In the West Indies 2009

,Here is the plan for the rest of the day, Finish project work from overnight and if there is time commence work on the photos getting ready to create disks, About 10am get ready and go into town centre for fruit, free newspaper and then enjoy bacon roll and coffee at the Ship and Royal. Return home and continuing working on photo disks but watch start of first Test in West Indies from early afternoon with sound turned down and then listen to Sunderland at Blackburn in fourth round of FA cup replay this evening. Begin the Joan Baez and Bob Dylan fest.

The morning went very well. It was colder out than usual because of a sharper wind. The temperature registered at Newcastle was minus 1. The pavements were dry and although overcast the umbrella was not needed. After collecting the free morning paper from the bus station, I purchased 3 pounds weight of cherries and seven large bananas for £4.50 and then made my way to the Ship and Royal where there were only two others enjoying a late breakfast or mid morning snack. I requested coffee with cold milk this time and it came immediately, hot and enjoyable and within what seemed only a few seconds more a large bap with the bacon. I read the paper from cover to cover forgetting to leave it for other customers. There was no one in the premises when I left. It was going as planned and my spirits remained good as I tackled the hill homeward.

On return, disaster, I discovered that I had not made a copy of all the work on photos undertaken during the course of last year. Fortunately I had had made two disks as presents, one comprehensive and one partial although not of the whole revised file. I now have to wait for copies of these to made and sent back to me before I can assess the extent of the loss and how much I will need to do again. This changed my mood completely, unsettling, lowering spirits and leaving the rest if the day without focus.

I also experienced one moment of terror and pain, not I hasten to add because of my own experience, but the news before bedtime that a teenage school girl had been killed when the large makeshift toboggan had gained such speed that it had crashed through a fencing catapulting one of the girls, although this was the one killed was not said. I experienced the reported excitement as the girls enjoyed the snow and adventure similar to that on the fair and theme park rides and then the horror and terrors as the vehicle gained speed because of the sharpness and length of the slope and force because of the size and numbers on board. Just as someone always drowns swimming in inland waters during the heights of summer there is inevitability about such news, except the shock for the individual and their families and that the lives of the other girls will also be changed. There is also a brilliant advertisement showing a child in a womb asking about the life it will lead in the world, will there be enough food, will it avoid sickness, will it celebrate its birth day at five years. Thousands will not. I give thanks for my own life and feel ashamed at my own concerns about death, and physical and mental disability, It does not help.

I watched the start of the cricket after an episode of Pie in the Sky which I had seen before. Sabina Park, Kingston Jamaica had the reputation of being blisteringly fast with pace men sending balls flying towards the head as much the wicket. There also used to be huge noisy crowds. Change one the ground has been developed with a new stand cutting out some of the view The ground appears about only a third full or two thirds empty. This reflects the failure of the national team over the past decade which in turn reflects the switch of interest of the better paying sports of football and basket ball.

It was the third change which shocked. Apparently the wicket area has been re-laid with new earth and the combination of this and new management has led to a transformation, Instead of the fast surface with its glassy sheen it now resembles thee wickets of the Indian sub continent, flat and designed for spin, and which are difficult of the English team as we do no create world class spinners, relying on pace and medium face. Now we know why two spinners were picked for the squad and why the West Indies played two in the first team with both bowling for long sessions on the first day of the first test because they were able to get the ball to turn, all unheard of before. England , who won the toss and chose to bat struggled losing early wickets.

I have not commented before that Kevin Petersen has lost his position as Team Captain following his demand that there be a change in Team Coach/manager when it was refused to have Michael Vaughn the previous Captain as part of the squad for the tour.. It has now emerged that the Test and County cricket Board through its Coach manager had shifted the emphasis away from individual players having responsibility for their game into the creation of a team approach with lots of back up staff advising on all aspects of the training, match preparation and play. This has changed during the period that the national team as been without manager coach. One commentator and former player mentioned that the players had carried their own cricket bags off the coach into the ground this morning.

Andrew Strauss, the new captain, immediately suffered the Captain’s curse, nervous, surviving a dropped catch and then out scoring les than ten. Graham Bell who regularly plays himself in getting thirty or forty runs and then is out without ever making the kind of score which justified his continued inclusion, and thus it was so again. Graham Cook was out for four and England went into lunch 3 down for seventy odd runs. Everything now rested on former Captain Kevin Petersen who was partnered with former one day captain Durham’s Paul Collingwood. The one irritating thing about my large screen TV is that I am unable to read the cricket scores at the bottom edge so I resorted to the a live broadcast of the scoreboard on the BBC internet. I would listen to the commentary except it is out of synchronization with the TV picture. The live screen also failed later.

When I am upset because of some failure or set back, or when I am tired when I want to work, I over eat, usually the wrong things. Breakfast was a cup of soup and a defrosted brown finger roll. Lunch the bacon roll with coffee, and with a portion of the cherries on return. Mid afternoon I should have settled just for dry crackers covered with pickle and a cup of tea, but I could not resist a quarter of the toffee cheese. Azda has a selection of these medium size proving four good portions at only £1 include summer fruits, strawberry, mandarins and lemon. I have resisted until my visit and then kept in the freezer for several days without touching. The problem with this size is that one then has to eat the other three portions once defrosted. However I do have the freezer saw so in future will divide into four portions before defrosting. It is time for some fish with vegetables which I did not enjoy as much as I should. I opened a tin of corn and baby carrots which will provide two portions to go with a chicken Kiev tomorrow. This was followed by the remaining portion of grapes. I also felt like a beer. I have kept to the no alcohol regime since celebrating the new Year, except for one whisky for medicinal purpose after returning from a match in cold weather Last night I had a Peroni, reducing by stock to eight. I did not enjoy as I should because I knew I should not.

The omens were not good for Sunderland this evening as before the game it was announced that Cisse who did not travel and Kenwyn Jones, who was on the bench would be rested. To give time for them to recover from knocks received during the Derby. Talking of Derby, Nigel Clough celebrated their fist win at the weekend and went to Notts Forest last night in the fourth round replay of the FA Cup where he had played for his father and scored the scored which won the League Cup. His team were two goals down within a matter of minutes but somehow managed to fight back, playing good football to win by three goals to two,

Clearly management policy at Sunderland is to concentrate on staying in the Premiership. However it looked as if a miracle was going to happen as Sunderland scored early on against the run of play and then survive attack after attack until an equaliser just before half time. There was no further scoring in the second half and the game went into extra time and looked as if would go to penalties despite Sunderland having the better of this part of the match. Until with a couple of minutes of the final whistle, Blackburn scored and dreams crashed for another year.

I did consider watching again The Children and interesting film. Seen in theatre and now on DVD but I was not just in the mood A DVD of a rare Antonioni film arrived this morning but too late to view over lunch, perhaps after the football and the cricket. Collingwood was out clearly leg before and the heavens have opened and a tropical cloudburst driven the players into their respective dressing rooms. Durham promised to send the membership books out late January but has not arrived. I have been successful in getting one of the reduced price annual edition of Wisden’s celebrating Durham‘s winning the county championship. It should arrive in March.

I will also mention having achieved a continuing 100 record at Hearts with over 404 successive wins. At Spider I am playing on after reaching 101 and now making another major effort to achieve a run of 101 games as level one chess. The rain has stopped as quick as it arrived in Caribbean. . Play was to start in thirteen minutes but the covers were then relayed as more rain was forecast. Peterson was out three short of 100 but Flint off commenced to make a solid innings when bad light stopped play He was then 43 not out and the team 236 for 5.

I did listen to some Joan Baez but not as much as originally intended. Her voice never ceases to amaze.

From the essential Joan Baez, The night they drove; Amazing Grace; Boulder to Birmingham; Swing Low Sweet Chariot; Oh Happy Day; Love is just a four letter word; Forever Young; Diamonds and Rust; Lily Rosemary ; Please come to Boston; Suzanne, I shall be Released; Blowing in the Wind; The Ballad of Sacco; Love song to a stranger.

From Diamonds : Prison Trilogy; Rainbow Road, Love is a stranger; Myths; In the Quiet morning; To Bobby; Song of Bangladesh; Tumbleweed; Imagine; Diamond and Rust; Fountain of Sorrow; Never Dreamed you’d Leave; Children and all that Jazz;

Newcastle lose another Manager, Sunderland win and English cricket team on verge of glory

As forecast there has been a break in the weather this morning with the sun shining and a warmer feel when I went outside at the back, briefly. However On Monday morning when I moved the car to enable the Sky HD installers to gain access to the rear of the property the back lane was frozen ice, as were the street pavements. Fortunately the roadways down the hill had been gritted and remained clear. There had been not further snow but moisture could have made the roads treacherous.

The bathroom wash basin can be used again. The waste pipe goes outside the house and around to the side with a gentle camber before reaching the down pipe and I assume will freeze and block if the water remains in the upper section when temperatures are exceptionally below freezing. This is the likely explanation after having to bring down stuff to use at the kitchen sink with a small mirror hanging on a hook strategically placed suggesting it had been used for the same purpose before. There is relief that there has been no damage and the inconvenience only lasted a couple of days.

I still have not been out and about since Thursday morning because of the start of the second Test in the evening and staying up to watch the morning’s play of the first three days and taking the radio with me on going to bed so I could catch up on the score when waking. The consequence is that I have been zombie like for the day although this morning I slept long some six hours from around 4 m until just before the Archers weekly catch up at 10.15.

I had quiet hopes that the English cricket team would do well against Australia this time around. Four years they were thrashed 5.0 after winning the Ashes at home in 2006. The first game was potentially a disaster until the remarkable second innings ending when Cook 235 not out Trott took the total to 517 for the loss of only Strauss110 and thus saved the match and gained the ascendancy. They had scored more than the Australians first innings of 481 and their record breaking partnership between Hussey and Haddin of 307 by 22 runs. A number of other records had been broken.

Could England repeat their success in the second game? They had been all out of for only 260 in their first innings at Brisbane on a batting wicket and the pitch at Adelaide was reputed to be as good, except on the first morning and then on the final day when its dryness could lead to break up from the bowler’s footmarks and turn greatly for the spinners. Australia won the too and decided to bad, a decision they were to rue, although given the situation any Captain winning the toss would have done likewise.

What happened has already become cricket legend. Katich was run out on the second ball of the first over without facing a ball. Then Australian Captain Ricky Pointing was out first ball as Anderson was able to find some ball swing and worse was to follow when out of salts Clarke went for 2, also caught Swann of the bowling of Anderson. Any late comers did not believe a scoreboard which showed 2 runs and three wickets. There was nearly a 4th wicket before Watson and Hussey settled down, and the total was in the 90.s before the next wicket. However Australia could only reach 245 as their tail struggled with the last four managing only 9 between them. What would England in reply, given that the first three had each achieved over 100 runs?

Another legend was to be created after Strauss went for his second 0 in three innings Cook with already 67 and 195 not out in his first innings continued making a total of 148 before dismissal a total of 420 runs and an average of 210. Trott supported him well for 78 but it was previously out of form Kevin Peterson who demonstrated that his career has not ended in failure after the removal of the captaincy. He made a magnificent double century, the highest score of his career. There has been great optimism in the British camp and in the media generally about the possible win. I am more cautious because what the English team achieved in the last match the Australians are also capable. I did not stay up long on Sunday night having been notified of the arrival of the Sky installers, but did take the radio with me to the bedroom as well as an alarm clock. It was not a great night, restless with several wakings but I slept more than I appreciated at the time, Australia had progressed to within 150 of the total required to make England bat again for the lost of four wickets. Hussey is again on form with 44 not out and is yet to be joined by Haddin. Breaking this partnership and getting both these wickets early on will be essential as the weather forecast for the day is not a good one.

Sunday had been a day of mixed fortunes for the Tyne Wear football clubs who unusually followed each other on Sky TV. Newcastle were first away to Wolves who had followed them from the Championship into the Premiership lasts season. Wolves have not had a victory over Newcastle in recent years and given the recent roller coaster of performances I suspected they would find this game difficult. In the event they put up a poor performance missing Nolan and Barton in the middle and lost 3.1. Today the manager was sacked something which has been on the card for sometime prevented by the 5.1 Derby defeat of Sunderland. It is evident the shameful management have a successor in mind.

Sunderland on the other hand dared to play their three forwards for the home tie with struggling West Ham, although the Hammers have had major success in the last week beating Manchester United in the League Cup Quarter final. Both teams played well but overall Sunderland were worth their 1.0 victory and go to 7th in the table. They have lost at least half a dozen points in the closing minutes of games and this could have been a similar situation. Without these losses they could have been contesting a top place. They have the making of a very good side.

Although there has been no overnight snow it was very cold this morning and has remained so during the day as evening approaches. The Sky installers had considerable problems and the two young men were here for a good 90 minutes moving the three section ladder around the block three times and using a full kettle of hot water to unfreeze the existing cable which had been slung over the roof from the west facing dish to the east facing rear. There was a momentary hesitation working out which was the sky cable and which the terrestrial aerial as the right one only had to be cut in order to remove and replace by the new. In much publicised previous installations the existing dish and cable was used with the new Sky box to cut costs with the consequence there was little change to the picture. Even with the proper work the difference is not striking, given recent improvements in the general picture transmission. However it was to me in terms of the detailed background and an overall sharpness and clarity. Immediately on installation the Wizard of Oz was being reshow the difference was significant. As there was also a showing of White Christmas I turned to that and only missed the opening section concluding the film is better than the musical and a better film that previously remembered. I am not a Danny Kaye fan but this was one of his better performances.

I also had a good shop at the supermarket having planned what was needed in advance with washing stuff , tablets, stain remover, softeners, with other household items such as washing up sponges, kitchen rolls, storage bags for us in the freezer and toilet rolls. I had made notes for such items as apple sauce, custard powder, curry sauce(balti) and sugar which I was out of stock. I managed to get some puff pastry mince pies for the first time and could not resist a bread and butter pudding which had been reduced in price by 20%. For Christmas New Year storage there were little sausages wrapped in bacon which I adore and one can of Pringle crisps, plus speciality cheeses and a carton of dates. There was salad (lettuce, coleslaw, tomatoes but not sweet peppers) and meats (pressed pork slices and bits) but no salami together with a pieces of quiche which I enjoyed at lunchtime after a cuppa soup and followed by the bread and butter pudding. I enjoyed three lamp chops yesterday and a mixture of scampi and Indian starters with beans and peas Saturday, I will use up some existing pork and lamb chops this week getting in chickens and lamb shank next week with the annual chunk of gammon, hopefully for New Year rather than Christmas. I need a trip to Asda for salami, liquorice, chocolate, paper and perhaps long socks leaving just before six to avoid the hassle of the £1 coin fee. I forgot the lemon and the ice cream to go with the pancakes. I will await until I go to Morrison Seaburn Weds

Football at New Year 2003

It has not been a day of achievement. The day was governed by staying up late, the cold, going to football, eating too well in the evening and moments of panic. I was better organised for going to the match than pm Boxing Day having worked out in advance the time needed for preparations and to arrive and get the desired parking space. I was in place long enough to slowly drink a thermos of onion soup. I had first put hot water to warm the metal contained so even though the journey took half an hour the soup was kettle boiling hot. I waited half an hour before walking to the ground noting the lack of fitness as the cold bit into the bare skin of my face.

Yesterday afternoon as I had made my way to buy the ticket, I listened to an interview with an Antarctic explorer who recounted how on the two earlier missions to reach the South Pole by a route not accomplished before he had nearly lost his life. In the first instance because the special boots had not arrived he had worn footwear providing less protection with the consequence that an organism had entered his leg of a flesh eating kind and fortunate he had been able to visit a local doctor who had recently been on a course about recognising and treating his very condition. In the second, although tired and knowing he should not have continued, he did so for a short distance but sufficiently to fall into ice solidifying water and where he had only seconds to psychologically motivate himself sufficiently to get himself out before in effect he became frozen in. Married with a family and twenty five years of experience he did not regard himself as an adrenalin risk taking junkie but as with any aspect of day to day life however good the planning, the preparations, the equipment, the knowledge and the experience it is still likely that the unexpected will occur and the difference between surviving to tell the take and not, can be a matter of luck, seconds, motivation and mentality or combinations of such things. He answered questions including from one young man who said he liked the cold and wanted to know how to get the kind of sponsorship or grants which would enable such adventuring. It was this statement about liking the cold which came to mind as I walked. I do not.

I arrived in the stadium with half an hour announced before the kick of and the number of people congregating around the food and drink outlets. The television screens or go to the toilets suggested that despite the special ticket offer of £5 compared to £17.50 for seniors and children the ground was likely to be less than half full. The Maximum capacity is 48000 and I estimated 15000 to 175000 as the match progress. There as just over 20000 with significant areas of emptiness, especially behind the goal mouth where I had sat on Boxing Day. This time my seat was in the East stand upper tier even more central than when I had the season ticket and also not as far up. It was an ideal position providing an excellent view of both goalmouths, higher enough to see the movement and the organisation of the teams but also close enough to feel part of the action. I had no difficulty in buying myself a coffee before entering the seating area and at half time I had no difficulty in buying a packet of crisps as well as going to the toilet and finding a place to rest against a wall before returning to the seat.

The main reason for the poor attendance is that only a couple of weeks ago the same team being played in this third round of the Football Association Cup had beaten Sunderland 4.0. A disgraceful result given the standing of the visiting team who had not had a good time since the departure of their manager to Newcastle, and more recently appointed to Blackburn, Sam Alladyce, who through his agent had indicated an interest in the Sunderland Manager’s job, vacated on a voluntary basis by Roy Keane following this defeat in question. Sunderland supporters feared another thrashing and even those who braved the cold like me feared the worst, according to comments from those sitting around during the opening third of the game. In truth Bolton looked the better organised and more skilful team during this period. They had good movement with accurate passing. However as the game went on I was very impressed with the work and defensive qualities of Carlos Edwards who usually plays on a wing but this time was a tour de force in central midfield. Gabriel Cisse is a colourful character with a Mohican hair strip which he colours brightly, changing from game to game. He has great speed but at Liverpool promised much but failed to deliver and returned to France. What has impressed me and more so on this occasion was his tireless running always to good purpose. Kenwyn Jones on the other hand had no touch at all and several times put his own side in difficulty. However as is sometimes the case he scored a brilliantly headed goal to give Sunderland the lead and Cisse appeared to make the contest safe later. However Bolton rallied and scored what has to be described as a soft goal and the excitement commenced especially as the referee awarded four minutes of extra time.

It was a day of few great Cup surprises although Hartlepool did beat Stoke and Chelsea were held to a home draw by Southend. Newcastle were nil nil at Hull where the main interest is the growing speculation that the best UK keeper, Shay Given, wants out along with Michael Owen. My hunch is that they are both on their way to Manchester City where is would not surprise me that the bad run leads to the end of Mark Hughes and his replacement, Kevin Keegan, ho ho!

I had a little whisky on return before cooking a medium size chicken, enjoying poacher’s relish on oatmeal biscuit crackers as a starter, then having a portion of mircowaved vegetables, then, the four medium size roast potatoes and then half the chicken breast with the rest chopped up later for stir fries. For lunch I had eaten three large slices of cold ham cut from the joint with remaining salami and pickles followed by the last of the ice cream, while this evening I had the penultimate portion of the Christmas cake slab with a glass of Beaujolais.

That finished me off for the night without energy, dozing in front of the telly and no inclination to work, tread or even play games against the computer. After successfully completing the first 101 games of Free Cell after the great computer crash, I had set the game aside to concentrate on the other four being played with the intention of not returning to this game until the 101 wins was achieved in these other games. I came close with Spider, another form of patience winning 93 games in succession before encountering a game which I do not believe could be won despite going back to the original allocation of cards, time, and time, and time, and time again. The present streak is 30, having reached 67 on a previous occasion and then making an unintentional and avoidable error so that 314 of 324 games played have been won. I also had a disaster with chess having made a mistake after a successful run of 87 games, but unlike Spider one had complete control of every aspect of the play as White with a reverse move button and therefore while later night draws are excusable the two defeats are not so the tally is 350 games played 350 won and a long long way to get back to the 87th game. This contrasts with Hearts where it is impossible to control the outcome of a full game because you are but one of four players with the computer playing the three other hands. This was the game where I originally only won 11% and gradually increased to over 40% by playing a restricted game in which the outcome was loaded in my favour about 9 to 1. By loading the game even more so, but not completely I am running at 92% winning 85 of 92 games and a continuous in run of 33. There is no point is playing the same cards the same way. Having said I would not continue with Free Cell Hearts until I achieved a second 101 over Christmas I could not resist seeing if I could still work out how to complete a game from a spatial examination rather than repeated use of the back button and to date I have complete 123 games in succession at 100% win. However this is only a satisfactory achievement if everything else is excluded. My mind was much given to what is happening in the Hamas controlled part of Palestine which I continue to suspect has become the first Test of what can only be described as the Oil, Arab, Middle East, Muslim, Terrorism Israel Palestine problem for the new President Obama Administration. It is indeed a dangerous situation but who actually means what they are saying or appearing to do is impossible for the likes pf you are me know,

Being in a state of not wanting to do anything but feeling not ready for sleep I got myself into quite a state by the time I went up to bed about midnight. It was not a good decision.

Review of Sporting achievements in 2008

Once a year in December the B B C provides a two hour review of British sporting experience and achievement, culminating in the presentation of the Sporting Personality of the year, voted on by the public during the programme.

Early on an award was made for the Young Personality with three nominations mentioned. Tom Daly the 14 year old Olympic team Diver, Laura Robinson who was Wimbledon Youth Champion and Elle McPherson the school girl swimmer who won two gold medals at the Olympic games. Elle won which was as it should be.

There were several good nominations for coach of the year including Alec Ferguson at Manchester United and the coach of the successful Welsh Rugby team but the winner was also as it should be, David Brailsford the cycling coach.

The Welsh Rugby Team and Manchester United were also nominations for team of the year together with Team GB Olympic Games, but the winner for their performance in the World championships and the Olympic games was the British Cycling Team, as it should be.

There were ten nominations for the overall personality with Becky Adlington from swimming, Louis Hamilton who won the World Motor Racing Championship, and Andrew Murray from tennis, Joe Calzaghe from Boxing who won last year and Ben Ainslie from sailing, Christine Ohuruogu and four of the cyclists. Becky came third, Louis second and the winner as it should be Chris Hoy the winner for his 12 years of work, and three gold medals. The other two will have their chance again bring 19 and 22 respectively while Chris is 37.

The Helen Rolleson award went to Alistair Hicknell, who was a cricket and rugby Blue before becoming an international rugby player and cricketer. For the past decade he has suffered from multiple sclerosis but continued as a commentator to retire this year.

There are few football fans , if any, and most people in Britain, are familiar with aspects of the life of Sir Bobby Charlton who with his older brother Jackie came from the North East and both played in the 1966 World Cup Squad. Bobby was a survivor of the Munich air crash which killed the majority of the Manchester United first and has been a Director of the club for a decade or two. He was given a lifetime achievement award as it should be.

The programme attempted to make as many references as possible to other sports, Gymnastics, Rugby League, Horse racing, Golf, Cricket, Football and Boxing

There was only passing reference to Durham’s success. Now apart from the winners and Durham most of what happened will become submerged by new successes in 2009 which is also as it should be.

Earlier in the day I had Sunday lunch at the packed out not a seat to spare Old Tollgate Restaurant and Hotel, Bramber Steyning, near Brighton, Sussex. Every available seat was booked and over 100 dinners participated in the traditional Sunday spread. I did not get to view the hot starter such was the wonderful choice of pick and mix cold buffer. I selected several slices of wafer thin Italian salami with mixed olives and feta cheese, and the portions of prawns, smoke salmon, fresh salmon steak and two pieces of smoked mackerel. There must have been twenty to thirty dishes of meats, salads and fish.

There was a choice of turkey, chicken including poussin (26 days or less baby chicken) perk and beef . I had the beef with Yorkshire pudding roast potatoes, red cabbage, parsnips and some Swede. For afters the was an orange looking raspberry jelly, a good slice of Charlotte Ruse and a white chocolate cup, the latter was the only mistake at it had a sickly sweet finish. There was a variety of other sweets and puddings including a heavy black mini Christmas pudding and mince pies, custards ices and creams. There was also a complimentary cheese board but I had had my fill. It was a delicious and memory fare. I had driven down from Croydon in thickish fog which was rapidly burnt off by an extraordinary large sun.

On returning early evening I was unable to [park in the official car park or close to entrance but found a place around 10.30 after watching the third episode of Wallander. As with John Nettles and Midsummer Murders, there are too many killings for liking, and the finale very predicable. The programme was saved by another great performance by Kenneth Branagh as the tortured detective as he failed to save a tormented colleague and to save a mentally tortured young girl. Earlier in the evening I had seen the first hour or so of the last two episodes of Little Dorrit. It was not until the following evening that I watched the final part of the final part. Little Dorrit is not a Dickens that I recall knowing anything previously about. This TV adaptation commenced with a 60 minutes episode then 12 half hour episodes and then the final hour, 8 hours in total and a large cast of 50 including Tom Courtney as William Dorrit, Anton lesser and Amanda Redman as Mr and Mrs Merdle, Andy Serkis as Rigaud, John Alderton, Alun Armstrong, Sue Johnston, Annette Crosby, and Pam Ferris. I should have seen the rest and much if not all is still available but at present there is no inclination to do so.

The saga of Newcastle AFC goes on and on

In the mid 1960's according to the musical Hair we entered the age of Aquarius and now with McCain and Palin forming the Republican Presidential ticket, Peter Mandelson returning to the Cabinet of beleaguered Prime Minister Brown and Keegan, Ashley, Wise and now Joe Kinnear at Newcastle we can be said to have returned to the age of the Maverick, the Creative.

I was up in time to listen to the Sunday Supplement reveal that when he attended his first press conference, Joe Kinnear, went at specific journalists who had ridiculed his appointment with a torrent of swearing. In most circumstances he should have been sacked. However the point about Keegan is that he is a Maverick as much heart as head and that is true in relation to Joe who like Keegan was out of the game for several years and therefore out of touch with the market and the way the dressing home has changed with players all millionaires and only prepared to submit to authority they can respect. The present team has loss confidence and has only one natural goal scorer. The new defence has not worked so far and critics agree that so far this season apart from the performance at Manchester United they have look a team that will struggle to reach mid table whoever is in charge, Keegan knew this and this is why be became so angry when for whatever reason the club failed to provide the players in the pre season transfer market. So he had worked with the players for a week and done the talk and now he had to sit in the stands because of an inherited ban from the pitch side. We would all be able to see the situation when he faced poor start Everton who had not year won a home this season on Sky at four this afternoon.

More importantly the programme revealed the gap between Michael Ashley's objectives when he bought the club and the aspirations of the 50000 who packed the stadium. The programme also revealed the ignorance and bias of some sports writers and their contempt for the average football supporter.

Lets begin with the reality. Newcastle was an average club well supported, but included a significant number of racist yobs, reflecting Newcastle as a City in the sixties and seventies, industrial working class, anti education, anti middle class culture and excessively tribal. The club had a number of tough and pushy centre forwards who went down well with the core fans. A good crowd was 30000. Two men were responsible for getting the crowd over 40000 to the 52000 when the stadium was completed. More than this the club was able to sell all its season tickets and at one point to have a waiting list in thousands. Tickets for homes games became gold dust and the club became the fans second favourite club after their own. The reason for this was the style of play under Kevin Keegan and his charismatic leadership, But the man who had the vision, the drive and the money to create the stage for the dream was Sir John Hall, also a Maverick and someone who I once met with his son and son in law.

The departure of Kevin Keegan was a great blow, but unlike his departures from Fulham, Man City and England there was regret and sadness at what might have been rather than anger. The appointment of Bobby Robson was seen an as attempt to reconnect the club and fans and for a time he was successful with both. However there were those who wanted nothing less than the championship win where Keegan had come so close. It was Robson's departure so early in the season which marked the effective end of the dream, and also heralded the fundamental change in British football with the arrival of the billionaire willing pay £1000000 a week wages and endorse cheques of £10, £20 and £30 million to bring to the premiership the best players in the world. From the commencement of the twentieth century it was apparent that only a handful of clubs would be able to command the attention of the best players because of that combination of financial backing, theatrical stadium, media and public interest and ability to perform every year in European as well as English competitions.

There are now three options facing those clubs who do not have these ingredients. Sell the club to someone or an organisation with the necessary funding which is what has happened at Manchester City.

You can buy one or two known and experienced world class players and attempt to build round them a mixture of experience and youthful promise, hoping to gain sufficient points to have a chance of making the second European competitions direct or through winning one of the two domestic cup competitions. There was a hint this morning that Keegan wanted to bring Beckham back to England and United or someone similar who would help the crown to get through an otherwise moderate season. Home supporters might expect to win at least a third of the home games and draw the majority of the rest, winning at least once in the most important local derby and giving the big four or five a good game and a surprising win. The season ticket holders need to feel that their investment in time and money and in all weathers and times to suit TV has been justified.

There is a third way which requires the confidence of Board and supporters to take a long term view as there is no attempt to achieve a quick fix. You commence to build a team from scratch, knowing that you will not attract big name players until you are to have more than one season at a time in Europe. Such teams have to be greater than the sum of the individual parts. A key aspect I the creation of an effective world wide scouting structure finding the young men as early as possible and bring them into the academy or directly into the playing squad. The two most successful managers in British Football of the last two decades have accomplished this more than once at the same club, Ferguson at Manchester United and Wenger at Arsenal.

In their instance, they did it themselves with appropriate help and neither would have tolerated a Director of Football acting for the Owner Chairman Board. The truth of the matter is that when Ashley bought the club he may have had this approach in mind or may have been persuaded to adopt this approach but he failed to communicate with club and more importantly its supporters. He anticipated bringing Harry Redknapp which could have worked except Harry had too much sense to buy into the operation whether he knew who would become the Director of football or not. The second decision was to appoint Kevin Keegan, cashing in on the brand name and supporter's enthusiasm, but h also must of known he needed to take Kevin with his plans or he would walk away. He was a maverick in the business world and is among football club owners and demonstrates the problem that when Mavericks foul up there are no half measures. He is said to be intent on selling the club although there would be more belief in anything's said on his behalf if he had not misrepresented the physical threat to himself and his family and inflated the asking price which despite the alleged reduction is said to want to make a profit in the tens of millions of pounds. So much for putting personal money into the club and wanting what was best for the club and supporters. To the sports writer who attempted to defend the indefensible I would remind that the road to hell is always paved with good intentions, but also leads to eternal damnation if the intentions are not good ones.

When this afternoon/s game commenced t was quickly evident that there were two desperate team who were throwing caution to the winds. Newcastle were two down with half time in sight and it seemed that Everton had won the gamble and Newcastle defeat and disaster. However they fought on and scored either side of the half, goals which the Manager did not see as he was making his way to or from the dressing room from his position in the stand. Both teams had the opportunity to win the match which ended in a an honourable draw and with Spurs beaten at home again by Hull of all teams, Newcastle was able to climb a place but remain in the bottom relegation three. Hill is now is the top three. Liverpool managed to score three goals in the second half to win at Man City. Joe Kinnear also lives to fight anther day.

Being Sunday it was also a day for political commentators to assess the impact of what has happened across the pond and at home. The decision of the USA Congress to ratify the Presidential plan to write the toxic loans featured. That is the loans which bankers should never have made and from which they made great personal profit, may or may not work and is not an approach which either the Prime Minister or Shadow leader would support in the UK unless there was no alternative. Far greater attention was directed to the reappointment of Peter Mandelson to the Government, a man who is said to have masterminded the first two Labour Government victories at the Polls and also had an important say in the third. The Tory party, caught out by the dramatic collapse of confidence between banks and between banks, government and the people were floored by the appointment of Mandelson, nearly as much he was when approached as late as the day before the announcement. He is said to have consulted Tony Blair before agreeing. Yesterday/Today the press was briefed that within the past weeks Mandelson had dropped anti Prime Minister poison to the opposition. This was immediately denied by Mandelson who said the cause of the story was likely to have been a conversation between him and the Tory Shadow Chancellor on a Greek Island in which they had both talked politics and political personalities. He reminded Mr Osborn that he would never reveal such comments, this taking the high ground and serving a warning shot that he is no lightweight and from now on he is joined at the hip with Mr Brown and the government. This also a good warning to those on the left of the party and those continuing to plan a coup on Mr Brown that from the moment of the decision to accept the invitation he is now in the corner of Mr Brown I have said that Mr Brown needed a miracle to survive. He has just created one.

Durham Cricket Club become County Champions for the first time

A brilliant day in which Durham became County Champions, they got drunk on the coach ride back while they waited for confirmation and I tried to get drunk on a bottle of Asti Spumanti which I had travelled in the sunshine to Fulwell to the Sainsbury's as I knew there was an offer of 25% reduction for six bottles paying £22.20 instead of £26.94, taking the opportunity to buy two 12 packs of Peroni where there was a similar 25% reduction.
The last four Kent wickets had fallen quickly at 197,198, and then 204 and 204 in successive balls by Steve Harmison with Thorp completing his bowling at 7 for 88 and 9 for 145 for the match. There was then a four hour wait while Hampshire ended the Nottinghamshire second Innings around 4pm. Sky contacted the captain on the coach but he was not in a sober enough condition to have an interview. Fortunately they had pre recorded interviews in the hope of the eventual result. The trophy will be presented to the annual club dinner on Monday with those not attending able to show their appreciation at a reception at Durham from five to six.

The drink helped to overcome the disappointments of the day as after scoring first at Aston Villa, Sunderland gave away two goals following free kicks. There was also a sad say at Newcastle with the attendance down to 45000 and a 2.1 defeat by Blackburn. However Hull went and won at the Emerites stadium which was truly amazing.

I watched Strictly Come dancing after a fashion enjoying a third to a half a roast chicken for the evening meal, having also enjoyed a simple vegetable stir fry for lunch. The Do you know who you are subject is one of the female dancers, the tall model Jodi Kidd and descendent of Lord Beaverbrook.

Interestingly the chairman of the judges and his Italian side kick form two of three judges for an American version where the celebrities may be well known in the USA but were unknown to me.

The unexpected treat was the X Factor which is concentrating on finding unusual talent with several exceptionally talented female singers noted.

I watched an interesting documentary about an artist photographer, his wife and her lover. The photographer set out to record the passing of the steam train in his community and the photos are remarkable pieces of USA history. When seventy years of age he married a much younger sexually attractive woman in her late forties. It was not a love much on her part except that she fell in love with his work and helped him greatly in terms of running the business as well as the household. She liked to spend and he liked to buy for her. Such was his interest and enthusiasm for steam trains that he bought a junked train to restore and found someone with engineering skills to assist him. This man fell in love with wife of the photographer. Over the years it was claimed that various photographs and negatives were given to both his wife and the photographer.

The marriage deteriorated and led to divorce in which the wife represented herself and was left with only her personal possession and received no portion of his, despite ten years of marriage. He was therefore 80 and she in her later fifties. The husband employed major lawyers with the Bill coming to $700000 protecting an estate subsequently said to be worth $7 million

Subsequently, in documentary the wife claimed that her husband had developed bizarre behaviour and commenced to lose his memory asking her to manage his affairs which led to her copying his signature to make payments. A divorce lawyer said she was amazed at the lack of any settlement in favour of the wife due she felt to the woman representing herself.

However the husband appears to have become paranoid and bitter and claimed that he was missing 1500 photographs. She claimed they not exist and the list of these was a fabrication. She was charged with first degree theft but offered a plea bargain without imprisonment if they were returned. She returned some things but not the 15000 photos and went to prison after being convicted by the jury and sentenced to six to twenty years. The lover waited and upon release they married.

A couple of years later some photographs and slides given prior to the divorce were sold by them and this led to a request for more unbeknown that this later request was a sting set up by the authorities after the trader had become suspicious. The woman's second husband was charged but she was not. None of the this material was that listed as missing and which had led to her going to prison. The obvious point has to be made as to why this material was not disclosed at the time of her trial. Unfortunately the photographer had died so was unable to give evidence either way.

I thought the black and white photographs were brilliant and the rest of story sad but I was not clear what the purpose or the moral of documentary was intended to be.

It was bed time and then I discovered there was a showing of the first double feature dramatization of Brideshead Revisited the iconic book of Oxford University life for the upper middle and aristocratic classed by Evelyn Waugh by from just after World War one until during the second when the main character finds himself posted to Brideshead. Being one of proletarians on the fringe of the University, spoken of with disdain by characters in the book I only had limited contact with the subjects of the book although did come across a few who attempted to maintain the tradition of using college life to as the base for a non stop social life centred on good food and lots of drink, with recreational drugs. The TV drama faithfully covers a 400 page novel in 11 one hour episodes ( the first a double) so I wonder what will be made if the film version which is about to reach cinema theatres and lasts just over two hours. The TV adaptation features Jeremy Irons as the studious public school educated young man brought up by his father John Gielgud going up to Oxford on a modest allowance although his father is clearly not without a bob or two living in a large house with a man's servant, By accident he encounters the younger son of Catholic Aristocracy who demonstrate all the contradictions and eccentricities for which the British upper classes remains infamous The Catholic mother played by Clair Bloom is protective and lives a separate life from her husband Laurence Olivier. Their daughter Julia is a coming out debutante who married an American businessman and then has a relationship with Jeremy (the book is sub headed the sacred and profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder). However the first part of the work concentrates on the relationship between Ryder and the young son Sebastian played by Anthony Andrews clutching his large teddy bear with him everywhere and while this is shown as love there is no hint of sex even though one of Sebastian's circle is a camp gay, so it will be interesting how this aspect is treated in the film and if they are able to retain the quality of refinement and visual beauty.

Sporting weekend September 2008

I devoted my weekend primarily to sport for two reasons. I enjoy watching excellence, especially when it is exciting with a close finish although sometimes when the later happens I cannot bear watch.

I also believe that individual and collective team performance has a greater significance than sporting achievement when it demonstrates the power of an individual or group of individuals to overcome adversity by hard work and will power, in addition to natural talent and developed skill.

I believe that as our understanding of the universe increase and the sub atomic particle smashing experiment which has commenced operationally in Switzerland reveals the origin, and deepens our understanding of matter, together with the shift to understanding more about the working of the brain and its control of perception, understanding, memory and sensation, we will come to be able to prove that mind can control matter in ways beyond all present understanding. This will lead to a pantheist understanding of God and a human mind creation of the devil and black magic.

There were good examples of what I mean in the coverage of the four sports of interest over this weekend: Tennis in a Davis cup world qualifier; Cricket in the County Championship involving Durham and the Sunday play off as who will play in the last pro 40 season 2009; Football with Sunderland playing the Boro and Newcastle away to West Ham where the manager also walked away from the club because he no longer had control over which players joined and left to the club; and then the Ryder Cup in gold which Europe has won the last three bi annual encounters, the latter two one side affairs.

There was other TV of interest with the X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and Tess of D’Urbervilles, and on Sunday the preliminaries to the Labour Party Conference.

I have recently been hard on young Andy Murray for his lack of commitment to Britain, the concept, borne from his alleged Skittishness and anti Englishness. He may be become able to win one or more of the Grand Slam competitions, France, Australia, USA and Wimbledon and become recognised as the World's Number One, especially as he has youth on side, and without identifying himself as a Britisher and gaining the support and an adulation of the British public in general. He may make a lot of money as a consequence. He may also exhibit national pride and recognition if Scotland becomes an independent nation, but as a Scotsman, especially if his nation gains its independence during he next decade, and which is likely to become even more of a political issues if the forthcoming by-election is won by the Scottish nationalists with a significant majority. But I believe he will regret, as the years pass, and his playing days are over, that he did not attempt to endear himself to the British public as a genuine Britisher. You do not have to be British to achieve recognition and approval of the British public and there is a long line of World Class male Tennis players who achieve this. The most interesting of these, someone who alienated sections of the British media at times, was you must be joking John McEnroe, who has become an elder statesman welcomed each year back to Wimbledon

I became concerned at the attitude of Andy Murray towards the Davis cup contest with Austria he mentioned that he was not 100 percent fit but hoped to be so. I also recognised that while he has become one of the top players in the world the rest of the British team as singles players are second raters, although his brother is a good doubles players with potential.

Having watched parts of his two performances this weekend winning his two singles games, I am prepared to modify my opinion in that he did all that was required and appeared genuinely appreciative of the support given to him by the Wimbledon crowd. It was not his fault that the rest of the team was not up to the task and lost their three matches. One swallow does not make a summer, so we shall wait to see.

Charles Clark is a former Cabinet Minister who held a number of important positions in the Blair Government and now believes there should be a quick resolution of the whether there should be a new Labour Leader, and Prime Minister or not, and John Prescott was Deputy prime Minister throughout the Tony Blair Premiership and is highly regarded by insiders as the man who was pivotal in keeping the Party together and Gordon in the Cabinet rather than open warfare between Blair and Brown over the Premiership. Polly Toynbee is the highly regarded Guardian political writer and all three expressed important and thoughtful comments during an half hour debate in advance of the Labour Party conference this week.

The facts are these. In recent decades no party with one exception has managed to overcome the kind of unpopularity presently experienced by the Labour Party and Gordon Brown personally, with one exception, the Conservative Party in the early 1990's who got rid of their most successful and highly regarded leader, Margaret, now Lady Thatcher, and then went onto win the next election. Since the subsequent loss to Labour they have tried a number of different leaders in the hope of finding one who could win a general election. There was agreement between those on the "platform! that the general public is not yet convinced that the present Conservative leader is the right person. However the message of the these facts is that the Labour should replace Brown with someone who can win the next general election but then look for someone else to take the Party forward. The political argument being that while the outcome might be a loss, with change this is not as likely as it will otherwise be.

At heart of the present situation is family and individual finances and the need for people not to feel threatened and feel that their position is advancing. Labour had been good on protecting the most vulnerable but failed with the majority in the middle while the wealthiest got wealthier giving themselves more and more in bonuses which led in turn to take greater and greater risks by loaning money to those with the least ability to pay it back. As with the windfall energy tax system there are longer term risks associated with taking populist measures now, but there was unanimity among the activists and others in the programme audience that something had to done and shown to be effective to tackle the present lack of confidence and justified belief that the present system is unfair. The Prime Minister will need to make the speech of his life this week and even this is unlikely to save him if the by-election is lost. This was a point strongly made by Diane Abbot in the evening political show on Thursday which impressed others on the programme. The underlying issue is the lack of confidence in his ability to regain public support regardless of what they are saying to media and will say at the conference.

Returning to sport the second issue of interest this weekend was whether Durham could progress to winning the county championship. They could only draw against Kent on Saturday while Nottinghamshire leapt ahead with a win to 178 points, Somerset are now second with 170 and Durham third with 168, closely followed by Hampshire with 160 and Lancashire 152, Kent 151 and Sussex 151. The points system is such with 8 maximum bonus and 14 for a win 4 each for a draw that the permutations are endless. If Durham wins at Kent with the maximum bonus points they will have 190 points. If Nottingham can only draw with maximum bonus points they will also have 190 points, but Durham would be champions because of six wins out of 16 games against 5. Somerset are also at home to Lancashire and if they win with maximum bonus will have 192 points and take the championships if Notts only draw. The games commence on Wednesday and I am glad I did not book the trip to Canterbury as there is so much else on and I fear it would have ended in disappointment. With Surrey relegated to division 2 and Middlesex remaining, the possibility also being relegated, the possibility arises of three of the traditionally big four:- Yorks, Lancs, Surrey and Middlesex being in the second division of the championship. How times have changed. If Yorks go down the cause will have been Darren Gough and the approach he took to the 1 day and 20 20 competitions.

I planned to eat a roast chicken dinner later to day in the hope that I would complete writing for Saturday without the usual tiredness after having a lighter lunch of a small dish of pasta with cheese sauce and a banana. However I decided to attend to the plants which requiring cutting out the dead material as well as some watering. Soon I will start to clear containers in preparation of Spring bulb planting, and a glass of red wine and then later the remaining four pieces of anchovy on dry crackers. I am sure those in the Greek labelled tins are not anchovy by small sardines. However the consequence this and the political programme and watching the TV resulted in changing my mind and leaving the football and the Ryder cup for Sundays' writings.

One of the distractions was Strictly Come Dancing. I have been hopeless at ballroom dancing. I have a number of painful memories about my efforts as an adolescent and a young to learn to dance not appreciate the extent of my lack of coordination with together with self consciousness was a great inhibitor. I thrived on the informality of contemporary dance from the rock era onwards. I used to watch the original Come Dancing series and the attempts to maintain the interest of the changing generations, primarily by the females wearing more and more scanty and sexy clothing although the two are not the same. The reincarnation of the programme matching professional dancers with celebrities from sport, acting and TV presentation proved a brilliant idea form the first series with some surprising outcomes, notable Darren Gough and Mark Ramprakash. Sadly the publicity surrounding the show led to the revelation that Mark had a long standing affair and the break up of his marriage of 14 years and family of two daughters. The marriage of Eastenders former star Letitia Dean broke up while she appeared on the show due to differences about wanting a family. Former presenter of the Show Claudia Winkleman separated from her husband because of differences of view about their work commitments, There was also accusation and country accusation between two male and one female professional dancer Flavia Cacace. So there has been a downside to the weekly exposure on peak time family viewing Saturday and Sunday nights.

It is surprising that so many offer to make a fool of themselves when clearly they lack the essentials to progress even with the world class partners and support structure provided by the BBC. The programmes combines a nostalgia for the times when dancing was dancing with the present day fascination with the lives of personalities behind their well known roles to-date.

End of seasons at the Riverside

I enjoyed Sunday despite the seething turmoil below the relaxed exterior. I had risen early and reviewed the Sunday papers on line and watched the news on Sky and the BBC and then listened attentively to the Sunday Supplement. I prepared a lunch of lamb shank with gravy, carrots and peas and settled down to watch Sky News Sport News at 1pm when the programme announced that it was the last day of the Pro 40 Cricket League Competition and announced the scorecard at Durham Riverside.

I had previously checked that the last home Championship game commenced on Wednesday and overlooked this important final game where just about everyone had a chance of winning the nine team league or faced relegation to the second division. The weather looked good so I abandoned everything I had thought of doing including watching the Italian Grand Prix and set off without packing any food or drink.

Fortunately I was able to get the last car parking space in my preferred area and arrived to take a seat behind the wicket as the sixth wicket fell of the Gloucestershire innings with the score at only 81. Gloucestershire had lost their first wicket at no runs but had then established a good but slow start with 63 runs from a partnership between Ali and Porterfield before a collapse with had seen five wickets fall for 18 runs. There was a short recovery as I settled in my seat in hazy sunshine and had a little heavy eyed siesta after the good food and hasty journey before the last four wickets fell for 19 runs. I had left my haversack in the car and fancying a cup of tea I made my way around the ground to the Member's lounge watching the last two overs as I went in time to get into the queue before the main rush.

I had to wait until later to establish the details of all the bowling although I had heard that Steve Harmison had completed his eight overs for 32 runs and three wickets and saw Breeze take his three wickets for eight runs and followed this with 20 important runs secure the winner by five wickets after Durham themselves had mini collapse losing four wickets for three runs early on. De Venuto appears to have hit form at he right time scored unbeaten 52 and captain Benkenstein an important 25 at a crucial time. There was also a good crowd and Durham finished third in the table which is not bad after gaining promotion last year and shows the strides the team has taken over the past two seasons. Sussex had an amazing win scoring 52 in the last five overs and with only two wickets left, including a six off the last ball.

The rest of the day was taken up with the situation at Newcastle United. I had an evening meal of soup and a bacon sandwich and must have drunk a whole pint of orange juice as well as cups of tea consequently. It was midnight when I went to bed and the news that Ashley and told Alan Shearer that he was no longer required as club Ambassador had not broken, The man has now alienated himself from the football nation as well as Geordieland.

The mess at Newcastle AFC continues

A strange thing happened to-day. I relaxed without guilt until the evening when an announcement resurrected feelings of being helpless again the power of nature and men of power and wealth

I did not have much to write about until then. I played lots of games on the computer stopping at a run of 55 games of level one chess, 37 percent wins of Hearts and 83% at Spider Solitaire.

I am puzzled by the number of good chefs there are creating sophisticated dishes which presumably some people eat at great expense. I must find one, save up and go and have a gourmet meal sometime. I thought this after watching the semi final where two of four young men battled for the opportunity to work in one of the great kitchens with a ember of the Roux family.

The previous night I had watched Get Carter for the umpteenth time and with every viewing I see something I did not see before or did but no longer remember. I thought if was a fitting film to remind of what had been old Newcastle. A grim colourless city with twice the national average level of unemployment and areas of major social deprivation and an under belly of criminal gangs with wafts of corruption in high places.

I found myself counting the number of people Michael Caine kills during his revenge mission for the murder of his brother covered up a suicide. The girlfriend of his brother was instrumental in his daughter become involved with the local crime gang with pornographic films as one money making venture; He kills her and then arranged for her to be found on the estate of the many behind the film making; the second woman participated in the filmmaking with the young girl although technically Caine does not kill her directly as she also is placed in the car boot, but the vehicle tipped into the Tyne my gangsters employed by his London boss; the man who seduced the girl I saved until towards the end of the film and is tipped into the North sea along with other coal waste; the man who participated in the film runs gaming machine along the coast and is dropped from the iconic car park in the centre of Gateshead onto the bonnet of a passing cars, then there are the two men sent by his boss in London to take him back, having found out that he was planning to run off with the bosses girl friend to South America and they are shot on a Tyne ferry across the river, and finally his brother's friend who was instrumental in covering up the murder of the brother by his silence.

Caine is also the cause of the bosses girl friend suffering severe facial injury. Although he plans to run off with this young woman during his stay of a few days on Tyneside he sleeps with his landlady and the woman who stars in the film which led to the murder of his brother. Moreover during the film he does not deny that he slept with his brother's wife and is the more likely father of the daughter. He does expose the gangster to the police who funded the porn film business and who uses his home for drug and sex orgies but this another action of revenge and social concern. So why do we feel disappointment when Caine is killed by another criminal assassin in the final scene of the film? Because it is Caine? And why does the film have a continuing appeal beyond Tynesiders, who enjoying working out where all the scenes were shot? One aspect is the haunting and unique musical sound track.

Newcastle has risen from this background with significant new landmarks and cultural developments although the process is ongoing an integral element has been the rise of Newcastle United Football stadium over the past twenty years from when it reflected the cultural isolation. The ground has been developed into one of the biggest and modern stadiums in Britain and for a few golden years in the early nineteen there was a magic mix of class football played with flair and a title chasing team who also played in Europe. There was Peter Beardsley one of the most skilful players in Britain There was great centre forwards Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and then Alan Shearer. Above all there was Kevin Keegan although Sir Bobby Robson also achieved success in getting to club into positions where they were able to play in European competition for season upon season.

It is almost two weeks since the most dramatic of weekends in British Football, with Manchester City taken over by an Arab business, quickly followed by buying a real Madrid player for over £30 million with another £30 million plus paid Man United for Berbatov. Then the bombshell that Keegan had left, had been sacked, then he had not been sacked, Then the information that the issue had been his control over players recruited to the club or put on the market and sold. There was reports of meetings between Keegan and the Newcastle Board involving the football manager's association but these came to nothing. Almost every known Newcastle Football player of the past two decades was interviewed and supporters by their thousands telephoned text and e mailed.

The Owner, the Chairman and the Director of Football all London based were declared enemies of the people. A number of protests were said to have been planned with controversy over whether people should stay away from the next home match or attend and voice their dissent.
Peter Beardsley, a Tyneside legend who it was my privilege to see play then appeared on television on Friday evening, appealing for the fans to attend the game and not stay away, but also appeared to be defending the owner and board.

Then later in the evening there was film of the owner attending an annual meeting of his main company and refusing to talk about any aspect of the situation at Newcastle United.

Then there was the news that Keegan had returned from his home in Majorca for a meeting with the Owner in London and an official statement was that various matters were discussed without resolution and no further meetings were planned.

On BBC Sports news on the internet there was reference to the likelihood of five organised protests in and outside the ground and of some supporters not entering the ground for the match.

I went to bed very late after watching TV and a film debating whether I would visit to Newcastle to assess the situation, whether I would participate in any protest, or if I would stay home and watch the lunch time televised game between Manchester United and Liverpool and the early evening game between Manchester City and Chelsea, listening to radio broadcast commentaries of the Newcastle game and of Sunderland away to Wigan.

Ella Simmonds

The greatest moment of the entire Olympic celebration occurred this morning when 13 year old Eleanor Simmonds who now lives in Wales and who suffers from dwarfism, won a gold medal at her first attempt in the 100 metre freestyle. There had been hopes that she might win a medal although he main aim was to give her experience prior to the 2012 games. She was trailing the field at the beginning and appeared to be competing for a bronze as the race was ending but somehow as others tired she found the strength to push herself into a personal best time by two seconds and won the gold by 100th of a second.

Whereas Andy Murray finds it difficult to impossible to accept that he is part of Great Britain as well as being a proud Scotsman, Eleanor had Union Jack on her back and red white and blue fingernails. It was her interview afterwards which led to my hoping the media will take her up and that she will win the Sports personality of the year. I am pleased to say that she did make to the national news along with one of most amazing escapes of all time.

A young family Mark Baxter and his wife Beverley were walking at Durham River Chester Le Street, the park land and children's playground next to the cricket ground, with their two daughters Leona aged 3 years and older sister about five years and the family dog splashing about the water left after the rain storm. Suddenly the three year old and her dog disappeared having been sucked into an uncovered and unmarked storm drain. Her father attempted to get her out but he had disappeared. Then in a moment of extraordinary inspiration he worked out that the drain would go straight to river and rushed off to its bank some seventy metres away and was able to see her coat being swept along then realising that it was his daughter face down, he jumped in, started to get the water out of her lungs before getting back to bank. His wife gave her first aid as paramedic, police and fire service arrived. The girl was taken to the North Durham Hospital where she was treated for shock and for bruising but by late evening she was seeking ice cream and chocolate and her relieved parents were telling the world how lucky they were. I wondered what were the odds of survival in that situation in terms of girl being caught in the drain underground, of if her father had not and the inspiration to get to the river and work out the direction the drain might be going to the water. What could have happens is difficult to think about although such tragedies occur every day somewhere.

It was the one bright piece of news in the evening regional news and sport programmes which concentrated on the flooding of Morpeth and other parts of Northumberland which has been the worst for over half a century as in one of the quirks of nature the water bearing clouds suddenly came to a halt over the town and wider areas unleashing over a month's rain in a few hours over already saturated ground. Again the possessions of a lifetime were destroyed but fortunately no lives were lost in this area as a consequence

The regional TV programmes also reminded of the statements made over the weekend my Newcastle Football Club and on behalf of Kevin Keegan to which was added the news that two other coaches and close associates had also left the club, fuelling the anger of supporters and where the momentum for a boycott appears to have gained ground and for standing in protest outside. A spokesperson for the managing company said there had been no approach to buy the club which suggests that unless the owners have some rabbit to pull out of the hat then their will be a test of will but hopefully not of strength on Saturday. I assume there will be a significant police presence to prevent crowds forming outside the ground unless they are entering with a ticket, but which in turn runs the risk of those bent in creating trouble doing so elsewhere in the city. It is a very worrying situation.

Yesterday I had seen again a film about the power of belief called Constantine and the Cross. This 1962 film feature Cornel Wilde and Belinda Lee and had its moments of engagement as long as one made no attempt to check its historical accuracy. The film focuses on the battle for power after the Empire was split between to rulers with Caesars as their deputies and how Constantine was converted to Christianity after his mother had done so. It also has a loyal friend Hadrian whose also falls for a Christian girl who may have been slave or a member of a minor family but there is no happy ending for them. Constantine triumphs and purges Rome of its nastier elements, for a time.

In contrast Alexander the Great viewed a couple of days before and which starred Richard Burton (unconvincing as a young man) nevertheless had a fine script giving the film gravitas. There was a balance on intrigue and on relationships rather than action and spectacle, as with Shakespeare's work which I liked but not the critics. The film made in the mid fifties did get slightly better reviews than Oliver Stone's 2005 epic which lasted nearly three hours. I enjoyed both.

I also enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind which I saw five years ago at a Cineworld in Chelsea and was again shown last night as I also watch Blue Velvet which I had not seen previously, occasionally flipping over to New York in the hope that Murray would find the mental strength and courage to break out of the crushing play of his opponent in he final of the USA open. Federer sense he could get his number one spot back and was without mercy.

I was much less critical again than the critics about Confessions. They disliked this first Directorial black comedy satirical film by George Clooney and which starred Sam Rockwell as the young man making the confessions and Drew Barrymore as his long term girl friend and Julia Roberts as a Marta Hari. Most did not like the plot or the script. Basically I believe most did not understand the psychology and most Americans would not appreciate the underlying self criticism of the American illusion. Sam Rockwell plays a creative who decides to use his talents on a series of brainless money making games shows. The first we knew in Britain as Blind date with Cilla Black. Three young people of same sex are interviewed by someone of the opposite sex who asks them three stupid questions and from their answers one is picked to have a blind date, someone a inexpensive local meal out, but more often an expensive few days in some exciting place. Usually they have a difficult time and cannot wait for the date to end, although I believe there was one wedding. In the film the producing team are told they can make the show as stupid as they like but warned that they will be sent to prison if they included anything which Uncle Sam then regards as un-American.

It is at this point that George Clooney enters the film as a special squad of state assassins and recruits Sam after claiming authorship for the idea of sending the couples on romantic trips and adventures around the world as cover for Sam acting as chaperone with the film crew to do "jobs" for his country. He is helped in these activities by Julia Roberts.

The need to find new shows is constant and as Sam progresses in popularity and double life he creates an earlier form of American Idol and the X factor except without the talent and restricted just to the worst would be performers willing to humiliate themselves on TV for the enjoyment of the masses. It at this point that a double agent comes to the fore and the principals set about trying to eliminate each other so Sam has a breakdown and goes into hiding before working out who the villain of villains is. The films has a kind of happy ever after ending and to add spice the story is put about that the take was not entirely fictitious. As with Blue Velvet it is intended to be taken at various levels. I loved the idea of the game show in which three old men review their lives and the one who does blow his brains out with the loaded revolvers given to them wins the prize of a new fridge or washing machine.

The critics were much more enthusiastic about Blue Velvet because it was about the diversity of human sexual behaviour, albeit of the darker and nastier kind and had lots of arty and surreal sequences which I thought pretentious. My interest was with the female star whose voice reminded of Ingrid Bergman so I played a hunch and looked her up on Wikipedia which confirmed that Isabella Fiorella Ellettra Rossellini was indeed a daughter of Ingrid and the Italian film director Roberto who was married three times. She was brought up in Rome. Santa Marinella and Paris before coming to New York when 19 years where she worked at Finch College as a translator, a ring master in a circus and for RAI TV. She appears to be one of those children of famous/infamous parents who do not come into their own until the death of the parent/parents.

She married Martin Scorsese 1979-1982, then a German ,model and later had relationships with David Lynch the film director of Blue Velvet, Gary Oldman and George Mosher. She also became a model being photographed by some of the best of the day and at one point was the front face for Lancome which she held for 14 years until on reaching 40 she was sacked for a younger person. Apart from the notoriety created by Blue Velvet she appeared in a number of films and TV series gaining minor award and nominations for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In later life she became involved with various good causes and became a US Ambassador for UNICEF although she continues to hold joint citizenship. She remains part of large extended family as her father had three wives and in addition to her twin sis she also has a half sister from her mother's first marriage.. What I like about her most is that she wrote a book entitled my father lived to be 100, now what am I calling the book about my mother?

I went out walking in the morning as the rain had stopped for a day as bought a Daily Mail or a copy of the Culture Club record which was great value as it contained a number of hit songs. Visit to the bank for statement and cash and then to Asda just for milk as I bought grapes and strawberries at the station greengrocers completed the trip. I decided to start chasing up things outstanding and with day's task the free AOL Car Warehouse laptop which had clearly been lost between the various interests involved. It should arrive in less than two weeks. I had ordered some black ink cartridges over the weekend and the garage door is now working as it did when first installed which shows that it is better to face things than put them off.

More woe at Newcastle United 2008

The day began soberly with the focus on the Sunday Football Supplement programme with informed and balanced discussions about Newcastle, West Ham, Man City and the transfer window.

Several things which were stated or hinted at elsewhere were confirmed. The Abu Dhabi group had approached Newcastle first but Ashley had rejected because they wanted overall control. This alone will finish Ashley and his cronies in this region. Apparently he is ready to sell up but not for the £135 which he bought the club but the £232 million which he has put in the club. He has also hired ex SAS men and others to protect him, presumably from the media which will follow him until he makes some kind of public statement. Apparently the Indian entrepreneur has 20 billion and would bring Kevin back so the end of this story remains to be written.

While the new European approach of separating the role of Manger from the person who recruits can be successful, l if one is an elder statesman rooted in the club and its traditions and has the same outlook, approach and ambitions as the manager, it has not at Newcastle, West Ham or Tottenham and has not been needed to bring success at Manchester United or Arsenal. It led to the departure of Murinho at Chelsea over the recruitment of the Russian player now elsewhere. There were also pointed comments on the behaviour of the Tottenham chairman who is said to have briefed the media throughout the day against the behaviour of Manchester United over Berbatov but then agreed to withdraw any complaints for roughly an additional £5 million payment. It is to the credit of the player that he resisted more money at man City because he believed his future would be better as part of the United Team.

Yet another information technology scandal hangs over the future of the government as the names and addresses of prison governors have gone astray and could involve the relocation of officers and their families if the information falls into the hands of the criminal underworld. There is also why it took a couple of months for the information to passed to the Home Secretary/Minister of Justice.

Not only had the rain stopped when I awoke but there were moments of sunshine so around midday I rang Durham cricket Club to learn that the ground conditions were such that the game was cancelled.
It had rained in Belgium too and these conditions suited Louis Hamilton but early when the race commenced he spun and had to settle for second position from then until the final laps when he undertook a manoeuvre which led to him being penalised by twenty five seconds with the consequence that he was placed third instead of the winner. Later the Racing Team announced they would be appealing against this decision.

I missed the final laps having switched over to the BBC 1 for their review of the first day of events at the Para Olympics where over the past decade the level of competition and performance together with the assessment has significantly improved. The coverage also included mini films about the backgrounds of those who had previously won medals or whose story merited bringing to the attention of the public in general. Welshman Simon Richardson aged 41 attending his first Olympics won a gold in 1 K time trial for those with impairment in their legs, and Aileen McGlynn from Scotland who has a severe visual handicap only being able to see shapes and shadows won the Tandem time trial with her lead cycle from Wales Ellen Hunter, both setting world records. Darren Kenny 38 then smashed his world record in the semi final of the 3000m pursuit and in the final caught his opponent after only 1000 metres which meant the race immediately end and he became the gold medal winner. Kenny who is from Dorset suffers from cerebral palsy after an accident from which he was not expected to survive. The British Swimmer Sascha Kindred who won four medals in Athens won his first event today bringing the total 4 and Britain equal first in the medal table after Day 1. The sight of some swimmers using their arms and upper bodies without the ability to control their legs, or using their legs and upper bodies with one or more arms and hands disabled was truly inspiring as the cyclists with severe damage to legs who use lightweight and strong special artificial legs.

After the evening stir fry I enjoyed Soccer Aid at Wembley in which a team of legendary footballers and celebrities played the rest of the world. Each team had a former professional goal keeper in the first half and a celebrity in the second. And they were allowed to have four out of their five former professional other players on the pitch, throughout the game if they wished. England had a forward lime of Alan Shearer who scored a penalty and a class one header and Terry Sheringham who scored first. Other ex professionals included David Seaman, Graham Le Saux and Jamie Rednapp, Harry's son whose pregnant wife did the pitch side interviews, included her father in law who managed the team with Bryan Robson. The game had mass appeal from several viewpoints. The celebrities acquitted themselves and of course had their fans from their day jobs. There was the opportunity seeing some former world class players with De Canio, Figo and Romaro in the rest of the world with Jaap Stam. They showed their skill and the 4.3 win to England just about reflected the play although no one would have complained if there had been a full time draw and the game gone to extra time/penalties.

It was then time to for Andrew Murray in the adjourned semi final against the brilliant Nadal who had won Wimbledon and just about everything else and had the world at his feet. Contrary to the BBC news Nadal did not quickly win the third set. There was one extraordinary game where Murray had seven break points and then also fought back to level twice after Nadal had gained the advantage point. This appeared to be the turning point in the match as Murray failed to win the game and collapsed to lose his serve game with Nadal taking the set. When Nadal broke Murray's service early on in the fourth it looked as if worst fears were to be realised but Murray's not just held nerve but went to the offensive playing some amazing shots of power and also of skilled accuracy and one had the sense that it was going to be his day to become first Brit to reach a semi final of a major tennis tournament in a decade and the first ever Scot/ he has alienated English support in the pat emphasing his pro Scots anti Englishness rivalry and last night further created problems by emphasising that he was playing for himself and family and that Britishness was along way on his list of priorities and interests.

Because of the sporting interests little project work was accomplished but I went to bed content

Protest at Newcastle United

My concern with the Republican Convention made me forget about the prospect of flooding in Texas from hurricane Gustav, or to check if the autumn like weather blitz we are experiencing in the UK is connected to the hurricane build up in the Atlantic. After three months where we did not experience consecutive hot days and there were only two, possibly, three spells of consecutive days of sunshine without rain, we now have torrential ain from dawn to dusk and throughout the night. Because the ground has not dried out from what happened two years ago the risk of flooding is always there and while some of the new or improved defences created from two years ago are working we are experiencing local flooding with last night two severe warnings issues and forty others placed on alert.

It rained all day yesterday, Washing out cricket at Durham, elsewhere and this morning although there is no rain at this moment more is promised which not only ruled out play today but possibly tomorrow when an important 40 40 match was scheduled.

Yesterday's rain dampened the level of protest outside the Newcastle football stadium but this did not prevent the future of the club and the impact on the region dominating local news programmes, filling the back pages of national newspapers where previous managers and players are all give their viewpoints. Because of the resignation at West Ham for similar reason this appears to have become a crucial time for the balance of power between Managers, players and the clubs, as understandably if players know that it is the owner, chairman or director of technical services who is controlling movements in and out they will talk direct and by pass managers thus further weakening their ability to manage the players and build them into a team.

While Mike Ashley the billionaire owner is alleged to be partying on champagne in New York, the most important of players in Newcastle's recent history broke silence and explained why although he would love, really love, to become the manager of Newcastle Football club he would not do so unless he was able to manage the players and just be the head coach. So far there has been only snippets of the interview with Alan Shearer which is to be shown on Saturday on BBC1 where he is already contracted as a football pundit for the weekend review of Premiership matches with highlights. What has been shown is sufficient for everyone to know that he considers the situation which Kevin Keegan found himself as unacceptable. The full interview will be shown tomorrow. There was also an interesting statement from the Football managers Association on what happened when they assisted Keegan at meetings and found they there was not one spokesperson for the club but three, presumably representing the owner, the chairman and Mr Wise, all outsiders to the club and the local population.

Clearly there is concern about how the situation will develop a week Saturday when Hull make their first visit as new entrants to the Premiership. It is important that any demonstrations inside and outside the ground are peaceful and this will be difficult with genuine protestors mingling with serious trouble makers and those wanting to protest within the stadium or just watch a game of football and the world's supports news media in attendance. My own view is that a boycott would be more effective and avoid trouble. I was unsure by what a fan's "representative" had to say in terms of everyone supporting team inside the ground unless he like me is concerned about what will happen if supporters stay outside the stadium while the targets for the protest stay away. He was accompanied at the interview by a well known vicar wearing the Newcastle shirt who previously had sang abide with me in an effort to unite everyone behind the team. My view is that only if one hits Ashley in his pocket will he decided to sell up and which in turn will lead to a new chairman and a director of technical services selected with help by the manager to ensure that they will be able to work as a team and that the manger will have the last word.

Usually they kind of story lasts a couple of days and the media move on to the next big thing, so that events at Man City or Man United only a weekend ago have become history. Conveniently the Manager of West Ham also resigned over the same issue of players bought and sold without having the final word. This is a great coincidence and smacks of the Premiership club owners having got together and developed a policy for the future designed to take control away from manager who will be renamed head coaches. Clearly something had to be done be following the scandals and allegations of Mangers and Clubs involved in bribes and back handers to secure the transfer of particular players but tit is one thing for Managers not to be directly involved in the negotiations about price and player wages and perhaps to have someone separately heading a team, identifying players to be brought into the club in the future. The situation has to change so it is time to man the barricades, metaphorically of course.

The film of the day, The Silent Barricade, a film which I can find nothing about on the internet and which looked as if it was produced during the time when Prague was part of the Russian Communist empire. The film is about the rise of the communist/trade unionist/people against the Germans towards the end of World War II creating barricades and defending them with limited weaponry with the focus on one family where both the adult daughter and teenage son join their father against his wishes and perform heroics, the sun blowing up a tank. Just when the ammunition ends and the German's bring big guns to destroy the barricades and the human resistance, they withdraw. The Russian Tanks arrive to general acclamation.

In the evening I watched the last part of the X Factor preliminaries just as a sixteen year old girl sang a version of a Damien Rice song and got herself into the next round and there was also another young women with great looks, personality and voice who struggled because after practicing for two months she had strained her throat but also impressed. In between here was he annual collection of awfuls some duly primed to behave badly. Big Brother House is reaching its ends of days after a series which failed to create the kind of public interest achieved since it was established. This time there were some redeeming features with a visually disabled participant taking the second prize and the winner a modest and kindly, but determined young woman who nevertheless will disappear from public view along with the £100000 cheque.

At last I had Saturday to look forward to, cricket at Durham if it stopped raining; the Belgium Grand Prix Formula One time trials for the last 5 places on the grid then 11 to 15th and then first ten; Andrew Murray in the Semi Final of the USA open, The Opening ceremony of the Paraplegic Olympic Games; Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England all playing in their first qualifying matches for the World Cup in 2010; and a box office Boxing night if all else fails; and of course I could receive that phone call to say I had won all or a share of the 92 million on offer in the European Lottery.