tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16942740666013936612024-03-13T04:56:57.978-07:00The Musings Of MilesWhatever I feel like writing about will be reproduced here, read on intrepid fellows.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-4364732079852653462011-12-06T13:45:00.000-08:002011-12-06T13:46:03.017-08:00A few thoughtsIn general I don’t really do being angry. I did when I was younger but then I had a spat with a close friend and almost lost him forever, it made me realise how pointless it can be.<br /><br />However last week something happened that brought that old almost forgotten feeling back to the forefront. <br /><br />From one sentence uttered by another I nearly lost control, pure fury flashed through my mind, all I wanted to do was scream at my flatmate. Fortunately I don’t really like conflict either so I didn’t shout.<br /><br />What had he said to set this quiet rebellion off inside me? He’d simply called Gary Speed a “Selfish fucker”. <br /><br />It’s an opinion I have seen banded about far too much recently, not just in relation to him but then espoused as a way to look at those who choose to end their own lives.<br /><br />“They’ve left behind a wife and family, how selfish of them, taking the easy way out” people say. <br /><br />Fortunately for me I’ve never suffered from depression. I have bouts of melancholy, but everyone does. Life isn’t always perfect. <br /><br />But I do know people who do suffer from it and I do like to try and find out what’s really going on in terms of such diseases I cannot truly understand. <br /><br />To round off my view that it is a cruel, and unimaginable torment I’ve just finished reading ‘A Life Too Short, The Tragedy of Robert Enke’. A biography of an international footballer who, like Gary Speed, took his own life. <br /><br />It’s written by a close friend, a man Enke had always said he wanted to write a book with once his career was over explaining his disease. Pieced together from personal interactions, interviews with people who knew Robert and his diaries it’s a quite extraordinary book.<br /><br />The last section, describing the last few months of Robert’s life is almost an unbearable read. He’s managed to climb out of depression a few years earlier and survived the death of his first daughter. Just when everything was looking good what is described as his ‘black dog’ is back.<br /><br />The point of this piece is not for me to lecture you on what depression does to someone. That would be quite frankly wrong of me. I have no experience of it, I have no expertise in it. All I can do is try and keep an open mind.<br /><br />The purpose of this piece is to implore you to read Ronald Reng’s book on Robert Enke. There are several moments in it where he has consulted with experts and sufferers for explanations of the most desperate actions a person can take.<br /><br />I also ask that before you call someone like Gary Speed a “selfish fucker” or jump to your own conclusions, that you bear one thing in mind. You’ve never been there, how on earth can you think you understand what was going on in his head when the best thing to do seemed to be to end it all there and then. <br /><br />Of course you can look upon that as me being incredibly patronising. I’ve never been there either, what right do I have to tell you that? None I suppose. <br /><br />Whatever you think of this give the book a read, whether you like sports or not, give some other stories of the disease a read, talk to anyone you know who has it. <br /><br />I have no idea what went through the minds of Gary Speed, of Robert Enke, or even of Dale Roberts, the former Rushden and Diamonds keeper who killed himself last year. No one except they themselves do.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-16238151582930936692011-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:002011-11-23T11:06:35.425-08:00Open and shutIt’s time for a minute’s silence, please bow your heads in reverence, after a long fight with its demons the principle of open justice is dead.<br /><br />Well, it is in Birmingham anyway. It must be, either that or they’ve redefined the word ‘public’ for the 21st century. No one told me though, one of you could have done.<br /><br />It would have made my job a lot easier, I’d just not bother turning up to court anymore, we’ll just wait for the results via post court, might as well sack hundreds of journalists as well, would save a few pounds.<br /><br />OK, this is overkill, but the battle for information inside courts and tribunals seems to be becoming harder by the day. <br /><br />For no reason other than a raft of interesting cases I have spent quite a few days in the employment tribunals building in the country’s second city recently. <br /><br />It is a completely unremarkable building from the outside, just another of Birmingham’s row after row of concrete monstrosities built in the 60s and 70s. <br /><br />Inside the walls are partitions, grey, along with the carpets, as if to suck the last will to stay awake from your body.<br /><br />Those inside it are there for some kind of justice, it’s easy to forget when inside that without this drab building those who are unfairly dealt with by companies bigger than themselves would have nowhere to make their case, no one to stand up for them.<br /><br />The problems start when you dare to try and get some information out of anyone.<br /><br />This is a place of law, a judge presides over all the hearings, it’s not some shady back room where lawyers haggle out a deal to keep everything hushed up. <br /><br />So in reality you should be able to walk up to the clerk and get the information you need. I’m not asking much, just the names of those involved. <br /><br />This is beyond the workers of the employment tribunals though.<br /><br />The very idea of being told the first name of a judge is laughed at, “no, we don’t give that detail out” is the terse reply whenever you dare to ask the question. <br /><br />A month or so ago I ventured into a tribunal where even the lawyers wouldn’t tell me their names. Even worse, the names of the witnesses were never mentioned.<br /><br />“Can we have the next witness,” the judge said. Cue the lawyer for the respondent turning round, pointing at her client to go forward. <br /><br />Off she trots up to the witness stand and is asked to give the oath and read her statement. Never is she asked to even confirm to the court who she is.<br /><br />No check, just a quick “is that your statement and have you read it” from her lawyer, nothing from the judge. I could have been reading that for all that it seemed to matter.<br /><br />My experiences that day led to the Sun, for who I was working that day, putting an official complaint in to the justice ministry, I didn’t ask them to, but they did and I’m very grateful. <br /><br />This week I’ve been back, happily this time I was able to get the names of the lawyers and the judge even checked who was actually talking to him.<br /><br />However that was all pretty irrelevant when I discovered I wasn’t even to hear the statements that the day was based around.<br /><br />Normally in a tribunal the witnesses will read out what they have to say in a pre prepared statement. Both sets of lawyers have had this for a while and ask questions around this in examination and cross-examination. <br /><br />But not this time. <br /><br />The tribunal launches straight into examination, leaving three journalists sat in the middle of everyone completely lost as to what was going on. <br /><br />Later on I asked one of the lawyers why this happened. “Most tribunals are starting to do this now, it gets things done faster,” is the reply.<br /><br />“Can I have a copy of the statements and the skeleton argument then?” I ask, quite reasonably I thought.<br /><br />“I’ll have to see about that, come back to me tomorrow and I’ll have an answer.”<br /><br />So that was that, nothing has been forthcoming from either side or the court to actually tell any members of the public what was going on. For all I know there weren’t any statements to start with and the whole thing's a sham (I'm sure it's not). <br /><br />To make matters worse this is a complex case, a pre tribunal hearing to work out if there is actually a case to answer. <br /><br />Anyone without a copy of the ‘bundle’ (tribunal speak for the evidence), which is in this case made up of six huge folders of statements, regulations and investigations, has to try and work out what’s going on from the lines of questioning. <br /><br />What’s wrong with that? Everything I say. How can you have open justice when no one knows what’s going on? How can the media keep an eye on it and report on what goes on when someone tries to stand in their way?<br /><br />It’s not just confined to tribunals either. Magistrates court clerks and ushers seem increasingly unaware that by law they have to tell a reporter the name of the Magistrates. <br /><br />“They’d rather not say, they don’t want it published” is a reply I’ve had more than once. <br /><br />Fortunately I was taught media law at university. So while I don’t have a copy of the journalists law bible, McNae, available from all good bookstores, on me I can recite the law to them explaining that they have to.<br /><br />It doesn’t always work though, and in the case of court clerks I’m talking about people trained heavily in the law to reach their position. Clerk's have a vital role in advising Magistrates if needed, they have to know what's going on. <br /><br />I once ended up sat in my car phoning the reception and explaining the law to them before I could get a simple name I was entitled to know from Worcester Magistrates court.<br /><br />How can it be that the very people we look to to make sure there is justice in this country don’t seem to know the most basic of laws? <br /><br />The justice system in Britain is built on the concept of open justice. That the public can go along to see what's going on for themselves.<br /><br />Increasingly this idea, central to everything in a court, seems be kicked to the corner.<br /><br />Talk of introducing trials without juries behind closed doors for those cases containing sensitive information terrifies me, and should terrify you as well. <br /><br />Next step away from that is a quick trip to Guantanamo bay with no chance of a trial by your piers or a summary execution soviet style, bye bye fair trials.<br /><br />Who needs open justice? You do.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-27354667752595799402011-02-04T05:23:00.000-08:002011-02-04T05:24:20.557-08:00Short, sweetSo yesterday I forged on through two more albums, only 240 to go, Ben Folds Five’s 1997 album Whatever and Ever Amen and PJ Harvey’s 2000 million seller Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea.<br /><br />Both are new to me, PJ Harvey in terms of never having bothered to see what the fuss was all about before and BFF (as I shall not moniker them) out of complete ignorance. After a little struggle to find Whatever and Ever Amen, Spotify lists it as being by Ben Folds, I pressed play without looking into what kind of music I was about to listen to. <br /><br />Not too sure how I can put my reaction, other than the fact that it made me grin. I love this record. It’s a beautifully woven piece of pop music set over a jazz piano background. It’s incredibly upbeat from the start, the hooks immediately sit nicely in the ear, never annoyingly catchy, just nice to listen to. It’s the upbeat songs that leave their mark, the ballads aren’t up to the same standard, other than the magnificent single Brick. 20 songs slipped by faster than anything so far on the list, I was hooked. <br /><br />I loved it, the only way I can get across to you what it is is to tell you to go and listen to it. Now, no your work is less important than this, go listen.<br /><br />As for PJ Harvey I’m sure if I give the album a few more tries it’ll worm its way into my brain, but after about 7 tracks I found myself wondering when it would end. I won’t rush back to have another listen I don’t really know how to describe it other than to say that in a one listen review it didn’t do enough to instantly grab me. <br /><br />(couldn’t be bothered to write more)wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-78773553811886667802011-02-03T08:58:00.000-08:002011-02-03T08:59:18.040-08:00Racing to the road.How can a multi-million pound fire snorting F1 car have any relevance to the Focus I step into every day? I doubt you’ve ever really asked yourself that, but it is the question that is plaguing those who run the sport at the moment. <br /><br />It’s a question that could hold the key to the very future of the sport. Without relevance to road technology there is no benefit to the manufacturers in taking part other than publicity, they could get more PR for a lot less money. <br /><br />Today’s tight rules have restricted the development of new technologies in F1. Previously it was the proving ground for all sorts of new technologies that are in the road cars of today. Traction control had its infancy in the early 90s, developed as a major part of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost’s championship winning Williams cars. Carbon brakes, paddle shift gearboxes, ABS, power steering and a multitude of things you take for granted began in F1.<br /><br />In 2013 the sport will have a new set of rules complete with a raft of ‘green’ technologies. On the surface they may seem to be merely a bow to the environmentalist lobby, but in reality it provides an important lure for the manufacturers that have run from F1 in recent years. Not just that, it could provide a fast development race for the technologies the car industry needs over the next decade. <br /><br />In future you can expect these technologies to filter into every day cars. Energy recovery systems from Williams are already appearing in Porsches, Mercedes has its own. These and the new efficiencies needed to get 700bhp from a 1.6 litre engine will provide the ordinary motorist with cleaner, more efficient cars in the future. It may not seem so, but the new rule changes in a billionaire’s playground may be some of the most important in motoring history.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-47816025725355501082011-02-01T03:57:00.000-08:002011-02-01T03:58:48.412-08:00Part four: insert subtitle hereI must be nuts, don’t worry, I haven’t just realised this, I realised it when I first set out on this quest to listen to 250 albums. But hey, it’s actually kinda fun. So let’s move on to album 245 on our list: Norwegian duo Röyksopp’s début album from 2001 Melody AM. <br /><br />I actually remember a few of Röyksopp’s songs fondly, which is almost a novelty so far in this list. The electronic pop they produce has been widely found on various BBC, Channel 4 and T-Mobile adverts as well as on the playlist of Radio 1. So I was interested to hear what they put out in album form.<br /><br />It starts out in a very familiar way, the two singles So Easy and Eple. It’s spooky, ethereal music, ideal for the background to whatever else you have to do. Much of the album will prick up the ears as familiar, you know you’ve heard it somewhere before but can’t place it. Sometimes that can be a bad, frustrating thing, but in the case of Melody AM it just reminds you of some beautifully crafted bit of TV, designed to be nice on the eye. The album is a thing of beauty, never crashing into your consciousness, it’s there, just playing along, soothing your mind. <br /><br />The calm is shattered slightly by the closing track 40 YearsBack/Come not because it suddenly goes all loud and in your face, but because it’s just plain eerie. It’s a chilling way to leave an album, but a very good song. The majority of the album seems a world away from having that many specific influences other than contemporaries like Goldfrapp. But at the end an 80s version of what you’ve been listening to enters your mind. <br /><br />I like it, it’s intriguing, willing you to listen again, be relaxed all over again and let it just wash over you. Give it a go.<br /><br />Next we move onto Anthony and the Johnsons’ 2005 Mercury Award winning I Am a Bird Now.<br /><br />And to be honest, I said I’d say something for every album, so for this my review is: No. Just no, it’s all lovely and high pitched and gentle but just bored me. Sorry Anthony. <br /><br />The album to grace my ears is KT Tunstall’s Eye To The Telescope. I’ve always liked what I’ve heard from the Scottish singer-songwriter, but, a bit like Röyksopp’s effort earlier it’s an album I’ve meant to listen to, but never gotten around to. <br /><br />She’s exactly what she says on the tin, a girl with a guitar. Never a style I go for normally, but I find there’s something about her music that gets me. I think it’s because it’s more up-tempo than most. Her voice isn’t the whiny annoyance that the likes of Katy Melua sell records on the back of. <br /><br />While some of the lyrics scream ‘oh why oh why did it happen to me’ the possible descent into Nora Jones territory is offset by the electric sounds that dominate the background. Vocals come from a voice you’d be happy to hear at any time while the tap along records are partnered by more acoustic sounds like the single Other Side of the World. On release The Guardian said: “Throughout, KT has enough rasp in her warm voice to give it character, and that alone provides an edge over the Joneses of the world.” I can’t help but agree.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-87565122076120444762011-01-31T04:01:00.001-08:002011-01-31T04:02:12.657-08:00Part the third, where I discover things I dislike, and things I like.Here we go again, I took the weekend off from listening to albums as part of some mental whim (in other words I went and wrote something professionally on Saturday and watched football on Sunday). So today I must update on Friday’s listening. I left my last entry on the ominous possibility of having to listen to a Slipknot album due to a lack of availability of album at 248 in our list.<br /><br />It took a few minutes to prepare myself for a first run through a Slipknot album in full. I brought up a picture of a kitten on screen, wore bright colours and switched all the lights on, just in case, and dove in headfirst. I have to say I was not disappointed, it did indeed terrify me for three-quarters of an hour. I’m not averse to the odd bit of Metal, Metallica and the old favourites like Iron Maiden are on my iPod. I even like two Slipknot songs. Unfortunately after listening to their eponymous debut my list remains stubbornly at two. <br /><br />I’m afraid to say that being screamed at for a whole album just doesn’t do anything for me. If I have anger to get out I always find more punky sounds can help me get it out (or shouting at over-paid footballers). I struggle to get past the sheer anger that it gives off, which is the whole point of the record, and therefore never found myself relaxed enough for the music to not be a focus. Normally when I listen to music I’m doing something else, if I like it it melds into the background, I’m relaxed by it, enjoying it just being there. With this album I couldn’t help but keep noticing that it was on. It drills away at your skull like an angry wasp wearing a scary clown mask. <br /><br />I can’t even pick out individual high points on the album, I’m afraid it’s just not for me. Of course what would Corey Taylor and the boys care? They’ve sold millions of records worldwide. <br /><br />I move on to number 246 in our long list, Stankonia by Outkast. Described by the music press as a ‘masterstroke’ and ‘ambitious’ this is the duo’s fourth album. A fact that surprised me I have to say, before their obscenely popular Speakerboxxx/The Love Below I could only name one Outkast track, the Grammy Award winning Ms Jackson. <br /><br />So it was with interest that I loaded Stankonia and pressed play (searched for it on Spotify and pressed enter). It’s ambitious, that’s for sure. The whole album attempts to fuse Rap with futuristic sounds. Synths and Beats dominate the album, giving the sound a very surreal effect. In a one-listen review it’s all a bit hard to take in. So much is thrown at you that I can only imagine it gets better with every listen, that you notice a new element to the mix that you didn’t the first time. <br /><br />The stand out songs are the two big singles, B.O.B. and the already mentioned Ms Jackson. The first is based on a very drum ’n’ bass rhythm, differing from most of their previous output. But they pull it off well. The song even features a gospel choir in the chorus, a fact that draws listeners in almost every time. The hugely popular Ms Jackson is full of angst, with Andre rapping about the mother of his daughter, it’s full of regret about the problems a relationship can have, and the relationship between a man and his mother in law (a theme more common from Les Dawson than an American rapper). <br /><br />I have to say it’s probably not for me, I’ll definitely give it at least one more listen, to see if I really can uncover some more of a very complex album. It’s definitely ambitious, and at times that ambition comes together to form some fantastic music. But for me it’s too skittish, never letting itself get much of a rhythm. There’s several ‘breakdowns’ that separate the album, but they don’t ever seem to come at logical points to me.<br /><br />So we move on, and finally Sugar’s 1992 UK #10 Copper Blue is ready after it’s adventure in the world of downloads. We’re back to albums I’ve never had any connection to before again with album 248. Sugar were an American band that only graced us with its presence from 1992-95. A period in which I ranged from the ages of 5-8, so it’s no surprise they are a new discovery to me.<br /><br />Their style is very much pop meats rock, and I like it. It’s very uptempo and feels shiny, which is a stark comparison to the previous albums I’ve listened to. But just below the surface it’s far from happy. Listening to it without thinking you don’t really notice anything but if you pay attention there’s much melancholy amongst the hooks and melodies. The album was picked as NME’s best album of 1992, and I can see why. <br /><br />I liked it, however I sit here afterwards with not a lot to say about it. That might actually say something about how much I enjoyed it, or that after a few songs it began to merge into one. A trait I have no problem with on an album. I shall listen again, next time I might even come out with more to say about it.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-90762069706880697032011-01-28T03:51:00.001-08:002011-01-28T03:51:42.003-08:00250 mentalism, part 2To continue this ridiculous musical quest Orbital followed Gomez yesterday, I just couldn’t be bothered to write again in the evening. Dance music and me don’t seem like an easy mix, I grew up listening to Green Day and Blink 182 and this still have a love of pop-punk overriding most of my other musical tastes. So the plunge into Orbital’s first record, Orbital, was one sort of into the unknown. <br /><br />However, I’m not averse to a bit of electronica, the likes of Simian Moblie Disco have wormed their way into my brain over the years so it wasn’t with too much trepidation that I fired up Spotify. And, guess what, I liked it. Q’s description (Proved that hardcore electronica could be popular) seems to be correct, sure it’s a constant stream of electronic beats, but it’s very listenable. It’s an oddly gentle record, beeping away in the background while you work on whatever is important in your life.<br /><br />I was a bit unsure when I saw the lengths of all the tracks, Desert Storm lasts an epic 12 minutes, but the time flew by leaving me amazed to suddenly find myself on the last track (perversely only 50 seconds long) after what seemed like no time at all. <br /><br />There are two live tracks on the UK version of the record, including Orbital’s breakthrough song chime. As it’s a dance record it’s not like hearing a raw live rock record like Green Day’s Bullet In A Bible. It’s polished, but at the same time a different version than that you’d have heard back in the infancy of the 1990s. <br /><br />So, to summing up I would recommend it to you. Hardened dance fans will probably be very familiar with it already, but those of you who’ve not ventured into the synthesised world of electronica will find this a great place to start.<br /><br />Fun Fact: Opening track The Moebius samples the Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode “Time Squared”.<br /><br />Next up would be Sugar’s 1992 album Copper Blue, however it’s not on Spotify so the wait for it to download delays its entry. So, with genuine terror I now move on to Slipknot’s self titled debut. Gulp.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-42991863487899786192011-01-27T06:52:00.001-08:002011-01-27T06:52:40.909-08:00Right, here goes nothing.If you follow me on twitter, or know me in any way, you’ll know I’m unemployed and very bored at the moment. So as part of my boredom relieving process, as well as sporadic moments of cleaning the flat, I’ve decided to listen to every album on Q Magazine’s 250 albums of the last 25 years. <br /><br />I like my music, always have done, I’m fortunate enough to like quite a wide range of music. I’m not a hardened music nut, because of that this is going to be quite an experience for me, but I’m determined to do it. I figure it might also inspire some writing as well and give me something else to do. So I’m going to try and write at least a little about each album when I’ve listened to it. I hope you feel like reading what I write. <br /><br />So here goes. The first album to tick off the list (I have made a list, it’s real) is Bring It On by Gomez. It’s an album I’m not familiar with, in fact the only thing the words ‘bring it on’ do to me is make me think of Kirsten Dunst in a cheerleading costume. The album hails from 1998, when I was 11, so it’s not overly surprising that I hadn’t indulged in it before given I didn’t really start buying CDs on any scale until I was 16. <br /><br />It’s a beautiful album, never straying above a tempo you can describe as gentle. More than one member of the band, not just in terms of backing a lead singer but who the lead is, provides the vocals. It’s a bluesy jaunt through pyschedelia at times, as if Beck had met a few clones of himself and decided to stick to one type of music. <br /><br />For me the single Whippin’ Piccadilly stands out, starting off as a jaunty acoustic number before being overwhelmed with what could almost be described as an acid trip of synthetic sounds. The album rapidly returns to the acoustic nature of the start with Make No Sound. It’s a pattern that’s repeated throughout, acoustic guitar being overlayed by synthetic sounds and jazz. While musically upbeat throughout you can feel a tinge of depression in the lyrics there’s some pain in here as well as beauty.<br /><br />I’m going to listen to it again, but this is a one-listen task in terms of reviewing so here’s where we end. Mostly cause I can’t remember any more from it. I like it, it’s a perfect Sunday afternoon record. Beautifully put together to waft you through the day.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-55044395785196699502011-01-07T08:13:00.001-08:002011-01-07T08:13:45.958-08:00Snow, bloody snow.I love snow, when it starts snowing I feel like I'm a five-year-old going out to the front of the house with the snow shovel to make a snowman. It's a glorious white happy Ben making substance, who needs cocaine?<br /><br />However when it follows Sod's Law I being to get a little bit annoyed. Don't get me wrong the skier in me is still as deliriously happy as the five-year-old, but it's jading a little when it crops up at the wrong moment every week. In this case, it's reappearing every time I want to make a journey in the car. <br /><br />I spent four hours in the centre of Birmingham going nowhere a few weeks ago, if I'd been alone I'm pretty sure I'd have gone mad and battered my way out using my Toyota Aygo as a useless battering-ram against the buses that surrounded me. Today I wish to travel down to Oundle to make the journey down to London for the Leeds v Arsenal game less of a hassle. What do I find when I wake up. Snow. Not just the snow we got when I was a kid that looked hard but never settled, leaving you feeling like you'd just had the winning lottery ticket waved in your face for a few seconds before it was snatched away. No, this snow settles, and fast. There was an inch before I could even get out there to move my car to the bottom of the hill. <br /><br />At times like this I try to take solace in the fact that those around me seem to panic. The sight of a BMW with chains only on the front wheels (it's a rear-wheel drive car) is one that fills me with amusement. That is until I remember I have to get on the roads with these people. The people who crawl along at 2 miles an hour when there isn't much snow around causing massive tailbacks. The people who try the opposite, desperately revving their engine as the wheels of their Volvo just spin and they go nowhere. It's mildly terrifying. <br /><br />So please, could we all just keep our heads today? It's not the snow that causes the chaos on the roads, it's us. The panicking, the lack of knowledge, they all lead to crashes and tailbacks. Next time it snows, just Google 'how to drive in snow' and suddenly your life will be so much easier. I promise.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-12776469460942691892010-12-23T03:52:00.001-08:002010-12-23T03:53:10.780-08:00Happy Grayson DayHappy Grayson Day everyone. <br /><br />That's foxed you hasn't it? Today is the second anniversary of Simon Grayson's tenure at Leeds United beginning and thus has been decreed (by Thom Kirwin, Yorkshire Radio's Leeds commentator) Grayson Day.<br /><br />It's been a remarkable two years for the young manager and his team, having taken over a team that was struggling badly under former Leeds captain Gary McAllister, Grayson guided them to the play offs in his first half-season in charge. Promotion followed in the second and now they sit second in the Championship on a run of nine games without a loss. <br /><br />It was an easy choice for Grayson in the winter of 2008 to take the job. Born a Leeds fan in Ripon he started his playing career at the club but would only manage to make two starts before leaving for a successful career at Leicester. When Ken Bates came calling Grayson was at Leeds before they and his former club Blackpool had managed to sort out any form of compensation. The fee for his services wasn't agreed until April of 2009. <br /><br />Nine straight defeats and a first game against the league's runaway leaders, and the club Grayson had captained into the promised land of the Premier League, Leicester meant he was thrown in at the deep end straight away. 1-0 down and looking increasingly likely to take their losing run into double figures Grayson threw Robert Snodgrass on for the last 14 minutes and the scott repaid his manager with a last minute equaliser.<br /><br />In the next 20 games the whites only lost four and charged into the play-offs on top form. Grayson had moved quickly to shore up an increasingly leaky defence with the loan additions of Richard Naylor and Sam Sodje. While big name loan of Lee Trundle never paid off Naylor and Sodje formed arguably the best defensive pairing in the division.<br /><br />The play-off defeat to Millwall was a hard pill to swallow for Leeds fans but, rather than wallow in a common post-play-off slump Leeds charged out of the blocks at the start of the next season. It all looked so good for the man they call Larry and his team. Top of the league, long unbeaten run and a cup tie against their most hated of rivals Manchester United. <br /><br />It was that cup tie that started the hardest part of Grayson's tenure at Elland Road. The team had ridden the wave for over a year, nothing could stop them. The feeling of injustice at the play-off loss had urged them on yet again into the new season. The addition of Patrick Kisnorbo proving to be yet another astute signing by Grayson. Then came the day out at Old Trafford. In the 19th minute Jermaine Beckford latched onto Jonny Howson's long ball forward and the rest was history. After years in the wilderness Leeds fans were ecstatic, their closest rivals out-played and comprehensively out-sung by a team from the third division. <br /><br />Then came the transfer request. Higher teams had long coveted the striking talents of Jermaine Beckford. The striker, plucked from a life repairing car windows, had scored more than 20 goals in every season Leeds had languished in League One. Newcastle were sniffing around and Beckford's agent knew there was more money on offer than Leeds were willing to pay. The next match against Wycombe should have been a celebratory day, a day when the fans and players rejoiced in the previous weeks victory. Instead a stunned and quiet Elland Road watched a dispirited team trudge to a 1-1 draw. Beckford may have withdrawn his request soon after but the wheels were already in motion. Leeds proceeded to loose to the likes of Exeter and Swindon, no real signs of the old team could be seen. <br /><br />Then, when the wheels were seemingly completely off Grayson pulled it out of the bag again. Since his transfer saga the talismanic Beckford's form had nosedived. It got to the point where the unthinkable happened and Grayson dropped his lead scorer, preferring to pair the energetic Max Gradel with the ever present Luciano Becchio. The two struck up a good partnership and the ship was steadied to an extent. By the time Beckford returned the team was limping its way to promotion. A 4-1 demolition of MK Dons, in which Beckford showed he was truly back, put them in pole position for the final game. <br /><br />It came down to one game, one game where four different clubs could all seal the second automatic promotion spot, each would occupy that spot at some point during the afternoon but it was Leeds who came out triumphant. Max Gradel lost his heat late in the first half and was sent off, having to be dragged from the pitch by his team-mates. Then, the moment all Leeds fans dreaded. Bristol Rovers took the lead. Another season in the third tier of English football beckoned. Grayson threw on Jonny Howson, dropped because his impact on games had diminished over the previous few months. <br /><br />In the 59th minute Becchio layed the ball off to Howson, the young Leeds fan, 25 yards out and he hit it. Thirty-seven thousand people watched as the ball flew beyond the desperate grasp of Rovers' keeper Mikkel Anderson and into the net. The comeback had started, the noise inside Elland Road went up dramatically and exploded 5 minutes later when, captain for the day, Beckford bundled the ball home for a second goal. Leeds had finally made it back into the Championship. <br /><br />The summer was a tricky one for Grayson, Beckford left for a contract at Everton, Kisnorbo was out with a bad injury suffered in a home loss to Millwall a few weeks before and his only usable left back was a central midfielder by trade. Come the start of the season a much changed side lined up against Derby in a new 4-5-1 formation. It was an up and down start to the season. Victories against Watford and Sheffield United were sandwiched between collapses against Barnsley (5-1), Cardiff (4-0) and an embarrassing 6-4 loss to Preston having been 4-1 up. There was no real problem up front but the defence was leaking far too fast. <br /><br />Loanees were brought in in the shape of George McCartney and Andy O'Brien, another who had been a Leeds fan growing up. But the real change was a change in formation. With the defence leaking so badly Grayson decided to shore it up with two defenders in an anchor role. The 4-2-3-1 formation also allowed Howson, Snodgrass and Gradel license to attack with the free-scoring Becchio. <br /><br />These four players have played a huge part in Grayson's time at Leeds, repeatedly being the players he can turn to if he needs inspiration. And thus a the current nine-game unbeaten run came about. Leeds now sit above their tormentors Cardiff in the automatic promotion spots in the Championship. The highest position they have held since relegation from the holy-land of the Premier League in 2004. <br /><br />The work is far from done, but Grayson's job has never been easy. It would be far to easy to say right now that he has been amazing and done nothing wrong, but that would be untrue. Loanees like Trundle, Lee Dickinson and Peter Capaldi have simply not been up to standard. A continuing problem with a leaky defence still troubles Leeds and the job of getting back into the top tier is far from done.<br /><br />Today he can look back at what he has done with pride, a far bigger task than the one he faced when he took over at Blackpool. The pressure of the Leeds job is immeasurably bigger. Grayson has taken Leeds a long way. The ever-faithful Leeds fans can only hope this continues.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-6320004935732972662010-12-17T06:16:00.000-08:002010-12-17T06:18:08.285-08:00Supersticious minds?I thought about writing a blog about how England were playing so well in the Ashes yesterday, all about the way the team had pulled together and shone and so many individuals had stepped up when needed. I was also going to write about how the Aussies were nothing to be scared of any more.<br /><br />I didn't, which now seems like a decent idea. The reason I didn't was superstition, I didn't want to jinx the rest of the test, although now I think I might as well have written it. <br /><br />Yes, I'm superstitious, live with it. I once said hello to a magpie, as I do every time, while walking along with a mate of mine. He looked at me as if I was mad and asked what I had just done. On explaining he was incredulous: “But you're the one with a science degree? How can you be superstitious?”<br /><br />He's right, I do have a background in science, I did physics and maths at A-level and I have a reasonably useless degree in automotive engineering sitting at home gathering dust. And yet still I can't help but retain a superstitious mind. I find myself automatically breaking off in the middle of a sentence to say “hello Magpie, how's your family” whenever I see one. The sight of two together makes me feel better about the rest of the day (a black cat crossing my path makes me positively delirious about the future). <br /><br />So how can this be? How on earth can years of learning how the world is only affected by physics make me think that simple things like that might make a difference?<br /><br />The simple answer is I don't know, all I do know is that they make me feel better. It's an unexplainable world most of the time, scientists have figured a lot of things out, but there's still a lot we do not understand. Even some of the things we do know seem incomprehensible to us. The fact that electrons can disappear and reappear somewhere else. The fact that if we know where one is we cannot know how fast it is going and vice-versa. It's very, very odd and at the same time very wonderful.<br /><br />So it's comforting in a world of unknowns to have something like that in your life. It's a routine, one you cling on to and remains constant no matter what happens. The next time a group of you are watching a sports match and one of the group says something like “we've won this now” I can guarantee that the rest of you will shush him. It's human nature.<br /><br />It's the uncertainties in life that make it more exciting sometimes, but a lot of the time they make you nervous. You don't know what's to come, and it could be bad. So we compensate by having comforting superstitions. It's like wanting to be close to your parents after something bad has happened even if you happen to be grown up. In your head you know they can't protect you fully or make things better, but it's comfortable, and they make you feel better.<br /><br />So the next time you automatically do something strangely superstitious, or see someone doing just that, remember that you do the same without knowing it. You do certain things in a certain way because that's the way you know, the way you feel comfortable with. Someone with superstitions is doing it for the same reason you put your pants on before your socks, it's what they've always done and what they will continue to do.<br /><br />It's just human, hello magpie how's your family? Nature, and in reality, in a cold world it's a nice comforting thing to see. <br /><br />(This blog was sponsored by Ian Brown's song F.E.A.R)wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-47412133627822301672010-12-13T08:15:00.000-08:002010-12-13T08:16:02.148-08:00Is life actually a bitch?Life isn't fair.<br /><br />That's what they say, life isn't fair. Is that really true? Is life not fair to any of us? Or is it just that we all look upon the things that we would prefer not to have happened as being unfair?<br /><br />I don't actually have a job at the moment, my life consists of sending out my CV to various newspapers and magazines and hoping that one of them gets back to me. I spend the rest of my time watching TV, reading up on the news and sport, and eating. At first that sounds like a fantastic life, but after about four hours its too little for me.<br /><br />For a background to this story I've just finished a journalism course and am now trying to get myself into one of the most competitive industries there is. A few of my friends have managed to find jobs, they're good, they deserve them. At times the fact that I'm sat here doing nothing starts to feel a little unfair. But is it really?<br /><br />I got a text earlier off a friend about an interview he'd just had. I'll admit that as well as feeling happy for him a small part of me was annoyed that I've not had such an experience yet. I've passed some exams that he hasn't, surely I should be there first? <br /><br />Grumpiness goes hand in hand with boredom. Of course I shouldn't have that chance, he went for it, he's got it. I'm pretty sure I didn't apply for that job, I'm also pretty sure that he's just as good at what we do as I am. In terms of reporting news he's probably better. So why do I feel annoyed?<br /><br />Because life's not fair. That's what some people would say to me.<br /><br />I'm going to take this space to declare that I'm not going to use that excuse, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I've had chances other people haven't had, I'll get chances others don't in the future. If someone else has gone out and got something why does that mean that life isn't fair for me?<br /><br />That's a problems with the world sometimes. A sense of entitlement slips into peoples minds, a sense that things should be there for them. Well they aren't, and just because they aren't doesn't mean that life is being unfair to you. There are people out their who suffer every day of their lives, they have no food, they scavenge for whatever they can get and I bet they complain less than you do if you didn't get a chance someone else got.<br /><br />So be happy, life isn't being unfair to you, it's being life. You live it, you're blessed to have a life and if you're privileged enough to be able to use the internet and therefore read this you've got a pretty blessed life indeed.<br /><br />Life is fair, it just happens to be different dependent on your circumstances.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-22909368364195562272010-08-03T10:25:00.000-07:002010-08-03T10:33:40.686-07:00Thoughts on a mid life crisis<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 14"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CBen%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><link rel="themeData" 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margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">As a Damon Hill fan, and a Williams fan to boot, I’m going to try and write this as objectively as I can, but forgive me if from time to time I go a little far with my condemnation.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Despite my personal favouritism I was as excited as anyone to see Michael Schumacher return to the sport at the start of the season. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I watched Michael dominate F1 for the best part of a decade, no matter what you thought of him you’d have to be the most biased person in the world not to admit that he was the best out there. No one could touch him and, even though the car was undoubtedly better than the rest, at times he did things that left you open mouthed.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Michael was so good that after 2004 F1 changed its own rules to reduce the advantage that a win gave to try and rein him in. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If you don’t know the story, or don’t remember, the elder of the Schumacher brothers won 12 of the first 13 races of that season, winning the championship with an unprecedented 4 races left.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now he’s back - and with him came a whirlwind of excitement and media coverage. Unfortunately what also returned was the dark side of his career.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Michael may have been great - but no one could objectively deny that his conduct was at times questionable and on occasions downright dirty.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Whether he cheated to win the 1994 title when he collided with Damon Hill is a matter for another occasion, but his complete disqualification from the 1997 championship - after ramming Jaques Villeneuve - is an undeniable low point.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This weekend however he challenged that.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The spotlight is on Schumacher perhaps more this season than at any time previously - and it cannot be said that he’s brought his top form to the championship.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Numerous manoeuvres have been questionable when <span style=""> </span>defending positions - after the Canadian grand prix he was condemned by BBC commentator Martin Brundle as having had the worst weekend of his career.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On Sunday he was again in a poorly handling Mercedes, on old tyres, but this time he had his former team mate (and often team bitch) behind him. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rubens was on fresh tyres and a place away from a point, but, more importantly to him, one overtake away from some small payback for the years of perceived injustice at Ferrari at Michael’s hands.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There was no way that Rubens wasn’t going to go for the gap that opened up in front of him when Michael lost the rear end exiting the final turn at the twisty Hungaroring. There’s only one overtaking opportunity on the whole lap, and this was it.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Rubens charged into the gap to the inside of the seven times champion, quite rightly taking the inside line into the next corner - what he didn’t expect was that gap to disappear with him inside it.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some may claim that Rubens went into a gap that was too small, some can claim he was at fault for crossing the white line. However, video evidence will show that the gap was big enough when he entered it, and big enough when he was almost fully alongside.
<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/5700/5753.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 394px; height: 233px;" src="http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/5700/5753.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rubens Barrichello squeezes past Michael Schumacher on Sunday
<br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Michael at the time was clearly watching his mirrors like a hawk and squeezed his former helper towards the concrete retaining wall of the pit lane. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Millions watched as Rubens came within five centimetres of an almighty accident, not only was the wall there, and very solid, but had anyone been exiting the pits at the time the consequences would have been unthinkable.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Michael is a winner, and will go to any length to do so. However with all his ‘chops’ at starts and questionable collisions with championship contenders in slow corners he had never put an opponent in such a life threatening situation before.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After he had calmed down, and the adrenaline had subsided, even he himself admitted that he had been wrong.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This season is putting an ever increasing black mark over his glittering career. While no single season can ruin a reputation that includes 91 victories - it will leave a bad taste in the mouth if he continues to drive this way.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">He is obviously having problems with adjusting to the new car and tyres - but rather than turning to desperation when trying to keep a meagre position he should perhaps be trying to concentrate on his own driving. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The lack of testing will hit the hardest on someone used to a different F1 - one of high downforce and low mechanical grip - and he needs to be using every moment he has getting used to racing, rather than endangering those around him with stupid driving.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What we need to see is the Schumacher of old - the one we watched and wondered why he wouldn’t just go away because our guys couldn’t get close. The one you had to admire, even if you hated yourself for it.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">What we don’t need is a maniac in a high powered open wheel sports car causing the sort of accident Chris van der Drift suffered at Brands Hatch this weekend. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’d like to see him up front, giving people like Hamilton something to remember - a challenge, and the ability to say they raced against THE Michael Schumacher. At the moment all we’ve got is a frustrated middle aged man living out his crisis on track endangering others. It cannot go on too much longer.<o:p></o:p></p> wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-49821331513590228482009-10-11T10:58:00.001-07:002009-10-11T10:59:38.160-07:00Who's killing the hydrogen fuel cell?<div id=":w5" class="ii gt"><p>In 2006 Chris Paine asked Who Killed the Electric Car? Well never mind that, how about asking why is the electric car killing cleaner technology?</p> <p>There are many ways to power a vehicle, the Internal Combustion Engine is the mainstay of the motor industry due to it's simplicity. Over the years other methods have been tried by governments wishing to create a new generation of military vehicle. They have even experimented with Nuclear powered cars but the enduring dream has been the electric car. Especially in these newly environmentally friendly times people want new methods of powering cars. </p> <p>The government and environmental campaigners love the electric car. It looks great for a politician to be seen next to a car with 'zero emissions'. They're wonderful and clean, none of that nasty pollution out of the back of one of these. Of course what they never mention is where the electricity to power them comes from. They sound environmentally friendly so they must be the saviours of the world.</p> <p>What they're not pointing out is where the electricity your little G-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Wiz</span> is currently sucking in comes from. It has to be generated somehow. In this and many countries most mains electricity comes from coal or gas fired power stations. An electric car can only really be 'clean' if governments would fully commit to Nuclear and Renewable energy sources but, of course, they won't.</p> <p>Not only are all the G-Wiz's around London not reducing the amount of Carbon-Dioxide we produce drastically, they are unsafe. In 2007 the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">BBC's</span> Top Gear magazine carried out an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">NCAP</span> style test on one. Upon completion it took over half an hour to extricate the test dummy, which came out in three separate parts. </p> <p>Last year Honda revealed it's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">FCX</span> Clarity. A car that runs on a Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Hydrogen reactions have been known to man since long before Karl Benz even though to put an Internal Combustion Engine in an automobile. Fuel cells work by reacting Hydrogen and Oxygen in the same way that a battery works. However, in this case the chemicals involved are constantly flowing into the cell so it cannot 'die' like a battery. It's like having a power station on board your G-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Wiz</span>.The only difference to strapping a coal powered station to your car, other than weight, is that the only by product of this reaction is fresh water. </p> <p>The clarity is not just some pipe dream of a concept car only to be released possibly in 20 years time. It has gone into circulation already. Last year Honda made it available for customers to lease in California, where a hydrogen network had been set up to provide fuel. Honda expects to rent out at least 200 over three years across the US and Japan.</p> <p>Honda's work shows that the technology is not a flight of futuristic fancy, it's genuinely usable now. All that is needed is for governments to get behind research into a technology that is genuinely good for the environment rather than placating the environmental lobby with ultimately empty gestures.</p> </div>wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-89354436508973716832009-09-10T06:35:00.000-07:002009-09-10T07:13:33.594-07:00F1's sticky situation<span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">"I confirm the meeting with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Piquet</span> on Sunday morning, but nothing like that was ever talked about."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">F. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Briatore</span><br /><br /></span>"It's true, during the Sunday meeting with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Piquet</span> the </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">issue of deliberately causing a SC deployment came up, but it was proposed by <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Piquet</span> himself" P. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Symonds</span></span><br /></span><br />It's a simple matter for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">FIA</span> now of who to believe. Nelson <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Piquet</span> Jr, who is accusing the Renault F1 team of colluding with him to cause a crash at the right point in the race to hand the win to Fernando Alonso. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Flavio</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Briatore</span> who admits a meeting took place but claims the issue was never discussed (or did last time anyone may have heard from him). Pat <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Symonds</span> who claims the issue was brought up but only by the driver himself and was rejected by the team.<br /><br />If <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Flavio</span> is to be believed then Renault are the victims of a bitter former driver looking for payback. This seems the most logical choice initially, but then you remember than Nelson <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Piquet</span> (the father of the driver in question and three time world champion) was the man who made the initial claim, not his son. Nelson is not a man to stake his reputation on a lie. Then we have the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Symonds</span> version. To believe this we must also believe that a team who new that a deliberate crash was in their drivers mind then saw him crash and thought nothing of it. The whole right rear corner of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Nelsinho's</span> car was destroyed. Not a cheap matter by any stretch of the imagination. So why was he not sacked if the team had reason to believe he had willfully destroyed one of their cars. Not only that but should it come out that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Piquet</span> had carried out his plan, say nearly a year later, the teams name would be dragged through the mud and their reputation left in tatters.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Piquet_2008_Singapore_GP.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 359px; height: 537px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Piquet_2008_Singapore_GP.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />No matter what the result of the investigation into the events surrounding Fernando Alonso's surprise win at Singapore last September the implications for the sport have to be massive. This isn't just a crash changing the outcome of a race, this is a team conspiring internally to endanger the lives not only of it's own drivers but the rest of the drivers on the grid. This is a team attempting to artificially engineer a situation in which their driver would win a race with little effort.<br /><br />The name of F1 has already been dragged through the mud enough over the last few years. The acrimony of Fernando Alonso's time at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">McLaren</span>. The '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">spygate</span>' scandal involving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">McLaren</span> (again) having a dossier on Ferrari's car in their possession. Renault being accused of the same crime involving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">McLaren</span> data. Max Mosley's penchant for S&M. The threatened <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">FOTA</span> breakaway leading to the potential ousting of Mosley from his position at the head of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">FIA</span>, the sports governing body. The lying scandal that hit the Australian Grand <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Prix</span> when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">McLaren's</span> Davey Ryan and Lewis Hamilton lied to the stewards to gain a position after the race. The penalty given to Lewis Hamilton, rightly or wrongly, at Spa in 2008. Over the last few years F1 has become a laughing stock, riddled with scandal at every turn. Now, just as the sport seems finally in harmony, we are hit by what could be perceived as the worst scandal yet. Anybody who thought the worst was over should shove their head back into the sand again for a while.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/bria_symo_rena_bahr_2008_470150.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 470px; height: 150px;" src="http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/bria_symo_rena_bahr_2008_470150.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The perception outside of the F1 community and it's fans is already that it's a rich mans play world. The fact that they all appear to be dishonest just goes further to disillusioning any 'floating fans' who might have felt alienated by the events they've seen unfold. The '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">crashgate</span>' saga (as it stereotypically must be called now) brings a huge amount of media attention back onto F1, this attention will for a while boost TV audiences baying for a scandal. In the long run people are going to look at F1 and think 'Why should I watch that? Their all dishonest anyway'. Personally I pray that it didn't happen, I hope that despite the evidence mounting against Renault it comes out that Nelson <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Piquet</span> was just a bitter father who'd seen his son rejected and an investment of millions come to nought. F1 will survive this scandal, but it will take a long time to recover the confidence of it's audience.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-40712039490964873552009-09-06T11:22:00.000-07:002009-09-06T12:06:49.187-07:00The stream that changed F1It's a small stream running through the Liege region of Belgium. In the whole of it's 15km length the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Eau</span> Rouge stream has no remarkable features and is of no significance in the geological world. Yet utter those two French words to anyone who's ever seen a motor race and they will evoke feelings that even words like Senna struggle to produce. Below is a picture of the stream to demonstrate just unremarkable it is:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121228853137_508478137_2452712_1362402_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 337px;" src="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121228853137_508478137_2452712_1362402_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Picturesque? Yes. A nice place to be? Yes. One of the most famous names in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">motorsports</span>? You bet.</span><br /></div><br />Of course it's not the stream itself that brings the fame, but the landscape that it has carved through the woodlands that make the name famous. The area around it is a valley carved out of the mountainsides over thousands of years. Allowing for a wooded area to be transformed into possibly the most stunning location an F1 car has driven round for many a year. Of course given that there are numerous towns and villages in the area there had to be roads built to get about. These <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">criss</span>-crossed the area in the early part of the 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">th</span> century forming an almost perfect triangle between the towns of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Francorchamps</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Malmedy</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Stavelot</span>, so, humans being humans, people had to have a race. The circuit that was created was one of the fastest and most dangerous in the world. However, all the track did around the annoying stream it had to cross was loop round in a slow section called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Ancienne</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Douane</span>. However in 1939 the organisers decided to use a short cut that swept up the valley giving the circuit a much better flow. I doubt they realised they icon they had just created.<br /><br />The corner, existing now in the same form it has since 1939, is the first point after the start finish straight at which the circuit crosses the stream. It is approached on a steep decline down the side of the valley from the La Source hairpin (in itself an evocative name). The cars <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">launch</span> over the stream into a massive compression as they flick to the left, bottoming out as they are launched up the other side of the valley at 180mph. They then navigate the ferocious <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Radillon</span> corner (strictly speaking '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Eau</span> Rouge' is only the left flick at the bottom) arching back to the right before hurling themselves to the left over the blind summit.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.f1mag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/eau_rouge2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 259px;" src="http://www.f1mag.nl/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/eau_rouge2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Main reason for the awe inspired by the group of corners is simply the gradient. It is not only the steepest gradient in F1 but comes after a descent that would seem steep were it not for it's position. The combination of the two creates forces not seen elsewhere in F1. The car is pulled downwards by gravity whilst being forced upwards by the gradient. The driver is flung to the right, left and then back to the right again whilst undergoing all this. The cars 'bottom out' as they go beyond the limit of their suspension travel and the whole chassis contorts under the enormous loads its being put under. The forces involved are mind boggling. Nowadays the corner is easily flat out in an F1 car, but the knowledge of this doesn't fit with the sounds you hear as the cars tackle it. Purely due to the gradient the cars decelerate up the slope. That's more than 800 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">bhp</span> being reigned in purely by gravity. Astonishing.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121235088137_508478137_2452779_8346893_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 255px;" src="http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121235088137_508478137_2452779_8346893_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">F1's stars of tomorrow tackle <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Radillon</span><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span><br />The impact that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Eau</span> Rouge section has on people is massive. Walking round the circuit for the first time people immediately plan when they are going to see <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Eau</span> Rouge. If you walk from the Les <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Combes</span> entrances clockwise round the circuit your first glimpse of the area is from the Bus Stop area. It's not of the track, just a view of the tree line across the valley taking a sudden, noticeable dip. People who come to this area for the first time point across the valley. No matter where they're from it sets the pulse racing. The problem with writing about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Eau</span> Rouge is that words and pictures can never, ever, do it justice. Not one bit. The gradient is steeper than any picture shows it to be. The speeds cars go through there is just mind boggling and the blindness (if that's a word) of the crest of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Radillon</span> is unbelievable. Don't believe me? How about Fernando Alonso?:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">"You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change [of direction] at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake. But it is also an important corner for the driver's feeling. It makes a special impression every lap, because you also have a compression in your body as you go through the bottom of the corner. It is very strange - but good fun as well."</div><br />Meanwhile below all this, the stream keeps on its gentle way through the mountains, none the wiser of it's lasting impact.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div></div>wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-83855546348146824952009-09-03T12:15:00.000-07:002009-09-03T12:42:50.163-07:00So that was Spa? To say it lived up to expectations would not do it justice at all. The place is something else from the moment you arrive. When on a coach you're sent off on what is deemed to be a shorter route... through a tiny village on a hillside. The village it turns out is also the coach car park. This after you've spent at least an hour going down a single track lane through the woods from the main motorway.<br /><br />As you walk up to the entrance all you can hear is the cars, not because of proximity but simply because of the location of the track. It's set right on the hillsides around the small stream of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Eau</span> Rouge, a name that almost dwarfs that of the track with it's significance. The hillsides steep gradient amplifies the already mesmerising sound, filling the adjacent valley and heightening the sense of excitement as you approach. If you head to your left as you approach your sense of excitement will only be heightened as you find your way blocked by orange jacketed officialdom unless you posses a gold ticket. The tunnel under the track is the only way for you to go, so you can still hear the cars but again your view is blocked, so under you go, into a small area surrounded by fellow fans all rushing to get toward the viewing areas. Then, suddenly, there it is. You're stood looking down on the cars below you as your first glimpse is from about 30 feet above the track. No other track I have been to puts you in this position. You're stood on the edge of a cliff looking down on the track, with people in front of you who have been there for hours. It's not just a track, newer tracks like Valencia the week before do not offer this kind of experience. This is before you've even approached the well known areas, this is an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">un</span>-named corner between <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Rivage</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Pouhon</span>. That's the brilliance of Spa. Everywhere has something to offer, I didn't find myself at a single spot where there wasn't either an amazing view of the track or something unique.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs247.snc1/9422_121222823137_508478137_2452618_609974_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 604px; height: 453px;" src="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs247.snc1/9422_121222823137_508478137_2452618_609974_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Perched on the edge of the path you get a great view of the cars<br /></div><br />So the First impressions are good, but that's nothing yet. Wander a little further and your at what the drivers say is one of the most difficult corners in the world; the double <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">apexed</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Pouhon</span>. A corner approached by both cars and fans down a steep hill, it has a massive spectator bank to the right and trees obscuring the rest of the corner to the left. The cars dive into a cauldron cocooning them between fans and failure, desperately attempting to judge the one downshift that will be the only thing that slows them through the corner. A couple of seconds late and they'll hit the corner too fast, to early and the electronics on the gearbox override the order to change down. Yet again the setting of the circuit causes the atmosphere to be electric. People are perched on the top of the bank in chairs 4 deep but at the back you can still see perfectly. Meanwhile thousands more are sat on the steep bank, often dug in with mini shovels. Behind them Sausages and Hamburgers are being served <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">alonside</span> Waffles and Beer. The whole atmosphere is intoxicating. You can hear the cars straining against their gearboxes during the crucial change whilst turning and you feel a part of the whole experience.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121222873137_508478137_2452628_672900_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 604px; height: 453px;" src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs267.snc1/9422_121222873137_508478137_2452628_672900_n.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nico <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Rosberg</span> Attempts to get <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Pouhon</span> right</span> </div><br />You can spectate on almost every part of the track with a general admission pass, in the next part of this post I'll talk about the Qualifying experience pressed up against the fence on the entrance to the bus stop...wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-15724421863983478392009-08-25T09:32:00.000-07:002009-08-25T10:12:28.822-07:00My kind of Spa<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It's magic, it really is. I haven't even got within a day of setting off for my first visit and I'm already excited. What do you expect? Since I was about 11 I've wanted to go to Spa to witness the Belgian GP. It's amazing that a small country in the north of Europe can have produced such an evocative race track.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Those who have only witnessed motor racing on T</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">V have never quite experienced the full reality of what makes it wonderful. Spa is one of those places where that wonder is magnified. Firstly at any race there's the sight, a TV camera does not do anything justice. The direction changes and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">sp</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">eeds</span> have to be seen in real life when it comes to the higher end of the spectrum. For example a Le Mans Prototype looks like it's trundling along like you or I down the A605 when on TV. Stand next to the Hanger straight and it's nothing like it, 170mph looks amazing, it just does.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That speed isn't there on it's own remember, each car is hurtling past you on its way round but a silent race would not be the same. The sound and feeling of a car going past is something else. The sound of an F1 car as it screams past is diluted on TV, it's not a painfully loud sound (In fact the M25 is harder to listen to), but it is an awesome sound. It fills the air around you channeled by whatever fencing may be around the track, echoing of surrounding buildings. The rumble of the sound waves is felt as well. In the pit of your stomach the sound builds into a vibration that digs into you, ensuring that that sound is not just all around you. That sound is entering you. You become a part of what is going past in a way that nothing else can produce. All the while your eyes are being assaulted by the cars going past and your nose is picking up the scent of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">motorsports</span>.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The smell of a race meeting can't be found by a normal road. It's something far more wonderful. A heady mix of race fuel, oil, tyre smoke and whatever is around you. If you don't like it then don't bother with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">motorsports</span>. It may only be a smell, but that smell is as big a part of your experience as what you are seeing. This is all an almost indescribable effect, each of your senses is being stimulated. No other spectator sport does that for you, you certainly don't get it sat in front of the TV.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All of this happens at every race track, but some are more special than others. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:100%;" >Spa-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Francorchamps</span> is as much a part of F1 as Ferrari, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">McLaren</span> and Williams. It's been there since the 20's in it's various forms. The modern day circuit, though undoubtedly one of the best in the world, is still but a shadow of it's former self. Neutered for safety it still has corners that strike fear and excitement into the heart of any racing drivers.<br /></span><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Spa-Francorchamps_overview.jpg/800px-Spa-Francorchamps_overview.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 426px; height: 319px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/Spa-Francorchamps_overview.jpg/800px-Spa-Francorchamps_overview.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The modern Spa Circuit<br /></div><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:100%;" ><br />Originally set between the Belgian villages of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Francorchamps</span>,</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Malmedy</span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Stavelot</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> the circuit was a fearsome 15km monster snaking it's way through the Belgian forests. Before it was reduced for safety reasons it contained the fearsome <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Mastah</span> kink, an incredible high speed left right kink that was crucial to the lap. It was this section that lead to the old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">circtuits</span> downfall. One particularly gruesome story from the 1972 24hrs race gives an idea of why the circuit had to be changed: During a pit stop during the night <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">HJ</span> Stuck shouted to his co-driver <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Jochen</span> Mass to tell him to 'watch out for body parts at the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Mastah</span> kink'. Mass arrived upon the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">schene</span> expecting to find bits of car, but instead discovered it was in fact bits of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Marshall</span>.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The new <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">circuit</span> hasn't lost much of it's ancestors qualities though, barely 2 years after F1 returned to the track it claimed the life of Stephan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Bellof</span> in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">sportscar</span> crash. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Eau</span> Rouge, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Blanchiment</span> and La Source are the only parts remaining of the old circuit. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Eau</span> Rouge is perhaps the most <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">famous</span> corner in the world. A high speed left-right-left up a steep incline over a blind crest it is one of the most challenging corners for any driver to master. Until 2000 it was still possible to drive a large portion of the track as public roads. If you really need more proof that this is one of the best <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">circuits</span> around then perhaps Micheal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Schumacher</span> can persuade you:</span><br /><br /></span> <p style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255); font-style: italic;">"It is without doubt the best circuit in the world," <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Schumacher</span> says. "The kind of atmosphere you get at Spa is something akin to the old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Nurburgring</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cir-056.html"></a>. It is the only place which still has this quality and atmosphere. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Eau</span> Rouge is really the most tremendous corner. It is like flying downhill and seeing a big mountain in front of you. You get the feeling that you are driving into the road and then you go up and it is a sensation which is probably the best you can experience and the most satisfaction you can have as a racing driver."</p><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Spa is motorsports at it's best, I hope that I can convey </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:100%;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">at least some of what makes it so fantastic over the next week.</span></span></span>wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-58990377101341222222009-04-23T08:00:00.000-07:002009-04-23T08:38:20.500-07:00Sympathise for victims of points deductions? Not likelyI'm a Leeds United fan, in case you didn't know. So the sight of many league clubs being deducted points over the last couple of seasons hasn't exactly filled me with sadness. Upon Leeds United appealing the 15 point deduction they received for exiting admin without a CVA (company voluntary agreement) in place they were ordered in front of an appeals court made up not of impartial lawyers or the board of the FL, but their fellow football league clubs chairmen. Hardly the height of impartiality. I'm by no means being bitter, after our second appeal was thrown out it emerged that we had no right to appeal and the deduction was never going to be lifted, rather than being the victims of injustice, we were the victims of our own chairman, but I digress.<br /><br />Upon appearing in front of their peers only a select few agreed that the punishment was harsh. This may have at the time seemed to be a decision impacting upon one club, but, several of the clubs who voted against the appeal have found themselves in the same position recently. Over the time period after the appeal several reports of who voted for Leeds came out, with most of them agreeing on who the clubs were. Out of those rumoured clubs only Darlington have found themselves in a position to be deducted points, for them alone I have sympathy. For the others it seems like they shot themselves in their collective feet with the decision they made in August 2007.<br /><br />The reason I find myself writing about this is the plight of Southampton that was announced today. They have entered administration and will receive a ten point deduction, when that is applied depends on where they finish in the league. Should they be relegated without they deduction it will be held over till next year, but, should they manage to finish above the bottom three the deduction will be applied there and then possibly forcing them into relegation. This though is a different deduction to the one the clubs debated 19 months ago, however it does lead one to wonder if they, or rather their administrators, will be more thorough in the way they handle the exit from admin. Should they come out with a proper CVA in place they will receive no extra punishment. It has not always been that straightforward for clubs though in recent years.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.saint.org/blog/uploaded_images/saints-logo-southampton-fc-701293.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 241px;" src="http://www.saint.org/blog/uploaded_images/saints-logo-southampton-fc-701293.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Southamptons fall from grace rivals that of Leeds</span><br /></div><br />Other than Leeds deduction Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham (none of whom were on the rumoured list of pro Leeds voters) have faced a large deduction at the start of a season after a period under the stewardship of the administrators. None of those clubs came out with a CVA in place and as such faced the dread 15 (or in this case now 17) point deduction. This deduction, along with a separate one for some underhand dealing with agents in the past, has relegated Luton Town out of the Football League. They will therefore come up against my other team Rushden and Diamonds. Will I show them and their captain Kevin Nicholls (who enraged Leeds fans by trying to bail out of the relegation battle and return to Luton whilst captain of Leeds United) and sympathy? No is the simple answer. They voted for these punishments and have had to face their own consequences. I'm angry at those at Leeds who have brought us into administration multiple times and caused a fall from grace that television commentators delight in pointing out every time the whites appear play live on TV, and have no sympathy for any football club in the league that spends beyond its means.<br /><br />Boston United were kicked out of the Football Conference a couple of years back having failed to come out of administration before a deadline (this after being relegated straight past the Conference National to the Conference North for their financial situation. Imagine the outcry if the FL took the same stance as the Conference board to this kind of situation?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.footballconference.co.uk/images/blusqu_premtag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 52px;" src="http://www.footballconference.co.uk/images/blusqu_premtag.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Outside of the league punishments are harsher<br /></span></div><br />So I say do not complain about 'unjust' deductions. Remember these clubs (not their fans) brought it upon themselves with the decisions they made in the past. Think of Boston and the deaths of Halifax and Scarborough and remember that those in the League get off lightly in comparison. Bitter Leeds fan? No Leeds United got a points deduction that was in the rules, other clubs should remember where those rules were affirmed.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-27060325390943411282009-03-05T06:12:00.000-08:002009-03-05T06:43:37.239-08:00Want to run a football club?Do you feel you could do a better job than your current chairman? There are a legion of fans of various clubs that believe that the fans should own the club they support. Over the years I've managed to experience this at Rushden when Max Griggs (who formed our club) could no longer afford to run the club and handed it over to the Supporters trust, along with a generous donation to keep the club running for the next couple of seasons.<br /><br />Safe to say it was a bit of a disaster. The fans had hoped for a more openly run club, but it ended up feeling like a closed system, the people who ran the club did not communicate well with those they represented. Even worse the club proved not to be financially viable in the state that it had been inherited and those who were installed on the board did not have the knowledge to bring the club onto a more steady footing. This lead to the club teetering close to the brink after relegation out of the league. Fortunately for us we had a saviour come along in the form of Keith Cousins and the club is now run better and in a better state financially.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thediamondsfc.com/javaImages/77/69/0,,10784%7E551287,00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 288px;" src="http://www.thediamondsfc.com/javaImages/77/69/0,,10784%7E551287,00.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Billy Sharpe: One of the few good things to happen under the trust at Rushden</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div><br />While those who had a go at running the club obviously did a valiant job it showed that unless you have the knowledge to run a football club you shouldn't rush into owning one. A large group of Liverpool fans wish to purchase their club believing they would be able to turn into into some kind of fans utopia, with a completely transparent system of running the club. Problem is nothing in football is transparent. In fact it probably goes for every sport but most prominently Football is a closed community, dodgy dealings with agents occur every season and we don't truly know the extent of how deals are hammered out. Some deals need to be kept secret at least for a period of time in order to stop those involved pulling out, and in the case of some high paid players to avoid them the embarrassment of their true salaries becoming public.<br /><br />In Spain many of the top clubs have been owned by the fans for a long time, but they have well established ways of running the clubs and those who are elected to run the clubs have helpers around them and are mostly used to running businesses thus allowing them to integrate into running a club easily. Even at those clubs there is little transparency for the fans, all transfers end up surrounded by huge amounts of secrecy and the finances of the club are not fully known. It's all necessary in the world of football. Even the latest football club run by members of the public, Ebbsfleet United, is now struggling. They were taken over by MyFC last year and are run in a revolutionary way, with members having a say in the running of the team as well as they club, but this is now unraveling as those who paid their £35 initially seem to be reluctant to renew their subscription and the club is struggling to get a budget for the next year together.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.oreillygmt.co.uk/images/2008/05/12/myfc_logo.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.oreillygmt.co.uk/images/2008/05/12/myfc_logo.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">MyFC looked to revolutionise the way clubs are run<br /></span></span></div><br /><br />The idea of creating a club truly for the fans is a far fetched one these days, even those who believe that FC United of Manchester is truly open are living in denial. One day it may happen, but in this day and age the idea is just not realistic.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-43036578842298974232009-02-22T09:12:00.000-08:002009-02-22T11:29:01.694-08:00The sadness of 9Your football team doesn't win 9-0 very often, I can guarantee that no matter who you support. The last time it happened to my memory was Dagenham's humiliation to Hereford back in the 2003/4 season. In normal circumstances I would be using this blog to lord it over any readers who's club failed to score more than a paltry six goals over the weekend. This time though the situation does not allow for that. On Friday night Weymouth informed their first team players that they were free to look for other clubs if they had an offer, they also could not afford the insurance to play those who remained. This forced them to field their youth team, and unfortunately answer those who on clubs message boards question whether fielding the youth team would do better than the uncaring overpaid Prima Donna's who are under achieving in the first team.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thediamondsfc.com/javaImages/e8/9/0,,10784%7E5376488,00.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 447px; height: 295px;" src="http://www.thediamondsfc.com/javaImages/e8/9/0,,10784%7E5376488,00.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Man of the match Domo Pulls off another save</span><br /></div><br />Weymouth's youngsters will have walked out onto the pitch at the Wessex stadium full in the knowledge that they faced the seemingly impossible. To describe what followed as men against boys would be unfortunately apt. Rushden found the target 16 times, with nine of them finding their way past man of the match Domo. The very fact that the 16 year old Domo was man of the match said it all about the Professional way the Diamonds went about their task. It almost seems cruel the way it ended but had, as some have suggested, Andy Burgess and co got to three goals and then spent the rest of the match passing it around it would have been surely worse for their young opponents. Despite the cruel scoreine Weymouth fans had a lot of praise for all but one of the visiting team. Dale Roberts; Rushdens young keeper, applauded every save that his opposite number pulled off, and ran over to congratulate him at the final whistle. The fans all gave the youngsters a standing ovation come the end of the match.<br /><br />This was a sad moment for the home fans, but there is always a good side to everything. For Rushden this should give a much needed confidence boost after the upheaval of Garry Hill's resignation, and having not won since the game against Northwich in 2008. For Weymouth it has highlighted their plight to a much greater audience than before, their messageboard has been inundated by football fans from all across the country wishing them well and their appeals to raise money have had their takings dramatically improve. The youngsters will learn from this, they will gradually get stronger as the games pass and shouldn't lose by that margin every week.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://terras-talk.co.uk/soc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 39px;" src="http://terras-talk.co.uk/soc.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >Weymouth fans are trying to help raise the 300k needed to pay off debts</span><br /></div><br />There is nothing pleasurable about a football club going out of business, and there are all too many clubs in a perilous situation in the Blue Square premier. Northwich have just got back into her ground having been locked out two months ago, York are in a lot of debt and rumours abound about many of the other clubs. People focus on those league clubs going into administration, but drop out of the league and you can see that clubs are in much much more trouble. Action needs to be taken, the result yesterday sparked interest, I just hope it can spark action.wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1694274066601393661.post-71835539108015860062009-02-10T08:41:00.001-08:002009-02-10T08:47:15.655-08:00The end of the spectre of relegation
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New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">The Super League is not an English competition; it has never been so from its inception. It began in 1996 as Super League (Europe) with Paris Saint Germain contesting the first season. When they went by the wayside the only teams left in were English. The problem was that there was not a high enough level of Rugby League being played across the rest of the continent for a team to make its way into the highest league available in the northern hemisphere. This was rectified by the introduction of Catalans Dragons in 2006; they were given a three year protection against relegation to make sure that they had time to establish themselves as a top level team. The move was made in order to help the spread of the more flowing code of rugby better into other countries than England and the Antipodes. There is no doubting that the sport needs to grow, the world cup last year was a pitiful showing of how little recognition the sport has across the world. Bringing Catalans into the Super League cemented the growth into southern France, but the growth would have dwindled had the team been relegated in their first season. The main attraction to Catalans has to be that they are playing in the top competition in the Northern Hemisphere (and if the World Club Challenge is anything to go by the best in the world). They started off life in the Super League fielding a large amount of players seeking refuge from down under but their continued presence in the Super League has allowed them to bring through a larger number of native players helping spread the appeal of the sport even more amongst the residents of that part of the world. Had they been relegated straight off there is little chance that the crowds would have remained, this would have lead to a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to the demise of a promising Rugby club.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:rYyCUyNaTUBAxM:http://www.therugbyleaguewebsite.co.uk/images/salfordcitylogo.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 107px;" src="http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:rYyCUyNaTUBAxM:http://www.therugbyleaguewebsite.co.uk/images/salfordcitylogo.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Salford return to what is probably their home at the top table of League</span></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So we come to 2009 and Super League XIV kicks off with 14 teams in it for the first time. The choice of teams to add was controversial but the main issue was the elimination of relegation and promotion to and from the Super League. The example of Catalans is ideal to show why this is a good idea, the new clubs are being given time to establish themselves into competitive Super League clubs. Crusaders especially need time as they are a young club from a country outside the usual spectrum of League, they have the opportunity to establish the sport in Wales, a country steeped in rugby tradition but still untouched by the other code. If they were relegated now their chance of gaining a foothold would be lost, but it’s not only they who will benefit. Salford, a once great club fallen on hard times, and even Castleford will now be given the opportunity to improve themselves. Being a guaranteed top flight club means they are more likely to be able to attract top class players, as a result the whole league will benefit as the standard of rugby will go up as a result.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.leagueunlimited.com/image.php?imageid=2539"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 112px; height: 112px;" src="http://www.leagueunlimited.com/image.php?imageid=2539" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crusaders begin their first ever season at the top Flight in 09</span>
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Over in America they have no concept of what promotion or relegation is, looking to American Football, all teams in the NFL play at the highest level of the sport. There is no chance of a small team fighting their way into the top flight and suddenly finding themselves well out of their depth, as Leigh did in the Super League in 2005. The players are all at the top level of their sport and crowd interest is consistently high. For whom has promotion and relegation worked out for in the Super League over the last fourteen years? It’s not those clubs who have slipped out of the top flight that they would once have expected to be in without a doubt, clubs like Widnes. It’s the big clubs, the Rhino’s, Bulls and Saints of this world. They find themselves with easy points every year in a round that might as well not be played, these games have attracted lower crowds due to the knowledge that the level of sport on show would be lower. Without the stigma of being a club who are probably only in the league for a year the teams will no longer be easy targets. Crowds should eventually rise not just in the new areas but at the established clubs as the fans know that they are going to see the best rugby they could find.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Freezing the Super League will provide a better spectacle, better Rugby, more financially viable teams and more fans across new parts of the world. The winner out of this change can only be the sport of Rugby League.</p> wewantourdarbybackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05773996396877957120noreply@blogger.com0