Germany v Greece
If things work out right, Germany will play Greece on June 22nd in Euro 2012 in the midst of a Greek General Election.
What fun?
They Do Presidential Debates Differently In Mexico
This story about a Mexican presidential debate, shows they do things rather differently.
Basically, the production company hired a lady to escort the candidates to the podium and she wore rather inappropriate clothing. Or perhaps clothes more appropriate for one of Berlusconi’s parties.
The Headmistress Lays Down the Rules
The headmistress or is it the Chief Warder, has put on her sternest East German face to lay down the law to the naughty Greeks, who have said they won’t take her medicine.
I’m afraid I think they will have to otherwise the financial police of New York, London, Frankfurt and the Far East, will make it so expensive for them to get the money they need to spend on expensive cars and the other imports they need.
The state of the Greek parties are outlined here. Just look at the face on the Chief Warder’s picture.
As if the Chief Watrder hasn’t got enough on her plate with the Greeks, and the French decide to play by their own rules. I suppose they have to, as reportedly, it’s the French banks, who are up to their necks in Greek debt.
The Mayoral Referenda
What is the most disappointing about this election is the rejection of new mayors in places like Manchester and Nottingham.
I moved to Hackney in London because a stroke meant I couldn’t drive and I needed good public transport. The Mayor, whoever he or she is, certainly gives London a focus and I believe helps to improve public transport and other things, that are important to the city.
The rejection of mayors is probably a vote for the status quo, as a good mayor would probably do more for the city, than an entrenched party of old time-servers.
Recently, I visited all 92 football clubs in alphabetical order by public transport. Manchester, and I mean Greater Manchester, has the worst public transport of any major conurbation. An elected mayor might just bring it all together and create a system that works. At present, all the local authorities have too much control and create the mess they’ve got.
Putin Is The New Tsar
In the iconic film, Dr. Zhivago, set around the time of the Russian Revolution, the question is asked if Lenin is the new Tsar.
But this story on the BBC’s web site really says that Putin might be behaving like a Tsar and is having a palace built on the Black Sea coast.There will be a full report on Newsnight tonight.
The Election That Wasn’t
Has there ever been an election, that was so low key? I haven’t seen one window sticker or been canvassed. If it wasn’t for the coverage on television and in the papers, you would have thought there was no elections at all. I did see Boris once, but he wasn’t actually doing anything, except being nice to everybody.
The only result that says anything, has been turn-out of 32 %, that has been the worst for a decade.
I did vote, but the polling station was like a morgue. I saw two other voters and the one of those had got lost as he tried to find the room, where the vote was taking place.
In some ways the election that matters for London, other than the Mayor, takes place at the weekend in France. Turbulence and political uncertaincy there, will certainly affect London, but until we see the result of the Sarkozy-Hollande run-off, we won’t know how.
A Fiesty Debate In Paris
It would appear that it was a feisty debate in Paris between President Sarkozy and his challenger, Francois Hollande. But no one got in a knock out blow.
Now there’s an idea!
Perhaps the two of them, should meet in the boxing ring!
It would be a world-wide TV hit!
What’s Going on in Scottish Football?
At the moment, I’m listening to the last match in the Glasgow Premier League at Celtic Park. It is usually on one of the main Sky channels, but today it is on Sky Sports 4. Are those of us who get our Sky through BT Vision being censored? Or do they expect it will be too red-blooded for English tastes? Especially, as from what I can gather from the commentary, the Celtic crowd have been giving the Rangers fans a warm and very bigoted welcome. I think that if say some of the banners unfurled by the home fans, appeared at say an Ipswich against Norwich fixture, they would certainly be confiscated.
All of this is a minor battle compared to what happens in the next few weeks. Rangers will probably loose a lot of their best players and the transfer embargo they are under will mean they won’t be able to sign any more.
What puzzles me about Rangers, is that the Inland Revenue didn’t fully investigate the non-payment of tax by the club a couple of years earlier? After all, if this forces the club into liquidation, then it will be the English at fault. Could it be, that Prudence didn’t want it to happen under his watch?
As a taxpayer, I have a right to know, about all the tax and contract mandering that happened in Scotland in the last days of the worst government we’ve had since Lord North.
The Mayor Calls in the Supersewer
I know it’s election time and there are votes to be won, but I’m pleased that Boris has called in Thames Water proposal for a super sewer under the Thames. As I said in a previous post.
Although I should say, that as someone who has spent a lot of time around project management and managers, I will say that what gets built in the end, will be quite unlike what was originally proposed. That’s what good project management is about. It makes a project better, cheaper and less disruptive.
Let’s hope the engineers prove me right. Unfortunately, some of the alternatives, like stopping householders from creating hard-staandings in their front garden, are sometimes more unpopular than the super sewer.
Is The American Political System Too Complicated?
This article made me think. Here’s a taster.
Can a democratic system function efficiently in an advanced economy in our modern, globalized world? A system based, say, on a couple of 18th century documents updated occasionally by nine people in black robes and a two-chambered legislature that must devote at least as much time to the raising of funds to re-elect itself? I think it can—eventually—but not everyone agrees.
There’s a lot more of the same.
The Anonymous Widower 