On the March

Yesterday was an important day, a day to stand up and be counted. For weeks I've tried to encourage people to come to London and protest against public sector cuts. Yes it meant sacrificing a home game (don't snigger, I know there have been times when I wouldn't have done that), but football may be important but it doesn't compare to libraries, schools and day care centres.

The TUC advance figure of 200,000 was ridiculously low, at different times of the day widely differing figures for the number of marchers were quoted. There really must be an accurate way of estimating numbers, yet throughout my life this has been a bone of contention. Of course it benefits government to underestimate the numbers.

What was good about yesterday was the vast array of public sector workers, big union groups, Unison,Unite, and NUT, but also the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the Royal College of Nursing and the Prison Officers Association. All marched together, along the way the omnipresent bewildering array of marxist groups. Of course this made me think of a time when I knew what separate one from another, and who begat whom. This really is a complaint that bedevils the political left in the Uk and I assume elsewhere.

The march snaked its way round Parliament Square, down Whitehall, round Trafalgar Square into Piccadilly towards Hyde Park Corner. The only political leader invited to speak was Ed Miliband and he addressed a small fraction of the marchers. I estimate he spoke while I was still in Whitehall. Not good planning.

In truth we didn't stay for much of the rally, trade union leaders are rarely inspiring public speakers, invariably repeating what the previous speaker has already said. What was lacking was political leadership,marchers must have gone away thinking "What's the next step ?" If this was the March for the Alternative then that alternative wasn't explained. It desperately needs to be.

The protesters of UK Uncut and the anarchists may not use tactics that I necessarily approve of, but there are identifying the root cause of the financial problems that the country faces. We are paying for the bankers bail-out, and the refusal to have a tax system where those with the broadest shoulders carry their fair share of the burden.

Savings can be made any public sector worker knows that, but those should be coupled with the scrapping of Trident, and a genuine attempt to tackle tax evasion. Last weeks budget showed that the country is not "nearly bankrupt" if it had been Osborne would not have been able to cut fuel duty or reduce corporation tax. Meanwhile I'm left with the thought that the cost of one missile fired through the night at an unknown target in Libya cost the equivalent as keeping my local library open for a year.

A night out in Crawley

In the early seasons of AFC Wimbledon I was a home and away supporter, however since the Club has been promoted to the National Conference, my away appearances have dried up. In large part because of the cost involved but also because away games involve such a large proportion of he weekend.

This week, however, our away fixture against Crawley was moved to a Friday night to accommodate TV. Friday night remains in my opinion a stupid night for football, however since his was 1v2 in the league, I could resist the chance to follow the Dons. Now if Friday night is a daft time for football ,it's an even dafter time to drive round the M25. So not wishing to sit in a long queue at the Dartford Bridge and with the cost of petrol soaring to 135p a litre locally. To Crawley by train was the train method of choice.

In principle this would have meant a chance to get some reading now,and indeed by the time I reached London Bridge station I was half way through the week's copy of the New Statesman. Friday night is also not a good time to get on a time at 5.30pm in London, least of all one that stops at Gatwick Airport on route to its final destination. I discovered later that many of the passengers accept being herded like unfortunate farm animals onto his local service, because he rail company charges extra to travel direct to the airport.

Anyway I contented myself with the thought that at least I don't have to do this every day. Ah the advantages of working within 6 miles from home in Essex. Living the station and I met up with some friends for the route march to Crawley's ground. The ticketting arrangements for the game were shambolic, and there's little doubt that the area designated for us might have been adequate for 600 people but not the close to 800 that rammed into it.

Crawley are the antithesis of our approach to football. An expensive squad put together by private finance, that we argued was unsustainable given their small fanbase. All that was before their recent FA Cup run that ended with a trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United. Now of course they have a whole raft of new supporters and are buoyed by a huge boost in their coffers.

The opening twenty minutes seemed to confirm the worst, that money talks in football. We were two goals down and somewhat lucky to get nought. Crawley seemed superior all over the pitch. However we pulled a goal back before half time, and it seemed that we might get a share of the points, especially as Crawley were reduced to ten men following a red card. At the start of the second half the game was decided within twenty seconds we hit both posts twice and minutes later Crawley broke and scored what would be the decisive goal. At 3-1 there was no coming back. Normally I'd see the entire game, but realising the possibility that as away supporters we might be kept back at the end of the game, I decided to slip out a few minutes early. Hurrying to get the 22.00 train ensured I was back home by 1am, at least I got a seat coming home.

Thoughts on Japan

My first thoughts were "another natural disaster". Haiti, Floods in Pakistan, Fires in Russia, Floods in Australia, an earthquake in Christchurch NZ, and now an earthquake and tsunami in N.E. Japan. Is it so ridiculous to link these events together ? Of course any human being would feel huge sympathy for those who have lost friends and relations, their homes etc. The scale of the devastation and in particular the sight of the huge waves enveloping houses and all else showed the true power of nature.

Of course within hours of the tsunami the by product of Japan's heavy reliance on nuclear power became only too obvious. For those of us who have opposed nuclear power for many years, the disaster is a tragedy yet also the sad realisation that what we have been saying is true. Nuclear Power comes at a high price , to me too high a price.

I spent the weekend reading the Government report on the possibility of tsunami in the Uk. It was written post 2004 and contains evidence from British geologists, a fascinating study that provided a huge amount of background information about earthquakes over time across Europe.

There is now a debate about the future of nuclear power in Britain, there are some who think that nuclear power can be part of the solution to cutting carbon. Now while cutting carbon emissions is integral to tackling climate change , new nuclear power stations cannot produce the quick fix. The time it would take to build them, are years that the country can ill afford to postpone tackling climate change.

The future of energy depends on reducing demand, best accomplished by cutting heat loss. 40% plus of heating is lost through inadequate insulation. Nuclear is inherently unsafe and the question of disposing of nuclear waste remains unsolved.

Dejection and despair

Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions league. Last night in the Nou Camp they lost 3-1 to Barcelona, ensuring that the Catalan side went through 4-3 on aggregate. Those are the bald facts. Of course to a football fan the bald facts are not enough, the drama, the ebb and flow of the game, the injustice, the aftermath that's what its all about.

Someone once said to me that being a football supporter is not about excitement, glory, or pleasure, its all about pain and how we endure it. I sense there's a large dose of truth in that. The expectation and the deflation. When Arsenal won the first leg 2-1 in spite of conceding a goal ensuring Barca a vital away goal, I felt uplifted, it proved that the best could be beaten.

Last night was a severe reality check. Barcelona showed not only how to play with the ball but more significantly how to play when you don't have it. Arsenal rarely threatened the Barcelona goal, of course that's not easy when you are compelled to play the last 35 minutes with 10 men when your only outlet player is sent off in bizarre circumstances.

At the time Arsenal led the tie on the away goals rule, however 10 against 11 was an unfair contest. The amazing aspect was in the final five minutes Arsenal had the chance to literally steal the tie when Nicklas Bendtner had a good goal scoring opportunity but his decision making and touch let him down and the clearance was made.

We'll never know what the scoreline would have been if both sides had been at full stretch, Arsenal fans can hang onto the point as the debate rages. Not surprisingly Arsene Wenger berated the referee after the game but the damage had been done.

My only hope is that their closest domestic challengers Man Utd might get further embroiled in European competitions perhaps opening the way for the Gunners to make a late assault on the premiership title.

A weekend of two halves

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Emirates watching Arsenal struggle to break down a stubborn Sunderland defence. They weren't assisted by hitting the bar and having a good penalty shout ignored by the referee. When finally the Gunners did put the ball in the net, the assistant referee raised his flag to rule out Arshavin's effort for offside. As I left the stadium I discovered that the Dons had also lost at Grimsby.

In the circumstances the journey home, delayed by roadworks was a depressing hour or more. Sunday started as badly waking up to find that England had lost 3 wickets for less than 20 runs hardly filled me with optimism.

A trip to Chelmsford to watch Sunday morning football was punctuated by cricket updates from India. After making only 172 there seemed no way that England could find a way past South Africa. Yet they did following an excellent spell of bowling by Graeme Swann., ultimately winning by 6 runs.

When Liverpool defeated Man Utd the day got even better. Arsenal are now just 3 points behind United with a game in hand. So I set off to basketball to commentate on one of the finest Leopards performance for several years. Take a bow Ousman Krubally, 30 points and 19 rebounds. Leopards on this form are legitimate contenders for a top two spot, and Ousman has the ability to make Leopards real contenders for the end of season play offs.

High speed rail

Under normal circumstances I'd favour schemes that improve public transport, so why do i oppose the spending of £32 billion to build HS2. it would be easy to argue why would anyone spend so much to get to Birmingham 30 minutes quicker. To invest this level of public money, you need to know that the public want the service and can afford to use it. However HS2 is a scheme designed primarily for business use; moreover there has been little consultation on the route, or the environmental impact either on the countryside or significantly the carbon cost.

All together a transport minister who seems highly attracted to speed, he this week said he was considering raising the speed limit on motorways, is pushing ahead with HS2 , with little justification.

Photoshop

I went to New York last week with the idea in mind to photograph a few buildings. I decided to leave my best camera at home, and simply took a small digital. I knew that I wanted to take the photos in black and white, somehow street scenes seem so much more real devoid of colour. O
On my return a friend offered to show me a software package called "photoshop.". Now I'd heard of this but never experimented. First I removed the colour, then added a more grainy feel to several photos , finally I adjust the brightness and contrast. I'm amazed by the results.
Think I'll get them developed and may well frame a couple. I know its not a cheap piece of software but the end results are a "bit special".