Andy Murray’s hopes of lifting his first major were thwarted by defeat yesterday in the last 16 of the US Open to Croat, Marin Cilic. I like Andy Murray. I don’t think he’s a dour individual. I think he’s a very talented tennis player who is focused and determined. I admire the fact he coped with being sent to live in Spain at the age of 15 to improve his tennis. ...
UEFA’s decision to ban Arsenal’s Eduardo for two matches after diving in a Champions League qualifier creates a precedent, a very dangerous precedent. This may well result in revisionism, the rewriting of football history and airbrushing Ashley Cole out of the 2003 Shoot Soccer Annual. I forecast the following events which will have unexpected and dire repercussions for the game: Mexico 1986. Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal is ruled out and England win the World Cup. The finest football anthem ever, Baddiel and Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’ never gets written; ‘Ten years of hurt’ just doesn’t scan. The award of Wayne Rooney’s penalty that halted Arsenal’s unbeaten run is declared ‘unsafe’. Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ subsequently extend their unbeaten run by a further 20 matches. Fanzine writers universally rejoice at ‘The Immortal 69’ers’. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool mount a joint appeal against Cristiano Ronaldo. UEFA reduce his tally of 84 goals in 196 Premiership appearances to just 3 goals in 27 starts for ‘simulation, posturing and ball hogging.’ UEFA conduct a detailed simulation of their own using Championship Manager on networked PS3’s. United are relegated and jostle for top spot with Leeds in Division One Richard Dunne of Manchester City receives a lifetime ban for attempting to ‘deceive a referee’ by impersonating a Premiership footballer. Questions are also raised in betting circles at his general ineptitude yet contrasting displays of brilliant, solid defending in every single Manchester derby. Gerard Houlier is sectioned under the mental Health Act before he utters the immortal words ‘Ten games from greatness’. He watches ‘Pink Panther’ incessantly and practises violent martial arts with William Gallas every Thursday. Later appears in a cameo in ‘Kill Bill Vol. 2’. Currently in rehab and guesting on ‘Soccer Saturday’ alongside Phil Thompson.
On Saturday night, BBC2 broadcast a retrospective on ‘The Office’ and broadcast all of Series 1 together with soundbites from the creators (Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant), the cast (Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Lucy Davis) and celebrity fans (Ben Stiller, Christopher Guest, Matthew Perry, David Baddiel, Richard Curtis). My favourite episode of Series 1 is ‘Staff Training’ for all the normal reasons and for this rendition of ‘Free love on the free love freeway’ - I just love the harmonising from Gareth at 1:24 (‘She’s not dead’). ...
Virgin Media email has been down for 48 hours and counting… I am not looking forward to explaining this (again) to Norma tonight. She seems to hold me personally responsible and keeps asking ‘What is wrong, why haven’t they got in touch, why is it taking so long to fix it and when is it going to be fixed ?’ This is a complete CRM disaster from Virgin Media. No meaningful updates in over 2 days. ...
Obvious really. The FA and the police should have seen the disorder at last night’s Carling Cup tie between West Ham and Millwall coming. Nothing to do with East End rivalry. Nothing to do with Millwall’s notorious hooligan element. The problems were started by lengthy queues at all cashpoints in the vicinity of Upton Park before kick-off. None of these professional Cockernees could decipher the rhyming slang.
Most of the Australians I met on my recent holiday were brilliant people; friendly, welcoming, great company and most possessed a very British style sense of humour. However, there was one element of my Australian experience that was slightly irritating; the tendency for people to ask questions. For example, if you ever purchased goods in a shop using a card, you were immediately greeted with ‘Credit or savings ?’ Another fine example was the following exchange one early morning at Brisbane airport where I attempted the seemingly simply task of purchasing four hot drinks as we waited for a short flight to Hamilton Island. ...
Most companies I viist have a (subsidised) coffee shop so I am used to waiting for my morning coffee and hearing a wide variety of exotic concoctions called out to the eager, caffeine starved workforce. ‘Large Mocha’ ‘Tall, skinny Latte’ ‘Overpriced Tea’ ‘Decaf Americano’ ‘Espresso with an extra shot’ ‘Frothy Cappuccino with extra froth’ ‘Pomegranate Peach Frappuccino’ But this morning, I was privileged to hear a new and exciting drink announced. ...
‘Anyone suffering from the desire to communicate what they are doing or thinking every minute of the day in fewer than 140 characters is best described as a twat.’ Janet Street Porter calling me a ’twat’. Possibly my proudest moment. I prefer to define µblogging as ‘an infinite byte stream of inane drivel’ but I also enjoyed Stephen Fry’s post on the same subject: ‘40% of Twitter is “pointless babble”, which means of course that a full 60% of Twitter discourse is NOT pointless babble, which is disappointing.’ ...
I have followed the development of Google Reader since it was launched in 2005. Having used Thunderbird and then NetVibes, I have used Google Reader for the last two years to read blogs. The main reason I like Reader are the UI, the keyboard shortcuts for quick navigation and the fact I can also use it on mobile devices and multiple computers. During that period, I have sporadically marked articles that interest, amuse or shock me on my ‘Shared Items’ feed and Google recently added improved support for the sharing of ‘Shared Items’. ...
‘I miss seeing Cockneys trying to get a taxi in Moss Side.’ Noel on Maine Road and the good old days.