
Clegg sounded like a one trick pony a couple of times, and Brown's insistence on quoting statistics doesn't cut it. Apparently the papers called it a tie between Cameron and Clegg with Brown trailing. Adrian Ramsay was given 20 seconds on the news, and barely had time to make a case on the economy.

One wonders to what extent the electorate have been swayed by these debates; it will certainly be an interesting topic for political scientists in the months ahead.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Paying the Penalty

Last night was the London Senior Cup Final betwen the Dons and the Met Police (three divisions lower). In the morning I'd planned to travel by train but on hearing that there was only one train an hour made the journey unviable by public transport. Not unusual from Ingatestone, and so against my wishes I took the car.

The game was played at Harrow, as I mentioned to some friends, what is the point of NW London ? Miles upon miles of suburbia, three bedroom semis and parades of shops seemingly dominated by take aways restaurants. Perhaps I'm unsympathetic because its the only segment of London that I've not lived in.

The game itself offered the chance to crack all the old police jokes, and was livened up by Martin making an end of season appearance in arabic costume. So lawrence of arabia stood on the terraces of Harrow Borough FC. We led by 3-1 at half time, but got pulled back to 3-3 after 90 minutes. Extra time saw us lead again 4-3 with a minute to play, but our defence had more holes than the proverbial sieve and the police equalised with seconds remaining. Time for penalties. When the Met's first spot kick was saved all seem going to plan but we missed the second and the fourth, and lost the shhot out 4-3.

As Paul said as we left the ground, it just sums up the season. We hadn't won the LSC since 1976-77, now it hadn't been high on our agenda since, but some silverware would have been nice. A season that promised in December has literally fizzled out. The manager, Terry Brown has released a sizeable chunk of the squad, and frankly we all need a couple of months away.
There's the realisation that I won't see a few familiar faces for a few weeks, but as I walk back to the car I realise another storm is brewing.

It seems the PM has described a voter in Rochdale as " a sort of bigootted woman". Driving home this along with Barcelona's defeat by Inter Milan dominated the car radio. It seems I may be out on the limb. If you were to ask me what the important issues facing the government, I doubt that immigration ( as opposed to population) would make the top ten. As a result to me anyone who thinks that immigration is that important is likely to take a somewhat bigotted approach.

Like many teachers I've put on an act in the classroom only to let off steam in the staffroom, part of me sees Gordon Brown's in car outburst in that light. Of course I've never been miked up to Sky News. Anyway the one thing we can predict is that Labour's hopes of winning the Rochdale marginal seat have gone up in smoke.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Day Off

A day away from work and the sun is shining. A chance to go to the allotment. The raspberry frames are starting to take shape, and the wigwams are in place. You can now bgin to see what it might be like in acouple of months.

Spent some take reading Chris Mullin's book, it really should be required reading for all those with inflated egos in politics, the life of a junior minister brought down to earth. Mullin's is at his best when describing the futility of much that he does. My passage of the day surrounds the story of Blair taking and failing an IT course, and the reaction of the young man on the next work station who says:
"I've passed and have been unemployed for 18 months, you've failed, and yet you are Prime Minister." (absolutely classic)

Had to go to Moss Bros in Chelmsford today to get fitted up with a outfit for y daughter's wedding. I still find the ceremonial side hard to handle. Why do people want to dress up in clothes they'd ridicule at any other time ?

The best political news is that Tuesday evening saw the Green Party broadcast go out on all the main channels at different times. now i know that most people avoid PPBs like the plague, but judging from the few tweets I've seen, some people have been enthused, I doubt we can ask for more.

Article of the day comes from the News Statesman entitled "We're now the party of Social Justice" it focuses on the campaign in Brighton. All good news. What's strange is that in Brighton, we now have to play the game in telling voters that only the Greens can defeat the Tories. The worry is that the dominant progressive vote might fracture three ways
and allow the Tory in. That's why the amount of publicity beginning generate is vital .

I bought a copy of "Why Vote Green" today. There is a series of books published for the election, where a party activist explains what lies behind the party's beliefs and policies. strange that Waterstones chose to stock these, rather than the political party's manifestos.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Green Monday

Monday was supposed to be the day when the Election Campaign turned to the environment and climate change. You wouldn't know it in the mainstream media. Everything still dominated by talks of hung parliaments and where X will do a deal with Y.

The BBC showed an environment debate, the gist of which is shown below

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/apr/26/election-2010-climate-debates-live

The fact that the Green Party was invited to the debate, I suppose is a victory, whether the spokesman received equal treatment is open to debate.

Spent some of the afternoon reading Chris Mullin's account of life as a junior minister. The battle he had not using the ministerial car beggared belief, and his battle to deal with leylandii hedges, tells you that the DoE had far to go.

The evening was spent watching "House" without doubt one of the best TV drama series of recent years.

Monday 26 April 2010

Lazy Sunday

Lets start with the best news item of the day, published in the Independent on Sunday

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/can-caroline-lucas-change-british-politics-for-ever-1953738.html

Perhaps because I've worked with the Green Party this election, but there is definately more media coverage, perhaps because seats have been targetted, and in an election where the media have been more leader driven than ever before, Caroline Lucas is media savvy and therefore is deemed suitable for more TV/radio minutes and column inches.

I woke up to hear, courtesy of the Sunday times rich list that the 1000 richest people in Britain saw their wealth rise by 30% last year. I remembered Peter Mandelson saying some years ago that New Labour was relaxed about people becoming filthy rich. Well that's one policy that they have delivered on. If it's one tradition area where I'm most disgusted in New Labour is after 13 years in power, with huge majorities, they have presided over the widening of the gap between the richest and the poorest in our society.

The other news of the day has been the memo ridiculing the Pope's visit. A junior government official came up with a list of far fetched ideas for the Pope to undertake while visiting Britain, those mentioned included "opening a childrens home" and launching a range of "Benedictus condoms". Obviously humour is subjective, but the Vatican's reaction fails to grasp that the Catholic Church has an image problem with the bulk of the British population. Leaving aside the Child Sex scandal, a church that regards contraception as a sin, is both considered 'bonkers' by most adults and a threat to the planet by myself.

Today the main parties were scheduled to launch their Green Manifestos, I anticipate little coverage, without preempting the news conferences I expect too little, too late.

Away from the Election Campaign, the Dons finished their season with a "going through the motions" performance yesterday at Gateshead. A large trip for no reward for the 500 plus fans who made the trip. Tomorrow will see what players are to be retained next season, it seems likely that there will be a sizeable clearout.

It seems that my Sol Campbell for England campaign has been endorsed by Arsene Wenger:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-campbell-could-go-to-world-cup

Great minds think alike !

Finally my album of the day goes to "No Fool for Trying" By Madison Violet. I really enjoyed see them in Camden earlier this year, and the album captures their sound perfectly.

Sunday 25 April 2010

Politics, Football and Chips with Curry Sauce

Saturday, and the Greens are taking to the streets, maybe a bit of an over exaggeration but we are holding a Street Stall in Brentwood High Street. It's the first campaign that the Party have fought in Brentwood and in a sense its dipping our foot in the water time. Our candidate is present, we have posters but the leaflets are dated and don't tie in with the election. In truth the party see this as a paper candidature, but the local press have asked to see us campaigning, and so all publicity is good publicity, and an article in nthe Brentwood gazetter is worth several hundred leaflets.

In fairness the stall went well there were five of us, and the public ranged from interested to dis- missive, as Elaine mentioned to me its years since we've done this and you forget about "the nutters". The individuals who think politics surrounds one small issue and proceed to pummel you with it for ten minutes. The candidate Jess has asked us to go to the count on May 6th which should be interesting, not seen one of those since 1997.

The campaign in Brentwood has been a low key affair, the sitting MP Eric pickles tours the country showing the "northern face" of the Conservative Party. Meanwhile the Lib Dems seem to have fewer posters and given the hype surrounding Cleggomania I was genuinely surprised not to see them in town on Saturday. On Saturday evening I walked through Highbury and discovered that there posters were more plentiful and in contrast to Brentwood there wasn't a Tory poster in sight. A tale of two nations.

Talking of Highbury, Arsenal v Manchester City. When I got the ticket the online ticket office was in meltdown, what a difference a few weeks make. Two weeks ago Arsenal were genuine title contenders, not anymore. As a result not many are going to the Emirates with any sense of hope. The only real plus is the return to fitness of Robin Van Persie, but the crowd focus more on the return to Arsenal of three former players. Patrick Vieira remains an Arsenal legend, even his last kick for the club delivered the FA Cup in 2005. Vieira did play against Arsenal for Juventus at Highbury, thr night Cesc Fabregas came of age, but tonight is a chance to show respect.

Kolo Toure was the last remaining member of the invincibles, that said he never seemed the same player in the last couple of years at the Club and Arsene in time honoured tradition knew when to sell. Finally Adebayor, the manager asked the crowd to trat him with respect, but as he later said in a TV interview "they don't alwats do what I say". Adebayor and Vieira never could the reception for one player being substituted by the other have met such contrasting reactions.
Adebayor to Arsenal fans symbolises someone whose loyalty could be bought. The chant of "wanker" echoed around the ground, other fans wave banknotes at him.

The game itself never caught fire and ended 0-0, but it was never dull, and I found myself focussing on a player who has been a great professional in the weeks just gone. Sol Campbell. I doubt when he started to train at the Club after his brief stop at Notts County, he thought he finish up making MOM performances come April. It might seem far fetched, but with England centre backs dropping like flies, a recall for Sol is not far fetched.

Coming out of the Emirates, I strolled through the neighboring streets eating my chips with curry sauce. How I enjoy wandering the streets around Finsbury Park. It is so far removed from my life in Ingatestone, the houses, scenes and multi-ethnic shops seem so alive especially after evening games.

Issues resolved:All my teams should enter the field to London's Calling by the Clash, what better anthem is there for sports team from the city.

Listening to : Jim White albums- here's hoping its not long till the next tour

Saturday 24 April 2010

St George"s Day

Apart from pubs finding a way to market another Friday night, the day came and went. Perhaps it says something about English culture that the day isn't one of universal celebration. Nationalism is an uncomfortable issue for the left in England, and sadly the English flag has in the past been hijacked by the extreme right. It is time to address this, and I admire the work of Billy Bragg for pointing out that you can express your Englishness without being xenophobic and racist.
Anyway a day to ponder on what England means to me, and to return to the line : "What do they know of England, how only England know."

Friday 23 April 2010

Match Drawn

The focal point of the day was without any doubt the Prime Ministerial Debate. Not surprisingly all three candidates (yes that's the number that the Tv programmers deemed appropriate) performed better than last week.
The theme of the first half were international affairs. Questions were asked on the European Union, the War, Trident and surprisingly the Pope's visit to Britain. One question asked was: What had the candidates personally done to reduce climate change. Cameron talked about insulation, Brown about his solar panel and Clegg reluctantly admitted using his car too much because of the amount of stuff he has to carry with young children. Cameron attacked Brown on the 3rd runway at Heathrow, but would probably extend another airport. Brown endorsed nuclear power, and frankly on climate change it was like the crew on the Titanic rearranging the deckchairs as the ship goes down.
The second half of the debate saw a fair amount of point scoring,Cameron was put on the back front over prescription charges for pensioners and surprisingly, or maybe not ,the presenter, Adam Bolton tried to tackle Clegg on donations to his account. This was clearly against the agreed rules of the debate, and although Clegg dismissed the question and the Telegraph article as "rubbish", I'm left wondering the reason behind Bolton's intervention.
Last week Cameron was criticised for not looking at the camera, this time he was "shot" front on.
Immediately after the debate in the VIP after room Sky announced that based on one poll that Cameron had won the debate. All of a sudden memories of Fox calling Florida for Bush in 2000 came flooding back. Could it be thatThe Murdoch Empire were making it up as they went along, to suit their guy, Cameron.
After the Lord Mayor's Show, on ITV news, Caroline Lucas was given 20 seconds to answer for the Greens. Caroline asked where was the real alternative and significantly she asked why no discussion on world poverty.
Overall there was no silver bullet, no knock out punch, questions should be asked about Sky's presentation, but at least the last debate is on the BBC and it seems that as far as the leaders are concerned, the public judged it as very close, given a 3% margin of error. Match Drawn.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Not much to report

A late start meant I was able to watch Caroline Lucas on BBC News at 7.10am. Always enjoy national publicity, make me realise just how important Tv is electioneering .
I spent a fair bit of the day driving round the M25 listening to the radio, but for the first time this week I had the chance to talk the election with work colleagues who seemed to want to talk about the Green Poster above my desk.

Away from the election, Surrey enjoyed a decent day on the first day of Whitgift Festival, I wonder if it will last. Meanwhile having finished "The End of the Party" , my reading turns to "Tales of the Foothills" -Chris Mullins diary of life as a Labour MP. Having avoided British politics books I seem to be getting through them at a fair rate at the moment.

The fightback against Clegg is about to begin. The Tories try to sell the idea that a hung parliament would start a run on sterling. I've no great liking for Clegg, but so typical of the tories to spread the scare stories ahead of the second debate.

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Cats and Dogs

After two days back at work, the pace is beginning to tell; actually because it's been non stop. Actually that was no bad thing as it stopped me spending too long worrying about our cat. At 10am we got the results that he is suffering from kidney failure. I wondered what that meant, one of the wonders of the internet is that 30 minutes later and I'd read copious amount on cat related diseases.

By midday I was sitting with a group of students in Brentwood School listening to most of the Parliamentary Candidates for Brentwood & Ongar explain why the students should vote for them. It was clear that the students enjoyed the experience, but as much as I tried to focus my thoughts kept returning to Marmite the Cat. That said some of the candidates were dire, a mixture of repeating lines they'd heard their leaders say on TV and a garbled mixture of quotes out of context and prejudices.

Later that afternoon and it was the appointment at the vets. It seems that kidney failure is very common in older cats and is rarely diagnosed until its reached 70/75%, the stage Marmite is at. As a result he's on a drug cocktail and a diet of boiled chicken until his appetite is restored, at which point he will be placed on a special diet. All this smacks of large vets bills, but at present that's of little consequence.

With Marmite as the centre of attention, I skipped the last home game of the season as the Dons fell once again, losing 0-1 to Tamworth. The season has really fizzled out, and most talk after the game surrounded the decision to go full time next season and the obvious increase in prices that that will necessitate. Missing the Dons allowed me to watch the Champions League on TV . Inter v Barcelona, a really good game, with a result that hadn't been predicted. Inter proved that the best teams in the world can be unnerved by being pressed high up the pitch, in a sense Inter out-Barced Barca. When he was in charge of Chelsea, Jose Mourinho was not my favourite manager. His team played effective yet dull football, however this morning I think I should acknowledge him as a very able coach, who is missed by and is probably missing the English Premiership.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Back to Work

After a little over two weeks break its back to work day. The main talking point initially was how many people will be unable to be there because of the closing of airports. s you'd expect some had made great efforts and at some expenses to return to the UK. It led once again to me raising our over reliance on air transport and the fact that we needed to live without tropical fruits and imported flowers for a few days. You'd hope that the volcanic ash might make people reassess modern living, but somehow I doubt it.

I've been asked to take some students to a debate between the parliamentary candidates for the Brentwood constituency taking place at Brentwood School tomorrow. Will be an interesting break in the day.

My thoughts are to a large degree dominated by a family cat, Marmite, who has not been well for several days and is spending the night at the vets on a drip. Marmite has been part of our lives for more than 14 years and the house seems eerily empty without his presence this morning.

Tonight sees the Dons final home game of the season against Tamworth, the season has rather petered out, but the last game of the season is generally a time for awards, although this year no silverware, as yet.

Monday 19 April 2010

The Weekend (2)

A different sort of weekend. Following the demise of Chester City, the Dons had no game, so a chance to watch Ongar Town play Mountnessing at the Brentwood Town's ground at the Brentwood Centre. How a team like Mountnessing with no supporters to speak of can afford to hire Brentwood Town's Ryman League ground says a lot about football at this level, and the fact that teams can become "rich mens toys". Anyway Ongar earned a creditable draw and indeed might have won the game, conceding the equaliser in only the dying minutes.

The weekend seemed to see a lull in the election campaign. As predicted having secured a high level of media coverage seven days ago, this weekend saw the media ignore the Greens as the aftermath of Thursday's debate tended to result in a degree of Cleggomania. However it seems that over 80 volunteers went to Brighton to work on Saturday leafletting and canvassing, which is very positive.

My feelings about the debate were summed up by the news that the 9.9 million viewers had been overtaken by 12.2 million for the first programme in a new series of Britain's got Talent.

Sunday centred around the Leukaemia Research sponsored walk in Chelmsford. The course around Hylands Park was about 5 miles and I was pleased to walk it in about 45 minutes. Ian Botham and his family led the way. We were told that Andrew Flintoff was helping Beefy by touring the pubs of Chelmsford collecting cash for the charity.

Returned home to watch the Wigan v Arsenal game as life. 2-0 up on 80 minutes, Arsenal lost 3-2 and with it the last hopes of the Premiership evaporated. One can only hope that Wenger now sees that some of the players on show are just not up to standard. Looking at the league table it is apparent that another win is needed to guarantee third place, perhaps that will focus their minds.

The second Green Party press release has been sent, last weeks got good coverage in the Brentwood Weekly News which is encouraging. Seems next week that there will be a street stall in Brentwood. Meanwhile I've volunteered to answer readers questions for the Greens in the Epping Forest Guardian.

Bits & Pieces: Surrey lost again, its gong to be a long road back. Finally I've finished Andrew Rawnsley's " The End of the Party", just as well as I have to return to work tomorrow.

Saturday 17 April 2010

No Needles in the Haystack

I spent much of yesterday at Lakeside Shopping Centre, I've not been there for a few years and I realise I'm not who they are trying to attract. After spending a hour in a coffee shop reading a book, I decided to have an explore. Within a couple of minutes I was left wondering why do we need so many clothes shops and why do people spend so much time and energy in them ?

I went in search of book shops, in the past I would have sought out a "record shop" but those days are gone especially in centres like Lakeside. I walked into WH Smiths and found the book I was looking for and not at the price I wanted to pay. My second task was to find copies of the manifestos of the main political parties. After much media coverage you'd expect that shops would want to stock them!

Neither Smiths nor Waterstones had them on display. Later in the day I discovered that all the main parties had their manifestos available to download online in PDF format. On one level its good to know that the public can read them without destroying trees, but I sense that's not the whole story. If style is going to win out over substance, then you have to deny the public the substance in the first place.

The news story is that the Lib Dems have received a boost in the polls as a result of Nick Clegg's performance on Thursday evening. Should we be concerned that people are prepared to change their voting intention based on "one performance".

Friday 16 April 2010

Launches and Debates

After Wednesday's lull in the election campaign, things heated up on Thursday (the first and last pun relating to the Icelandic Volcanic Eruption). Firstly the Green Party launched its manifesto in Brighton. The launch was shown live on BBC News 24. Whatever the outcome, the party has received much more news coverage and much of it relatively favourable. When one journalist described the manifesto as "fantasy economics", Caroline Lucas was quickly to refute it. She has developed into a good TV performer during the campaign.

Come the evening and the much hyped first "Prime Ministerial " debate took place. The theme of domestic policy, of course had no relevance to viewers in Wales and Scotland. Nick Clegg, who many people had little knowledge of before the night, was bound to come out on tops. British politics has been dominated by the Tories and Labour for almost a century, so it was easy for him to blame them for Britain's ills, and offer himself as something new and fresh. The media were not slow to present him as the victor.

We await the first opinion polls taken after the debate. Brown and Cameron will undoubtedly be prepared to take Clegg down a peg or two by next week. The name Clegg was of course one of the characters in Last of the Summer Wine. I've spent the day thinking of Cameron, Brown and Clegg sitting in a tin bath sliding down a hill,a dominant theme of he long running TV series.

Last night the Dons qualified for the London Senior Cup final so there is still the chance for some silverware at the end of the season. Meanwhile Surrey struggled in the first day of their County Championship game at Hove, as news leaked out that the Club were talking to Brian Lara about the possibility of playing T20 cricket later this year.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Local Derbies

The day began with a visit to the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly. Some amazing drawings and paintings, and interesting seeing them chronologically . The galleries were crowded and at times it was impossible to get far enough back to appreciate the impressionist style.

The day didn't start to warm until late afternoon, which was just as well becaue Ongar Town took on Epping with a 6.15pm kick off. Ongar v Epping was a local derby, the first half saw Epping have more of the ball but Ongar probably came closest to scoring, when the Epping keeper misjudged a long ball, that bounced down off the cross bar before being cleared to safety. The second half saw Epping put Ongar under concerted pressure. Ongar pushing up caught Epping's strikers offside several times, and just as it seemed to be heading for 0-0, Ongar scored from inside the box, and then followed it up with a penalty, to finish 2-0 winners.

Back home to watch Spurs v Arsenal. Realistically his was a game that Arsenal had to win to keep their hopes of winning the Premiership alive. A weakened Arsenal team , were soon a goal behind, and the loss of Vermaelen with a calf strain led me to believe that the odds were ridiculously stacked against the Gunners. Conceding a second goal immediately after half time was not in the plan, the reintroduction of RVP after 5 months out, made the attack more focussed, Gomes pulled off two fine saves and although Bendtner pulled a goal back it wasn't enough, and so Spurs achieved something that they hadn't managed to do so far this century, defeat Arsenal in a league fixture.

A quieter day as far as the General Election campaign was concerned, but the Green Manifesto is launched today so more of that tomorrow.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Tale of the unexpected

Last night saw the penultimate home league game of the season for the Dons. The opponents, Grays Athletic, a team for whom there is no light at the end of the tunnel - they've been relegated already. Apparently its months possibly even years since they won an away game, they've used 70 players, yes that's 70 players this season. Their manager is former West Ham "terrace legend" Julian Dicks. Now you'd hope that a club with such form would prompt chants from their fans of "Dicks Out" (copyright Fulham 1991). In truth at the start of the game the Grays section numbered 11 fans, so chanting was kept to the minimum.

From the moment that Sam Hatton missed a simple chance by trying to burst the net, the remaining 85 minutes were predictable. Two second half goals including an unexplainable penalty gave the visitors their victory. In fact the game will be memorable mainly for the type of missed chance that makes strikers cringe. On loan Nathan Elder managed to put the ball over the cross bar from less than a foot, to make matters worse it was in front of the Tempest End. In the main stand the miss was greeted by hysterical laughter, it was one of those moments when you knew things were not going to get any better.

Too many players seemed to treat the game was an "end of season" affair, if as the fans are told, players are playing for contracts, you can only conclude that very few enhanced their chances last night.

Driving home my mood was not improved by listening to the radio news of the Conservative manifesto launch. The theme being pushed was "power to the people", John Lennon and indeed Wolfie Smith would not be impressed. Cameron talked of parents who were unhappy with their kid's school could take them over and run them themselves. Well I'm unhappy with the management of the local railway, what's the difference. I'm sure I know as much about transport management as many parents know of educational theory or management.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Winners and Losers

Yesterday saw the launch of the Labour manifesto, today its the Tories turn. These documents are part of the British political culture. Governments claim to have a mandate to carry out its policies because they appeared previously in the manifesto. Of course very few people read them, and it will be interesting this week to see whether they are openly on sale at the supermarkets where the bulk of the population do their shopping.

By the end of the Campaign the main parties will have spent millions, for Labour and the Tories probably well in excess of fifteen million. For the Green Party, a different style of campaign is necessary, focussing on a few key target seats, and relying on people to spread the message. Learning from Obama's Campaign of 2008 and the power of the internet, the Greens yesterday launched their first broadcast over the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHLfzPFsz5c&feature=player_embedded

I know I should be able to import pictures and videos into this blog, but there's some learning to be done. It's a work in progress.


Yesterday Surrey lost their opening game in the 2010 County Championship. Not an inspiring start and in the proceed enabled Derbyshire's Chris Rogers to score a century in both innings.
I can only hope that things will improve and perhaps it's worth reminding myself that Norwich City lost thir first game 7-1 in August and now sit proudly 8 points clear at the top of Division 1.

Tonight its AFC Wimbledon v Grays Athletic. Grays, Essex only team in the Conference, are already relegated, and seem in severe financial difficulty. Anyway hopefully three points for the Dons tonight.

Monday 12 April 2010

The Weekend

With the Dons playing away at Mansfield, it was a weekend on home turf. On Saturday morning the free local paper dropped on the mat, with the headline "Election Fever hits Brentwood" Well I hadn't noticed it, but what was apparent was that the article mentioned and featured quotes from all the candidates except Jess Barnecutt, the Green candidate. Quickly firing off emails, there's a strong chance we'll get more coverage next week, if a complaint goes in.

While the Dons were securing an away win , a Danny Kedwell goal and two saved penalties from Seb Brown. I was at Love Lane, Ongar to watch Ongar Town take on Faces FC. A one sided affair where Town were always on top and probably should have scored more, but 5-1 ensures that Ongar continue to climb the table. Meanwhile at home, tree surgeons ( a strange term) were at work, trimming and pruning in our back garden. Not a job for those fearful of heights, that rules me out.

The weekend saw the Green Party secure excellent TV coverage, Caroline Lucas was featured on BBC's Campaign Show, Andrew Marr Show and The Politics Show, and she also squeezed in a Sky news appearance too. In an election where a shortage of money is a disadvantage, and where media coverage centres on the "3 main parties" this amounted to a tremendous coup. Some of the questioning was hostile but Caroline handled all the interviews really well. My only concern is there are still over 3 weeks to go, and we may have been given all our "slots" too early in the campaign.

Sunday afternoon saw the last basketball game of the season for the Leopards. A hastily arranged Essex Challenge Cup fixture against the Essex (Southend) Pirates. Leopards dominated the first quarter and anyone walking into the Brentwood Centre would have thought that the Big Cats were the BBL side. However the Pirates eventually wore us down and ran out winners by 14 points. Certainly no disgrace.

This was Jon Burnell's last game as coach, so big changes are to be expected over the summer. The day finished with a Sporting Charity Auction and end of season presentations. The POY award to Carl Latham Henry was much deserved; I was surprised to be given a bottle of wine as a thank you for my work behind the microphone this season. Finally the auction took place, normally I'm cautious at these type of events, however the lure of a signed Arsenal pennant (authenticated by the Club) was too great. Knowing that the funds are going to Children's Hospice can help me justify the winning bid.

I must admit that for part of the auction my attention was elsewhere. On the side walls were TV screens showing the FA Cup Semi Final between Spurs v Portsmouth. Oh Happy Day Spurs lost. I have little sympathy for Portsmouth, believing that they won the Cup two years ago through financial doping, buying players without the funds to pay for them, but the sight of Redknapp and co walking dejectedly off the sub-standard Wembley pitch was a wondrous thing.
Bits & Pieces: Mark Ramprakash scored his first century of the season against Derbyshire at the Oval (102)

Reading: The End of the Party by Andrew Rawnsley . Read the sections post 2005 elections and the deteriorating relationship between Blair and Brown. A story of ego and the lust for power. Unpleasant yet compelling reading.



Saturday 10 April 2010

A New Season

I can't remember the last time I was able to celebrate the start of the cricket season by being there, but there again April 9th is very early. However the cricketing gods looked favourably upon the Oval and the sun shone. A crowd of close to a thousand witnessed the first day of Surrey v Derbyshire. They also saw the season's first century sadly not scored by a Surrey player. The lunch interval gave me the opportunity to explore the Club Shop . Now Surrey have been associated with Chocolate Brown for as long as I can remember, whoever proposed that the new one day kit should be lime green and black, has no respect for the County's tradition and little sense of colour co-ordination. In short it looks like a kit Pakistan rejected. Interestingly the shop is selling a traditional wool Surrey cricket jumper complete with brown trim and county badge. Now that's more like it.

You're never far away from the General Election if you choose to be. I spent the morning producing the first press release for Brentwood & Ongar's Green Party candidate, Jess Barnecutt, my first active involvement in election campaigning for many years.

At Oval Station last night I was approached by a Conservative giving out leaflets, did I choose to ignore him. Afraid not, I politely informed him that I'd rather pull my teeth out with pliers than vote Tory. He seemed slightly taken aback, but I felt better.

Got home in time to watch Caroline Lucas on BBC's The Campaign. Putting her in the same studio as Kelvin McKenzie , former editor of the Sun, meant that a strong chair would be needed. Unfortunately that didn't happen, McKenzie was able to rant that the Greens were bonkers. Caroline in fairness resisted the temptation to trade blows, stayed calm, and made many good points. She pitched for disillusioned Labour voters pushing that the gap between rich and poor had grown under Labour. In a campaign dominated by the three main parties, publicity is all important, and her campaign in Brighton is certainly capturing the media's attention.

Friday 9 April 2010

A Day at the Seaside



Well Brighton to be precise. In recent years I've always enjoyed trips to Brighton. I've been on a number of occasions for gigs and always been surprised how unthreatening the streets seem late in the evening. Yesterday we returned by day took a stroll by the sea and revisited a pub I'd been to before, the Barley Mow in Kemptown. The fact that the pub had a range of real ales and a selection of vegetarian food, earned it high marks.






Later walking through the narrow streets and lanes in the centre of the city, I realised that Brighton seemed to be what other places might have been if Britain had moved in a progressive direction thirty years ago. I could eat in virtually every restaurant and even found a vegetarian shoe shop ! Perhaps it's little wonder that Brighton Pavilion is the constituency most likely to elect a Green Party MP next month.







Talking of the election, I'm sure that I can't be the only one who is offended by party leaders flying around the country in private jets, so much for concern about CO2. Finally what's happened to George Osbourne, the Conservative Shadow Chancellor ? He hasn't been seen since his less than inspiring performance in the "Chancellor's debate". Perhaps someone should report him as a missing person.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Times they are a changin'

In 1997 there was a whole generation of voters who had only known Conservative government; yesterday I realised that in fact it is now 13 years since the last change in government, for many first and indeed even second time voters, the only government they know is New Labour. In 2008 Barack Obama proved that using "Change" as a theme is a powerful weapon, whether Cameron and the Tories are able to convince enough voters that they can bring about change, and identify exactly what "change" will I suppose be central to the election campaign over the next weeks.

Yesterday I found another change in electioneering. Rather than waiting for someone to drop an election leaflet through my door, I downloaded it from the internet.

Yesterday the Dons travelled to York, it was clearly a game to miss as we were 0-4 midway through the 1st half. A five nil defeat will be hard for many to take, after years of continued success. Talking of which last night Bayern Munich knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League. The first time in years that no English team has made the semi final of the tournament.

After the game Alec Fergusson complained that one of his players had been sent off, describing the Bayern players as "typical Germans" . Leaving aside that the Bayern side were as multi national as United, and the vital goal was scored by a Dutchman, perhaps we should all be grateful that the game didn't go to a penalty shoot-out !

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Minutes of Hope

In one sense hope was shattered in just three minutes last night; from the moment Nicklas Bendtner scored in the 18th minute to when Messi started the demolition job in the 21st minute.
Once I heard that Silvestre was starting and that Campbell's hamstring wouldn't last, the writing was very much on the wall. There's no disgrace in losing to Barcelona in Camp Nou. Wenger's post match conference hit the right note. He mentioned the what might have been as well as praising Barcelona in general and Messi in particular.

Fortunately there's a week now before Arsenal go to White Hart Lane and hopefully some of less severe injury victims will have a chance to recover. Meanwhile Messi should have sealed the world footballer of the year display, which is a relief as I, for one, was getting fed up at the English press making a case for Rooney.

The Dons travel to York tonight to play the rearranged game after the original fixture was called off due to a waterlogged pitch last month. Four games in a week will be an endurance test to say the least, not only for the players but also for supporters. The supporters coach is due back in SW19 around 3am tomorrow morning !

More minutes of hope

To no ones surprise the General Election campaign kicked off yesterday, and to no ones surprise the TV cameras followed the three party leaders has they moved out of London and took to the road. Perhaps for the first time I fully appreciated how difficult it will be for smaller parties to inject themselves into the campaign . The Lib Dems have stole a march, and getting themselves invited into the TV debates is I'm sure the killer deal.

I'm sure during the next month the image that will annoy me most is Cameron wearing a white shirt with sleeves rolled up beyond his elbows. I can't be the only one who thinks that as an image its about as fake as permatan.

Sky News interviewed Adrian Ramsay (deputy leader of the Green Party) during the afternoon. Adrian did well although he was coupled with a UKIP spokesman, again stressing the point that these are small parties feeding at the growing trough of disillusioned voters.

Yet perhaps there is hope, later in the evening I received a tweet from Caroline Lucas linking to a film clip, outlining the Greens campaign, available on Utube. Now to forward it in the hope that there is more than one way to campaign for votes.

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Getting Started

I've thought about this for some days. My wife said "you're just an ordinary person, who'd want to read what you've got to say." Well I'm not sure that's my motivation. My first instinct is simply that this is an opportunity to record my thoughts on certain aspects of life. Unlike some blogs it will rarely venture into the realms of personal, there are lines I won't cross. However today seems an appropriate day to begin.

Yesterday saw the Dons in all reality surrender the last chance of making the play offs. Another season in the Blue Square Conference awaits. It also seems likely that the three closest away games (Grays, Ebbsfleet, and Stevenage ) will disappear as the result of relegations and promotions. Tonight Arsenal go to Barcelona in the hope that they can produce the performance of a lifetime. Last week in the Gunners pub in Blackstock Road I celebrated a great comeback (2-2), which means tonight's game still hangs in the balance.

The sun is shining which reminds me that the cricket season officially gets underway for Surrey in three days time.It may still be cold , the ground may still be soggy, but the sound of bat on ball tells me that summer is on its way.

The final reason for writing today is that the phoney war is over, the Prime Minister will announce that there will be a General Election on May 6th. A one month official campaign starts today. This will be an interesting time. Since my early teens politics has interested me, I first campaigned in 1974, for most of my adult life I've talked about politics for a living. Yet this will be new. Since 1974 I have voted Labour, I was what politics textbooks call partisanly aligned. Now is different, my resignation , after 30 years, from the Labour Party heralds a new beginning.

Its hard to pinpoint when I knew that attachment was broken. My day to day involvement ended soon after moving away from Ilford. I'm writing while sitting in one of the safest Conservative constituencies in the UK. Yet that barely scratches the surface. The journey from Parliamentary Candidate in 1987 to disillusioned member had many twists. My own ideas have evolved since then but not in the same direction as the mainstream current of opinion within the Labour Party.

By the mid 1990s Labour abandoned any link to socialism. Yet the victory of 1997 inspired hope, perhaps more because it brought to an end 18 years of Tory government. The last thirteen years have been years of political disappointment. Being a member of the Labour Party and indeed voting Labour developed into a habit, yet rationally I'd stopped believing that the government would promote real change.

Last spring the chains came off, at the Euro-Election of 2009 I chose to vote Green. After much thought I'd concluded that the environment was the key political issue facing my and future generations. I wanted to support candidates who placed environmental concerns at the centre of the policies and philosophy. Now with the 2010 General Election a month away, I feel surprisingly enthusiastic.


Currently reading : The End of the Party (The rise and Fall of New Labour) by Andrew Rawnsley

Listening to: Rolling Stones, Free, Gram Parsons and Drive by Truckers.