Saturday, 31 July 2010
The G spot!
Does anyone noticed that Google and the Guardian and Grandtop have anything in common. They all begin with "g" I hear you say. But it is a "g" from the same font factory and strange that with copyright abounding everywhere that one of these companies haven't brought out the rights to this famous "g". It actually belongs to this lot, who must be doing very nicely thank you. The "g" spot.
Friday, 30 July 2010
Carson Yeung owner of Birmingham City F. C.
Image by sheila_blige via FlickrHis companies are registered in the Cayman Islands, for tax purposes, and nobody can uncover the extent of his wealth. For Blues fans this is a worry for although he has spent modestly and made some excellent improvements at the club has he got the wealth to continue supporting the outfit?
Nobody at Blues wants millions of pounds chucked away like they are doing at Manchester City but it would be nice to know that the future of the club is in safe hands and that money will be available when the going gets tough, as it invariably does with Blues. He remains the archetypal inscrutable Chinese man. See what I mean?
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Clegg and Cameron or the 2C's
Unable , or perhaps unwilling, to explain what they meant by THE BIG SOCIETY during the election campaign it is now becoming clear what this means. Firstly it is a fig leaf for privatising all public services and a slow death march back to the dark years of Thatcherism. Secondly it means that where the private sector is going to charge too much for doing the job then our public services are going to be run by volunteers, who will man our libraries and our post offices and take over the duties of the police. Their latest crackpot idea is to abolish Asbo's and let the general public take the law into their own hands by forming vigilante groups and beating up whoever they feel prejudiced against on any particular day.
Old folks will be turned out of their retirement homes and Public tips are to be closed down so that people can dump their rubbish in the countryside. Jerusalem at last.
Old folks will be turned out of their retirement homes and Public tips are to be closed down so that people can dump their rubbish in the countryside. Jerusalem at last.
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Tuesday, 27 July 2010
My own Wikileak - why the United Kingdom is anti-Arab.
Image via WikipediaSuch complicity shames the British Government and our involvement in this conflict since the inception of the State of Israel has done immeasurable damage.
The present conflict between the Muslim and the Western world has its roots in the Palestine conflict and until the matter is completely resolved tragically many thousand of innocent people will continue to lose their lives.
I must stress that I am not and never have been anti-Jewish but the right wing Zionists terrorists who run the Israeli government must surely learn from their terrible history that an eye for an eye does not work.
http://www.11downingstreet.blogspot.com/2005/03/humm-bbc-tiptoe-tvthe-mirror-and.html
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Angelina Jolie
Image via WikipediaWhat I hd not realised is that she is John Voight's daughter. Nepotism rule everywhere in show biz but most especially at the BBC.
Lockerbie - the U. S. A. in Denial
First up let me say that the horrors and the grief of the families affected by this disaster must be a terrible experience for them and they have my deepest sympathy
But the clamour in America for Scottish and British ministers to appear before a congressional committee on the matter has much to do with forthcoming elections and little to do with the truth. The Libyans nor Megrahi were not involved in this massacre.
It happened as a direct result of an American cruiser shooting down an Iranian passenger aircraft for which the captain was honoured. Fact - sometimes Americans just don't get it or are taken in by the lies of the media and their corrupt and xenophobic politicians.
But the clamour in America for Scottish and British ministers to appear before a congressional committee on the matter has much to do with forthcoming elections and little to do with the truth. The Libyans nor Megrahi were not involved in this massacre.
It happened as a direct result of an American cruiser shooting down an Iranian passenger aircraft for which the captain was honoured. Fact - sometimes Americans just don't get it or are taken in by the lies of the media and their corrupt and xenophobic politicians.
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Friday, 23 July 2010
Thought for the Day
Stan Bowles: "There's no point saving money, no point in being the richest guy in the cemetry. To me it is an extreme act of stupidity to die with £50,000 in the bank"
Rene Magritte
GCHQ
Image via WikipediaThroughout my time there however it was evident that the vast majority of officers who served at the place had extremely right wing and racist views. This was nearly fifty years ago so I was rather surprised to see the following items appear in several newspapers recently.
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In fact for those of you studious or interested enough to research these topics, in the days when the Labour Party was still a democratic party I managed to get a resolution passed at their annual conference (either in 1984 or 1985) calling upon the Security Services (broadly MI5, MI6 and GCHQ but there are others) to
be representative of the society in which we lived. By that I meant that these organisations should include people from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Although the resolution was passed it would appear from the above that Jews, Muslims and people of various ethnic backgrounds and who hold varying political views are either totally missing or seriously unrepresented.
As for me I once voted Communist in a local election, because he was the best and most qualified candidate standing in my ward, and wore my CND sticker on my car with pride. You see it is not the likes of me that they should be worrying about but those in senior positions from Oxbridge who run these places such as Philby & Co.
Thursday, 22 July 2010
I am disenfranchised and it hurts!
Image via WikipediaThe rat in question was New Labour and I'm glad to this day to be able to say I rumbled their game straight away. They ditched the socialist principles that I had always believed in and, as I suspected, were soon cosying up to The City and jumping into bed with Murdoch, the control freak who wants to manipulate our little world to drink Coke and eat Macs, guaranteed to make you comatose and believe in his capitalist heaven as presented by Sky and Fox news.
Once Blair had invaded Iraq and got screwed by Bush I was off and left the party I had worked for most of my life.
So, in our pluralistic democracy who was there left, left, left that I could vote for? The Liberal Democrats. They are untrustworthy (having brought the Callaghan government down and landed us with Thatcher's devastation during which Great Britain became Little Britain) and in my personal experience usually overly arrogant and ambitious. How those few decent soles in the party must wonder what has hit them since that fifth columnist Tory Clegg jumped into bed with Cameron for his few minutes of power and glory. Ickeroons make you sick. Actually I'm delighted because as the leader of Liverpool's Liberals said the other day he will wipe out the Liberal Democrats for several generations.
I shall be keeping an up to date list of Clegg's lies on this site but how about these for starters:-
NO INCREASE IN VAT:
ABOLISH STUDENT TUITION FEES:
NO INTERFERENCE WITH THE NHS:
NO MEDDLING WITH PENSIONERS FREE BUS PASSES:
NO IMMEDIATE CUTS IN PUBLIC SPENDING.
And as for their so called mandate, their manifesto has effectively been torn up - so much for the new politics and keeping promises - and it now appears that the Condems have been fiddling their election expenses as well. And they would do well to remember that less than 50% of the population voted for them.
So, who do I, and I suspect millions like me turn to now? I might address that in a future article.
Phil Ochs
Image via WikipediaAlthough the sound and picture quality aren't good try and catch the words which, like most of the stuff he recorded in his last years, has a poignant beauty..
Open World!
Image via Wikipedia
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Stanley Bowles, Bobby Moore, Malcolm Allison and Trevor Francis
The thing in common which links the above is that they were from the "Golden Age" of English football.
I am currently reading Stanley Bowles autobiography (published by Orion books) and I recommend it as a good read. Stan was the artful dodger of English football who could twist and turn, often sending a defender the wrong way, before scoring a cracker, usually form outside the box.
He recalls Kenny Burns and Trevor Francis from his Nottingham Forest days with them. He had a high regard for Kenny, described by Clough as the uglies player that he ever signed, but thought that TF was over-rated, with his ability crafted round his turn of pace over twenty yards. In fact there is no doubt in my mind that Francis' best days were at Blues where he could do almost anything except perhaps head the ball. He suffered a broken leg whilst at Blues and in my opinion was never the same player again. But in those early years I was priveleged to see a genius at work and I have never seen a more exciting player.
In a recent documentary about Bobby Moore he recalled that the greatest piece of coaching advice that he was ever given was from Allison who told him, "Always know what you are going to do with the ball before you receive it". If you watch his sublime pass to Geoff Hurst for the fourth goal in the 1966 World Cup victory over West Germany you will see what he meant.
Bowles has a low opinion of Clough who rarely talked to him and treated him with contempt as he did most players. Bowles was man enough to take him on and inevitably he was soon on his way. How football misses characters like Bowles and Allison.
As for Trevor Francis and Kenny Burns along with Bob Latchford they were sold and the backbone of the greatest team that I have watched in my fifty years as a Blues supporter was broken and we have never recovered. Latchford, who was Birmingham born, never forgave Blues for selling him.
I am currently reading Stanley Bowles autobiography (published by Orion books) and I recommend it as a good read. Stan was the artful dodger of English football who could twist and turn, often sending a defender the wrong way, before scoring a cracker, usually form outside the box.
He recalls Kenny Burns and Trevor Francis from his Nottingham Forest days with them. He had a high regard for Kenny, described by Clough as the uglies player that he ever signed, but thought that TF was over-rated, with his ability crafted round his turn of pace over twenty yards. In fact there is no doubt in my mind that Francis' best days were at Blues where he could do almost anything except perhaps head the ball. He suffered a broken leg whilst at Blues and in my opinion was never the same player again. But in those early years I was priveleged to see a genius at work and I have never seen a more exciting player.
In a recent documentary about Bobby Moore he recalled that the greatest piece of coaching advice that he was ever given was from Allison who told him, "Always know what you are going to do with the ball before you receive it". If you watch his sublime pass to Geoff Hurst for the fourth goal in the 1966 World Cup victory over West Germany you will see what he meant.
Bowles has a low opinion of Clough who rarely talked to him and treated him with contempt as he did most players. Bowles was man enough to take him on and inevitably he was soon on his way. How football misses characters like Bowles and Allison.
As for Trevor Francis and Kenny Burns along with Bob Latchford they were sold and the backbone of the greatest team that I have watched in my fifty years as a Blues supporter was broken and we have never recovered. Latchford, who was Birmingham born, never forgave Blues for selling him.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Goalkeepers are Crazy
Image via WikipediaBoth of my knees are shot and I have to go into hospital shortly, to have the gunge cleared out. This has come about after years of pretending to be the great Lev Yashin, which of course I wasn't.
The consultant, who is not a football man, said if you must be a goalie then when you leap up to tip a save over the bar don't land on your knees but do a single twist and land on your arse. This, apparently stops the knee damage.
Goalies of the world, are you listening?
Gordonsaves
Johnny Cash
Whilst Phil Ochs represented protest and ultimately desolation he was a deeply sensitive man. Cash was of a differeent breed. A redneck and a christian from the south and the archetypal American hard man. But they were both rebels. One ultimately killed himself and whilst the other got pretty close on a diet of alKhol and drugs he lived out his final years in peace. Or did he? This, almost the last video and recording that he made, suggests, like us, all that he was tortured by his past.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Brian Clough: The Greatest Manager England Never Had
Image by ilgiovaneWalter (Sobchak) via FlickrThe programme above is on BBC2 tonight at 2230 BST but for those of you who live abroad through the wonders of modern technology you will be able to watch it for up to a fortnight over the internet on BBCiPlayer at bbc.co.uk/iplayer . Whoops - this isn't true unfortunately as it's only available to licence players in the UK-however this might help for those of you that are technical hubpages.com/hub/Watching-BBC-IPlayer-Abroad
Stories about him abound , some true and others not, but his sayings are rightly legendary. In the programme he is asked why he never became England's manager and he replied because I frightened them to death because they thought I wanted to take over the F.A. as well, and they were right. I have no doubt that had he got the job English football would have thrived and that under him we might even have possibly won the World Cup. As for the F.A. not only was that a wrong decision but almost everyone they have taken since has led to the deterioration of the English game. Money alone rules at th F.A. and they have miserbly neglected their duty to nurture the game at grass roots level. We have 800 youth coaches with a grade 3 certificate whilst in Germany they have 18,000 and in Spain 23,000. No wonder they triumphed in South Africa whilst our superstars failed us utterly.
Before the documentary is a film called, "The Damned United". It is a what they call a factional account of his few diasterous months as manager of Leeds United. The film is lightweight and I don't think the actor playing Cloughie got him right in any way. It is based on a book of the same title written by David Peace which is equally boring. For those of you who want to read a more serious and factual tome I would recommend "20 Years With Brian Clough" written by Duncan Hamilton who knew the man very well as a cub reporter and then on through most of his career.
In the book it is revealed that he was within a day of becoming Birmingham City's manager under Clifford Coombes and, dear reader, you may wish to reflect on how the history of that club might have been changed had that happened. Fate and destiny not only change lives but history as well. What might have been ....
Don't go to Amazon or any other bookseller to get a copy of this excellent book but visit your Public Library and get a copy , but be quick mind before the ConDems close them all down.
Birmingham City F. C. V Hong Kong Select XI
We won narrowly by three goals to two but the match revealed what I have suspected. We do not have the depth or the quality in the team to impress in the Premier League this season. More players are desparately needed if Flash Carson has the money to splash on anything rather than his luxury yacht. There are rumours that his fortune is built on sinking sands but we shall see.
A report on the match can be found on the Singing the Blues link posted in "Places I Visit" at the top of the blog. Anyway a few boots are going to walk over us this season unless we get some good players in and this does not necessarily mean spending a fortune. They are out there but our scouts are crap and can't find anything of value at a bargain price. Mind you a few Blues supporters that I know wouldn't mind these boots walking all over them.
A report on the match can be found on the Singing the Blues link posted in "Places I Visit" at the top of the blog. Anyway a few boots are going to walk over us this season unless we get some good players in and this does not necessarily mean spending a fortune. They are out there but our scouts are crap and can't find anything of value at a bargain price. Mind you a few Blues supporters that I know wouldn't mind these boots walking all over them.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
David Beckham and Tiger Woods
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAn example of the latter appeared in The Guardian this morning http://guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jul/17/david-beckham-england-celebrity, although I happen to agree that all that little fart Beckham is concerned with is promoting his brand and in so doing he pops up everywhere .
Talking of farts through the wonders of Google I managed to locate the following which used to give me many a giggle when I was a lad:-
THE GREAT FARTING CONTEST
I will tell you a tale that is certain to please,
Of a great farting contest at Wyndham on Pease,
When all the great arses paraded the fields,
To take part in a contest for various shields.
Some cocked up their arses to fart up the scale,
To strive for a cup and a barrel of ale.
And those whose arses were biggest and strongest,
Took part in a contest for loudest and longest.
This pleasant event had drawn a great crowd,
And the betting was even, on Mrs McLoud.
It was said in the papers, the sporting edition,
That this lady’s arse was in perfect condition.
Now old Mrs Potluck was backed for a place,
For she’d been often found in deepest disgrace,
Having farted in church and drowned the great organ,
And gassed the old verger, Marmaduke Morgan.
With a clump of red hairs and a wart on each side,
She cocked it up well with the greatest of pride,
She fancied her chance of wining with ease,
Having trained on a diet of cabbage and peas.
The vicar arrived and ascended the stand,
And proceeded to tell this remarkable band,
That the contest was on, as was shown on the bills,
But the use was taboo of injections and pills.
The contestants lined up at the signal to start,
And winning the toss Mrs Jones took first fart.
The crowd was astonished in silence and wonder,
And the BBC issued a warning of thunder.
Next Mrs Black who’d advanced to the front,
Started by doing a wonderful stunt,
With wide-parted cheeks and tightly clenched hands,
She blew off the roof of the sixpenny stands.
Old Mrs Potluck thought nothing of this,
She’d had some weak tea, and was all wind and piss.
With hands on her hips, and legs stretched out wide,
She unluckily shit, and was disqualified.
Next Mrs Bugle who farted alone,
Amazed all the crowd, with her sweetness of tone.
The judges agreed without bias or pause,
‘First prize Mrs Bugle, now pull up your drawers.’
She advanced to the rostrum with maidenly gait,
To receive, from the vicar, a set of gold plate.
Then she farted to the crowd, who had started to sing,
And farted the first verse of God save the King.__________________
Gordonblewit
Friday, 16 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
The Blues
Image via WikipediaDown the page you will see a similar article written two years ago when I was in the same state of mind. You see being a Blues supporter means that you are a fatalistic optimist. This close season has seen us sign Nikola Zigic, who although a Serbian international, who has a reasonable scoring record at club level, showed off his talents in the World Cup by moving with the speed of a steam roller and the dexterity of an elephant. He also managed to miss three golden scoring opportunities. Now at Blues, we are used to rubbish players, but if they don't put in some effort then woe betide them. I must not pre-judge but there will be some interesting weeks ahead.
We are justly famed for our sense of humour which is much in demand if, as usual, inspiration or excitement of any kind, is lacking on the pitch. But if the boys are putting in some effort and are seen to be going for it then, despite any footballing deficiencies they may display, they can expect the full support of the crowd.
The other newcomer is Ben Foster from Manchester United who was rejected by Fergie after what the press described as, "costly mistakes" in matches against Manchester City and Sunderland. We are reported to have paid aroun £7 million for him and Fergie, in selling mode, described him as the best goalkeeper in England after dropping him more or less permanantly at Manure, when we probably had on loan the best goalkeeper in England, Joe Hart, who unfortunately has returned toManchester City. Anway I wish them both well and hope that they become Blues legends..
However we journey in hope and have the finest anthem in football, "Keep Right on to the End of the Road", written by Harry Lauder unlike Liverpool's cheap import from America "You'll Never Walk Alone". Here are a couple of versions, one the original sung by Mr. Lauder when we won the Leyland Daf Trophy (both sadly now closed down, as a result of the industrial heart of the West Midlands being ripped out) and one sang a few seasons ago just before relegation from the Premiership. A match that I was at and that we won 4-1 with some of the best football that I have seen in recent years. One comment - they sing it too fast and in the wrong key these days and struggle to meet the top notes but it still brings tears to the eyes. If anyone had stood on THE Spion Kop at St. Andrews in the 1950's or 60's and heard it being sung by 60,000 people they would know what I mean.
Apologies to Blues fans if this is too depressing but I firmly believe that we will reach the end of the road in triumph one day, but I'm getting old and I would like to be there before I croak.
Gordkeepingon
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Terrorist or Freedom Fighter
Image via WikipediaSo I sought advice from the then Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas Home, as to what terminology I should use. Being a decent Tory, of the old patrician school, back came a missive to say that I should refer to them as guerillas which he, and I, took to be an entirely neutral term.
It is strange that many terrorists, from the American rebels who fought the British through to the likes of the ANC who now form the South African government and even to the IRA who are now in a power sharing administration, eventually become entirely repectable organisations rather than the hated enemy that they once were.
It is a great pity that most of them indulge in killing entirely innocent civilians along the way which is why I have always been a great admirer of Gandhi's passive and peaceful resistance. The current new crusades between Muslim and Christian (religion is the cause of all evil) is to be regretted and will not be resolved until the Palestinian question is settled. This seems unlikely to happen given that the USA and the United Kingdom prop up and support the terrorists who run the Israeli administration.
Whilst Mossad and the Israeli armed forces are free to pop into hotels, ships and anywhere else for that matter to kill people, as freedom fighters, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are firmly in the terrost camp. I despise both but they do seem to be equally inefficient, using forged British passports and sending e-mails, downloading bomb making manuals and using mobile phones whilst there is a whole network of intelligence organisations tapping into everything they say and do. You can be sure that this innocent blog is being assessed and scrutinised by an analyst or a computer somewhere as I type the words. And these intelligence organisations are not to be trusted either what with their previously referred to dodgy dosssiers and dirty covert activities which even their governments know nothing about.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Before I was The Prime Minister -
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeGordonbrewing.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
The Monarchy - why should I fund them?
I've always believed that Kings and Queens and Princes and all of their hangers on should be consigned to Fairy tale books, which is where they belong. I am outraged that my taxes go torwards propping up their palaces, hangers on, and countless other extravagences and firmly believe I should be able to opt out. Read more about this later.
As for that serial adulterer Prince Charles or George, as he like his appendage to be know, to his countless mistressess - the man is not fit to govern a cabbage patch, let alone to be heir to the throne. Whilst the royal publicity machine is now in overtime promoting the charms of that whore Camilla Parker Bowles she should never allowed to be a consort but remain as plain Mrs. Hapsburg. As for those who curtesy and bow and take their honours and knighthoods, largely, for being corrupt and incompetent; they can pay double to cow tow to her majesty whilst the rest of us pay nothing.
It is an outrage in a modern democracy and HM's subjects in Austarlia, Canada and elsewhere would do well to opt out and become republics. Talking of which there is a little known clause int the Treaty of Maastricht which allows all British subject to become "Citizens" of the United Kingdom rather than "Subjects" of HM. I am therefore Citizen Spionkop rather a subject of HM and have a certificate to prove it.
More about opting out and supporting a democratic alternative to the monarchy can be found here http://www.republic.org.uk/
As for our national anthem being God Save our Team (the Blues of course) then, I much prefer William Blake's version of Jerusalem, which is the anthen of that admirable organisation The Women's Institiute. If it's good enough for them, then it will do me. And of course if you listen to Blake's words carefully then he rejects "the dark satanic satanic mills" and his hope, yet to be realised, is for Great Britain to become the new Jerusalem.
As for that serial adulterer Prince Charles or George, as he like his appendage to be know, to his countless mistressess - the man is not fit to govern a cabbage patch, let alone to be heir to the throne. Whilst the royal publicity machine is now in overtime promoting the charms of that whore Camilla Parker Bowles she should never allowed to be a consort but remain as plain Mrs. Hapsburg. As for those who curtesy and bow and take their honours and knighthoods, largely, for being corrupt and incompetent; they can pay double to cow tow to her majesty whilst the rest of us pay nothing.
It is an outrage in a modern democracy and HM's subjects in Austarlia, Canada and elsewhere would do well to opt out and become republics. Talking of which there is a little known clause int the Treaty of Maastricht which allows all British subject to become "Citizens" of the United Kingdom rather than "Subjects" of HM. I am therefore Citizen Spionkop rather a subject of HM and have a certificate to prove it.
More about opting out and supporting a democratic alternative to the monarchy can be found here http://www.republic.org.uk/
As for our national anthem being God Save our Team (the Blues of course) then, I much prefer William Blake's version of Jerusalem, which is the anthen of that admirable organisation The Women's Institiute. If it's good enough for them, then it will do me. And of course if you listen to Blake's words carefully then he rejects "the dark satanic satanic mills" and his hope, yet to be realised, is for Great Britain to become the new Jerusalem.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
The fascination of Railways.
Image via WikipediaIt is alleged that on a match day, when Blues were defending that end, and coming under pressure from the opposition then an urgent phone call would be made from St. Andrews to British Rail and a steam train would be sent to emit clouds of smoke which would roll over the pitch. This unsighted the opposition, who had no clear view of our goal, and sent the home fans into ecstasy with the unique smell of that heady mixture of steam and smoke and the satisfaction that the opposition, at least temporarily, had been thwarted. I have been there on too many occasions to state that it was nothing other than fact and not some urban myth that has been passed down through time.
When I was a boy I used to spend hours on Wootton Bassett railway station transfixed by the KINGs, Castles, Halls and Granges of the Great Western that used to pass through and occasionally stop. On rare occasions, the engine driver of a goods train would invite us on board the footplate and sometimes would take us a mile or two down the track to Dauntsy before dropping us off for the long but elated walk home. Can you imagine what the helth and sefty police would make of that these days.
Then along came Doctor Beeching with his Tory axe and tore the heart out of the rural railway system and Wootton Bassett railway station was no more. This was surely the greatest act of folly that was committed against the British transport system in the last century and has left us with a terrible legacy of choking roads and pollutted air. Business as usual looking for a short term fix at the cost of enormous long term problems both socially and financially.
Steam, unfortunatey has also passed away, but this man's father used to hitch a free ride on or in a train as he journeyed through America and wrote some legendary music along the way. Arlo Guthrie, however, carries on the tradition:-
Friday, 9 July 2010
Meeting yourself in a parallel universe!
I am fascinated by quantum physics and the theory of a parallel universe. I can't say I understand one jot of it but it gets under my skin and fascinates me. According to some scientists we and everything else exist somewhere else. And if we were to meet ourselves it would be a cataclysmic event which would result in the end of our universe. The big bang indeed.
Anyway I hope my double is enjoying himself and not weighed down by the trials and tribulations, the joys and sorrows of supporting Birmingham City F.C. I have been trying, unsuccessfully to find a fascinating program shown on the BBC and presented by the guy who's father discovered all this, who believe it or not is a rock star ( the son not the father). When I find it I will post it on here. In the meantime this shorter clip tells you, dear reader, something but not a lot for which I apologise.
It is a little akin to Buddhism and re-incarnation which is also good stuff and I respect the religion enormously although I am agnostic. There is no doubt that when we die our atoms are recycled, which is very green of us, and Johnny Cash and his friends put it far more entertainingly than I do. My wish however is to come back as Birmingham City's centre forward and score the winning goal for them in a cup final. I suspect however that the best that I can hope for is for a few younger fellow Bluenoses, such as Inky, Pearcy, Croc, Bluesince62, The General, Gazulu or Eoin, to sneak my ashes into St. Andrews one night and place me in the goal at the Railway End. Enjoy:-
Gord'llbeback
Anyway I hope my double is enjoying himself and not weighed down by the trials and tribulations, the joys and sorrows of supporting Birmingham City F.C. I have been trying, unsuccessfully to find a fascinating program shown on the BBC and presented by the guy who's father discovered all this, who believe it or not is a rock star ( the son not the father). When I find it I will post it on here. In the meantime this shorter clip tells you, dear reader, something but not a lot for which I apologise.
It is a little akin to Buddhism and re-incarnation which is also good stuff and I respect the religion enormously although I am agnostic. There is no doubt that when we die our atoms are recycled, which is very green of us, and Johnny Cash and his friends put it far more entertainingly than I do. My wish however is to come back as Birmingham City's centre forward and score the winning goal for them in a cup final. I suspect however that the best that I can hope for is for a few younger fellow Bluenoses, such as Inky, Pearcy, Croc, Bluesince62, The General, Gazulu or Eoin, to sneak my ashes into St. Andrews one night and place me in the goal at the Railway End. Enjoy:-
Gord'llbeback
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Defeat in Afghanistan
Yesterday a right wing Republican questioned what the hell the USA was doing in Afghanistan when, "No foreign army has won their for a thousand years". Meanwhile the British announced that they would be getting out of Sangin and leaving it to the Americans. The PR machine has been working tirelessly since to tell us that this was not of course a defeat but a strategic withdrawal.
Doubtless , as is intended in Iraq, the coalition forces will one day withdraw and say they have left a democratic government in control and dress it up as a triumph. Meanwhile the bombings will continue and the deep seated corruption, that surrounds these dubiously installed puppet governments, will flourish.
This is a tragedy for those who have lost loved ones but the blame must lay four square at the feet of the US and UK governments who have the arrogance to rush off all over the world to impose their alien values and dodgy principles in countries where they do not belong.
As for the British I remember Dean Rusk, the US Secretary of State in the 1960's saying that, "Britain had lost an empire but not yet found a role". Too right but, no wrong, for the British government still pathetically believe that we are a super power when we can't even feed our poor and run a decent rail system.
Matthew Arnold wrote this a century or two back. Why don't they listen:-
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Gordelpus
Doubtless , as is intended in Iraq, the coalition forces will one day withdraw and say they have left a democratic government in control and dress it up as a triumph. Meanwhile the bombings will continue and the deep seated corruption, that surrounds these dubiously installed puppet governments, will flourish.
This is a tragedy for those who have lost loved ones but the blame must lay four square at the feet of the US and UK governments who have the arrogance to rush off all over the world to impose their alien values and dodgy principles in countries where they do not belong.
As for the British I remember Dean Rusk, the US Secretary of State in the 1960's saying that, "Britain had lost an empire but not yet found a role". Too right but, no wrong, for the British government still pathetically believe that we are a super power when we can't even feed our poor and run a decent rail system.
Matthew Arnold wrote this a century or two back. Why don't they listen:-
The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Gordelpus
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
The Good Companions and football.
Perhaps the finest piece ever written in English Literature on football, when it was still a working mans sport, was written by J.B. Priestly in his novel, "The Good Companions". The extract follows. It needs no further comment, except to say that I can just remember going on to THE SPION KOP at Birmingham City F. C. in the 1950's and feeling the same camaraderie and spirit:-
"To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. For a shilling the Bruddersford United AFC offered you Conflict and Art; it turned you into a critic, happy in your judgement of fine points, ready in a second to estimate the worth of a well-judged pass, a run down the touch line, a lightning shot, a clearance kick by back or goalkeeper; it turned you into a partisan, holding your breath when the ball came sailing into your own goalmouth, ecstatic when your forwards raced away towards the opposite goal, elated, downcast, bitter, triumphant by turn at the fortunes of your side, watching a ball shape Iliads and Odysseys for you; and what is more, it turned you into a member of a new community, all brothers together for an hour and a half, for not only had you escaped from the clanking machinery of this lesser life, from work, wages, rent, doles, sick pay, insurance cards, nagging wives, ailing children, bad bosses, idle workmen, but you had escaped with most of your neighbours, with half the town, and there you were cheering together, thumping one another on the shoulders, swopping judgements like lords of the earth, having pushed your way through a turnstile into another and altogether more splendid kind of life, hurtling with Conflict and yet passionate and beautiful in its Art. Moreover it offered you more than a shilling's worth of material for talk during the rest of the week. A man who had missed the last home match of "t'United" had to enter social life on a tiptoe in Bruddersford."
"To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. For a shilling the Bruddersford United AFC offered you Conflict and Art; it turned you into a critic, happy in your judgement of fine points, ready in a second to estimate the worth of a well-judged pass, a run down the touch line, a lightning shot, a clearance kick by back or goalkeeper; it turned you into a partisan, holding your breath when the ball came sailing into your own goalmouth, ecstatic when your forwards raced away towards the opposite goal, elated, downcast, bitter, triumphant by turn at the fortunes of your side, watching a ball shape Iliads and Odysseys for you; and what is more, it turned you into a member of a new community, all brothers together for an hour and a half, for not only had you escaped from the clanking machinery of this lesser life, from work, wages, rent, doles, sick pay, insurance cards, nagging wives, ailing children, bad bosses, idle workmen, but you had escaped with most of your neighbours, with half the town, and there you were cheering together, thumping one another on the shoulders, swopping judgements like lords of the earth, having pushed your way through a turnstile into another and altogether more splendid kind of life, hurtling with Conflict and yet passionate and beautiful in its Art. Moreover it offered you more than a shilling's worth of material for talk during the rest of the week. A man who had missed the last home match of "t'United" had to enter social life on a tiptoe in Bruddersford."
Barcelona and Birmingham City F. C.
I took this picture, which is on display in Barcelona's fabulous museum at Kamp Neu, about five years ago. I have seen it twice. Once at the museum and once at St. Andrews when it was handed over to the Barcelona captain in 1957. Blues were the first British team ever to reach the final of a European cup competition a fact of which we Blues supporters are very proud.
Film from BritishPathe of the match follows. You may have to click on it to view it at BritishPathe's site and unfortunately there is no sound:-
BIRMINGHAM CITY V. BARCELONA
As compensation however there is sound in this clip of us thrashing The Pensioners in the cup:-
BIRMINGHAM V. CHELSEA
Monday, 5 July 2010
The Liberal Party a disgrace to The Nation.
Poor old Cleggy, the Tory Liberal who plotted the coup which installed him in government whilst the rest of the liberals blindly rushed after the power they had long lusted for.
Time for all good people to stand up for our nation and protest once again. But, be careful, they are watching and always have been. Phil Ochs knew this back in the sixties and it is still as relevant now as it was then.
Gordbutnotforgotten
Time for all good people to stand up for our nation and protest once again. But, be careful, they are watching and always have been. Phil Ochs knew this back in the sixties and it is still as relevant now as it was then.
Gordbutnotforgotten
Pleasures of the Harbor by Phil Ochs.
Phil Ochs was an incredibly complex man, who in the latter part of his short life wrote very intense and sensitive lyrics. Only he knows what this song is about but it has in it the elements of decay and ageing and the exploitation of women by men. This and other songs have references to the ladies with painted faces who are there to service the men and nothing else. Feminism had not yet become a force, but as ever he was ahead of his time, and his works never date.
Anyway, enough of my rantings, listen and make up your own minds up and perhaps leave a comment or two to enlighten me.
Gordforbid
Anyway, enough of my rantings, listen and make up your own minds up and perhaps leave a comment or two to enlighten me.
Gordforbid
Thatcherites in Wolf's Clothing eating the Liberals alive.
So poor old Cleggy has been sucked in and is now a prisonor of the as ever, ultra right Conservative Party, who remain as committed to slashing and burning public services as ever they were. Don't be fooled by the kid gloves; this lot are no different from the Iron Lady (a euphanism for the electric chair in America - always totally apt despite her revelling in the label) and they will use them to strangle the nation.
This time their excuse is that they have to reduce the national debt (all bollocks) and when in the last few days the arch right Daily Mail has been complaining that old age pensions at 66 are soon to be introduced, much earlier than Labour had proposed, and that people are being robbed of their dignity in old age then you know something is wrong. School building is being slashed, which will lose many jobs in the private sector and with up to 600,000 public service jobs going the more modest estimates are that we will soon have an additional 1.5 million unemployed. Even Norman Titbit is smiling again, especially as council house tenants have been told to get out of their houses and move to find some menial work elsewhere.
Ian Duncan Smith meanwhile has said that there is no need for the poor to buy new clothes, for their children, as after the first one is born the remaining siblings can live on hand me downs. Expect the Poor Law to be re-introduced any day.
As for poor old Murdoch's Times they have been reporting that thousands of vulnerable people with terminal cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and clinical depression have had their applications for the new Tory employment and support allowance turned down already and have been told to look for work.
Don't expect a Liberal revolt from Simon Hughes and co. either for when push comes to shove those in the Liberal party have never had any balls.
This time their excuse is that they have to reduce the national debt (all bollocks) and when in the last few days the arch right Daily Mail has been complaining that old age pensions at 66 are soon to be introduced, much earlier than Labour had proposed, and that people are being robbed of their dignity in old age then you know something is wrong. School building is being slashed, which will lose many jobs in the private sector and with up to 600,000 public service jobs going the more modest estimates are that we will soon have an additional 1.5 million unemployed. Even Norman Titbit is smiling again, especially as council house tenants have been told to get out of their houses and move to find some menial work elsewhere.
Ian Duncan Smith meanwhile has said that there is no need for the poor to buy new clothes, for their children, as after the first one is born the remaining siblings can live on hand me downs. Expect the Poor Law to be re-introduced any day.
As for poor old Murdoch's Times they have been reporting that thousands of vulnerable people with terminal cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and clinical depression have had their applications for the new Tory employment and support allowance turned down already and have been told to look for work.
Don't expect a Liberal revolt from Simon Hughes and co. either for when push comes to shove those in the Liberal party have never had any balls.
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