The Luck of the Irish

Thierry Henry's "hand of God" was observed by nearly 6,000,000,000 people on Earth and more than half of the satellites we have in orbit. The referee, however, missed it. Not to worry. Ireland miss the World Cup, France get to go. It's only a game. Anyway, if the dozy Irish forwards had put away their chances it would have been 4-1 easily.

But good luck follows bad. It all evens out. Well, yes.

John and Edward have been kicked out of X-Factor. God be praised. Gone. History. Toast.

The interesting question posed by Danni Minogue (upon whom all judgement fell last night) was: Is this a singing competition? Others pretended not to understand her question but she was quite right. Is X-Factor about the talent or the entertainment? John and Edward were certainly entertaining but they couldn't sing to save their lives.

Now they can't even sing "Come on Ireland" at the aptly named Croke Park.

Bummer.

Getting it Wrong (3)

I've just read that Josie Lawrence is going to leave Eastenders. I am shocked! I didn't even know she was in Eastenders. When did that happen? Was that about the time when the richly talented Miss Lawrence disappeared from my radar. Must have been. Let's hope she resurfaces soon in something worthy of the gifts she has been given. I've always been a fan and finding out that she has been in a tawdry soap was quite disappointing.
Come on Josie. You are so much better than that trash.

Getting it Wrong (2)

Simon Cowell. Love him or hate him - and I do both - you have to wonder what the hell he was up to by saving Deadward in the X-Factor. These erstwhile Children of the Damned have no talent whatsoever. To be saved by Cowell (who knows full well that they are utterly useless) by casting lovely Lucie back to the obscurity from whence she came was the worst decision since Diana Vickers was binned on last year's show.
My word, I do bear grudges well!

Getting it Wrong (1)

Kevin Rudd (Aussie PM) was in front of a mike recently fulminating about those scientists who are slowing the inexorable progress of the climate change changers (or "coolers" for short). He says it will be them to blame if the planet isn't saved by the "coolers". As one who is not in the least convinced that carbon dioxide is causing atmospheric warming I take exception to his arrogance. Don't get me wrong; I like Kevin Rudd. I wish he was my PM. But to assume that everything we are being fed by climatologists is right is very dicey ground indeed. What if they are wrong. We will be plunged into another Ice Age by their efforts. Great.

Understanding Things

When you start to explain Quantum Theory to people - I find, anyway - they (usually) glaze over and stop trying to understand. It would appear that there is a genuine barrier between the concept and the understanding of the concept.
The same thing appears to be true with MPs and their expenses. They just don't get it. They REALLY just don't get it. Every other person in the UK thinks they are a pack of vultures dragging their rotten bits of flesh of the decaying carcass that is our "democratic" system. They think it is OK.
Shoot them.
Shoot them all.

Paying for University

I love it when those who had their degrees completely paid for by the taxpayer via the state pontificate about students paying more for their degrees. The CBI see nothing wrong, apparently, with saddling our 20-somethings with up to £20000 debt as they leave academe to try their luck in a jobs market ravaged by (amongst others) the CBI. Hypocrisy at many levels.

I know it has been said before, but if we really must recoup the money that we are spending on higher education, why not tax graduates when they are earning a decent salary and continue to do so throughout their working lives. This mess all comes, of course, from taking too many into university; from having universities grow too big; to over-reliance on student numbers and thus being hostage to fortune as demographics change.

I despair.

Poor bloody kids.

Dowding Park

The title of this entry sounds like a leafy glade in Essex. They are, of course, the unpunctuated names of the two men who marshalled the RAF against the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.
I always get a little misty-eyed around this time of year. The 15th September comes and goes without any recognition now. It was Battle of Britain Day when I was a boy.
Hugh Dowding and Keith Park (a New Zealander, incidentally) were in charge of Fighter Command and 11 Group (which did most of the fighting) throughout the Battle of Britain. They did not "win" the Battle of Britain by themselves. Fighter Command was a formidable "team" in every sense. Had they lost, our history would have been very different.
Yet nobody knows them now. A scant 70 years on and nobody knows them.
Scandalous.