Two news stories have caught my eye recently: the proposed changes to planning laws to allow more houses to be built on green belt land and the death of the high street. This got me thinking.
Most of us have a nostalgic view of the good old British high street. One which is full of independent shops, with a friendly greengrocer and a butcher called George, who knows everyone's name. A high street with a couple of pubs full of old characters with a tale or two to tell, a bright lively place full of community spirit. We have this view because whenever the six o'clock news do a story on the demise of the high street and show all the empty shops and boarded up pubs, they play a news reel from the 1950s when the high street was thriving. But life's just not like that now.
The reason people used to shop on the local high street is because they didn't have supermarkets, shopping malls and retail parks. People in the old days were also willing to use an outdated method of transport called walking. We need to move on accept that the old high street has gone forever. Just like coal mining and ship building. People need to move on from this romantic view we have that Britain can return to what it once was.
I also don't have much time for the theory that the high street is dying because of recession or the threat of a double dip. Most shopping malls are packed to the rafters with people spending money all year round. Some shops simply close because of basic economic factors like supply and demand. Why would I go to a shop on the high street, spend 20 minutes trying to park, which also costs money, to buy a CD or a book when I can do it with the click of a button on my iPhone or kindle?
There is also the factor of what's on offer of at the local high street compared to a supermarket or shopping mall. There's a high street near to where I live that has about thirty shops and four pubs, two of which are boarded up. Of the thirty shops there are four banks, five hairdressers, seven charity shops and about twelve restaurants and takeaways. Even looters during the recent London riots passed through without finding anything worth stealing, let alone buying.
Then we come to the governments idea of making more land available to build on by relaxing planning laws to build more houses in the English countryside. Which seems to be about as popular as a pork store in a Mosque.
So what's the answer to the housing crisis? High rise tower blocks are unpopular, so up is not the answer. Building half a dozen houses in your back garden is a sure way to upset the neighbours. And poping down the local for a quick pint only find it's been converted into luxury modern apartments puts a real dampener on the evening.
So put the two problems of a dying high street and a lack of available space to build new homes together and I believe you come up with the answer: reduce the size of the high street and replace the empty shops and boarded up pubs with homes.
By reducing the number of shops this will increase trade and turnover for those left. Having empty shops has been proven to have a negative affect on trade. So buy condensing the high street into a smaller local shopping area and building homes on the land close buy, local people will start shopping locally again.
Napoleon once described Britain as being a "nation of shop keepers" and now change in the way we live and shop is needed to make sure the British high street is not lost forever.
Friday 9 September 2011
Sunday 24 July 2011
Thursday 21 July 2011
Why Phone Hacking Could Save Britain From Going Bust
Back in 2007 all was good in the world, or so we thought. But from what I can understand: some American banks had been lending money to some Mexicans to buy houses, and the sub-prime mortgage market was born. Keen not to miss out on this stupidity, British banks then bought those bad debts from the Americans and sold them to each other. Then when the Mexican who was earning about $5 an hour couldn't pay his $500,000 mortgage, the worlds banking system collapsed. Then the prime minister of Britain at the time, Gordon Brown, decided he would make sure all his friends in the City would still get their pensions, and borrowed about £800 million from the Chinese and bailed the banks out. The result was a big fat recession.
Or was it? If you read the papers in 2008 around the time of the Lehman's collapse, they'd have you believing things were going to be about thirty times worse than the great depression of the thirties. Every so called expert in the financial world of London was predicting Armageddon. But it just didn't arrive. Certainly not to anywhere near the extent of what the papers were saying it would.
Before the financial downturn many people in the UK were paying mortgages of between 6-8% on massively overpriced properties. I myself couldn't afford to move to a bigger house. But then the crash that was supposed to end the world came, and the Bank of England slashed it's interest rates. Suddenly homeowners were paying almost half the amount for their mortgage. House prices dropped, which allowed thousands to move home. People were working less hours so they had more time to spend with their families and enjoy some leisure time with the extra money they had in their pockets. Many of the people made redundant that were unhappy in their jobs for years, started their own business. But did the papers report it like this? Of course not. They wrote headlines about national debt and how our grandchildren's grandchildren would still be paying it off.
The media use headlines to scare people all the time. When bird flu was being spread the media reported it in such an extreme way the financial institutes of London had emergency headquarters arranged in the English countyside. Swine flu was the same. That was a classic. Blanket coverage on every 24 hour news channel had the N.H.S set up a help line that people phoned and said they had a headache and felt a bit hot, and the call centre worker on the other end of the phone gave them a week off work! It was amazing how many people got swine flu on a monday morning.
My point is, newspapers and the media in general only get excited over bad news. If B.M.W creates a thousand jobs it'll receive about four lines on page 17 of a paper and be announced just before the weather on the six o'clock news. If Jaguar layoff 200 workers it's front page material and the leading story at 6pm. Which is why the phone hacking story is a god send that may save us from a recession.
Phone hacking, for me, is just not important enough to dominate the news channels for three weeks. It obviously has it's sad and dark elements. Listening to a missing girls voicemails and giving her family false hope that she's alive is beyond contempt. But other than that, I don't care whether Hugh Grant or Gordon Brown had their phones hacked. But because these so called celebrities and politicians are so obsessed with themselves, that's all we've read and heard about. The left wing Labour party have become fixated on destroying Rupert Murdoch, a man who employs over 50,000 people worldwide. Ed Milliband, the leader of the opposition, is determined to make the Prime Minister apologise for remaining loyal to his friend, Andy Coulson, a man who hasn't even been charged with a crime yet, let alone found guilty. And while they concentrate on these important issues, the small matter of Europe ceasing to trade is passing them by.
The Euro as a currency could cease to exist within days. America could miss a debt payment for the first time and go into meltdown. Millions of people in Africa could die of starvation. But what do a 127 MPs want to ask the prime minister about in an emergency session of the House of Commons? Phone hacking of course. That's right. Never in the long history of parliament have so many MP's had a chance to ask a PM a question, and all they talk about is that.
But you see, that's good, because most people in Britain will be walking around blissfully unaware that the western world could be about to go into financial meltdown. Because all they've heard about for three weeks is Rupert Murdoch and his evil empire, and how the nasty man wants to rule the world, and how he personally knew people were hacking into the voicemails of crap actors, singers and politicians. Which is, of course, complete and utter non-sense.
So where usually in this sort financial climate the media would be whipping people into a blind panic that things are going to get so bad and we're all going to be so poor that we'll have to eat our own parents just so we don't starve to death, they are of course concentrating on the breaking news that: The police are corrupt; journalists sometimes tell lies; and politicians sometimes make the wrong decisions. Old news that may just keep us out of a nasty old mess.
Or was it? If you read the papers in 2008 around the time of the Lehman's collapse, they'd have you believing things were going to be about thirty times worse than the great depression of the thirties. Every so called expert in the financial world of London was predicting Armageddon. But it just didn't arrive. Certainly not to anywhere near the extent of what the papers were saying it would.
Before the financial downturn many people in the UK were paying mortgages of between 6-8% on massively overpriced properties. I myself couldn't afford to move to a bigger house. But then the crash that was supposed to end the world came, and the Bank of England slashed it's interest rates. Suddenly homeowners were paying almost half the amount for their mortgage. House prices dropped, which allowed thousands to move home. People were working less hours so they had more time to spend with their families and enjoy some leisure time with the extra money they had in their pockets. Many of the people made redundant that were unhappy in their jobs for years, started their own business. But did the papers report it like this? Of course not. They wrote headlines about national debt and how our grandchildren's grandchildren would still be paying it off.
The media use headlines to scare people all the time. When bird flu was being spread the media reported it in such an extreme way the financial institutes of London had emergency headquarters arranged in the English countyside. Swine flu was the same. That was a classic. Blanket coverage on every 24 hour news channel had the N.H.S set up a help line that people phoned and said they had a headache and felt a bit hot, and the call centre worker on the other end of the phone gave them a week off work! It was amazing how many people got swine flu on a monday morning.
My point is, newspapers and the media in general only get excited over bad news. If B.M.W creates a thousand jobs it'll receive about four lines on page 17 of a paper and be announced just before the weather on the six o'clock news. If Jaguar layoff 200 workers it's front page material and the leading story at 6pm. Which is why the phone hacking story is a god send that may save us from a recession.
Phone hacking, for me, is just not important enough to dominate the news channels for three weeks. It obviously has it's sad and dark elements. Listening to a missing girls voicemails and giving her family false hope that she's alive is beyond contempt. But other than that, I don't care whether Hugh Grant or Gordon Brown had their phones hacked. But because these so called celebrities and politicians are so obsessed with themselves, that's all we've read and heard about. The left wing Labour party have become fixated on destroying Rupert Murdoch, a man who employs over 50,000 people worldwide. Ed Milliband, the leader of the opposition, is determined to make the Prime Minister apologise for remaining loyal to his friend, Andy Coulson, a man who hasn't even been charged with a crime yet, let alone found guilty. And while they concentrate on these important issues, the small matter of Europe ceasing to trade is passing them by.
The Euro as a currency could cease to exist within days. America could miss a debt payment for the first time and go into meltdown. Millions of people in Africa could die of starvation. But what do a 127 MPs want to ask the prime minister about in an emergency session of the House of Commons? Phone hacking of course. That's right. Never in the long history of parliament have so many MP's had a chance to ask a PM a question, and all they talk about is that.
But you see, that's good, because most people in Britain will be walking around blissfully unaware that the western world could be about to go into financial meltdown. Because all they've heard about for three weeks is Rupert Murdoch and his evil empire, and how the nasty man wants to rule the world, and how he personally knew people were hacking into the voicemails of crap actors, singers and politicians. Which is, of course, complete and utter non-sense.
So where usually in this sort financial climate the media would be whipping people into a blind panic that things are going to get so bad and we're all going to be so poor that we'll have to eat our own parents just so we don't starve to death, they are of course concentrating on the breaking news that: The police are corrupt; journalists sometimes tell lies; and politicians sometimes make the wrong decisions. Old news that may just keep us out of a nasty old mess.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Paradise Found Down Mexico Way
And paradise is exactly what was needed after a ten hour flight and the chaos of Cancun airport, where the organisation must have been a project set to the children of the local primary school. After a short taxi ride through the old town of Cancun and after passing through the three security check points, the luxurious 5 star, all inclusive, adults only, Excellence Playa Mujeres resort awaits.
Everything about the hotel screams luxury. You can even pay extra to belong to the Excellence Club, where you can sit in a bar that nobody else uses and get a different colour towel to use by your own pool. Shared by the other 200 people that join the club.
The resort has seven pools, five bars and seven restaurants - Mexican, French, Asian, Italian, Mediteranian, plus a specialist steak house and a place that only serves lobster. Breakfast and lunch are served in the steak house, which is situated near the main pool, but the buffet avaiable in the Italian restaurant is truly amazing. Eggs any way you like them are cooked at breakfast and a wide variety of fresh fish and meats, along with salad and fruit is what makes up lunch. With plenty of cakes and ice cream for those with a sweet tooth. There is a modest dress code for breakfast and lunch, you basically need to wear clothes, rather than swimming shorts or bikinis. In the evening the dress code is more formal. Long trousers need to be worn by men, woman are expected to wear more than a flannel. The Steak, lobster and Mexican restaurants allow tailored shorts as they are outside.
The four remaining restaurants are in the main building and wouldn't look out of place in London's West End. The food that's served in them is pretty much as good as I've had in London too. Then it all gets a bit confusing. There you are, all dressed up, in this fancy, bordering on posh, restaurant, when a smart looking waiter approaches you and serves you in the way someone at T.G.I Friday or Franky and Bennys would. Thankfully they stop short of saying "can I take your order guys" and then proceeding to call us both "guys" for the rest of the evening, even though my wife is quite obviously a woman.
The other thing that I find not quite right is the over the top subservience the waiters are forced to show. I'm a working class bloke and have never had servants. So having someone chase me around a restaurant offering to carry my plate, makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. To say "it's my pleasure" 15000 times a day each time a guest says thank you, is just ridiculous. I really cant see how a ten minute walk in 90 degree heat, just to get me a cappuccino, can bring anyone pleasure. Although I must point out that the gratitude is genuine when a tip is left.
Some of the waiters also made the mistake of thinking I was a foreign language student, there only to learn Spanish. Some repeated the Spanish translation to me after everything I ordered, then stand there with a look on their face like they were Yoda teaching Luke Skywalker to make a woman take her clothes off, without saying a word. They eventually gave up on this game after about two days when it looked like I might slip into a coma through the boredom of it. There was one persistent bloke that cooked my lunch every day. Every day he would tell me the Spanish for fish, shrimp, onions and mushrooms, and each following day I would continue to order in English. I'm pleased to say my vocabulary of Spanish is the same as when I arrived: Hola, si, por favor, gracias and, probably the most important of all, cerveza.
It's not that I don't like other languages, it's just completely pointless me learning Spanish in two weeks. Firstly, all of the staff at the hotel spoke and understood English perfectly well. Secondly, the waiters will need to speak English long after I've departed Cancun, where as I won't speak a word of Spanish until I next return, possibly a year or two away. So it makes more sense for them to practice their English than me my Spanish. So in a way, I'm doing them a favour.
One thing I have learnt is that ninety percent of Americans don't hold a passport. And I would say out of the remaining ten percent that do, nine percent go to Mexico. The Americans are a strange bunch to work out. On one hand they are the most friendly, polite people you'll have the pleasure to meet, only ever addressing people as Sir or Mam. On the other hand, they can also be the most loud and irritating race on the planet. They also have some strange customs.
If two Arabs get into my taxi in London, they seem to shout at each other in an aggressive manor, even though they are only sitting about two feet apart. The Americans do it slightly differently. They sit as far away from each other as possible, sometimes to the point where binoculars are needed, then have a very loud conversation.
I've never been to the States, but unless they have followed the British Labour Governments lead of banning anything people enjoy doing, you can still get a drink anytime you want. Which is why it's baffling that Americans start drinking around 10am in the pool bar and finish around midnight looking like a zombie. Every night. Which leads to another of their customs - whooping. And they whoop at everything. It usually starts about 3pm in the pool bar after several hours drinking of cocktails. One day the whooping was so loud I started to wonder if Osama Bin Laden had been brought back to life, then killed again. All that really happened was a bloke asked the barman for a straw.
There is peace and quiet to be found on the beach, where the sand is white and the water is warm and clear. And thankfully they don't play music out of speakers that the Rolling Stones might use in a concert at Wembley Stadium. They do, however, have those speakers in the theatre.
The hotel next door boasts as being more exclusive, in reality it's just more expensive. They only have three restaurants and no night time entertainment. I can only imagine the entertainments manager plays the music at such a high volume to tease the other hotels guests when they are bored and bed is the only option at about 9pm. Either that or he's deaf. And after hearing some of the singers he's booked, it could be both.
There is a nice area to sit and have a drink after the main show is finished, where a three piece band plays in what resembles a town square rather than a hotel. There is a cigar shop on site, so if a Cuban short Churchill, Romeo and Juliet is as close to Shakespear as you wish to get, this is the place to be.
This is the fith time I've been to Mexico, and have stayed in four different hotels along the Riviera Maya area. I've never been disappointed. So if you're thinking of visiting the Caribbean and don't have the bank balance of Simon Cowell or Wayne Rooney, forget about Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia, say Adios to England (or wherever you call home) and say Hola! to Cancun, where paradise awaits.
Everything about the hotel screams luxury. You can even pay extra to belong to the Excellence Club, where you can sit in a bar that nobody else uses and get a different colour towel to use by your own pool. Shared by the other 200 people that join the club.
The resort has seven pools, five bars and seven restaurants - Mexican, French, Asian, Italian, Mediteranian, plus a specialist steak house and a place that only serves lobster. Breakfast and lunch are served in the steak house, which is situated near the main pool, but the buffet avaiable in the Italian restaurant is truly amazing. Eggs any way you like them are cooked at breakfast and a wide variety of fresh fish and meats, along with salad and fruit is what makes up lunch. With plenty of cakes and ice cream for those with a sweet tooth. There is a modest dress code for breakfast and lunch, you basically need to wear clothes, rather than swimming shorts or bikinis. In the evening the dress code is more formal. Long trousers need to be worn by men, woman are expected to wear more than a flannel. The Steak, lobster and Mexican restaurants allow tailored shorts as they are outside.
The four remaining restaurants are in the main building and wouldn't look out of place in London's West End. The food that's served in them is pretty much as good as I've had in London too. Then it all gets a bit confusing. There you are, all dressed up, in this fancy, bordering on posh, restaurant, when a smart looking waiter approaches you and serves you in the way someone at T.G.I Friday or Franky and Bennys would. Thankfully they stop short of saying "can I take your order guys" and then proceeding to call us both "guys" for the rest of the evening, even though my wife is quite obviously a woman.
The other thing that I find not quite right is the over the top subservience the waiters are forced to show. I'm a working class bloke and have never had servants. So having someone chase me around a restaurant offering to carry my plate, makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. To say "it's my pleasure" 15000 times a day each time a guest says thank you, is just ridiculous. I really cant see how a ten minute walk in 90 degree heat, just to get me a cappuccino, can bring anyone pleasure. Although I must point out that the gratitude is genuine when a tip is left.
Some of the waiters also made the mistake of thinking I was a foreign language student, there only to learn Spanish. Some repeated the Spanish translation to me after everything I ordered, then stand there with a look on their face like they were Yoda teaching Luke Skywalker to make a woman take her clothes off, without saying a word. They eventually gave up on this game after about two days when it looked like I might slip into a coma through the boredom of it. There was one persistent bloke that cooked my lunch every day. Every day he would tell me the Spanish for fish, shrimp, onions and mushrooms, and each following day I would continue to order in English. I'm pleased to say my vocabulary of Spanish is the same as when I arrived: Hola, si, por favor, gracias and, probably the most important of all, cerveza.
It's not that I don't like other languages, it's just completely pointless me learning Spanish in two weeks. Firstly, all of the staff at the hotel spoke and understood English perfectly well. Secondly, the waiters will need to speak English long after I've departed Cancun, where as I won't speak a word of Spanish until I next return, possibly a year or two away. So it makes more sense for them to practice their English than me my Spanish. So in a way, I'm doing them a favour.
One thing I have learnt is that ninety percent of Americans don't hold a passport. And I would say out of the remaining ten percent that do, nine percent go to Mexico. The Americans are a strange bunch to work out. On one hand they are the most friendly, polite people you'll have the pleasure to meet, only ever addressing people as Sir or Mam. On the other hand, they can also be the most loud and irritating race on the planet. They also have some strange customs.
If two Arabs get into my taxi in London, they seem to shout at each other in an aggressive manor, even though they are only sitting about two feet apart. The Americans do it slightly differently. They sit as far away from each other as possible, sometimes to the point where binoculars are needed, then have a very loud conversation.
I've never been to the States, but unless they have followed the British Labour Governments lead of banning anything people enjoy doing, you can still get a drink anytime you want. Which is why it's baffling that Americans start drinking around 10am in the pool bar and finish around midnight looking like a zombie. Every night. Which leads to another of their customs - whooping. And they whoop at everything. It usually starts about 3pm in the pool bar after several hours drinking of cocktails. One day the whooping was so loud I started to wonder if Osama Bin Laden had been brought back to life, then killed again. All that really happened was a bloke asked the barman for a straw.
There is peace and quiet to be found on the beach, where the sand is white and the water is warm and clear. And thankfully they don't play music out of speakers that the Rolling Stones might use in a concert at Wembley Stadium. They do, however, have those speakers in the theatre.
The hotel next door boasts as being more exclusive, in reality it's just more expensive. They only have three restaurants and no night time entertainment. I can only imagine the entertainments manager plays the music at such a high volume to tease the other hotels guests when they are bored and bed is the only option at about 9pm. Either that or he's deaf. And after hearing some of the singers he's booked, it could be both.
There is a nice area to sit and have a drink after the main show is finished, where a three piece band plays in what resembles a town square rather than a hotel. There is a cigar shop on site, so if a Cuban short Churchill, Romeo and Juliet is as close to Shakespear as you wish to get, this is the place to be.
This is the fith time I've been to Mexico, and have stayed in four different hotels along the Riviera Maya area. I've never been disappointed. So if you're thinking of visiting the Caribbean and don't have the bank balance of Simon Cowell or Wayne Rooney, forget about Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia, say Adios to England (or wherever you call home) and say Hola! to Cancun, where paradise awaits.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Football's Twelve Tribes of London Town
Or as they are better known - Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal (North London), West Ham and Leyton Orient (East London), Millwall, Charlton and Crystal Palace (South East), Chelsea, Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Brentford (West London) and the newest London team to join the football league, and South West London's sole representative, AFC Wimbledon.
Each one of these teams has it's own army of die hard supporters, much the same as any team up and down the country. But for me, what makes London football special is the intense rivalry that exists between these fans.
As a Londoner I would love to be able to say I like to see all the London clubs do well. But that would be a lie. I would love nothing better than to see West Ham open their 2012/13 season in their new 60,000 capacity stadium verses Bristol Rovers, in old Division 3.
I am a Tottenham supporter. Our biggest rivals are Arsenal, a team which a cousin who I consider close supports. Should Spurs lose to Arsenal, which unfortunately for me has happened more often than not over the last twenty years, I have an irrational urge to hunt him down and horse whip him.
This sort of rivalry goes on between all teams; West Ham hate Spurs, as do Chelsea, Q.P.R don't like Fulham, Fulham hate Chelsea. Millwall hate everyone and no one likes them, but as their fans will be quick to point out, they don't care. For me there is an unwritten rule that you can have a second team in London, as long as the don't play in the same league as the team you support.
The support for these clubs originally came from the local areas. But as London grew over the last fifty years and the traditional industries of the docks, print, automotive and manufacturing died out, and with mass immigration to inner London from former colonial countries, many Londoners moved out to the suburbs. I would say the Majority of Spurs and West Ham's support now comes from the suburbs and beyond. Harringay and Newham, the boroughs that are home to these two clubs have suffered most from the decline of industry and mass immigration. For some reason the Asian community have never taken to following football en mass.
Football in London is more than just a game, it's big business. I would estimate there are more than half a million people in and around London that spend money following their favorite team. I know as a cab driver how much busier London is when a team is involved in the champions league. Of course, the money men haven't failed to notice this. Five London clubs now have foreign owners. The biggest problem facing football fans in general is the rising cost of attending a match. Q.P.R have put their prices up by 40% after being promoted to the premier league, although I haven't heard that West Hame have reduced theirs by the same amount after being relegated!
I would love to see more London clubs in the Premier League as there's no better atmosphere than a London Derby. Although Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger, has always said it's a big disadvantage for clubs in London to challenge for the title because of the cup-tie atmosphere a derby creates. But what would he know? He's French! It's a shame there's not enough space in the football calendar for a London Cup.
With the 2011/12 season fast approaching, it looks like it could be the best yet. So I would like to see all the London clubs who play in the Premier League do well (with the exception of Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham & Q.P.R).....which only leaves the mighty Tottenham Hotspur, who will hopefully be crowned champions, come what May.
COME ON YOU SPURS
Each one of these teams has it's own army of die hard supporters, much the same as any team up and down the country. But for me, what makes London football special is the intense rivalry that exists between these fans.
As a Londoner I would love to be able to say I like to see all the London clubs do well. But that would be a lie. I would love nothing better than to see West Ham open their 2012/13 season in their new 60,000 capacity stadium verses Bristol Rovers, in old Division 3.
I am a Tottenham supporter. Our biggest rivals are Arsenal, a team which a cousin who I consider close supports. Should Spurs lose to Arsenal, which unfortunately for me has happened more often than not over the last twenty years, I have an irrational urge to hunt him down and horse whip him.
This sort of rivalry goes on between all teams; West Ham hate Spurs, as do Chelsea, Q.P.R don't like Fulham, Fulham hate Chelsea. Millwall hate everyone and no one likes them, but as their fans will be quick to point out, they don't care. For me there is an unwritten rule that you can have a second team in London, as long as the don't play in the same league as the team you support.
The support for these clubs originally came from the local areas. But as London grew over the last fifty years and the traditional industries of the docks, print, automotive and manufacturing died out, and with mass immigration to inner London from former colonial countries, many Londoners moved out to the suburbs. I would say the Majority of Spurs and West Ham's support now comes from the suburbs and beyond. Harringay and Newham, the boroughs that are home to these two clubs have suffered most from the decline of industry and mass immigration. For some reason the Asian community have never taken to following football en mass.
Football in London is more than just a game, it's big business. I would estimate there are more than half a million people in and around London that spend money following their favorite team. I know as a cab driver how much busier London is when a team is involved in the champions league. Of course, the money men haven't failed to notice this. Five London clubs now have foreign owners. The biggest problem facing football fans in general is the rising cost of attending a match. Q.P.R have put their prices up by 40% after being promoted to the premier league, although I haven't heard that West Hame have reduced theirs by the same amount after being relegated!
I would love to see more London clubs in the Premier League as there's no better atmosphere than a London Derby. Although Arsenal Manager, Arsene Wenger, has always said it's a big disadvantage for clubs in London to challenge for the title because of the cup-tie atmosphere a derby creates. But what would he know? He's French! It's a shame there's not enough space in the football calendar for a London Cup.
With the 2011/12 season fast approaching, it looks like it could be the best yet. So I would like to see all the London clubs who play in the Premier League do well (with the exception of Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham & Q.P.R).....which only leaves the mighty Tottenham Hotspur, who will hopefully be crowned champions, come what May.
COME ON YOU SPURS
Tuesday 22 February 2011
What a Fine Mess
Britain's finances are a mess. The U.K. has a debt of almost £1 trillion, with a budget deficit of £150 billion. Every day the country pays nearly £120 million in interest on this debt, roughly £40,000 per household. So as you can see, we have a problem. But what do we do about it? Quite obviously drastic spending cuts need to be made, along with a review of how we spend whats left. Quite obviously that is unless you have a beard, wear sandals and live in the 'village' of Islington.
All over the country unions are holding protests whenever local authorities announce how they plan to implement their budget cuts. On the 26th march The Trades Union Congress plan a mass demonstration against public spending cuts through the middle of London. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-union, far from it, I'm a member of one of Britain's biggest, The Rail Maritime & Transport Union, which has over 80,000 members. I understand why union leaders are fighting the cuts, its their job to fight for their members. What I don't understand is why millions of seemingly intelligent people, fail to see that we can't continue to spend what we don't have. When the government recently announced it was scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance - to people of an older generation, this was a part-time job in McDonald's - and the introduction of university tuition fees, thousands of people vandalised London under the pretence of the right to protest. Personally I think the socialist view that you can spend your way out of a recession is, to put it bluntly, utter nonsense.
The public sector employs more than six million people, just over half of all those working. When the financial downturn started in 2007 and reached crisis point in 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the first thing private sector companies did was make redundancies and cut spending (I'm not going to comment on the rights and wrongs of the banking bailout as it would take too long) but strangely enough, when the private sector were making thousands redundant and implementing their own spending cuts, not once did I see a placard waving, sandal wearing, bearded man from Islington, or a posh student, whose family own half of Berkshire, wearing a hooded top telling us polar bears have rights too, standing outside a bank, law firm or high street store, demanding that everyone has the right to work.
Tony Blair, with his ideology of New Labour, almost gave us the perfect middle ground. In his book, Blair, while having many socialist beliefs also states his views on economics are very conservative. He says he understands aspirations, he likes people who want to succeed and admires those who do. It is something I can go along with one hundred percent, that's why I voted for him three times. Unfortunately New Labour can only work when times are good. When times are bad you have to be nasty, and no one does nasty quite like the Tories. I don't wish to see thousands of people lose their jobs, but the U.K must be led from recession by private sector investment and not by government spending, funded by borrowing.
Britain must be run as a business and David Cameron must lead it back into profit, because if he doesn't I fear I may have to change my postal addres from the 'U.K' to 'The European State of England'.
All over the country unions are holding protests whenever local authorities announce how they plan to implement their budget cuts. On the 26th march The Trades Union Congress plan a mass demonstration against public spending cuts through the middle of London. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-union, far from it, I'm a member of one of Britain's biggest, The Rail Maritime & Transport Union, which has over 80,000 members. I understand why union leaders are fighting the cuts, its their job to fight for their members. What I don't understand is why millions of seemingly intelligent people, fail to see that we can't continue to spend what we don't have. When the government recently announced it was scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance - to people of an older generation, this was a part-time job in McDonald's - and the introduction of university tuition fees, thousands of people vandalised London under the pretence of the right to protest. Personally I think the socialist view that you can spend your way out of a recession is, to put it bluntly, utter nonsense.
The public sector employs more than six million people, just over half of all those working. When the financial downturn started in 2007 and reached crisis point in 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the first thing private sector companies did was make redundancies and cut spending (I'm not going to comment on the rights and wrongs of the banking bailout as it would take too long) but strangely enough, when the private sector were making thousands redundant and implementing their own spending cuts, not once did I see a placard waving, sandal wearing, bearded man from Islington, or a posh student, whose family own half of Berkshire, wearing a hooded top telling us polar bears have rights too, standing outside a bank, law firm or high street store, demanding that everyone has the right to work.
Tony Blair, with his ideology of New Labour, almost gave us the perfect middle ground. In his book, Blair, while having many socialist beliefs also states his views on economics are very conservative. He says he understands aspirations, he likes people who want to succeed and admires those who do. It is something I can go along with one hundred percent, that's why I voted for him three times. Unfortunately New Labour can only work when times are good. When times are bad you have to be nasty, and no one does nasty quite like the Tories. I don't wish to see thousands of people lose their jobs, but the U.K must be led from recession by private sector investment and not by government spending, funded by borrowing.
Britain must be run as a business and David Cameron must lead it back into profit, because if he doesn't I fear I may have to change my postal addres from the 'U.K' to 'The European State of England'.
Sunday 20 February 2011
The Importance of Tradition
There are many things that make me proud to be British - The Royal Family, the armed forces, British engineering and most importantly, The Knowledge of London. For those who don't know, The Knowledge of London, or K.O.L, is the voluntary form of torture that men and women from all walks of life, races and religions sign up to in order to gain the coveted 'Green Badge' to become a London Cab Driver.
The Knowledge takes on average three years to complete and consists of learning the streets, roads, squares, one way workings, underground and railway stations, all the hotels, pubs, clubs and restaurants, along with all the Police stations, Fire stations and hospitals - which thanks to the miss management of UK governments for about the last forty years, are becoming fewer by the day - within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. As well as all this you will also be expected to have a clean criminal record, the manners of a choir boy and the patience of a saint. A knowledge candidates temperament is tested throughout the process.
The examination process involves a series of oral examinations every 56,28 and 21 days. The better you are, the more frequently you'll be seen by an examiner. When a candidate reaches the required standard, they then take an advanced driving test and an oral test on the best way to the suburbs of London.
When I started the K.O.L in 1994 and "passed out" as a London cabby in 1998, the licensing of taxi-cabs and their drivers was carried out by the Metropolitan Police. I once heard The Knowledge refered to as "the last bastion of the British Empire. Where men still wear suits and call each other Sir". And even though licensing is now the responsibility of the more left wing and liberal Transport for London, I believe it's still very much a case of what you know, rather than who you know.
Many of my passengers ask me why? Why do we still use this antiquated way of doing things in London? Why not just use a Sat Nav? But as anyone whose ever used a Tom Tom Go will tell you, it's illegal drive down one way streets the wrong way, and most cars can't float on water and tend to need a bridge to cross a river, no matter what the rather posh voice coming from the device attached to your windscreen tells you.
The other reason we continue with the Knowledge is pride. The pride of knowing we have earned the right to be part of a trade respected around the globe. London cabbies were recently voted the best in the world for the third year running by a hotel travel survey. There's no better feeling than when a businessman or woman from the other side of the globe tell you that London cab drivers help make London the greatest city in the world.
There is an unfortunate trend in this country of degrading or making easier the way to earn a trade, in some cases even abolishing the trade altogether. This has also been done in universities by allowing people to get a degree in watching paint dry and then having to explain that Investment banks only want people who have a degree in something useful. I hope the powers that be don't try to make the knowledge easier for people who are too lazy or can't be bothered putting the effort into doing something that doesn't involve a control pad for the X-Box, but I fear I may be viewed as either a Nazi or a dinosaur by anyone under 25 for expecting them to work for something, rather than have it handed to them on a plate.
The Knowledge takes on average three years to complete and consists of learning the streets, roads, squares, one way workings, underground and railway stations, all the hotels, pubs, clubs and restaurants, along with all the Police stations, Fire stations and hospitals - which thanks to the miss management of UK governments for about the last forty years, are becoming fewer by the day - within a six mile radius of Charing Cross. As well as all this you will also be expected to have a clean criminal record, the manners of a choir boy and the patience of a saint. A knowledge candidates temperament is tested throughout the process.
The examination process involves a series of oral examinations every 56,28 and 21 days. The better you are, the more frequently you'll be seen by an examiner. When a candidate reaches the required standard, they then take an advanced driving test and an oral test on the best way to the suburbs of London.
When I started the K.O.L in 1994 and "passed out" as a London cabby in 1998, the licensing of taxi-cabs and their drivers was carried out by the Metropolitan Police. I once heard The Knowledge refered to as "the last bastion of the British Empire. Where men still wear suits and call each other Sir". And even though licensing is now the responsibility of the more left wing and liberal Transport for London, I believe it's still very much a case of what you know, rather than who you know.
Many of my passengers ask me why? Why do we still use this antiquated way of doing things in London? Why not just use a Sat Nav? But as anyone whose ever used a Tom Tom Go will tell you, it's illegal drive down one way streets the wrong way, and most cars can't float on water and tend to need a bridge to cross a river, no matter what the rather posh voice coming from the device attached to your windscreen tells you.
The other reason we continue with the Knowledge is pride. The pride of knowing we have earned the right to be part of a trade respected around the globe. London cabbies were recently voted the best in the world for the third year running by a hotel travel survey. There's no better feeling than when a businessman or woman from the other side of the globe tell you that London cab drivers help make London the greatest city in the world.
There is an unfortunate trend in this country of degrading or making easier the way to earn a trade, in some cases even abolishing the trade altogether. This has also been done in universities by allowing people to get a degree in watching paint dry and then having to explain that Investment banks only want people who have a degree in something useful. I hope the powers that be don't try to make the knowledge easier for people who are too lazy or can't be bothered putting the effort into doing something that doesn't involve a control pad for the X-Box, but I fear I may be viewed as either a Nazi or a dinosaur by anyone under 25 for expecting them to work for something, rather than have it handed to them on a plate.
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