Ho-Hum....

In case you missed it, 20-year old John Loughton a young Scottish politician, was crowned the winner of Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, winning £50000.
But since I think Big Brother is about the most moronic and pointless concept on TV anyway, I voted with my remote control and watched something else instead....
Big Brother: A secret success?
John Loughton wins Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack

Haves & Havant...

For 43 surreal minutes yesterday afternoon, one of the best football teams in the country, Liverpool FC, were given a scare by Havant and Waterlooville, a team several leagues below the mighty Reds. Liverpool had to come from behind twice to beat Havant 5-2.
Still respect due to the part-timers from the Blue Square South divison for having a go at Anfield - nobody expected a non-league side to score once, let alone two goals against highly-paid professional footballers who earn between £20,000 ($39,685) and £100,000 ($198,427) a week.

Havant's FA Cup dream journey began against Bognor Regis in September last year. So yesterday's match was their big day, and they seized their moment in the limelight with gusto (which is more than one could say about the performances of some Premier League sides against Liverpool). Watching the interviews on TV last night, you could see what this match meant to the Havant players like their captain, Jamie Collins:

"When he [Steven Gerrard] came on I was standing next to him at a corner and the first thing I said to him was 'can I have your shirt?' He just laughed and replied: 'Sorry, the little man [team mate Alfie Potter] has already beaten you to it.' Then, as the Kop was singing You'll Never Walk Alone, I couldn't help myself and joined in. I was singing it at the top of my voice and he looked at me like I was a weirdo". Classic....

Kudos also to the Liverpool fans for applauding the Havant players off at the end of the game. This match was everything the FA Cup should be about. Unfortunately, these days the FA Cup is more about so-called "big" sides fielding weakened teams, in order to prioritise on entry to/ surrival in the Premier League (delete where applicable). And the BBC did themselves no favours either - they drone on about the "magic" of the competition, yet they overlooked this match for the ties between Mansfield v Middlesborough and Wigan v Chelski. Real smart, BBC TV....

One more thing - it's a pity the majority of those 6,000 Havant & Waterlooville fans who went to Anfield yesterday won't be there to to support the team against Hayes and Yeading next weekend. This team deserves a larger audience than the average home attendance of 600.
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & W'looville
hawks.net (Havant and Waterlooville)

How to lose 4.9 billion euros....

French bank Société Générale (SocGen) has revealed they lost billions of dollars through fraud by one of its Paris-based traders. 31-year-old Frenchman Jérôme Kerviel is reported to be behind the loss of 4.9bn euros (equivalent to $7.1bn or £3.7bn).
While SocGen has yet to officially name Kerviel, a legal complaint has been filed against the trader, accusing him of defrauding the bank by making unauthorised financial trades.
These trades were in effect large bets on European stock markets going up and were placed in 2007 and 2008 - but were hidden from managers, concealed by "sophisticated and varied techniques" according to SocGen.

The bank learned of the dodgy dealings last Friday, after a rogue trade made in December was investigated by a compliance officer. Following an internal investigation last weekend, SocGen then took action early this week to unwind the deals, as financial markets around the world plummeted. Some analysts have even speculated that Kerviel's actions could have contributed to the stock market turmoil and the US Federal Reserve's sudden decision to cut American interest rates.

The fraud has forced the bank into an emergency €5.5 billion rights issue in order to offset the losses. However SocGen is now considered vulnerable to a takeover bid (among those said to be interested are Barclays and Italy's Unicredit). It should be noted that the bank's action in raising capital is to cover not only Kerviel's actions, but a writedown of €2.05 billion, relating to US sub-prime losses (a writedown is a reduction in the value of an asset carried on a firm's financial statements).

Still it's odd that a supposedly "relatively junior" employee of the bank, earning less than €100,000 (about $146,000), including bonus, could arrange the world's largest fraud in banking history without anyone knowing.
Rogue trader to cost SocGen $7bn

Rehab?

If one is to believe the grainy video footage obtained by British tabloid The Sun, Grammy-nominated Amy Winehouse appears to be inhaling fumes from some sort of pipe. The video shows the singer claiming that she has taken "six valium" before lighting up the pipe.
Winehouse 'filmed smoking....something'

Considering she was recently ordered to appear in court in Norway to appeal against a fine for drug possession, if The Sun's allegation is true, then Ms Winehouse appears hell-bent in proving that old adage: "Money doesn't always bring happiness".

The path to self destruction is very a slippery slope - witness the recent troubles of Britney Spears....

Since this post, Amy Winehouse has been admitted into rehab....
Winehouse is admitted into rehab

A picture is worth a thousand words...

The first official portrait of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, will be unveiled in London in March, it was announced on Saturday.
The oil painting by artist Jonathan Yeo shows him wearing a commemorative poppy, which apparently represents his leadership role during the Iraq war.
Blair in first official portrait

It is said that one picture is worth a thousand words. Bearing that in mind, I think the following should represent our Tone instead:

He's the talk of the Toon....

"Football, bloody hell."
Sir Alex Ferguson.

Let's talk about footy...or, to be more precise, Kevin Keegan's shock return as Newcastle United's manager this week. The former Newcastle player and manager has agreed a 3½ year contract and according to one report, the club has promised him “carte blanche” in the transfer market.
So now Keegan leaves his "Soccer Circus" football academy in Glasgow to rejoin the Toon madhouse. But with Keegan's arrival, a new sense of optimism appears to have enveloped St James Park.

Football fans and management appear to want instant success nowadays - but success didn't come overnight for Arsène Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson. I hope "King Kev" gets the time needed to deliver success at Newcastle. But while I wish him the best of British luck (except against Arsenal), I think it's a big risk on Keegan's part - it could all go horribly wrong if results turns against him, and this week's dream return "home" could turn into a nightmare.

Still, I bet Keegan will love it he succeeds in returning the swagger and style back to the Toon....
Keegan returns as Newcastle boss

Because I got high...

A Canadian woman and her family has successfully sued the dealer who sold her an illegal street drug that put her in a coma.
Sandra Bergen, 23, suffered a heart attack that left her in a coma for 11 days and later developed a heart condition after taking crystal methamphetamine.
Ms Bergen is seeking $50,000 (£25,000) in compensation from Clinton Davey. Mr Davey refused to name his source of the drug, prompting the Saskatchewan judge to reject his statement of defence - that Ms Bergen had taken the drug voluntarily. A date for a hearing to determine damages has not been set.
"I sued him for negligence... for selling me drugs and getting me hooked when I was vulnerable," Ms Bergen told the French news agency AFP.
Canadian drug victim sues dealer

Errr....whatever happened to personal responsibility?

Assumed consent?

Our Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he believes everyone should be automatically placed on the organ donor register.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Brown declared his support of the proposal to permit hospitals to remove organs from anyone when they die, unless they explicitly "opt out" of the scheme beforehand, or their families object.

At present there over 8,000 people on the UK organ transplant list and it is claimed that if these new proposals were implemented, the number of organs available would double, saving thousands of lives. However, several patients groups are against the proposal, arguing that it is not up to the state to decide what becomes of our bodies when we die.

I have serious misgivings about this idea. Saving dying people is commendable, but assumed consent should not be perceived as consent.
To donate one's body parts should remain a personal decision - not a decree issued from our government.
Organs to be taken without consent
PM backs automatic organ donation

The fall of Marion Jones

What now for Marion Jones?
The former sprinter pleaded guilty to for lying about her steroid use and involvement in a drugs fraud case last October and was sentenced on Friday to six months in prison.
Jones was the first female to win five Olympic medals - 100m, 200m and 4x400m relay gold and bronzes in the long jump and 4x100m relay, at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Back then she was arguably the most famous female athlete in the world.
But last year she admitted lying to a federal investigator in November 2003 when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

OK - six months in the clink for lying seems extreme, yet I have no sympathy for Marion Jones. Considering that the 32-year-old Californian was also involved in 'anti-drug' campaigns, her fall from grace was deserved.
But the damage to athletics was done long ago. Who can forget Ben Johnson? Or the suspicion that athletes from the Soviet Bloc were using drugs?
I for one, won't be looking forward to this year's Olympic Games in Beijing. I'll be wondering whether he/she was really that good - or were they on "something" each time a record is broken.
Six-month jail sentence for Jones

And the next US Prez is...

Well, the race to the White House has begun.

The state of Iowa was the setting last week for the first nominating contest of the 2008 US presidential campaign. Former baptist minister Mike Huckabee was the winner for the Republican caucus. But attention focused on Illinois senator Barack Obama, who was triumphant for the Democrats after a three-way tussle with fellow senators Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Sen Clinton, eventually finished an unexpected third.

Now a poll in the state of New Hampshire suggest Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are neck-and-neck, with Sen Clinton on 31% and Sen Obama 30%. Sen Edwards, the Democratic runner-up in Iowa, is placed third with 20%. Another poll showed Sen Obama ahead with 33% support to Sen Clinton's 31%.

With the New Hampshire contest two days away, Hillary must be wondering about her apparent change of fortune. Last year, most opinion polls put Sen Clinton so far ahead in the race to be the Democrat party's candidate in November's presidential election, that it was almost taken for granted she'd be victorious.
But that was before Iowa. Barack Obama appears to be bringing a powerful message of change and it seems Americans are listening to this man bidding to become the first Afro-American President of the USA.
Democratic rivals 'neck and neck'
Q&A: US presidential election

Here's (still) hoping for 2008...

At least 30 people, including many children, were burnt to death in a Kenyan church. The victims were seeking refuge from the mounting violence over last week's elections.
Kenyans burned to death in church

An 18-year-old man was stabbed to death on his way home after celebrating the New Year in central London.
Man stabbed to death in argument

To quote from Stephen King's Dreamcatcher:
"Same Shit, Different Day"

Still, for one glorious moment at midnight, millions around the world were united in hope as 2008 was celebrated with fireworks and revelry around the world. For one moment, people in London, Baghdad, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York, Seoul, Moscow, Berlin, Paris, Manila, Kampala and Edinburgh (to name but a few cities) came together in wishing the best for this new year.
Here's hoping we can learn to accept the differences between each other and bring peace throughout this troubled world.....