This blog will soon cease to exist. I’m following the lead of several Lib Dem bloggers by splitting off my various interests that this blog currently covers.
National politics and local Lib Dem issues will come together in a new blog FOCUSing on the local area, whilst my various musical/events/web adventures will be housed elsewhere.
Posts may be sporadic over the next week while I get the new blogs up and running.
A story that really caught my attention today was the medical emergency on the remote British island of Tristan Da Cunha.
However, the official Tristan Da Cunha website seems to tell a different story:
“Islanders have been suffering from a flu virus over the last 10 days or so, with asthma sufferers particularly affected, and as a result there is a concern that stocks of drugs are low.
“There is no emergency, no deaths, and the situation is under control.
“Nevertheless the Tristan Administrator David Morley is exploring options for an extra supply of the appropriate drugs as a contingency before the arrival of the next scheduled ship due on 23rd January 2008.
“The Tristan da Cunha community is grateful to receive best wishes from friends across the world following some alarmist media reports today.”
It is with great sadness that I bring you news of Martyn Smith’s death.
Martyn had been a Sandwell Liberal Democrat Councillor for nearly 30 years and was re-elected to office in May 2007. He was a real driving force in the Council group and amongst the local West Bromwich party.
Martyn had been suffering from a serious illness for a considerable amount of time and deteriorated over the course of the weekend. He was taken to hospital in the early hours of Monday morning and passed away peacefully later in the day. I was with Martyn for a few hours on Monday and am pleased to say he didn’t appear to be in any pain.
I would like to place on record here my deepest sympathies to Martyn’s family, in particular to his wife and fellow Councillor Sadie Smith, who did a wonderful job in caring for Martyn as his condition deteriorated.
This is a huge loss for both Sandwell Council and the Liberal Democrats locally.
Please feel free to leave comments here and I shall pass them all on to the family.
A warm welcome back to everybody’s favourite 80’s chocolate bar, which was relaunched yesterday for a limited period (despite being on sale in several shops - including one in Bearwood - for a few weeks already!)
A 15 year-old boy named Andrei.
Firstly Barrie Wood from Devon whose inclusion was prompted by his posts on choosing the Lib Dems over Labour (for now) and also an interesting local debate over a casino which I’m sure other Bearwood Bloggers will find of interest.
Also a warm welcome back to blogging to Sandra Gidley, Liberal Democrat MP for Romsey.
This was the second England match I’d seen live, but my first time to the new Wembley. In actual fact my first England match was the friendly with Australia held at Upton Park, memorable only for Wayne Rooney’s debut, oh and a fully deserved 3-1 defeat.
The Journey There
Fantastic. A short bus ride from Bearwood and a direct train from Snow Hill (or Moor St) to Wembley Stadium station, pretty much right outside. If only getting home was as easy, but I’ll come to that later.
Outside The Stadium
Approaching the stadium it looks incredible. I never liked the idea of the arch, but from a distance it looks impressive and sets the pulse racing just as the old twin towers used to. Immediately outside the stadium though, the pulse settles down. There is nothing there. No entertainment, no stallholders, no food vendors, no nothing, no buzz. Just bland grey emptiness. Apart from the Bobby Moore statue.
Inside the Stadium
On entering the stadium you are greeted with nothing but an escalator. Then another one, then another one. I almost felt underdressed in an England shirt for a day at the office…
The acid test for me was walking into the arena itself. My overriding memory of the old Wembley was at the 1995 FA Cup Final, walking up then down into the seated area, getting my first view of the stadium, the pitch, the fans and my first taste of the atmosphere. As a 14 year old lad it totally overwhelmed me and that memory has stayed with me forever.
While not quite the same in 2007, I was still blown away by the arena itself. We took our seats half an hour before kick-off, but there was still a great buzz about the place. But can you expect anything less for £757m?
One amusing moment came when Gordon Brown appeared on the video screens, to a chorus of boos.
Finally, we got to take part in the “Danke Fur 2006″ lettering during the national anthem!
The Match
What a start! We looked like worldbeaters for the first 15 minutes and took a thoroughly deserved lead. Then what happened? Well let’s face it, it was a friendly. I know it was against Germany, but there was less incentive to go on and score more than there will be against Israel next month. Germany won through a mistake and an unstoppable thunderbolt. Otherwise, they were a very, very, poor team. Overall, I’m not disheartened by the result because for the first time in a long while, we created good chances. With a fit Rooney and a fit Owen we would’ve comfortably won the match. Of course, whether we get a fit Rooney and a fit Owen again is an interesting question.
I was hugely impressed with Nickey Shorey. Despite making a couple of mistakes towards the end of the match, he was generally confident and very assured on the ball. The same was true of Micah Richards in the first-half, although I was less impressed with him when he moved to centre-back in the second half. Man of the Match for me was Joe Cole. You could almost taste the anticipation in the air every time the ball fell to him. Some lovely touches, nice shimmys past hapless Germans, and a spark of creativity that is much needed in this England side. I also must mention Gareth Barry who I thought added a great deal to the midfield when he came on.
The German fans were fantastic throughout, mind you they were winning at the new Wembley so it was to be expected I suppose.
Getting Home
Those of a nervous disposition might want to look away now. The match finished at something like 9.50pm. I got home at 2.18am. My Dad was home, in a village 10 miles from Northampton, at midnight. I understand that managing 90,000 people leaving a “public transport stadium” is never going to be easy, but improvements can be made. The queue into Wembley Stadium station was split depending on if you were going north (Wycombe, Birmingham) or South (Marylebone). Local trains were put on every 10 minutes either way but only 2 of these went all the way to Birmingham. It took over an hour to reach the platform where we were ordered on a train to Banbury. At Banbury noone seemed to know what was going on, as luck would have it a train eventually turned up to take us back to Snow Hill. There is enough room at Wembley Stadium station to shunt those going north of Banbury into a seperate waiting area. There is also plenty of space on the line (at that time of night) for an extra train to Birmingham. I shall be writing to Chiltern Trains with some polite suggestions for improvements to their after-match service.
For England v Russia, I’ve booked a hotel.
My Dad and me taking our seats
The German “fan flag” during their national anthem
The home end during the match
The stadium and arch after the match. Note the queue for the train station!
On Tuesday I spent the day at The Valley, home of Charlton Athletic FC, training to become a volunteer FA liaison officer for a Football League Club.
The day was fascinating for a multitude of reasons, not least to see the dedication from the FA to wipe out all forms of discrimination in the game. The FA is criticised heavily in some circles these days, but the work going on under the “Football For All” banner is nothing short of incredible and should be applauded.
Another highlight was chatting to Brendon Batson, who was one of the first black players to play in the English game when he pulled on an Arsenal, Cambridge and West Brom shirt in the 1970s. He joined my small focus group and made some vital points to the debates, not just about the similarities with the “Kick It Out” campaign but also on the subject of homophobia in the dressing room.
One strong debate centred on the use of words like “poof”. Is this OK to be used in the context of “get up you poof” from a supporter in a Premiership match, when the same words can often be heard in a GFSN League match? The latter may be light-hearted, but where do you draw the line? Comparisons here were drawn with use of the n****r word by members of the rapping community.
All in all an eye-opening day and I look forward to working with my Football League club to help implement the new ground regulations (which forbid homophobic abuse for the first time) and hopefully more.
Thanks to Nich the Norfolk Blogger for bringing this future Simpsons episode to light!
John The Teacher isn’t the only Bearwood Blogger escaping the rain this week.
Expect no posts for the next week, here comes the sun!
