Get real.

I posted around this time last year about what I saw as the unrealistic expectations of some LibDem voters and how in my opinion this had translated into a slump in their vote in the local elections.  This year doesn't seem to be any different for them, but this time it's the Tory voters (or rather non-voters) who I think need to wake up and smell the coffee - much though they may wish it to be so, this is not a Conservative government, it's a coalition, and their desire for the government's policies to be "more Tory" has to be seen in the light of that reality.  So were last Thursday's results a positive move towards Labour, or merely an anti-government protest?  I would guess more the latter than the former - I still see Labour's stance as more negative than positive - "we wouldn't have done that", rather than "we would have done this".  And the low turnout - low even by local elections standards - suggest a general apathy towards politics in general. So all parties have work to do.

A foregone conclusion?

So the Commons committee looking into the 'phone-hacking business has delivered its report, and concluded that Rupert Murdoch is not "a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".  Whilst they are of course entitled to express an opinion, I don't think that Murdoch's fitness to hold office was part of their remit, and they are indeed straying into ground properly belonging to Ofcom.  And given that some members of the committee were known to be hostile generally to Murdoch, the report has to be read in that light.  I don't hold any brief for Murdoch who certainly comes across as a person you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of, but I think the committee's conclusions have to be seen as somewhat partisan.

They think it's all over...it is now!

"Ask and it shall be given you", says the Good Book.  Well I asked (see post of 28th April) and it has been given me - the FA have announced that the new English football manager is to be Roy Hodgson. Bit of a surprise, but perhaps the FA have finally come to the realisation that managing a national side is not simply the same as managing a club side on a larger scale, but requires a rather different skill-set, and Hodgson has a proven track record as a manager of national sides.  And maybe Harry Redknapp can now get back to concentrating on the job he was doing so well with Tottenham.

Bit of a dilemma?

The British Olympic Association's stance on imposing a lifetime ban on competing in the Olympics on any GB athlete who tests positive for a banned substance has been declared invalid by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and as a result Dwain Chambers (see post dated 18/2/08) becomes eligible for selection for this summer's Olympic Games.  Opinion seems to be sharply divided as to whether this is a good or bad thing.  I can't make up my mind - on the one hand my natural inclination is to give anybody a second chance, but I can also appreciate that if anything but a long-term ban is imposed there will be a temptation for sportsmen (or women) to take drugs on the basis that if they're caught they can serve their four years or whatever and still have something of a career left.  Of course, the fact that Chambers is eligible doesn't automatically mean that he will be picked, although, as I understand it he is currently our best 100 metres runner, so it would be difficult to ignore him.

What do you mean, we're too late?

The driver of a private ambulance carrying an urgently needed liver for a transplant operation has been fined and had points on his licence for exceeding the speed limit. And the justification?  Because it was a private ambulance it was not classified as an "emergency vehicle" and therefore did not fall under the exemptions allowed for such vehicles in section 87 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984.  What a "jobsworth" decision - surely whether a vehicle is treated as an emergency vehicle or not ought to depend on the function it is carrying out rather than what type of vehicle it is.  I hope whoever made that decision never finds themselves desperately waiting for an organ transplant, while the organ in question carefully tries to pick its way through to them sticking to the speed limits - they might take a different view of things.

Confused - you will be!

What strange minds some people do have.  You've probably seen the latest advert from confused.com who are car insurance brokers.  It's a 30 second animated cartoon and for about two of those seconds you see a couple of (very cartoonish) girls in bikinis jumping in the air and if you're very quick - and you need to be - you see a rather overweight lady's dress riding up and showing her pink knickers.  So it's a cartoon for heaven's sake - and yet it seems some people have taken offence at what they see as one of the bikini girl's "large" breasts (which you don't see anything of - just the bikini top) and the sight of knickers, and have complained to the Advertising Standards Agency.  Some people need to get a life!  

10 PRINT "I love my Spectrum": GOTO 10

Last week it was the 30th birthday of the Sinclair Spectrum and lots of people have gone online with their memories of this early home computer which produced a whole generation of amateur programmers.  I go back a little further than that to the ZX81 with its magnificent 1k of RAM - and believe me it took some ingenuity to write any meaningful program within 1k.  Actually there was an even earlier ZX80, but it was the 81 that really got the home computing ball rolling, and the Speccy which brought it to the masses.  Take a bow, Sir Clive.

That which must not be named.

Latest example of the draconian rules relating to the Olympics and sponsorship - the University of Derby put up a few (you would have thought pretty innocuous) banners reading "Supporting the London Olympics" but have been forced to remove them.  And why?  Because, believe it or not, the word "Olympics" can only be used with the permission of LOGOC (the London 2012 Organising Committee) and this wasn't forthcoming.  It's all becoming rather silly, isn't it?

Getting used to failure?

The England football manager's job is often referred to as a poisoned chalice, and certainly many famous names have come to the job with a proven record and yet failed to give England the success their fans crave.  But with Harry Redknapp the curse seems to have struck even before he is appointed - if indeed he ever is.  He became the most popular choice because of his record with Tottenham Hotspur, and yet no sooner had he become the number one candidate than Spurs' form dipped markedly and the Champions League spot which at one time seemed a formality is now anything but.  It has been suggested that the uncertainty about his future is a major factor in this loss of form.  Perhaps it's time to put the man, the team and indeed the country out of their misery!

Plane just landed -- see you in a couple of hours.

Quite a few stories recently about long delays in getting through passport checks at UK airports.  It's not a pleasant experience having to queue up to have the light shone in your eyes when all you're seeking to do is return to your own country, but I've never experienced unacceptable delays, and I cannot understand why there should ever be any.  After all, there can be few procedures which better lend themselves to organised management - what planes are coming in when, from where, and how many people are on board is known well in advance, so where's the problem?  As an ex-civil servant I strongly suspect the problem is the underfunding and undermanning of whatever department or agency carries out the checks.  Of course, another approach would be to look at the scheduling of arrivals, so you don't get a load of people all coming in at once.  So I'm sure the problem is solvable - just as I'm equally sure it will remain unsolved.