Vicki Sparks commentary on the Portugal v Morocco match in the football World Cup has once again divided opinion. The problem the broadcasters face is simple. They want to embrace positive discrimination, as it is what they think is best for a quiet life, but women do not have the vocal attenuation to be able to add anything to a football commentary.
The BBC tried it with rugby but it did not work and they abandoned it after one game, so please lets hope this is another one off experiment which they will realise was a mistake.
I would question the value of female pundits too but Sky Sports are using them more and more, even though they are nowhere near the standard of their female Sky Sports news reporters. Only Michelle Owen seems to meet the standard required.
So its not jobs for the boys, its what suits best, and high pitched female voices just don't fit.
Friday, 22 June 2018
Sunday, 17 June 2018
New disaster hits Emmerdale
Not, not really, it is just another bit of my past which is disappearing as part of the meltdown of the traditional high street shopping portfolio. Mothercare are suffering and I know I shopped in there when number one son was on his way, Habitat used to furnish my houses in London, I purchased loads of music from HMV and who did not get kitted out in the underwear department of M & S. The real hit though, has come with the announcement that House Of Fraser are shutting a large number of stores in it's portfolio.
Beattie's in Birkenhead has been a keystone store in the Pyramid Centre for generations. It was purchased by House of Fraser about ten years ago. Birkenhead has already lost the M & S store so with this double whammy the life has been sucked out of the centre. It could very quickly become a ghost town, with charity shops and discount outlets the only surviving stores.
Plymouth, like Birkenhead, will see its store close as well. It used to be called Dingles and was the biggest single shop in the centre of Plymouth. When I was at school in Plymouth, I was in there all the time, either with my parents buying sensible things, Christmas presents or food in their excellent top floor restaurant. Boy that was a bit treat.
When I and my chums were studying for our O Levels, we would meet at the reference library early in the morning for about 4 hours revision. It was then down to Dingles restaurant for our lunch and home to do a bit more studying. Three of the S-Club were in the group, and when we had sat our final O level examination, we decided to spend the whole day in the Dingles restaurant.
We managed to achieve that, by buying just enough food and drink at intervals which kept the staff from throwing us out!! Dingles was a Plymouth institution, and I remember Stuart, one of the S-Club, meeting some Cornish rugby supporters in Twickenham. 'I guess you can only press your noses against the window of Dingles' he said, intimating they were Country bumpkins and could not afford to shop there. That nearly caused a right to do!!
It suffered in a major fire about ten years ago, which started in the restaurant area, but it was rebuilt to its former standard and will be a sad lost to the Plymouth centre. Initial plans from British Land who own the site, indicate it could be turned into residential units with retail on the ground floor. Time will tell.
Interestingly at the time I was in Plymouth, the 'girl next door' was called Belinda Lee, she is now Belinda Earl OBE, and is style director at M & S. Let's hope her job remains secure in the churning retail marketplace.
Beattie's in Birkenhead has been a keystone store in the Pyramid Centre for generations. It was purchased by House of Fraser about ten years ago. Birkenhead has already lost the M & S store so with this double whammy the life has been sucked out of the centre. It could very quickly become a ghost town, with charity shops and discount outlets the only surviving stores.
Plymouth, like Birkenhead, will see its store close as well. It used to be called Dingles and was the biggest single shop in the centre of Plymouth. When I was at school in Plymouth, I was in there all the time, either with my parents buying sensible things, Christmas presents or food in their excellent top floor restaurant. Boy that was a bit treat.
When I and my chums were studying for our O Levels, we would meet at the reference library early in the morning for about 4 hours revision. It was then down to Dingles restaurant for our lunch and home to do a bit more studying. Three of the S-Club were in the group, and when we had sat our final O level examination, we decided to spend the whole day in the Dingles restaurant.
We managed to achieve that, by buying just enough food and drink at intervals which kept the staff from throwing us out!! Dingles was a Plymouth institution, and I remember Stuart, one of the S-Club, meeting some Cornish rugby supporters in Twickenham. 'I guess you can only press your noses against the window of Dingles' he said, intimating they were Country bumpkins and could not afford to shop there. That nearly caused a right to do!!
It suffered in a major fire about ten years ago, which started in the restaurant area, but it was rebuilt to its former standard and will be a sad lost to the Plymouth centre. Initial plans from British Land who own the site, indicate it could be turned into residential units with retail on the ground floor. Time will tell.
Interestingly at the time I was in Plymouth, the 'girl next door' was called Belinda Lee, she is now Belinda Earl OBE, and is style director at M & S. Let's hope her job remains secure in the churning retail marketplace.
Thursday, 14 June 2018
Stoned
They say what goes around, comes around, and that certainly seems the case where the Rolling Stones are concerned. I remember their Voodoo Lounge tour in 1995 with great affection.
I had tickets for one day of their Wembley Stadium dates, and went with my next door neighbour to see all the action. I vividly remember Symphony for the Devil as a highlight, as Mick Jagger suddenly appeared near the roof of the stadium to belt out the number over most of North London.
The Stones needed to cancel one of the dates for some reason, so I was able to go again as my mate 'Dodgy' Dave Jones had tickets for the original but could not make the reschedule. That gave me a chance to take SWBMO to Wembley as I was still in the impressing phase of our relationship. I enjoyed it as much as the first gig and she, too had a great evening.
How time flies. Now the Stones are touring again, although Charlie Watts still had time to visit the Oval yesterday to take in some cricket. So 23 years after that last gig at Wembley, our two girls were thrilled to go to Old Trafford last week to see the old gits banging out their stuff again. No standing on the pitch for them though as new man on the block got some swish tickets in the posh seats. They loved it, as did we all those years ago.After all, it's only rock 'n roll.........
I had tickets for one day of their Wembley Stadium dates, and went with my next door neighbour to see all the action. I vividly remember Symphony for the Devil as a highlight, as Mick Jagger suddenly appeared near the roof of the stadium to belt out the number over most of North London.
The Stones needed to cancel one of the dates for some reason, so I was able to go again as my mate 'Dodgy' Dave Jones had tickets for the original but could not make the reschedule. That gave me a chance to take SWBMO to Wembley as I was still in the impressing phase of our relationship. I enjoyed it as much as the first gig and she, too had a great evening.
How time flies. Now the Stones are touring again, although Charlie Watts still had time to visit the Oval yesterday to take in some cricket. So 23 years after that last gig at Wembley, our two girls were thrilled to go to Old Trafford last week to see the old gits banging out their stuff again. No standing on the pitch for them though as new man on the block got some swish tickets in the posh seats. They loved it, as did we all those years ago.After all, it's only rock 'n roll.........
Wednesday, 6 June 2018
Absent friends
On a Southern softie tour at the moment. I am playing golf tomorrow at Westerham in Kent.It is a memorial day from Andy Richardson who was a leading light in the Algarve golf society and who died suddenly earlier this year. He is the fourth member of the original 16 to be no longer with us.
As a tribute I spent a bit of time putting together a photo book covering all 21 years of the trips. During the information gathering I found out two wives have sadly died recently too. It illustrates how fragile we are.
The photo book was a struggle too. Twenty years ago mobile phones rarely took good photo's, and more recently people took photo's on their phones and either lost them or deleted them. Still I managed to fill 80 pages with the help of Chairman Dick and a few others who dug out some hardcopy photo's, records and songs.
We plan to present Richo's family with a copy which I hope they will like.
Getting here, I have played in the Twickenham RFC past players v present players match. The present players, the 'hero's, won 4.5-3.5 to regain the trophy but myself and Phil Coles won our match 9 & 7. Too little though.
I then stayed a couple of nights with 'off the record' Dick and met up with Stanley making three of the S Club 5 together and fairly sober!
Today I caught up with an old friend Ray Dudman, again, on the golf course and we chatted all things work, retirement and rugby. Ray had a distinguished rugby career with Harlequin's, London Division and the Barbarians and would turn out occasionally for Twickenham when he was returning from injury. He got the better of me today but I think he might struggle around Wallasey if we can factor in a return match.
So a hectic week, back to Scouse Friday and it all starts again up North.
As a tribute I spent a bit of time putting together a photo book covering all 21 years of the trips. During the information gathering I found out two wives have sadly died recently too. It illustrates how fragile we are.
The photo book was a struggle too. Twenty years ago mobile phones rarely took good photo's, and more recently people took photo's on their phones and either lost them or deleted them. Still I managed to fill 80 pages with the help of Chairman Dick and a few others who dug out some hardcopy photo's, records and songs.
We plan to present Richo's family with a copy which I hope they will like.
Getting here, I have played in the Twickenham RFC past players v present players match. The present players, the 'hero's, won 4.5-3.5 to regain the trophy but myself and Phil Coles won our match 9 & 7. Too little though.
I then stayed a couple of nights with 'off the record' Dick and met up with Stanley making three of the S Club 5 together and fairly sober!
Today I caught up with an old friend Ray Dudman, again, on the golf course and we chatted all things work, retirement and rugby. Ray had a distinguished rugby career with Harlequin's, London Division and the Barbarians and would turn out occasionally for Twickenham when he was returning from injury. He got the better of me today but I think he might struggle around Wallasey if we can factor in a return match.
So a hectic week, back to Scouse Friday and it all starts again up North.
Tuesday, 1 May 2018
Walking with giants
As promised a few photo's from the Barbados gig, and where better to start than with the top man. The four of us featured in the photo, have one thing in common which I suspect nobody else at the presentation party had. All four of us were at Lord's cricket ground in the Summer of 1963. Two of us were trying to knock Ted Dexter's head off, one was egging them on from silly mid-on, and the other one was sat in the stand with his Dad watching his first ever live test match.
Three of them are now knighted and it was a real privilege that they sat to allow me to have this photo shoot. Sir Wes Hall can't move around too much these days so the pose was for his benefit really. Sir Charlie Griffiths and Sir Gary Sobers are much more sprightly and have a few yarns to spin. The three of them remind me of my chums in the S Club and how we meet up a few times each year and talk the same rubbish we have talked about for nigh on 50 years.
Gordon Greenidge was playing in my handicap group and was good enough to have his photo taken, the shadows were a bit tricky though. That said Sandy Lane was in top shape again this year, it was just a pity not to do it justice.
Monday, 30 April 2018
Caught on the boundary
Our trip to Barbados is nearing the end. We have tried to pack too much into the week really as a relaxing vacation and four rounds of medal golf are mutually exclusive!
The Tamarind hotel has been fine. It's on the Platinum coast at Payne's Bay and has received good reports from SWMBO. That is what I had hoped, as my first choice, Discovery Bay, had her complaining about all the poor TripAdvisor comments. I changed without telling her and she is still none the wiser and is now less likely to take TripAdvisor as gospel! She doesn't follow this bog so it's just our little secret readers!
We have had a few new restaurants to try out. The Cliff beach club was at the high end and was very enjoyable experience. Starlets and Zuccio were good as was the food in Cariba, it just lacked any atmosphere. Finally a mention to the Sea Cat, a rum shack type fish restaurant which was very good and reasonably priced.
The weather has been great, and better than expected which was ideal for the golf. Four rounds of medal golf is the game the pro's play every week, but for mid handicap players it is tough and unforgiving.
I started with two rounds of 92 at the Barbados golf club and Royal Westmoreland which after handicap was 2 x 78. I lost five balls which cost me 10 shots and had me mid- table in my handicap flight, 14 off the lead. The pro's always call Saturday moving day as it proved to be for me. I hit an 84, net 70 around Apes Hill, to put me one off the lead going into Sunday.
It was probably my greatest ever competitive round of golf culminating with a birdie 4 on the last hole and a gross 39 for the last nine holes. I was actually 4 over par for the final 10 holes. I was drained at the end of it, but had had great encouragement from my playing partners, Duncan, Jessie and Diaz. They all appreciated how much it meant to me.
Sunday arrived and I quickly learnt how golf can gain revenge. I was in the last group out. We had caddies and I had no friends. I did not realise how exhausted I was from the previous day, so after hanging in there for four holes, a 12 at the next put me out of contention and contributed to a 'no return'. As it happened somebody came out of the pack with a net 64 to win it. I had my moment of glory thouh so now need to translate the form into some solid Summer golf. It's Walton Heath in Surrey on Friday and a big Virgin Atlantic Knock Out at Wallasey next week.
I will post some pictures from the presentation night with Sir Gary Sobers tomorrow.
To finish on a lighter note, I am having the house painted while we are away, SWMBO doesn't know about that either. I hope Argyle green is to her liking!!
The Tamarind hotel has been fine. It's on the Platinum coast at Payne's Bay and has received good reports from SWMBO. That is what I had hoped, as my first choice, Discovery Bay, had her complaining about all the poor TripAdvisor comments. I changed without telling her and she is still none the wiser and is now less likely to take TripAdvisor as gospel! She doesn't follow this bog so it's just our little secret readers!
We have had a few new restaurants to try out. The Cliff beach club was at the high end and was very enjoyable experience. Starlets and Zuccio were good as was the food in Cariba, it just lacked any atmosphere. Finally a mention to the Sea Cat, a rum shack type fish restaurant which was very good and reasonably priced.
The weather has been great, and better than expected which was ideal for the golf. Four rounds of medal golf is the game the pro's play every week, but for mid handicap players it is tough and unforgiving.
I started with two rounds of 92 at the Barbados golf club and Royal Westmoreland which after handicap was 2 x 78. I lost five balls which cost me 10 shots and had me mid- table in my handicap flight, 14 off the lead. The pro's always call Saturday moving day as it proved to be for me. I hit an 84, net 70 around Apes Hill, to put me one off the lead going into Sunday.
It was probably my greatest ever competitive round of golf culminating with a birdie 4 on the last hole and a gross 39 for the last nine holes. I was actually 4 over par for the final 10 holes. I was drained at the end of it, but had had great encouragement from my playing partners, Duncan, Jessie and Diaz. They all appreciated how much it meant to me.
Sunday arrived and I quickly learnt how golf can gain revenge. I was in the last group out. We had caddies and I had no friends. I did not realise how exhausted I was from the previous day, so after hanging in there for four holes, a 12 at the next put me out of contention and contributed to a 'no return'. As it happened somebody came out of the pack with a net 64 to win it. I had my moment of glory thouh so now need to translate the form into some solid Summer golf. It's Walton Heath in Surrey on Friday and a big Virgin Atlantic Knock Out at Wallasey next week.
I will post some pictures from the presentation night with Sir Gary Sobers tomorrow.
To finish on a lighter note, I am having the house painted while we are away, SWMBO doesn't know about that either. I hope Argyle green is to her liking!!
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Alphabet soup
I was taken by this amusing article by Oliver Pritchett in a recent Daily Telegraph post. Clearly the positively correct police have missed a trick here.
Something must be done about the international alphabet: the one that goes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and so on. It is disgracefully inappropriate and it perpetuates sexism every time it is used – by airline pilots, mini-cab despatchers and people at call centres trying to spell your name.
It is totally unacceptable that this alphabet features only one female name, Juliet, woefully outnumbered by Charlie, Mike, Oscar, Romeo and Victor. If that is not bad enough, there’s the blatantly paternalistic Papa.
It’s significant, of course, that Foxtrot and Tango are two dances in which, traditionally, a man takes the lead. Then there’s Golf, a male-dominated sport and one that must fail most inclusivity tests.
I am also unhappy about Alpha and Delta, as they are likely to make people feel excluded if they weren’t fortunate enough to study Greek at school. Alpha may also suggest “alpha male,” of course, while Bravo smacks of un-called for triumphalism. Uniform, meanwhile, has a whiff of distasteful militarism.
Roger that!
The alphabet is also in the news now that the Royal Mint has produced a new set of ten pence coins featuring on each one a letter depicting the best of British. The selected items are as follows:
Each letter represents iconic things or place in Britain
- A – Angel of the North
- B – Bond…James Bond
- C – Cricket
- D – Double Decker Bus
- E – English Breakfast
- F – Fish & Chips
- G – Greenwich Mean Time
- H – Houses of Parliament
- I – Ice-Cream Cone
- J – Jubilee
- K – King Arthur
- L – Loch Ness Monster
- M – Mackintosh
- N – National Health Service
- O – Oak Tree
- P – Post Box
- Q – Queuing
- R – Robin
- S – Stonehenge
- T – Teapot
- U – Union Flag
- V – Village
- W – World Wide Web
- X – X Marks the Spot
- Y – Yeoman
- Z – Zebra Crossing
It's as easy as ABC
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