The final days...?

From the BBC:

Gordon Brown has said donations received by the Labour Party through middlemen were "completely unacceptable" and would be repaid.

The prime minister said he had "no knowledge" of £600,000 of donations from property developer David Abrahams. It was "not lawfully declared so it will be returned".

Amazing! You'd think after the "Cash for Honours" scandal, this Labour government would have learnt it's lesson. Guess not.
Add this to recent criticism from former military chiefs about funding for the armed forces, propping up flailing mortgage-lender Northern Rock with £25bn of taxpayers money and the fiasco surrounding missing computer disks containing confidential details of 25 MILLION child benefit recipients.....
Gordon Brown's tenure at Number 10 is starting to resemble the final years of John Major's premiership.
Brown's fire fighting

A very dangerous teddy bear......

A British schoolteacher is in a Sudanese jail tonight after being arrested for insulting Islam's Prophet, because she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Liverpudlian Gillian Gibbons, 54, who joined the school in August, was following a course designed to teach young pupils about animals and this year's topic was the bear.
Ms Gibbons then asked a seven-year-old girl to bring in her teddy bear and asked the class to pick a name for it.
According to the school's director, Robert Boulos, the class came up with several names including Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad, and the majority of the children chose Muhammad as their favourite name. Each child was then allowed to take the bear home at weekends and told to write a diary about what they did with it. The children's entries were collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover and a message which read, "My name is Muhammad."
Ms Gibbons was arrested after several parents made complaints and according to the BBC, the charge - insults against faith and religion - could lead to either six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine
Colleagues of Ms Gibbons said she made an "innocent mistake" by letting the class of six and seven-year-olds choose the name of the teddy bear and I agree. But one needs to wonder about the shortage of commonsense in this situation.
All rather sad, really....
(ps: the teddy bear pictured in this post is unconnected to this story)
'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

And the next England Manager is...

Well, here we go again. England coach Steve McClaren and assistant coach Terry Venables have been sacked following the national team's failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

Few will shed tears at McClaren's departure. He was a honest, likeable character, but a manager capable of taking England to next year's finals? Well, sadly we know the answer to that question.
The men in blazers from the FA who messed up picking the successor to Sven-Goran Eriksson (remember the fiasco with "Big" Phil Scolari?) deserve culling as well.....but that ain't going to happen (turkeys don't vote for Christmas). So let's turn our attention to the next England manager.

Place yer bets, folks....

9-2 Martin O’Neill, Jose Mourinho.
7-1 Fabio Capello.
12-1 Luis Felipe Scolari.
14-1 Sam Allardyce, Guus Hiddink, Alan Shearer.
20-1 Marcello Lippi.
22-1 Stuart Pearce.
25-1 Harry Redknapp, Arsene Wenger.
28-1 Alan Curbishley.
33-1 Steve Coppell.

Whoever the next England manager is, I hope he'll be able to select a team capable of playing modern football, instead of this motley collection of wealthy, pampered, overrated "superstars" who treat each other like strangers on a football pitch.

Nationality is not important (but beware of xenophobia in our fickle press if results go against you).
McClaren sacked as England coach
England managerial contenders
England rotten to the roots?

The last chance saloon (continued)...

Football's a funny old game....but not right now at the moment.

Needing only a draw to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals against Croatia tonight at Wembley, England duly lost 3-2.
It saddens me to say it, but the attitude of the England team at present doesn't justify the belief that they deserve a place in any major football finals. We have learned nothing from the mistakes of last year's World Cup.
But instead of wondering if the players deserve the hype and adulation, I suppose we'll get on the latest hobby-horse and blame the woes of the English national team on the number of foreign players in the Premiership instead (with Arsenal and their manager Arsène Wenger as the main culprits).

Apparently Martin O'Neill, the manager of Aston Villa, is the 7/4 favourite to take over from Steve McClaren as England manager, according to bookmakers Ladbrokes.
But more than a change of manager is required, in my opinion.

It's a pity Spike Milligan has passed away. We could have done with him muttering, "What are we going to do now?"
Euro 2008 qualifying

The last chance saloon...

Proof that Football is a cruel game...

A Scotland side that deserved to be in the Euro 2008 finals after a titanic campaign, loses 2 - 1 to Italy after a dramatic last-minute winner for the Italians.
Meanwhile an England national team who should hang their collective heads in shame for some mediocre performances, have their prayers answered by a Israeli team beating Russia 2 - 1, Israel scoring the dramatic last minute winning goal!
Thanks to Israel, England are now two points ahead of Russia in their qualifying group and need only a draw against Croatia next Wednesday to book their passage to next year's finals.

Unlucky Scotland. I think they deserved to be in the finals a lot more than England did (who can forget that fantastic 1-0 win over France) - but ultimately its the results that count.
Meanwhile the last chance saloon is now open for England boss Steve McClaren and his players...
England gifted lifeline by Israel
McLeish anger at Italian winner

And now - another commercial break....

My current fave ad on TV...I'm not a big fan of Christmas ads (and I won't be celebrating Christmas much this year anyway), but hats off to Boots - the theme of this advert is very familar, if you've ever attended an office Xmas party...



The track is a stroke of genius too...Here Come The Girls by Ernie K-Doe on the Soul Jazz Records label.
Soul Jazz Records — Here Come The Girls — Ernie K Doe

Remember...

Every year - on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, remember the ultimate sacrifices made by those brave men and women in conflicts, past and present.

Remember those who "for our tomorrow, gave their today".
Nation and troops honour war dead
Poppyman campaign

Sarah Jessica Parker & the Unsexy Five...

An online poll by men's website Maxim.com have recently released a list of their "World's Unsexiest Women," which includes ladies of cinema, TV and music.
“Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker had the dubious honour of being declared the No. 1 Unsexiest Woman Alive.

Their Unsexy Five Are:

1. Sarah Jessica Parker
2. Amy Winehouse
3. Sandra Oh (from the TV series "Grey´s Anatomy")
4. Madonna
5. Britney Spears

Sarah Jessica Parker has reportedly stated being named the Unsexiest Woman Alive doesn't upset her, and I agree with her "sticks and stones" response to this somewhat narrow-minded list.
Each of these women have their own sex appeal - so what if it isn't mainstream enough for those who taste lean towards the pouting bikini-clad waifs anyway?
The Five Unsexiest Women Alive

Meanwhile, in North London (continued)...

Well Arsenal have now played Liverpool at Anfield and last season's champions Manchester United (who are currently at their most formidable) at home. And we did not lose to either of those sides (obviously we didn't win either, but let's not quibble).

Both teams created chances in the second half and it's a pity Arsenal couldn't score after the first equalizer from Cesc Fabregas. If I'm brutally honest, Arsenal still appeared to be a bit naive at times today. We need to be more effective and show more ruthlessness - but that will come in time with this young side.

Not sure about the substitution of Theo Walcott for Eboue, as the latter was doing great in the second half and the former's poor defending helped Man U with their second goal, although goalie Almunia was also at fault in my opinion.

Can Arsenal still win the Premiership? It's going to be hard - let's not forget Chelski lurking in the wings....who remembers Jose "the special one" now? The Blues are just as big a threat as in previous years. And then we should consider Blackburn.
Actually, there are plenty of tough games ahead...........bring 'em on!
Arsenal 2-2 Man Utd