Please don't deport me

I have been meaning to say this for a while. America makes the best beer or style of beer.

Now before you say "how can you say Budweiser is better than Peroni". I'm not saying that, I'm also not saying this because I am a bit of an American-o-file. To class Budweiser and Peroni in the same category is stupid, it would be like saying an Astra is in same category as a Porsche 911. They are completely different. Budweiser is the cooking larger of the United States, as is Carling is to the UK. In that regards I believe that Bud is nicer than Carling. 

We are going to gloss over Bud Light because every country makes mistakes, like for some reason Carling has decided to put Red Berries in their beer. Coors light is different over here than it is in the States, for one it is sold as a premium beer here where as over there it is another cooking larger. Plus it tastes different. A rep once told me that it is made for British taste buds. 

If you want a basic larger there is no beating the Europeans on that front, but I'm sure some of those breweries have been going longer than America has. But my favourite mass produced Larger is Sam Adams, which out of everything mass produced is the nicest. But sadly because it is imported it costs a fortune to buy, but in the states it is probably the same price as Stella.

Now when I was working in a pub I started to really like Ale's (old man beer), the variety is incredible and there is alot more flavour. But you cant drink more than 3 with out the need to fall asleep, plus they taste completely different in a bottle as they do to a keg. In the US you have craft beers which is a perfect balance between Ale and larger and they are amazing! Sam Adams would probably fit in to this category. You go into any good bar in the states and instead of having maybe four pumps you will have 8 or ten each serving different beer, and because they are carbonated, you don't have to fanny around with settling the keg, tapping the keg, pulling it through. So it never really goes off, but like most things in Britain tradition is much more important.

Craft beers are incredible there is one for every mood, season, occasion, levels of drunkenness. So many different flavours. You get some duds, but most are incredible. The famous ales in the UK are Old Speckled Hen, Greene King IPA. They are bland and boring but Sam Adams is a taste infusion. There is a brewery called Thornbridge, and they make Craft ales in the UK and they are good but are still in their infancy. I always said that if I won the lottery Id open a brewery that did craft beers. Go out and buy some, Sainbury's has Sam Adams, Brooklyn Larger, and Seirre Nevada. Try it on tap next time, and they have to be cold unlike ales. 

Do you take Amex?

So yesterday I did my first shift in my university students union bar. It was very similar to other bars I have worked in. You may think that students unions are just Jaeger bombs and cheap larger, you would be correct in that regards, but my university isn't a normal university. University of Buckingham is the UK's only respected private university meaning that it does not take any money from the government. Its main feature is that you can do a under grad degree in 2 years.

Also it can set its fees at a level higher than most universities, for example our recent addition of a Medical degree has created a group of students who are willing to pay for the most expensive degree in the world. A lot of my fellow students are from all over the world, with very wealthy connections.

So back to my first shift there was a group of students who were working up our bars champagne list. This isn't the first time the bar has had this so they have been prepared for a while. We have the house bottle which is £25, then we have a bottle of Crystal, made famous by celebrities which is worth £215 per bottle. So just remember this is in a students union.

I have worked in classy Cheshire country pubs which are littered with footballers and wanna be models and then the most expensive bottle of wine was £50 and no one ever brought it. That's because Cheshire is built up on the idea of wealth, unless people are listening they would happily buy the best brand just to seem wealthy.

My fellow students who are able to afford £215 bottles of champagne are wealthy. Their families have made there fortune and want to spend it, and so they should. If they want to buy over priced wine then do so. But does a higher price tag mean better quality?

When it comes to clothes I would have to agree a Barbour coat will last you a lot longer than a Primark coat. But with food and drink does it genuinely taste better. Many of my friends who know me well will call me a food snob which isn't true. I appreciate good food and dislike food that has cut corners. Pubs like weatherspoons serve a purpose they make cheap quick food, but its all microwaved and tasteless. But you really don't need to go to Michelin star restaurants  or spend couple hundred on a meal.

A tiny pub in Oxfordshire called the Fleur de Fils which only ever has 5 things on its menu and will sell dishes which would normally cost £30 a plate costs £8. Its brilliant and the wine list is incredible. But in Cheshire I could pay £30 and get a meal which is equivalent to that of weatherspoons.

I suppose  what I'm trying to say is don't judge a book by its cover. But also money doesn't prove something's value its only proves that you want it to have value.

Come on America

I have to be quick with this post as I have to be in work in 20 minutes. I have had a busy couple of days so I apologise about not posting yesterday. But what I want to do today is give you an update on net neutrality. I previously wrote a post on how the FCC and significant American politicians want to allow broadband companies the ability to make you pay for specific websites. This idea is only beneficial to the big media companies and also the campaign pockets of congress men and senators who support them. 

Obama has told the FCC, who is chaired by a former cable company lobbyist and opposed to net neutrality. That the stance of the US Government is that Net Neutrality must happen there are no if's or buts. Which on the face of it is brilliant!

But John Stewart describe it right when he said that if Obama supports something it instantly becomes ammo for Republicans, meaning that Net Neutrality is seen as a bad thing, among the conservative heartland of America.

With news that BT have decided to buy Europe largest mobile provider the power of media companies is getting to strong. The internet was meant to be an open space for anyone to prosper, but companies like AT&T and Comcast want to make the internet their own. 

But hopefully with the news that the FCC will back any idea of Net Neutrality is a step in the right direction. 

I must go now as I have to work, but I will write a more prominent post tomorrow.

Oh when the red go marching in...

Why is there so much stigma around changing your allegiance to a football club?

I saw a post on Twitter last night which said "I'd rather change my wife than change my club". Really you would rather change the person you have decided to spend rest of your life with over a football club? Yes 1/3 of marriages end up in divorce, but how many people change their support of clubs.

To answer this we have to think about the type of fans that support a club, which there are many categorises, I will try and detail a few of them;

Die Hards

These are the fans who put their club before anything! The ones who will miss their children's weddings to go see their team away. The ones who crowd on to coaches whilst trying to hide their tinnies under their coats. Will often have a couple tattoos of their club motto, crest etc. Know all the chants and will not accept that their team are shit unless they say so. Also think that all referees hate their team. They may not know much about the match they just watched because they are so wasted but will happily die for the club.

 

Passionate

Often these are the people who know everything about the club, will have a season ticket, go to a few away games, happily spend a large chunk of their life following the club. But know that their is a life outside of football that is largely more important, so will miss a few games to weddings, holidays etc. I would consider myself to be in this bracket. Also can acknowledge that their team has flaws. 

Enthusiastic

I would say this category is one that most people fit into. They are what makes up a large amount of a fan base. They maybe be season ticket holders they may not, but still try and get to 5+ games a season. But also they may support a team from a far, not meaning they born and brought up in Plymouth but support Liverpool, but moved away from their original stomping grounds. But still keep a keen eye on their beloved club. Will often wear and new club shirt at a 5-a-side tournament.

Fan by association

These are often just fans of football in general and have loose allegiances to a team, they may support a team through location or the fact that their parents do, most Man U fans will claim to be this. If its a Premier League team they follow will watch them on TV but be reluctant to spunk money on a ticket. If its lower league team, they will go to the odd big game now and then but don't want the commitment of a season ticket. Will probably have a scarf they got when going to a game couple years ago, which is faded and has Bovril stains on it. Their knowledge of the starting eleven is reasonable.

Glory Hunters

These are the category no one wants to be associated with, but many people are in it, only applies to fan of big clubs. Started supporting a club because they were doing well, my generation it is Man U and Arsenal. Like the Die Hard fans you cant reason with them on problems in their team, but this is due to the fact they have only seen the good highlights of "their" team. They are the ones who have bright boots and wear an England jersey with Rooney or their name on the back. They think a player is good due to their Fifa rating. When and if they go to a game (which will be a league cup game), they will take a stop off at the club store making sure they have everything they can afford, take hundred of photos with a selfie stick post them on Facebook. Saying Man U are the best because they beat Carlisle Utd 3-1.

 

 

This is only a small selection of the type of fans I see, you may feel you float around different types or create a type all to your self. But what happened if you changed team ? Being raised just outside of Stoke, logically I supported them, my dad at the time didn't really have any prier allgencies due to fact he moved around the country for work so never really settled. He did in the past have a soft spot for Newcastle utd and Hereford Utd. Due to the proximity of where he lived at those times. But when he settled in Staffordshire his desire to watch live football took us to Stoke city, my first game I was 6 and it was against Man city(when they were shit), we both got relegated that day to what is now league 1. We still went to the odd game, then when I got older and Dad was more enthusiastic about the club we became season ticket holders, granted league 1 club season tickets are cheaper are more readably available.

But none the less 14 years later we are both still season ticket holders and very passionate fans, I was even a mascot once! But what if I move? My only association to Stoke is the football club, its a shit hole of a place, I would never willingly go there unless it is to watch Stoke. My Parents moved to Nantwich so when visiting them I don't have to go there. Being a student money is tight so travelling from Buckingham to Stoke every other weekend is costly its either £40 on the train or £50 in petrol. But if its just me I will happily pay that.

But what about when I'm older, I love watching live football and like my dad did for me, I want to do for my kids, I want them to love watching football too. But say I live in Middlesbrough (god forbid), and I want my kids to enjoy watching football do I subject them to a 5 hour car journey to watch a team they only know about because of me? or do I take them to see Middlesbrough and over time we become attached to them do I give up on a team which to this day I have glorified, or do I subject my family to costly journeys and time away from other activites. I have no idea where I will end up, if I leave the UK, supporting Stoke is easier because you can watch all the games on telly, like my brother in the US does.

I want to support stoke all my life but I feel as life develops we all go through the stages of being a fan, apart from Glory Hunters they dont have souls.

 

 

But its always been like that

I once knew a man who was libertarian to say the least, he would always think of way in which the Government could cut spending and influence. But he was a strong supporter of the military, he thought that next to education, Defence should be the highest expenditure of the government. This was back in 2009 when the war in Afghanistan was at its most deadly. He did say one thing that was shocking, "We should get rid of Navy,Army,and the RAF and just have one unitary Armed forces" 

Now being the child of two RAF officers and having strong family connections to the military I thought he was stupid and laughed him off. But I thought about it recently after hearing that members of each force work in and around members of other forces. For example they have Navy helicopters based at RAF stations. On paper it is a brilliant idea, one place does standard basic military training for either officer or Junior ranks. After that they can go on to their trade training. You don't need multiples of the same units with different badges, Examples being Military police, Helicopter Pilot, Chef, and Administrators. 

In theory this would be a great idea, you would save millions in defence spending, but in practice this is horrible! Our military is older than most countries and has many traditions which people have died to protect, so the idea of doing drastic changes to an establishment that is built on their identities, would put the countries defence at risk.

But this should not be the case for everything, although tradition is important it can also hinder progress. This happens in redevelopment of cites and towns. The town I grew up in, Newcastle-under-lyme had the potential to be a profitable town, but due to the councils inability to adapt to change, they kept refusing building plans for new houses or shopping centre. They kept thinking that people liked the "classic" high street, this was in the time when Amazon and online shopping was kicking off. 
This has lead to the high street of Newcastle becoming baron with only charity shops and a McDonalds, and people leaving in flood (I'm and example) 

I often think that if it wasn't for the IRA's bombings of Manchester, they would have left the Arndale the way it was until this day. But not its a nice area which is always packed! Im not talking about tearing down historic buildings for the pursuit of capitalism, what I am saying is that we should be able to mix heritage with modern ways of thinking. People will always be scared of change, but change is needed to be able to glorify the past.


P.S But to any Council office if you do approve a huge development please make sure you have made enough car park spaces and big enough roads. Most families have more than one car and people still drive and always will! 

This just in .....

So today is deadline day, the day when every football fan is glued to Sky Sports News or Twitter to get the latest news, on the ins and outs of their club, maybe your team is pushing for the title, or clinging on to the end trails of survival. Either way I bet you hope that your club will sign some amazing player who will turn your season around. For me I hope stoke sign Van Der Vart on loan until Bojan is fit again but I doubt that will happen.

But lets get back to the whole ordeal of waiting for transfer news, if you switch on Sky Sports HQ right now you will see a sea of flashing images with rumours and facts about players going here there and everywhere. But the thing you will notice is the yellow, all the men have yellow ties, in Gary Nevilles case a fancy yellow pocket hanky. The ladies who are always good looking will have either a blue or yellow dress. I know that TV is a business and they need to build a brand and have to make people recognize their quality but do they really need to make everything so dramatic;

For one January deadline day is always crap, not a lot of the big money is spent, the big money that is spent turns into a flop, Berbatov is a classic example. But also Sky sports news has the amazing ability of making a footballer driving down the M6 the most important thing in the world. 

I am a huge hypocrite when it comes to this though, transfer deadline day is one of my favourite times of the year, in the past I have been known to be at the Stoke training ground for a couple of hours to hopefully get a glimpse of the new signings, the best one being Peter Crouch dancing in the window after signing for us. I was even interviewed by BBC about my thoughts on the signing of Jack Butland. It is a rush when you see your club linked with a new player, someone you may have bought on fifa, someone who is in your fantasy football team.

The amount of amazement I had when we sign Bojan from Barcelona was incredible, if we had another one of those moments this window I would be a happy bunny, as I'm sure every football fan would be. But I'm waffling, I must get back to watching the repetitive images of footballs walking to their cars.    

Tis but a scratch.

To say that I am a journalist is far from the mark, to say that I am training to be a journalist is still far from the mark. I am currently about to start my second term of University where Journalism is my minor, it is not my goal in my life to be a journalist, my goal in life is to be happy. But that is irrelevant.  At the start of my course I was in a big lecture hall with my fellow students and we were told what we need to do, what makes a budding journalist, but also what the short comings of being a journalist might be, such as; people finding you nosey, endless hours of editing, trying to find clever people on a high street, and so on, but at no point through this lecture did I get told that there is possibility I might get killed because of something I produce.

The murders in France are horrible, they are barbaric attacks from a deranged group of men who I will not give the reward of calling Muslim, because they don't represent any religion, they are just men who obviously have inferiority complexes. Your beliefs must be pretty weak if you get so upset by a magazine that up until today majority of the world did not know existed.

Freedom of speech is a weapon that can be used in both ways, it can be used to spread hate and lies, examples being the KKK, and Britain First. But today it has been used to show that a country does not get scared easily, a country does not take the loss of its 12 citizen lightly. In the streets on Paris and cities around the world people are standing together to let these deranged men know that Freedom of speech will never be tarnished, it will never be stopped.

I have been known to offend people with off the cuff comments that I make in conversation, I suppose this comes from the fact that, I don't get offended, If people make jokes about dyslexics I am normally the first to come up with another. Lets not forget folks that Dyslexia is a disability in the eyes of the government. Also I have been called sheep shagger on many occasions, even though I'm half Welsh and wool irritates my skin. This being said I often loose my sense of humor with regards to football, just to make it clear now to every sports pundit or ARSEnal fan. Stoke are no longer a rugby club and do not play 1 directional football, sorry thats been on my chest for ages.

Back to my main point, I often get annoyed when I see stories in newspaper about how fat people get offended because the figures of men and women on toilet doors are to thin, or how Jeremy Clarkson commented on a tampon, and the womens council for womens issues is outraged (how comes there isn't a men's council for that matter).  Just because you are offended does not mean you are right. Just because you see something on telly or the internet, that you don't agree with or that has effected you personally does not mean that it can no longer be there. Just switch it off. Its simple, If you feel that something should not be on telly because you got offended well then, turn it off. I know this is kinda ironic that I'm complaining about people voicing their opinions, but I'm not, let them speak, but don't let their actions silence others. I dislike all the real house wives programmes doesn't mean they can't be on TV. Just like how Top Gear has just as much of a right to be on TV as Loose women.


Yes there is a fine line between hurting people and offending people. Attacking some one for a laugh is wrong, but using humor to get your point across is not, it is called satire. I love satire, I got interested in politics because of shows like "Have I got news for you" I wanted to know what they were laughing at, and my main idol is John Stewart, I feel if the world watched or read more satire it would be a better place.

I could write books upon poorly written books about how the world would be a better place if people just laughed instead of being outraged. But its midnight and I need to get up at 6, so I end with remembering the fallen today by a way in which I feel that the editor of Charlie Hebdo would have wanted. Being British we have long since mocked out snail eating cousins, it should not stop now, so I remind you of this amazing google image.

Je Suis Charlie