Media Blogs

It seems like

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:03:05 +0100

It seems like the BBC, after its promising Eurovision selection process last year, has fallen back into old unfathomable habits.

There is simply no group of broadcasters, that I am aware of, which continues to treat Eurovision fans with such disdain as the Beeb.

We are approaching the mid point of January, a period last year when Lloyd Webber and Co were in full selection flow, and still absolutely nothing from the BBC, on precisley what is happening.

This blog believes the sooner ITV or even Sky bids to take the contest off the hands of the idiotic crowd at the BBC the better.

The situation leaves fans speculating about the likes Duncan James from Blue ,who it was claimed recently was in talks with the BBC by some Eurovision websites.

The chances of that seem slim judging by today’s Daily Telegraph, the fading James, when asked if he had an opportunity to represent his country at an international competition, the boy band member replied:

What kind of assassination

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:02:21 +0100

What kind of assassination attempt leaves the ‘victim’ healthier than before?

The latest polls suggest the bungled plot to oust Gordon Brown last week has not damaged the government as much as some commentators including me would have guessed.

In fact, Labour have moved up a point.

Why? Well, the very fact the coup was so badly handled, and quickly quashed, has strengthened Mr Brown’s position.

The entire cabinet eventually rallied behind him, making any further ‘assassination’ attempts impossible before the next election.

Secondly, the price of this support appears to have been a significant change in Labour’s economic line going in to the new year.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has been allowed to speak openly, for the first time, of the need for the biggest spending cuts in 20 years.

Previously Mr Brown and key allies, including Ed Balls, had wanted to present the electorate with a choice between ‘Tory cuts’ and ‘Labour investment’.

Rebels have long grumbled that such a position was simply not credible, given the size of the national debt. Some felt it was outright dishonesty.

A fair number will feel the turmoil of last week was worth it to extract such a concession from the prime minister.

I’m going to

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:01:42 +0100

I’m going to be out of the country until Monday. It’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to blog until then, although I might use Twitter.

Peter Watt

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:01:30 +0100

Peter Watt, the former general secretary of the Labour party, left under a cloud over the ‘Donorgate’ scandal in 2007.

His new memoirs claim Mr Brown blew £1.2m preparing for a general election that year before pulling out at the last moment, with limousines literally ready to whisk MPs on to the campaign trail.

More damagingly, he says the prime minister had ‘no plan for what to do in government’ and that, under his leadership, Number 10 was ‘a shambles’.

Just as with the abortive putsch, you have to ask questions about Mr Watt’s motivation and timing.

He is only in a position to share such explosive revelations because of his time as general secretary – a post which is all about putting the best interests of the party first.

Even the anti-Brown camp in the Labour party will be shaking their heads at that.

But that is not to say his account isn’t interesting or true.

And the more Labour try to spin away Mr Watt’s account as the rantings of an angry sensationalist, the more it begs the question: So why did you put him in charge?

One Premier League

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:53 +0100

One Premier League football club has just posted profits of £48m, sits second in the table and is in the Champions League knock-out stages. Another has just posted record losses of £93m is in fourth place in the table and is not even in Europe.

If ever there was a case of statistics not telling the true story, surely this is it. Just take a glance on our United and City boards to see which set of fans are feeling good about things at present. In case you can’t be bothered to do that, it’s City.

And with good reason.

The 4-1 victory over Blackburn was the sort of effortless win we’ve come to expect of United over the years. There was about a five minute window just after Gamst Pedersen scored where there was a bit of old-school dithering, but other than that it was a fairly routine win.

Tevez is playing out of his boots and Micah Richards hasn’t shown that kind of form since he burst onto the scene as a teenager. I hesitate to describe Benjani’s presence and performance as any kind of re-birth though. Yes he got three assists, but two of them were courtesy of miscued shots.

City came in for a lot of criticism over the sacking of Mark Hughes and the hiring of Roberto Mancini, and it was a bit of a shambles. But one thing the club did right was to give their new man a rolling start.

Stoke (h), Wolves (a), Boro (a) and Blackburn (h) for your first four games. It’s buffet time Roberto – go on, help yourself.

Just quickly, it’s good to see new defenders breaking through at City, namely Congo-born Belgian Dedryck Boyata. Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder would have loved to pronounce that phrase.

Meanwhile, I don’t really know what to make of United at the moment. I watched them on Saturday and saw yet more evidence of a squad badly lacking in stardust. Joe Cole could be up for grabs in the summer, Franck Ribery seems to be agitating* for a move. United should be 100 per cent out for this type and calibre of player.

The money is all a bit of a riddle from my perspective. There are so many ways to spin it. I guess the only way to judge from a fans’ perspective is the playing staff. And United aren’t buying.

The wrong reasons

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:58:41 +0100

The wrong reasons might be the over-production of Hadise’s entry last year and judging from some of the maNga offerings on youtube, one suspects it will turn out pretty much the same.

If last year proved one thing it was that individual singers are the ones likely to come out on top. And if Hadise had one fault it was that the song was similar to dozens of catchy tunes and beats, which we have heard endlessly at Eurovision since Ruslana’s win for the Ukraine in 2004. So please no more Dum Tek Tek!

Čestitamo!

resaedcas — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:56:31 +0100

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