Big Week

I have been meaning to write a new blog entry for a while. There have been an array of stories in the press about which to opine for ages and each time I settled down to articulate my meaningless opinions something else arrived and other concerns would slide into the abyss of an old news cycle. Now there is only one thing I can really write about.

Michael Jackson has died. Although I can't say I'm his biggest fan it seems that the death of one of the most written about musicians in history is a momentous event. I happened to be at a local watering hole at the time the news began to filter through and the reaction was surreal. At first what was thought to be a rumour quickly became hard fact and the new communication revolution quickly sprang in to action. Blackberry's were pulled from pockets, Iphones examined feverishly for reasons other than the usual purpose (which is mainly to let everyone in the surrounding vicinity know that you have an Iphone). Michael Jackson was definitely dead.

Whatever is to be said about the man (and there is lot which is somewhat negative) his music was hugely important. Thriller is the greatest selling album of all time and contains an astounding 7 number ones, a respectable number for the career of most popstars over 3 albums. Jackson set the bar for music videos and attracted an audience of millions, at 2 in the morning, for what became the most iconic video in history, Thriller. Although his influence in this sense is unquestionable ( Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown or a plethora of similar artists simply wouldn't exist without him) his private life was dodgy to say the least. Although he was ultimately cleared of the unsavoury child-related allegations he was dogged by them throughout later life and his reputation was tarnished. It seems to have done little to dim his appeal worldwide but there will always be a pervading sense of strangeness attached to a man who was public property since the age of five.

The way that his death has dominated the news cycle is astounding. The cable news channels have played archive footage of the singer for hours on end and have a constant stream of twitter based tributes from various notables. Given the total concentration of "Jacko" it has to be asked - What else is going on in the world? One announcement will get buried today and it is a huge one. The Iranian Guardian council have declared that the recent election was "the healthiest in years" and although its a bit of a gutter that a celebrity has died I hope it does not take to the focus away from a populace deprived of democracy.

The Iranian population will be gutted but someone who may be a little happier is South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. He announced in a fawning, apologetic press conference earlier this week (after being missing and having not contacted his staff for 5 days) that he had been in Argentina seeing a mistress that he has been keeping for over a year. The extremely Conservative Governor has been the standard bearer amongst the GOP for fighting against Barack Obama's stimulus package and was thereby anointed as probable Presidential Candidate for 2012, if he was proved right. Now, despite the fortune of his misdemeanours being buried under other stories, that goal seems unlikely especially because he has violated one of the fundamental "Divine Laws" that his conservative, gun toting, family values obsessed base are concerned with.

Either way let's hope that Micheal Jackson is appropriately mourned but that the public have long enough memories to make sure that what really matters is put front and centre.

The Jake and Tiarnan Podcast - Episode 10

After a poor showing last week on the Podcast front we come back with a bang and another top notch jingle. Tense music is employed to give gravitas to the new segment that is The News Quiz which replaces the terrible pooch. Listening back to this episode makes me think we should plan a tad more as we tend to start on one topic before just jumping off to something else. But if you like improvised, rambling bollocks then episode 10 is a doozy. You can listen to it and subscribe to it here .

Inevitable

I can now enjoy my summer in peace. Not because my exams are finished, not because my holiday plans are secure - because Cristiano Ronaldo has finally left Manchester United.

The preening Portugese theatrical master has finally confirmed what all but the most ardent of Manchester United fans has refused to beleive. His world record transfer to Real Madrid saves me having to hear, and the British press having to write, speculative nonsense about "Ronnys" future, the like of which has dogged the back pages for the past three years. It seemed obvious that Ronaldo wanted to go. His constant changes of heart and insincere pledges that he would be at Old Trafford for the forseeable future were tempered by his coy flirting with the notion of a big money move. He did not even rule out the possibility of going to Manchester City when the idea was touted perhaps cementing him as the most money hungry traitor in the history of football.

Would Puskas be happy to see such a man pull on the historic, pure white jersey? Regardless of the goals he will score and the shirts he will sell is this really the type of player you can rely on to end Barca's stranglehold on La Liga? In comparison Kaka has been the model proffesional. He stayed loyal to Milan the club, that just as United did for Ronaldo, gave him his chance and put him on the map until it became abundantly clear that they actually wanted him to go to reap the financal rewards. He made no fawning tributes to Real Madrid and had not been courting them with "come and get me pleas" (what a brilliant cliche) in tabloids throughout Europe. He said staunchly that he was happy to stay even up until the day that Milan asked him to leave.

Although Ronaldo may bring some much needed silverware to Madrid will they really be able to beleive him when he says he wants to see out the rest of his career in the the Capital? Either way the new age of Galacticos has well and truly begun.

Gutted

I am not patriotic in any way to be honest but have always had a strange tempered pride for Britain. We are one of the oldest deomcracies in the world. We never bothered with facism and locked bad old Oswald Mosley up so he could think about what he'd done in the forties. When the economy was going tits up between the wars and there were communists and spartacists knocking about all over Europe we just shrugged out shoulders and carried on. Sure we wreaked a deathly havoc over vast swathes of the earth with the whole empire thing , are responsible for horrible poverty and such in africa after leaving our big colonial houses and letting any nutjob take over and we did starve half of Ireland to death once- but I've always thought we had something special. I was wrong.

We are in fact a nation of reactionary tossers. Just because the economy is in a mess and The Telegraph have shown that our MP's are a little bit crooked we have decided to vote for the BNP. Germany voted for the Nazis and obviously this was a horrific mistake but at the same time they had to go through a long and bloody war, near economic collapse in which their currency was meaningless and accept the humiliation of having to accept guilt and pay compensation for the first global conflict. We have started voting for Neanderthal wankers because some people used money that wasn't theirs to have their moat cleaned. The BNP gained two seats in the recent European elections which is two seats more than any party so open in their islamaphobic, anti-semitic sentiment should have. Despite numerous videos and articles exposing what the real message of the BNP is it seems that some people have been drawn in by their outward claims of wanting to preserve a "national identity". We are a nation of immigrants and ultimatley the entire human race stems from 200 hundred primitive humans that came from the "cradle of life" in Kenya, although I'm not sure how well this would sit with the BNP.

Their concerns are insane. A major one that Nick Griffin re-iterated again in his smug victory speech was councils banning St Georges day festivals but tax payers paying for ethnic minorities when they wish too have "their festivals". Why is this a problem? Are there not more pressing concerns about at the moment? (global economic meltdown and international terrorism are two that spring to mind). The other point that Griffin fails to understand is that St Georges day festivals are not banned by villanous ethnic minority groups who hate white English people, they are banned by councils who fear that they will be hijacked by far-right political groups using the oppurtunity to preach a hateful message of racial purity in Britain- which I suspect the BNP would at such a festival given the chance. I highly doubt that they would be using St Georges day festivals as a colourful mardi-gras with dragon floats and brown shirted children throwing Mein Kampf shaped bon-bons to an adoring public.

Despite all this I still take heart from the fact that the BNP gained fewer votes than in 2004 and have been allowed to sneak into the European parliament by a dodgy electoral system. It's just a bit disgusting that all it needs is a name change, from the National Front, and people to claim for chocolate bars on expenses for voters in Britain to start running to the far right when they get to a ballot box.

*I have opted to go for a more palletable picture than Nick Griffin's podgy, slack jawed face. Even writing about the BNP to say that you despise everything they stand for is too many references for one blog.

Justice

In a late, late reference to the Champions League I think it is fair to say: Justice Prevailed. Barcelona showed last wednesday in Rome that they are, by a considerable margin, the best team in Europe and perhaps one of the best attacking forces ever assembled in the domestic game. Chelsea fans laughably pointed to the fact that they had come relatively close to beating the Spaniards and therefore, by some proxy bereft of logic, would have beat Manchester United. The problem with that theory is that they only beat Barcelona because they were so keen not to score throughout the two legs. Apart from Mikel Essien's left foot shin-volley that acted as an unexpected bolt from a blue shirt Chelsea were content not to attack for two whole games. United's fate shows that unless you commit to such tactics the "Holy Trinity" will tear you apart.

I am not sure whether to respect or deride Fergie an United. They did come to Rome looking to play attacking football and win the game of their own accord but I'm not sure this attitude is correct. Although in some respects they should be lauded (they played far more football in the little time they had the ball than Chelsea did) perhaps they should also be ridiculed for having the temerity to try and beat Barcelona at their own game with a midfield of an aging Welshman, an inexperienced and inconsistent Brazilian, England's 4th or 5th best midfielder, a lightweight Korean and an Angry scouser being played way out of position. This left Iniesta and Xavi free to orchestrate the type of football that United don't usually have to contend with and their army of bruising robo athletes were made to look pedestrian by two men with the combined height of 4 and a half feet. Messi, although over shadowed by Man of the Match Iniesta, was superb and shut the mouths of every jingoistic tabloid journalist that was adamant he couldn't cut it against our vastly superior football teams (it may have been his first goal against an English club but a statistic that isn't as often repeated is that Ronaldo is yet to score against a Spanish team).

United were hammered. Ronaldo will leave. Fergie will get an even redder visage. Guardiola will plan for world domination. Iniesta will get sharper. Fletcher will get vengeful. Barcelona will get bet better and Barcelona will win - again.