It’s good to see that all the home nations that had made the finals of Euro 2016 have qualified for the knock out stages. Unfortunately, I was rather shocked that the rest of the country has decided to leave Europe. I honestly didn’t think that they would go for it but I suppose that is the sort of thing that can happen when you leave cretins in charge of the nation. I checked with the embassy to see how it would affect us. They seemed to say that we had nothing to worry about for the next two years but wouldn’t commit after that. I did rather get the impression that we would be OK but the rest of the country would be screwed. I’ll see how that one progresses.
Anyway, back to the football and I’d say that my feelings towards the tournament so far are mixed. On the one hand, I’ve enjoyed most of the actual football but some of the antics that have been going on in and around the matches have somewhat spoilt things, particularly the drunken, boorish antics of a minority of the England fans and, more worryingly, the organised violence perpetrated by the likes of the Russian and Croatian “ultras” – basically violent wankers that deserve to be on the wrong end of the Gendarmerie. Well, enough said of them.
I think it is notable that so far there has been no one outstanding team. The likes of the French, Spanish, Germans and Italians have all put in perfunctory performances but not one team looked dominant. This is good as effectively any game is there for the taking and it has been the smaller nations that have put in the outstanding performances. Many of them have been hitting well above their weight. I suppose Wales are an obvious example for me although they do have players of genuine World class standing at their disposal but if I had to pick out one team that have delighted me it would be Iceland who deservedly won second place in their group and also riled Cristiano Ronaldo in the process.
Whilst we are at it: Cristiano Ronaldo is an arse. His outburst about the Iceland team after their draw was outrageous arrogance. I think he needs to look a lot more closely at his own performance. He is obviously a very talented footballer but football is a team game and he seems incapable of using his talents to inspire those around him unless he is surrounded with superstars such as those found at Real Madrid or Manchester United. What is worse, is that Portugal are not even that bad and looking through their team there is some real talent alongside some highly competent team players. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is trying the “old big head” routine that was endearing with the likes of Brian Clough or Muhammed Ali but possibly falls flat due to a lack of self-awareness. He does appear to be very generous with his time and money in his private life and I suspect that privately he is probably a nice chap - although someone shot me down by describing giving to charity as “The Saville defence” (which isn’t a very charitable view, is it?)
Anyway, from the group games I’m going to say my favourite goal was Marek Hamsik’s stunning goal for Slovakia against Russia with Daniel Sturridge’s goal for England against Wales running a close second. I’m looking forward to both their next games with Slovakia playing Germany and England facing the might of Iceland. Wales also play Northern Ireland which should be a good domestic squabble. That last game should also feature the best of the fans in the form of the Welsh. If the “ultras” think that getting tooled up is going to get them somewhere they are in for a shock: try facing 20,000 Welshmen intimidating the opposition with that close harmony singing!
Friday, 24 June 2016
Monday, 20 June 2016
The Hateful Bait
I wasn’t going to post anything about the EU referendum. Seemingly in line with most people in Scotland I tend to be viewing it as an unwanted intrusion after the interminable Scottish Independence Referendum that ended less than two years ago. By comparison, that campaign seems to have been the height of well-mannered engagement but the EU referendum, whilst thankfully much shorter, has brought out the basest elements of society to engage in a campaign of bile and hatred.
I think part of the problem is that the referendum isn’t actually about the EU but is due to internal squabbling within the Conservative party. With the Scottish vote, the elected government made a detailed (and remarkably weighty) document detailing exactly how they wanted their independent Scotland to operate. How, exactly, they would actually achieve this was quite another matter but the full details of what they wanted was there with the alternative being to maintain the status quo. With this EU referendum, the government have called the vote to shut up noisy elements from their own party as well as any far right groups that may eat away at their support. It is a completely absurd vote that should never have been called.
Compared to the Scottish Independence vote, the difference with the so-called “Brexit” campaign is that they have no positive message. There are some vague platitudes about sovereignty (which they don’t appear able to define), democracy (which they fail to understand) and saving money (which indicates that they clearly can’t add up) but by and large the only thing they are talking about is immigration combined with rabid xenophobia. Essentially, they have nothing positive to say about our country so have resorted to the tactics of fear and hate.
The response of the UK government has been completely useless. Rather than taking the opportunity to explain to the electorate what the EU is for, how it works and what the benefit is to the average person is, they have chosen the same fear and doom-saying tactics that backfired so spectacularly during the Scottish independence referendum. Back then, as they presented no positive case for the union and most of their claims sounded farfetched it caused support for Scottish Independence to grow from under 30% of the electorate up to 45% at the poll – and then only after they had dragged up Gordon Brown to save their sorry backsides. Now we have fear and doom on one side and rabid xenophobia on the other. The only person I have heard offering a positive view of Europe was Jeremy Corbyn but as the main media outlets don’t report a thing he says I happened to hear this on a topical satirical show on Channel 4.
The referendum result will be available at some point on Friday and I am still expecting the Remain side to win. I was actually very sure of this a few months ago and simply regarded the whole exercise as an annoyance but the vitriol aimed at immigrants and foreigners in the last few weeks will not dissipate so quickly. I’ve seen much of this on social media and have actually blocked a couple of people who repeatedly posted links to “Britain First”, a fascist splinter group that is very active on the likes of Facebook. However, they are not isolated and as well as Nigel Farage’s smug visage which appears constantly on my TV (despite the fact that he has tacitly given support to those who turn to violence) much of the mainstream mass media is doing its best to turn Britain into a nation of hate. This has been going on for quite a while with much of the vitriol aimed at Muslims. Now, I expect a many people are thinking “what about all those Islamic terrorists” but bear with me…
Just as a thought experiment, think of all the news stories that are put out by the likes of the Daily Mail and Daily Express regarding Muslims. Few, if any, are positive. Most of these stories equate Islam with terrorism, intolerance, rape or domestic violence. After a while, the less discerning would get the impression that all Muslims are like this but, for a moment, think of the Muslim people that one meets in normal life. This may be more than one would at first think and may include work colleagues, neighbours, fellow parents at the school, possibly a health professional or even just the bloke that runs the local convenience shop. Now think of how many of these come across as intolerant, violent fundamentalist bigots and my guess would be probably none of them. It may be that you like or dislike the individual people or are simply indifferent to them but by and large they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people – not because of their religion but because they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people as much as anyone else. The reality experienced on a personal basis is far removed the impression that is created by the mass media but when these tropes are reinforced on a daily, constant basis it can create fear amongst even the most reasonable of people.
Social media just makes this all worse as Facebook “shares”, or the lack of reasoned nuance that Twitter is capable of, simply propagates the negativity with its hate-bait. The psychologist, William James, one said that “There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” This seems to be the tactic that is prevalent in modern life and, in fact, is much used in the world of advertising. Anyone trying to spread propaganda knows that few people will ever check on the veracity of statements. Also, simple messages are far easier to spread than complex ones. The concerns of many people currently bombarded by the hate-bait can be very real: housing is far too expensive, public services are underfunded and worries about job security are all too common. Why is it, then, that many politicians in positions of power to address these issues choose to do nothing and simply blame foreigners instead?
I was shocked at the murder of the MP Jo Cox by a Neo-Nazi last week but I was also annoyed by the right-wing press claiming that his actions were as a result of mental illness. Given that we will not hear the full details of this incident until the perpetrator’s trial it is difficult to say whether mental instability played any part but it does add to yet another popular trope by equating mental illness with violence. Most mentally ill people are only ever likely to harm themselves but from what we have heard from the police so far it does not sound like the actions of a disorganised mind and far more related to the actions of someone whose hate and bile have been reinforced through years of exposure to twisted irrationality. I think the right-wing press would be advised to ask where such ideas originate from.
I think part of the problem is that the referendum isn’t actually about the EU but is due to internal squabbling within the Conservative party. With the Scottish vote, the elected government made a detailed (and remarkably weighty) document detailing exactly how they wanted their independent Scotland to operate. How, exactly, they would actually achieve this was quite another matter but the full details of what they wanted was there with the alternative being to maintain the status quo. With this EU referendum, the government have called the vote to shut up noisy elements from their own party as well as any far right groups that may eat away at their support. It is a completely absurd vote that should never have been called.
Compared to the Scottish Independence vote, the difference with the so-called “Brexit” campaign is that they have no positive message. There are some vague platitudes about sovereignty (which they don’t appear able to define), democracy (which they fail to understand) and saving money (which indicates that they clearly can’t add up) but by and large the only thing they are talking about is immigration combined with rabid xenophobia. Essentially, they have nothing positive to say about our country so have resorted to the tactics of fear and hate.
The response of the UK government has been completely useless. Rather than taking the opportunity to explain to the electorate what the EU is for, how it works and what the benefit is to the average person is, they have chosen the same fear and doom-saying tactics that backfired so spectacularly during the Scottish independence referendum. Back then, as they presented no positive case for the union and most of their claims sounded farfetched it caused support for Scottish Independence to grow from under 30% of the electorate up to 45% at the poll – and then only after they had dragged up Gordon Brown to save their sorry backsides. Now we have fear and doom on one side and rabid xenophobia on the other. The only person I have heard offering a positive view of Europe was Jeremy Corbyn but as the main media outlets don’t report a thing he says I happened to hear this on a topical satirical show on Channel 4.
The referendum result will be available at some point on Friday and I am still expecting the Remain side to win. I was actually very sure of this a few months ago and simply regarded the whole exercise as an annoyance but the vitriol aimed at immigrants and foreigners in the last few weeks will not dissipate so quickly. I’ve seen much of this on social media and have actually blocked a couple of people who repeatedly posted links to “Britain First”, a fascist splinter group that is very active on the likes of Facebook. However, they are not isolated and as well as Nigel Farage’s smug visage which appears constantly on my TV (despite the fact that he has tacitly given support to those who turn to violence) much of the mainstream mass media is doing its best to turn Britain into a nation of hate. This has been going on for quite a while with much of the vitriol aimed at Muslims. Now, I expect a many people are thinking “what about all those Islamic terrorists” but bear with me…
Just as a thought experiment, think of all the news stories that are put out by the likes of the Daily Mail and Daily Express regarding Muslims. Few, if any, are positive. Most of these stories equate Islam with terrorism, intolerance, rape or domestic violence. After a while, the less discerning would get the impression that all Muslims are like this but, for a moment, think of the Muslim people that one meets in normal life. This may be more than one would at first think and may include work colleagues, neighbours, fellow parents at the school, possibly a health professional or even just the bloke that runs the local convenience shop. Now think of how many of these come across as intolerant, violent fundamentalist bigots and my guess would be probably none of them. It may be that you like or dislike the individual people or are simply indifferent to them but by and large they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people – not because of their religion but because they are just ordinary, decent law-abiding people as much as anyone else. The reality experienced on a personal basis is far removed the impression that is created by the mass media but when these tropes are reinforced on a daily, constant basis it can create fear amongst even the most reasonable of people.
Social media just makes this all worse as Facebook “shares”, or the lack of reasoned nuance that Twitter is capable of, simply propagates the negativity with its hate-bait. The psychologist, William James, one said that “There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” This seems to be the tactic that is prevalent in modern life and, in fact, is much used in the world of advertising. Anyone trying to spread propaganda knows that few people will ever check on the veracity of statements. Also, simple messages are far easier to spread than complex ones. The concerns of many people currently bombarded by the hate-bait can be very real: housing is far too expensive, public services are underfunded and worries about job security are all too common. Why is it, then, that many politicians in positions of power to address these issues choose to do nothing and simply blame foreigners instead?
I was shocked at the murder of the MP Jo Cox by a Neo-Nazi last week but I was also annoyed by the right-wing press claiming that his actions were as a result of mental illness. Given that we will not hear the full details of this incident until the perpetrator’s trial it is difficult to say whether mental instability played any part but it does add to yet another popular trope by equating mental illness with violence. Most mentally ill people are only ever likely to harm themselves but from what we have heard from the police so far it does not sound like the actions of a disorganised mind and far more related to the actions of someone whose hate and bile have been reinforced through years of exposure to twisted irrationality. I think the right-wing press would be advised to ask where such ideas originate from.
Thursday, 9 June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016
It doesn’t feel that long since the last World Cup finished but it must now be two years ago since the Euro championship finals are already upon us. Traditionally, I’ve always said that I enjoy the European championships more than the World Cup but, since I thought the last World Cup in Brazil was exceptional, I’m wondering whether I will change my mind on this. The Euro championships have now been expanded with 24 teams taking part with an utterly confusing group stage leading to a new “round of 16”. I’m hoping that the opening stages don’t become too turgid but at least having the games played in France will mean that they are all on at a sensible time.
In the past I’ve tried to predict the winners and usually failed miserably. So, this time I’m predicting the hosts, France, to win as I think home advantage combined with a decent young team with a few exciting new stars will do it for them: in the past few tournaments they have been bedevilled by infighting but most of the main trouble causers seem to have moved on and the couple that are left seem capable of biting their lips. Anyway, aside from Group A, I think Group B will be won by England (this could be close but I think Russia and Wales will draw); Group C should be Germany; Group D will be Spain (with Turkey a close second); Group E Belgium (with Italy second) and Group F will be Portugal. There, I’ve now cursed the chances of all the favourites!
Of course Scotland won’t be participating after managing, somehow, to mess up qualification yet again. It’s rather ironic since that, if opinion polls are to be believed, Scotland are the only part of the UK that really want to be in Europe in the first place. The reaction amongst Scotland fans now seems to be one of sad resignation that they will be spending yet another summer looking for a suitable “diddy” team to support as a surrogate. Looking through fan forums the “Celtics” and “Scandinavians” seem to be the most popular choices. Ideally, they should support Iceland (with a population the size of Edinburgh) but Norn Ireland also appear popular with many of their players plying their trade in Scotland. Amongst the larger nations, Germany have quite a few fans due to their style of play and England seem to have accumulate quite a few Caledonian supporters – at least at the moment.
I’m waiting for the “Anybody But England” sentiments to start but at the moment a combination of English Premier League coverage and reflections along the lines of “it’s about time that they won something” seem to be quite popular amongst Scots cheering on the “Three Lions.” This will no doubt subside once the tabloid press start making tasteless comparisons to the Second World War. I think this would be a pity because the England team seem to have a lot of young talented players in their ranks. I have a suspicion that they will be weighed down by the few established players that have made the squad in spite of not having recovered from injuries or not recovering the form that they were renowned for several seasons earlier. I don’t think they will win it but I’d be surprised if they don’t get as far as the quarter finals.
So I’m looking forward to this: the wallchart is printed and ready, the TV schedules have been checked and suitable refreshments are now lining the refrigerator. I’m just hoping that the tournament is memorable for the right reasons. International sporting events can be a great way of bringing people together and I’m sure that the French will put on a great spectacle as they did when they hosted the World Cup as well as annual events like the Tour de France. However, the threat of disruption is still there. I was watching the television coverage of the Germany vs France match at the Stade de France last November when a terrorist bomb went off outside the stadium and even in the last week a right-wing nutter was been arrested with guns and explosives.
At the time of last Novembers atrocities I actually thought the explosion was a firework of some sort (fireworks in football stadiums are a particular bugbear of mine) and it was only later when the commentators mentioned the other, more serious, events in Paris that night that I realised what it was. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the security at the stadium worked, and I have a lot of faith in the French security services even if it only takes one lunatic to cause mayhem (remember it’s also the 20th Anniversary of the Manchester bombing which happened during the Euro 96 competition).
Anyway, I’m sick to death of hearing about the Euro referendum so let’s look forward to a month of Euro 2016 football.
In the past I’ve tried to predict the winners and usually failed miserably. So, this time I’m predicting the hosts, France, to win as I think home advantage combined with a decent young team with a few exciting new stars will do it for them: in the past few tournaments they have been bedevilled by infighting but most of the main trouble causers seem to have moved on and the couple that are left seem capable of biting their lips. Anyway, aside from Group A, I think Group B will be won by England (this could be close but I think Russia and Wales will draw); Group C should be Germany; Group D will be Spain (with Turkey a close second); Group E Belgium (with Italy second) and Group F will be Portugal. There, I’ve now cursed the chances of all the favourites!
Of course Scotland won’t be participating after managing, somehow, to mess up qualification yet again. It’s rather ironic since that, if opinion polls are to be believed, Scotland are the only part of the UK that really want to be in Europe in the first place. The reaction amongst Scotland fans now seems to be one of sad resignation that they will be spending yet another summer looking for a suitable “diddy” team to support as a surrogate. Looking through fan forums the “Celtics” and “Scandinavians” seem to be the most popular choices. Ideally, they should support Iceland (with a population the size of Edinburgh) but Norn Ireland also appear popular with many of their players plying their trade in Scotland. Amongst the larger nations, Germany have quite a few fans due to their style of play and England seem to have accumulate quite a few Caledonian supporters – at least at the moment.
I’m waiting for the “Anybody But England” sentiments to start but at the moment a combination of English Premier League coverage and reflections along the lines of “it’s about time that they won something” seem to be quite popular amongst Scots cheering on the “Three Lions.” This will no doubt subside once the tabloid press start making tasteless comparisons to the Second World War. I think this would be a pity because the England team seem to have a lot of young talented players in their ranks. I have a suspicion that they will be weighed down by the few established players that have made the squad in spite of not having recovered from injuries or not recovering the form that they were renowned for several seasons earlier. I don’t think they will win it but I’d be surprised if they don’t get as far as the quarter finals.
So I’m looking forward to this: the wallchart is printed and ready, the TV schedules have been checked and suitable refreshments are now lining the refrigerator. I’m just hoping that the tournament is memorable for the right reasons. International sporting events can be a great way of bringing people together and I’m sure that the French will put on a great spectacle as they did when they hosted the World Cup as well as annual events like the Tour de France. However, the threat of disruption is still there. I was watching the television coverage of the Germany vs France match at the Stade de France last November when a terrorist bomb went off outside the stadium and even in the last week a right-wing nutter was been arrested with guns and explosives.
At the time of last Novembers atrocities I actually thought the explosion was a firework of some sort (fireworks in football stadiums are a particular bugbear of mine) and it was only later when the commentators mentioned the other, more serious, events in Paris that night that I realised what it was. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the security at the stadium worked, and I have a lot of faith in the French security services even if it only takes one lunatic to cause mayhem (remember it’s also the 20th Anniversary of the Manchester bombing which happened during the Euro 96 competition).
Anyway, I’m sick to death of hearing about the Euro referendum so let’s look forward to a month of Euro 2016 football.
Saturday, 4 June 2016
Horsing About
Whilst looking through the list of LoveFilm suggestions for the kids’ weekly film I noticed an adaptation of “Black Beauty” came up. Now, I seem to recall that this story is a bit of a weepy but I suggested it anyway. None of the children had heard of it or had any idea what it was about. This seemed rather odd to me because I recall there always being a horsey type show on Children’s TV when I was growing up. In fact, this was partly because I had two girl cousins who were horse mad (in fact, I think they still are) so, when we were round at my grandparent’s house, anything remotely horse related would be on TV. Fortunately, these never seemed to clash with Doctor Who, The Six Million Dollar Man or anything else I wanted to watch at the time: probably an advantage of there only being three TV channels back then.
I actually have rather fond memories of these programmes but I never really paid much attention to them apart from the fact that they always seemed to have the most fantastic theme music. Black Beauty was a case in point: having just looked it up the theme was called “Galloping Home” by Denis King which won, quite deservedly, an Ivor Novello award in 1973.
Another horsey adventure series was one I couldn’t even remember the name of. I used to think it was called “The Lighting Tree” after its theme tune but also misremembered it as "Follyfoot Farm". Having just looked it up it was actually called just Follyfoot. Aside from the theme tune I also vaguely recall that it had Q from James Bond in it… and horses, of course.
Going slightly further back was a German TV series which used to be shown on the BBC called White Horses. In fact, this was a bit of a weird one as the theme tune was written especially for the UK dubbing of the series. Again, aside from the theme I could not really tell you much about this other than it involved a teenage girl and a horse.
In fact there were some horsey type TV series that I did used to watch as they were more about cowboys and the like. I suppose the one I really remember of these was Champion The Wonder Horse (with another very memorable theme)
… and there was always another series that I used to watch that appealed to my sense of the ridiculous. Mr Ed, the horse that talked.
I actually have rather fond memories of these programmes but I never really paid much attention to them apart from the fact that they always seemed to have the most fantastic theme music. Black Beauty was a case in point: having just looked it up the theme was called “Galloping Home” by Denis King which won, quite deservedly, an Ivor Novello award in 1973.
Another horsey adventure series was one I couldn’t even remember the name of. I used to think it was called “The Lighting Tree” after its theme tune but also misremembered it as "Follyfoot Farm". Having just looked it up it was actually called just Follyfoot. Aside from the theme tune I also vaguely recall that it had Q from James Bond in it… and horses, of course.
Going slightly further back was a German TV series which used to be shown on the BBC called White Horses. In fact, this was a bit of a weird one as the theme tune was written especially for the UK dubbing of the series. Again, aside from the theme I could not really tell you much about this other than it involved a teenage girl and a horse.
In fact there were some horsey type TV series that I did used to watch as they were more about cowboys and the like. I suppose the one I really remember of these was Champion The Wonder Horse (with another very memorable theme)
… and there was always another series that I used to watch that appealed to my sense of the ridiculous. Mr Ed, the horse that talked.
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