Daddy Of Them All
A ram has made a name for himself by escaping and fathering 33 lambs in one 24 hour session. It’s all here in the Daily Mail.
This reminds me of a conversation with a Research Vet at Liverpool University in the 1960s.
At the time, the M62 was being built, and the Ministry was worried that sheep would get on the motorway. The University had been asked to find a solution and found that moorland sheep could easily climb a chain-link fence several feet high. Judging by the lack of reports of sheep on the motorway these days, I’m sure that the research indicated a solution that worked well.
The Sensible Africans
Over the next few weeks, Africa will be staging the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Obviously, as it can get very hot in some parts of the continent, they hold it at this time of year, as it will probably be cooler.
Roberto Mancini at Manchester City may moan, but he knew he’d have the problem some months ago and should have planned better.
After all, the Africa Cup of Nations is important to the continent and most clubs will only lose the odd player for a couple of games.
So what does FIFA do?
They award the World Cup to Qatar, where it will either be played in the heat of an Arab summer or moved to the winter, which will inconvenience the whole sporting calendar in countries like the UK, where other sports are played.
A Quick Calculation
A doctor has just said that each faulty breast implant replacement will cost about £16,000
If there are 40,000 faulty implants in the UK, that works out at £640 million
My wife died of a rare cancer and that money spent on cancer research would help a lot more people and not just the vain and the stupid!
If you feel strongly about this, there’s an e-petition on the government’s web site.
The Curse of Sat-Navs
The government is having a summit to get sat-navs correct.
In my view the problem goes deeper, in that some companies, organisations and individuals, now think that everybody has one, and that is how they’ll find a particular place. I found that some football clubs, just put a sat nav address on their website to guide visiting fans, with no information on public transport. I won’t give an example, as hopefully they have corrected the omission.
I don’t even have a smart phone, as I don’t need one, so the only maps I rely on in new areas, are those provided by the city, or a small atlas or a page printed from the Internet, I can keep in my pocket. I tend to travel as light as possible and at the moment, if I can’t get it in my pockets or small bag, I don’t take it.
After all, if towns or cities want to attract visitors, they should provide signs, maps and other information. Some cities like Manchester are so badly served, I will only go if I can’t possibly avoid the trip. But if places like Exeter, Norwich and Ipswich can get it right, surely anybody can.
If we assume that everybody has an electronic navigation device, we are making a very bad mistake.
Standing Up To Cancer
Another obituary in The Times today is of Frank Horwill. By forming the British Milers Club and developing advanced training methods, he had a lot to do with the success of British middle-distance runners in the 1970s and 1980s.
He didn’t fit in with the athletics administrators, but how many great coaches in any sport do? And how many useless coaches do well-funded sports employ?
It was this paragraph in the obituary that I liked.
Four years later Horwill was found to be suffering from stomach cancer. He reacted with the sort of resolve that he sought in his athletes. To the consternation of his nurses he got out of bed each day to exercise with a drip attached to him. “I am going to enjoy this day,” was his mantra. He survived for another 23 years.
C had that attitude to her breast cancer and won by a mile. Sadly, her cancer of the heart was a much tougher problem.
In some ways though, Frank got the last laugh, as after serving a prison term for tax evasion, which was essentially to fund his athletes, he was rewarded with an MBE last year.
Diane Abbott Slips Up
The media is making a hell of a fuss about Diane Abbott’s comment on Twitter.
I find Ms. Abbott entertaining, although her politics are very different to mine. I suspect, that if we were sat next to each other on a plane or train, we’d argue and agree and disagree in unequal measure.
What she originally said was probably scientifically correct in its full context, but was rather shortened because of the rules of Twitter. I don’t disagree with her reasoning and “divide and rule” is a method, that is used by everybody to get their own way on a committee or in a meeting, whether inside politics or not. The British Empire probably used the technique in the past, but hopefully that is all history and to be learned from and not copied. I suspect that it is technique much less used in business and management these days as well.
The real mistake she made was to publish without thinking. But this is the Twitter trap!
I think it would also be better, if when we see something wrong on Twitter posted by someone we know, we douse it in a bucket of very cold water, rather than report it all to the media.
Having read the tweets that caused the story, it strikes me that an early intervention, perhaps in a light-hearted vein could have created a molehill out of a mountain.
We have had politicians in the past, who would have mangled their words with impunity and got into awful trouble on Twitter. George Brown comes to mind, although there would probably be many others in his era. On the other hand, politics has had its fair share of precise wordsmiths, who would have found Twitter suited to their style.
The Man Who Stabbed Errol Flynn
Bob Anderson has just died and his obituary is in The Times today. He had been an Olympic fencer and fencing coach until he started coaching actors in films.
Reading his credits, you get the impression that he was involved in organising the sword fights in every film that had one in the last few decades. He was also a double for Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.
In one incident he actually stabbed Errol Flynn. However, they remained good friends.
Are Goalkeepers Loners?
After the amazing goal scored by Tim Howard and the wind last night at Goodison, BBC Radio 5 has been talking about goalkeepers who’ve scored.
The first I remember being scored was by George Farm for Blackpool against Preston. He had injured a shoulder and was playing up front and scored a headed goal.
In later life he had a spell as a lighthouse keeper.
It’s always said that goalkeepers are a bit mad, but are they loners as well?
Vinny Jones Shows He’s All Heart
Vinny Jones has got involved in publicity for the British Heart Foundation. The details and a video are here.
It should be remembered that his wife, Tanya, has had a heart transplant and I think he’s done work for the BHF before.
I actually think the whole concept of the video is rather good, as it’s very simply put together and you remember his message.
Is The Economy Getting Better?
I’m not sure, but there have been some good stories today.
On the BBC this morning there was a piece about how small exporters were doing well.
I know it’s a Japanese car company, but this article on the BBC about Nissan can’t be seen as anything but positive. It’s also in an area of high unemployment, where they need every job they can get.
John Lewis also reported a 6.2% like-for-like increase in sales during the Christmas period. As the company have branches in most parts of the UK, it can’t be anything other than a good thing. Next too is on target, but other retailers aren’t doing so well. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as customers are picking up a few bargains. I bought a new pair of boots from Blacks at a very silly price.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been to several places on the trains, like Reading, Blackfriars, Cambridge and others, where the fruits of investment seem to be coming through. You can argue, that these were planned by the previous government, but it does seem that progress has speeded up in the last year or so. I will say that some of the developments in the London area, seem to have benefited from better engineering and project management, with the professionals being given targets by the politicians, who then have not interfered at the micro-management level. We could probably do even better with Network Rail, if they were controlled in the same way as Transport for London.
And lastly today, this piece about the pound has come in, showing it has risen against a failing euro. That may not be a totally good thing for exporters, but it shows that the world thinks our economy is on the mend.
The Anonymous Widower 