A Bowl Of Credit Crunch For Breakfast.

A week ago this post might've been a bit more pessimistic, it's been all boom & gloom, we've had bail outs & rescue packages with plenty of anger and un-certainty. An email doing the rounds this week, summed up plenty of feelings :

"If anyone has difficulty understanding the current world financial situation and shoring up the banks, the following may help.... Once upon a time in a village, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10. The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.' The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys. Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! Welcome to WALL STREET. "

For years we've all enjoyed a credit boom generating as a nation over a billion pounds of personal debt. As the property market has risen it has been only too easy to take out loans, credit cards and of course mortgages. Coupled with low unemployment, low interest and inflation rates, all seemed rosy. We seemed to have learnt from the decadence of the 80's but are we still all about to suffer?

As the American sub prime market has collapsed this has obviously had a knock on effect here, not just because plenty of our banks have invested in this but because they also have lent irresponsibly themselves. We've seen the nationalisation of Northern Rock who themselves famously once had a 125% mortgage, the collapse of Bradford & Bingley's buy to let market, presumably because these landlords over stretched themselves and plenty of banks would've sold you a mortgage between 5 & 10% of your annual salary especially in places like London.

There's an old saying: "when America sneezes the world catches a cold" and as our own government cracks out the Beechams, as in any epidemic you wonder about the vulnerable. I think most of us have little sympathy for the banks and executives who continued to pay themselves excessive wages & bonus's and few of us will have invested that much in the stock market, (my own modest investment of company shares will have lost hundreds rather than thousands) but most of us will see the effect dilute to all of us if not already. For those about to retire they will either have to bite the bullet or keep working, eight out of ten pension schemes are now in the red with a shortfall of 44 billion pounds, house prices are already falling, it's already harder to get the loans and money so readily available only a short time a go. Unemployment is up, food costs are up and as previously mentioned in this blog utility prices are at a record premium, although with the price of oil falling there is a chance we will at least see the price of gas & electric reduce, but when the likes of my beloved West Ham feel the heat you know it's serious! First the collapse of shirt sponsor XL now our beleaguered owner has had his Icelandic bank bailed out and has been sacked from the board of directors by the Icelandic government and he is not alone. Chelsea's Roman Abramovich has lost an estimated $230 billion dollars in the last five months, Newcastle's Mike Ashley's Sports Direct company is now only worth 168m pounds compared to 1.7 billion in February and the FA chairman Lord Triesman has recently warned that the domestic game is 3 billion in debt.

So how much will all this cost? The global bail out is estimated to be reaching 1.9 trillion pounds,(to put in perspective this is 36 times the aid sent by the richest nations to the poorest each year) with the UK tax payer paying close to 40m, which will cost us individually thousands which will have to be clawed back in one form or another. As for how long this will last it could be anything from two to ten years.

I've always joked about being a glass half full kinda guy and the other side of the coin is maybe things aren't quite as bad as some of the media are making out? House prices seem to be dipping rather than crashing, (depending on where you live) and if you've owned your property for more than a couple of years there's a good chance it's still worth considerably more than you paid for it, the same could be said for any shares that you've owned for awhile. Credit is indeed harder to get, but if you have a good credit rating and have adopted a sensible approach to borrowing, it is still readily available at competitive rates. If there's one thing this crunch will force us to do, is review our finances and budgeting.

Cup of tea anyone?

Club Statement Regarding Bobby Moore Fund

We might have lost the battle but not the war! The petition is now sitting at nearly 10,000 signatures and members of WHO (westhamonline) are now looking at working with the fund to produce our own shirt. The club have really missed out on a good thing here, for the sake of chasing the corporate dollar they've ignored the voices of the fans and instaed will produce a new shirt which will sell at the fraction of the proposed one.

Statement from West Ham posted on club website tonight:

West Ham United can confirm that the first-team players will wear squad numbers on the front of their shirts for Saturday's home game against Newcastle United.The decision follows consultation with the Premier League with regard to the various options open to the club following the termination of the relationship with XL Holidays last week. This decision still allows future dispensation from the Premier League to change player and replica kits to a new commercial sponsor once an agreement is in place.Although aware and respectful of the supporter-backed campaign to replace XL Holidays with the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK, the commercial reality is the club has a financial duty to secure the best possible sponsorship package to help with the continued development of the first-team squad.Extensive talks have taken place with several parties and the club is actively looking to secure a long-term deal, although this will not be signed before tomorrow's game. In the meantime, the club continues to support the Bobby Moore Fund, having agreed a three-year partnership back in July, and has further increased its exposure on key club platforms.Stephanie Moore MBE, Founder of the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK, said: "Our new partner, West Ham United has done so much to ensure that Bobby's name, and the charity founded in his memory, is at the forefront of people's minds. This is helping us fund invaluable scientific research into the disease which claimed Bobby's life, while also raising vital awareness."I am looking forward to this partnership continuing to grow over the next three years and am grateful to all of the supporters for their ongoing fundraising efforts. They really are incredible. I am also touched by the thousands of fans that have asked for the Fund's logo to be used on the players' shirts, but fully understand the club's position and the complexities involved."For more information about the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK (Registered Charity No. 1089464), please visit www.bobbymoorefund.org

Campaign for Bobby Moore Fund on West Ham shirt

As you will have seen from the previous post, I mentioned how West Ham United did not have a shirt sponsor at the moment due to the demise of XL. One idea as previously mentioned was for the club to maybe follow the likes of Barcelona & more recently Aston Villa & adopt a charity. With this being the 50th anniversary of Bobby Moore's debut for the club and the recent retiring of the famous number 6 shirt it would be the perfect time for West Ham to add the Bobby Moore Fund to the shirt, at least for the rest of this season allowing the club plenty of time to negotiate a lucrative deal for next year. The idea was to maybe give a small percentage from each shirt to the fund. I started a discussion thread on Saturday after the match on facebook, by Sunday somebody posted this idea which apparently Mike Parry on Talk Sport Radio had also voiced, I posted my blog on Sunday night, emailed the club and The Bobby Moore Fund. On Monday I received an email from the fund who had been in touch with the club that day, that night I posted my first thread on west ham online & that is when the ball really got rolling. http://www.westhamonline.net/article.php?2954233 In just over 48 hours there are now 250 replys and the item is currently sitting on the home page, Aaron Hinton posted the mock shirt as seen above, groups have been started on facebook ( West Ham to sponsor the Bobby Moore Fund) and now we have a petition http://www.petitiononline.com/RFCMOORE/petition.html currently sitting at just under 2,500 signatures! Today the Evening Standard have now picked up on the story as have the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1057131/ even non West Ham fans seem to be getting behind this campaign, in light of some of the negative press the club has received lately this could be a masterstroke if they were to do it, as well as no doubt being their best selling shirt ever! I really hope for once the powers that be listen to the fans for a change, please sign the petition..

Let's make this happen!

Football Shirt Sponsorship

Sat. 13th saw West Ham play West Bromwich Albion with neither team showing a sponsor on their team shirts a throwback to a bygone era and something I guess we’ll not see again for awhile and could well feature in a sports quiz question in the future. West Ham’s lack of sponsor was due to the recent demise of XL holidays who during the week went into administration, the shirts have been removed from sale and the team took to the pitch with hastily patched up replacements (literally).

By contrast, last season T-Mobile were West Broms' shirt sponsors and they remain one of the clubs sponsors. Various companies have been mooted in the local press/media as sponsors for this season, LDV/Ladbrokes and Carlsberg (another of the clubs' sponsors).As I understand the amount of income from shirt sponsorship offered by the names mentioned would be in the region of £600K - £800k.It would appear that WBA are holding out for a more lucrative deal which is understandable now that they are playing top-flight football again. However if you ask the Albion fans, most appear to be happy to be sponsor-free. Replica shirts are selling like hot-cakes in the club shop who are selling them blank with the promise of being able to return them at a later date to get the sponsors name added should they so wish. It will be interesting to see how many bother especially if the club does opt for an alcohol or betting company. When you consider how many of these shirts are worn by kids, some parents would rather they wore un-branded replica tops however when a friend of mine who’s club was sponsored by a well known lager company enquired whether he could purchase an un-branded child’s shirt he was told no.

The very first club to use a shirt sponsor in the English game was Liverpool in 1979 who were sponsored by Hitachi and the rest have all since followed. Barcelona have famously resisted a shit sponsor for over a hundred years and even now instead of cashing in are advertising Unicef the children’s charity and also donate a further million pounds to Unicef projects. As a West Ham fan I would love to see the club go down this road ( if we can’t leave them blank). The XL deal was worth about 2.5m a year and although there does seem to be some serious cost cutting being carried out over the summer, 2.5m would only cover about one first team player’s wages if we’re to believe all the stories and any loss might be reduced by an increase in sales if left blank ( i.e. West Brom.)

Discussing this with other fans over the weekend, a lot of fans would like to see a blank shirt, one that does not carry any embarrassment advertising a company you either don’t like or have never even heard of. One idea to come up was the Bobby Moore Charity Fund with a small % from each shirt going to the charity, a shirt that all fans would be proud to wear. The club have recently retired the no.6 shirt to mark the 50th anniversary since his debut so this would be the year to do it and given the current circumstances the ideal opportunity, so let’s see how serious they are......

Who'd be a football manager?

A couple of years ago my brother in law had a mock newspaper front page made up for me as a birthday gift, claiming that I was about to be installed as the new West Ham manager. Now that the situation has indeed become vacant I'm now waiting on the phone call! This week has seen two high profile premiership managers resign from management, Alan Curbishley from West Ham and Kevin Keegan from Newcastle and there seems to be more than one common denominator here. Both clubs have recently had a change of ownership which brings with it a change of strategies and ideas and most controversially both clubs now employing a European idea of a director of football. Both managers have cited that transfer decisions were made without their knowledge and that the creation of a director of football role has left them feeling undermined and powerless. Both managers are also now being portrayed as liars by their respective ex-employers although Curbishley's exit seems to have been cleaner and he seems to have left with his dignity intact.

Could this be the death of old school football management? Where the role of a D.O.F. could work, is as a link between the boardroom and the dressing room leaving the manager free to manage. However there has to be a link & common ground between the D.O.F. and manager when it comes to transfers. There is no point buying & selling players that the manager has not agreed to. Managers tend to be judged on their transfers as much as results and although Curbishley scored low in this department, you don't want a situation like Martin Jol at Spurs who lost his job after a string of transfers that he did not authorise. Curbishley was under pressure to sell before he could buy, partly because of the spending spree authorised by the previous chairman Eggbert Magnusson, but how much money will have been saved now that Curbishley will now need to be paid off? and was this just a ploy all along by the board to keep money back for the next transfer window and the next manager? Which makes you believe that Curbishley was a dead man walking, a victim of a behind the scenes re-shuffle rather than a lack of attractive football, which was also a problem with the fans.

So what of the future? Both clubs have seen ownership transfer to out of area investors, rich men who are in this to make money, Mike Ashley in particular looks to now be trying to sell the club on at a profit (which ironically could see the return of King Kev. for a fourth time) and neither club has invested the millions needed to compete with the bigger clubs. The D.O.F. role still needs to be defined, at the three clubs that have employed this, West Ham, Newcastle & Tottenham it has been a disaster and whoever the new managers are will need to identify the boundaries and who exactly is in charge.

Should I get that call, I will make Ray Winstone my number two, should be good for those motavitional team talks!



Now who's the Daddy? ......

Olympics Review

Well the last month has been dominated by the Olympics and I like millions of others have been caught up in all the excitement. Now that we have had a few days to catch our breath and look forward to London 2012 lets reflect on the highs and lows.

Before the Olympics began we had the controversy, talk of boycotts and demonstrations, even previous posts in this blog highlighted this. The West complained about Darfur, Tibet, human rights and pollution, the East retorted with Iraq and look who's talking. In the end everyone came, there was the odd controversy, demonstrations were minimal and the world enjoyed a party and a celebration of some amazing performances starting with the opening ceremony. The budgets for 2012 is likely to be half of what China has spent and we are unlikely to see anything as vast and spectacular as this again. Some 14,000 performers were involved including an amateur pipe band from Dundee, "The Mains Of Fintry Pipe Band" spotted by Chinese officials playing in France last year, they've never previously played in any major competitions and found themselves playing to an estimated TV audience of 4 billion people.



Some of the fireworks ( the 29 giant firework footprints) were computer generated and the little girl singing was lip synced, picked for being prettier, as were the different ethnic minorities represented by children all from the one area, something the BBC in the current climate would not be able to get away with.

What made these games so great for us was the medal haul of Team GB, 19 golds compared to just one in Atlanta. The cycling team alone won more gold medals than the whole of the British team in ten of the last twelve Olympics. The target this year set by UK sport, ( the distributor of Lottery funds to athletes) was 35 medals and eighth place in the medals table. 90 million has been invested since Athens and a total of 3 billion since it was launched 14 years ago. Lottery funding also helped finance the Manchester Velodrome where Britain's cycling team perfected their skills.

Swimming and the cycling led the way, with Nicole Cooke winning gold followed by Becky Adlington's double gold, who also picked up a pair of gold Jimmy Choo shoes as promised to her by her local Mayor of Mansfield, Tony Egginton. Chris Hoy won three golds at the same games in three different events; Ben Ainslie added a third gold in as many Olympics; Rebecca Romero won a gold in cycling adding to the silver she won in the last Olympics for rowing; Christine Ohuruogu overturned her Olympic ban to win gold on the track and Bradley Wiggins has equalled Sir Steve Redgrave's record British Olympic medal haul. Other highlights was Tom Daley reaching an Olympic final at 14 years old and Louis Smith winning Britain's first medal in men's gymnastics for a century.

Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals was amazing to watch as was the Jamaican sprinters with Usain Bolt cruising to his golds and world records despite the Jamaican team being drug tested 32 times in a seven day period with some being tested up to three times in four days.

The disappointment for Britain was the lack of success on the track and field. 26 million has been invested in athletics reaping only five medals including one gold out of 47 events. Archery, shooting and Judo also yielded no return after a further 15 million of investment. Was also disappointed we did not do better with the professionals in the tennis.

As the government prepares to put another 400 million into Olympic sport for 2012, the target was fourth place will we now demand the bar is lifted even higher? A fifth of any investment was due to be raised by the private sector but in today's economic climate this could be a struggle, given the rise of public enthusiasm after the Beijing Olympics it would be a brave government that denied the resources needed for sporting success in its own backyard. We will need to make sure that the investment made in the various sites does indeed leave a legacy without creating white elephants, that the games are accessible to everyone and with no empty seats. I look forward to seeing what new events might be added as we aim to compete in all 26 sports. Will we indeed see a GB football team? A debate which I'm sure will get an airing in this blog at a later date. The problem will be getting all the FA's of the home nation's to agree without any repercussions from FIFA.

The top ten of the medal table finished like this, I'm sure that the Americans will have published it in order of total medals won which would put them top, this chart lists by number of golds won. Either way Team GB finished 4th. Now what could I do in 2012? .........

Nation : Gold: Silver: Bronze: Total:

1. China 51 21 28 100
2. USA 36 38 36 110
3. Russia 23 21 28 72
4. G.B. 19 13 15 47
5. Germany 16 10 15 41
6. Australia 14 15 17 46
7. S.Korea 13 10 8 31
8. Japan 9 6 10 25
9. Italy 8 10 10 28
10.France 7 16 17 40.

Gas Prices

This week has seen British Gas raise its gas prices by a record 35% (with some customers facing an even bigger rise) this is their 2nd rise this year on the back of a 15% rise in January. This comes just after EDF also put there gas prices up by 22% and it's only a case of time before the other energy suppliers follow suit. Soaring wholesale energy prices are blamed with prices this winter estimated to be up 89% on last year. The UK is also suffering from diminishing gas reserves which means we will import an estimated 40% of our gas this year compared to 27% last year. The price of gas has also gone up so drastically as it is linked (in Europe) with the cost of oil. There is some debate over whether the fact the cost of gas being linked with the cost of oil is a good thing. In America for example, the price is gas-indexed as opposed to oil - indexed and the price does not differ much in the long run. There are periods when gas indexed prices are higher and vice versa, however gas indexed prices are more volatile than oil mainly because it is more difficult & expensive to store gas than oil. If we were to change to gas indexation, prices would not necessarily lower (other than the immediate short term) and would definitely create problems of price volatility and higher risks. Oil indexation is a protection against any major exporters monopoly power, prices based on oil indexation remove market power from both buyer & seller eliminating the ability of any one player to influence prices. For more information on this debate have a look at : http://www.energypolicyblog.com/?p=171

As consumers there are two things we can do to save money, use less fuel (or make our homes more efficient) and switch to a cheaper supplier. Some suppliers also offer long term fixed contracts ( at a premium initially). There are plenty of price comparison websites out there, you could have a look at the energywatch website for an impartial view, however when I checked yesterday they were still showing British Gas as the cheapest for dual fuel in my area despite the 35% rise which I find hard to believe, so try http://www.uswitch.com/ http://www.simplyswitch.com/ or http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ . Millions of households have already switched but half the UK's households have yet to switch! If you're worried that after you've switched your new supplier then raises their prices you are only tied to any company for 28 days so for best deals you might need to review say once a year. If you have never switched and are still with British Gas or the company that took over from your regional electricity board you are likely to be on their highest tariff and could save more than a hundred pounds by switching.

Much has been made about the profits that these companies make (although profits are expected to drop this year) the average profit made on a duel fuel customer over a year is estimated as low as 50/70 pounds a year, the profits made come from the transportation, buying and selling to the national grid, additional services such as boiler cover, phone & security services, broadband & some supplier are now even looking at water as being a future investment. The big six suppliers will undoubtedly be pressurised by the government to do more help to those classed as being in fuel poverty but they are also under pressure to increase the percentage of energy supplied from renewable energy. In 2005 only 4% of the UK's energy supply came from renewable energy and the government target is 10% by 2010. Scottish & Southern Energy last year made an estimated 1billion pound profit but spent 1 billion buying Airtricity who develop and operate wind farms, so as a company and individuals there is a balance to be found, we can't have it all ways!

Rockstar Politics

This week Obamania has well and truly hit Europe with the highlight undoubtedly being his trip to Germany where he gave a speech in front of a staggering 200,000 people. The scenes were reminiscent of a rock concert and Barack Obama certainly lived up to the billing. I have followed his progress since visiting the US a year ago when his name was first being brought to our attention championed by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and the momentum has seen the Obama steam train now grab the attention of Europe's citizens and leaders. It was interesting to watch this speech to see how he came across, what he had to say and how he said it. It was a tightrope that he had to walk as he could not speak as an elected world leader but as a citizen of the world but he had to make an impression, partly for the Americans watching back home which was all but guaranteed by convincing all three US television networks to send their star news anchors to follow him. This was bordering on to a state visit with the motorcade and security as big as any presidential visit. Obama needs to restore America's standing in Europe and as one American newspaper put it "when Bush talks about freedom Europe groans, when Barack invokes the same word Europe cheers". He spoke of his own family, Berlin's history, terrorism, environmental and nuclear issues, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, America's mistakes and freedom all crammed in to less than 30 minutes. He looked every inch the president and certainly has the charisma and popularity of any greats that have come before him. There have been comparisons made to previous visits from Presidents, Kennedy drew a crowd of 120,000 in 1963 and Reagan 20,000 in 1987, McCain in a thin criticism of Obama said he too would like to give a speech in Germany but only as a president but I sincerely doubt he would attract a crowd anything like the 200,000 that came to see and hear Barack. This was a campaign rally for a crowd that could not vote, four out of five Europeans want to see Obama elected, America is not so sure. America can be assured that Obama could step in to the role easily, meet foreign leaders as an equal and have the foreign policies to lead into the next chapter of world politics, what he now needs to do is tackle America's own fragile economy which along with employment and fuel prices is more likely what the election will hinge on.

Full video of speech is available here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-9ry38AhbU running time 26 mins.

A Week Of Sporting Controversy - Ronaldo, Chambers and The Open Golf

Sepp Blatter made a comment earlier this week that Christiano Ronaldo is locked in slavery because Manchester United won't sell him to Real Madrid and what is worse is that Ronaldo agreed with him. This is the same Sepp Blatter that in November 2006 was made an honorary member of Real Madrid, a conflict of interest if ever I saw one, and this is the same Ronaldo that has refused to apologise for his comment despite renegotiating his contract only last year signing up for a further four years and a weekly wage of about 120,ooo pounds. He also lives in a 4m pound house, has ordered a Bugatti car at a further 835,000 and is about to close a sponsorship deal with Nike worth 23 million. Ever since the Bosman ruling players have had the upper hand meaning they can move on a free transfer at the end of their contracts and this has led to a spiralling of player wages. After Ronaldo's antics at the last World Cup, his performances for Manchester United last season went a long way to winning over the neutral supporter but it now seems even his own supporters are now questioning their loyalty. Blatter & Ronaldo would do well to remember Michel Platini's comment that "slaves never earned a wage" and that these players earn in a month what some of us will be lucky to earn between now & retiring!

This week also saw Dwayne Chambers lose his appeal against an Olympic ban. Chambers was found guilty of taking steroids in 2003 and despite now being clean & still Britain's fastest he won't be going to Beijing. This has to be the right decision, if he'd gone & won a medal how many of us would've taken him seriously or been proud of his achievement, and how would the rest of that relay team felt who were stripped of their European medals last time around?

This weekend is the 137th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and the big debate is whether the championship has been devalued without Tiger Woods competing. According to a recent poll in The Guardian newspaper 62.7% felt that it would be. However there is bound to be more drama and excitement with plenty of twists and turns without him and from a betting point of view the field is wide open with even the favourite at the start of the tournament being out at 12-1. The defending champion is Padraig Harrington who won with Tiger Woods in the field so I'm sure who ever wins this year will not feel it's any less an achievement without Tiger being there and I'm sure the $1.5m will help! Only a drop in viewing figures for the TV networks or a drop in visitors at Royal Birkdale will aid the cynics point but I for one will be watching with interest.

The Olympics & Civil Rights 40 Years On

As we approach this year’s Olympics we also see the 40th anniversary of the Mexico 1968 protest made by American athletes Tommie Smith & John Carlos. There are two threads to this story:
1) The American Civil rights movement and
2) The IOC (International Olympic Committee) involvement.
The iconic picture above was indeed a representation of black power but the raised fist was also a cry for freedom, ( Smith say’s “we had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard”) there was a need of justice and a desire for an equal chance to be a human being. The black glove represented black power, the socks without sports shoes represented poverty, the beads represented lynching and the unzipped jacket of Carlos was a tribute to the blue collar worker . The protest was to highlight issues in America and represented a growing view of injustice that had come to the fore during the previous years leading up to Mexico. It was not a spontaneous act, they were both members of a militant black student group in San Jose, led by Harry Edwards and inspired by the likes of Martin Luther King & Muhammad Ali. In the build up to the Olympics, there was talk of a boycott and constant conflict with the IOC and in particular the then IOC president Avery Brundage (the man who was instrumental in the 1936 Olympics going to Hitler’s Germany & frequently operated in various clubs & committee’s a no jews or blacks policy).
So what happened afterwards and 40 years on have things progressed? Brundage & the IOC immediately suspended the athletes and pressured the American Olympic Committee to banish Smith & Carlos. Both men received death threats and Carlos’s wife committed suicide partly because of the pressure and both struggled for work. Smith’s mother died of a heart attack when local farmers sent her manure & dead rats through the post & Carlos was reduced to chopping his furniture for firewood.
Now that we are about to see Barack Obama run for president, it would seem that racial apartheid has eradicated, however within health there still seems to be discrimination. Minority doctors are frequently not accepted with the excuse being that the physician’s patients (most of whom are minority) are allegedly too sick & therefore too expensive. For the American cities that saw the riots in the 60’s, regeneration has been slow and often what has been replaced is not for the former communities, with poverty areas being moved rather than solved. In education & wealth too, there is still a great divide. A quarter of African Americans live in poverty, ( compared to 8% of whites), 7 out of 10 black boys drop out of school and in some states are 60 times more likely to be expelled, there are more black men in jail than in college and life expectancy is 6 years lower. If you were to compare the income of people in their 30’s in 2004 with the previous generations in the 70’s, black men earn on average 12% less than their fathers and the gap between white & black incomes has risen not fallen. In 1974 black families earned two thirds of what whites did, by 2004 that had fallen to 58%. Despite the success of black politicians the economic problems highlighted by ML King are still there. King’s son, Martin 3rd is now campaigning for the next president to create a cabinet level post whose sole task would be to begin eradicating poverty.
Now that the IOC have awarded the games to Beijing, Smith & Carlos talk about how nothing has changed, “ 40 years have passed and we’re back in the same situation”. China now has its own human right issue’s and you do wonder at the IOC’s wisdom of choosing such a strong human rights violator as host of the games. It seems money is indeed more important than any Olympic ethos, what price on an athlete this summer showing some solidarity or protest and will the media let us see it? I just hope that by 2048 they’re further down the road than America are today!

The idea for this week’s post was inspired by the BBC documentary “Black Power Salute” (still currently available on BBC iPlayer) and I have referenced The Times, The Guardian and The Washington Post together with interviews with Jesse Jackson, Tommie Smith, John Carlos & Martin Luther King 3rd.

All About Jazz

For those of you who tried to download the free daily mp3 from allaboutjazz on Wednesday, you might have noticed that you would've been redirected to a Spanish site - altervista. Here is a quick link to the download to save navigating through a foreign site : http://dry.altervista.org/#disco. Usually by clicking on the box on the left, it will take you straight to the download box. Not quite sure what happened Wednesday! This is a free & legal download updated daily & is worth checking out if a fan of the genre. There is also an archive link for checking out older tunes. Nice.

Elton John review. McDiarmid Park, 6 july 2008.

photo by J.Baker.


Sunday Night Is Alright For Elton:

You know how they talk about old school pro's being able to work an audience, construct a set, project there personality and fill every corner of the auditorium? Well never a truer word could be said about Elton John. The man is an icon, as soon as the short figure enters with that trademark waddle, you know you're going to get a show. Not the warmist of July nights but the rain held off (always a bonus at an outside concert). His set started at a leisurely pace as you sensed this was just things warming up, his voice sounds stronger than ever since his throat operation which has also given him a lower tone, (tenor to baritone) Elton is one of the few who's voice has got better as he has got older. He genuinely seemed happy to be there, was engaging in his banter and was only too happy to don the odd hat thrown onto the stage. Soon the hits were flowing fast and furious, the crowd were singing & dancing in the aisles and as the night darkened the light show came into it's own. The band were excellent with Scottish guitarist Davey Johnstone getting the loudest cheer of the introductions! The evening climaxed with an encore of two favourites, "Pinball Wizzard" & "Your Song" it was worth the wait and even with the total running time well over two hours, it was over before you knew it.
This was Elton's only Scottish date in a tour that takes in Venice, Las Vegas, Paris and London and with it also being the debut concert held at McDiarmid Park, most of the audience were only too appreciative to have witnessed this little piece of local history.
The only negative for Elton is that he backed the wrong horse in the recent US Democrat Presidential candidate election but then again he is a Watford fan! "Oh when the saints ...."

Elton John in Perth?

I cannee believe it, Elton John in Perth, Scotland this weekend! He's in Venice on Wednesday and a string of dates in Caesars Palace from the end of the month, it makes perfect sense to stop off in Perth on the way, lol. This will be the first concert that has been held at McDiarmid Park (home of St.Johnstone FC) and I hope the first of many. I know for a fact that they've been approached in the past to put on concerts and they've always been reluctant, instead opting for the likes of Jehovah witness conventions, so I hope it's a great success. We've recently seen a new concert hall in Perth built with a 1600 max capacity and with McDiarmid holding up to 10,000, Scone Palace used for concerts for the first time last year, maybe we'll see some more? Just need to get a bit more contemporary (on a regular basis) and we'll be laughing! I'm not a huge fan but I will certainly be going along, there's no doubt he has written some great songs over the years, " Your Song" is still an all time favourite (even been known to belt it out a couple of times myself) although I've got reservations about the support Richard Fleeshman ( Craig the goth - from Coronation Street), his singles are fairly unobtrusive, however with his debut peaking at number 78 in the charts last year and the follow up not even charting he's done well to even get this gig! Good chance I'll be at the bar.

After bigging up Andy Murray in the last blog, he finally hit a brick wall in Rafeal Nadal and we've now this weekend got the unsurprising final of Nadal vs Federer. Murray's game against Richard Gasquet had everything, it was great to see the crowd so enthusiastically behind him and there has been no back lash! Another beacon of hope for the future has been the emergence of 14 year old Laura Robson who has progressed through to the girls final where she faces 17 year old Noppawan Lertcheewakarn. Glad I never followed my enthusiasm down to the bookies anyway, what with the tennis & the football I would truly be a poor man now.

Been a busy week on the networking sites, I've been setting up this page (more disc space than agelfire) and have recently rediscovered Friends reunited, they have done away with the subscription fee so its now free to search and chat. A lot of us signed up once but how many could be bothered to renew and pay again? so good move FR. You sometimes wonder if its wise digging in the past but I've had great fun hooking up with old friends some of whom it's been nearly 20 years without contact. I had a great weekend in May catching up again with a pal and his family back in London, there was regret there had been a gap but it was like picking up where we left off. We get a little older & wiser but the things you liked about them then you still like today (and the things you didn't like then, you're more tolerant of now) and I look forward to catching up with some more old friends in the future. The internet certainly makes the world smaller when you've got no address or a phone number. Have also updated the tune of the week on Bebo blog ( see link on left) which this week is......

go and have a look!

Football, Tennis & Nationalism

Well that's the football over now, thank god the Germans didn't win! I had high hopes for the Dutch but the Spanish are worthy winners. It's been a great tournament which as you'll have noticed from previous blogs, I wasn't that excited about to start off with, but from the off the tournament has produced some exhilarating football. It only goes to highlight our own inadequacy's, we can but dream.

This weekend has also seen Glastonbury music festival arrive. A lot has been made about Jay - Z headlining, being a hip-hop, non - rock artist (shock horror!) and by all accounts its been a big success. If the BBC I-Player is anything to go by, even late on Sunday night his set has been the most watched, so unless the organizers don't want to be commercial (& Glastonbury has always been eclectic) then all power to him. Let's face it if you want to rock out go to Reading or Leeds! I'm a big fan of the I-Player, for those that have not tried it, if you have broadband is simple to use and is definitely the future way we will watch television. TV on demand (to download free) rather than sitting down as a nation to watch simultaneously. It's certainly more convenient but does kill that water cooler moment when you can discuss the previous nights entertainment. However you can discover loads of programmes you might not have watched at the time ( or couldn't be bothered recording to your generic hard-drive player) and with the best of wills its hard to keep up with what's on them all!

I'm currently watching / listening to Rob Brydon's Identity Crisis, on the fore mentioned I-Player and as an Englishman living in Scotland with a Welsh step-father ( and family) and a Scottish connection on my Mother's side, this whole British identity has always intrigued me. Maybe I had a sheltered up-bringing but because our family and holidays were all over Britain I never realized until later on in life that there really is a deep rooted dislike of the English around Britain and even in England there is then a dislike of Londoner's / Southerners. I'm aware of all the history of course and I think a lot of English people aren't that patriotic maybe because of it? ( with the exception of letting our hair down for sporting events), or maybe we are just not defensive about our nationality or take it seriously enough, as we're now in a multi-cultural society we are now less defined than ever. That's a good thing isn't it?

Anyway enjoyed the programme & got me thinking about Andy Murray & Wimbledon. Not only is he Scotland's number 1 but he's Britain's number 1 too and critics here would say that should he win he'll be referred to as British rather than Scottish! Andy has never been one to be shy about the English and even famously said during the last world cup that he would not cheer on England. He wears his heart on his sleeve ( or his saltire flag on his wrist - do you think Tim Henman would've ever worn St. George wristbands?) but I do feel that when you're Britain's number 1, you don't want to alienate three quarters of the island! He definitely seems to have toned it down a little as he's matured and I'm sure will be a fine ambassador for us all. Wimbledon this year has seen a strict dress code imposed where the players must stick to wearing all white ( and no flags), and it definitely gives the tournament an air of understated elegance (unrivaled anywhere else in the world), which I've always thought of as a British trait?
So come on Britain's number one, super Scott Andy Murray!