Its not the end of the world, but it feels like it.

I write this whilst drinking my last beer. Don't worry you don't need to call the suicide hotline, and I'm not admitting I'm an alcoholic. The beer in question is a Corona, which is a wimps drink, but it was only the beer in my parents fridge. 

Anyone who knows me will know that beer is my most favourite drink on this earth! I mean there is no questioning how amazing it is, how much diversity you can have from four ingredients boogles the mind.

But no, the reason why it is my last beer (for the foreseeable future), is because I am tired of being flabby. If my Mum was reading this she would instantly say "you're not fat". Which I know I'm not, I'm not on the John Prescott scale of fatness, but I'm just not in great shape.

I'm going to spare you the details because, well, I still find it embarrassing, but put it this way, if you have ever see Seth Rogan topless, well that is similar.

In January 2012, I was at my highest physical fitness, and yet I still failed to get into the RAF on fitness grounds, which has always haunted me in someway, but I know that my life has turned out much better than it would have been if I boshed out the extra pushup I needed to get in. 

Thats when my life started to go down hill, but well I'm not going to tell you fuckers about that. I always thought, working out, whats the point? In September 2013 I was in a head on car crash that fucked up my right knee until recently. Thats when the weight really started tumbling out of control.

So as I take my last sip of beer what is the future? What shall it be? Should I aim for the London Marathon, should I aim for cycling John O'Groats to Lands' end? Well no, because those are fucking boring. I did a Tough Mudder in October 2013 which wasn't bright after my accident but I hobbled over the line. Well there is one in September and this time I'm going to run over the finish line.     

The struggle is real

I have come to the conclusion that having an Android is like being a vegetarian, here is why;

1) You feel much superior than everyone else, you have bought a phone which is cheaper than an Iphone and has just as many, if not more. 

2) Like being a vegetarian you are nuisance to your friends. Just as if they invite you to a BBQ, and have to get you a bean burger. Because you don't have IMessage, your friends have to either WhatsApp, Viber, Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, or if your still in 2005 BBM.

3) Like when you go to a restaurant, there is normally only one Vegetarian meal on the menu, the same is when you are trying to find a docking station, or case, but with Iphone you have more than enough choice.

4)Everyone will look at you and wonder how can you live with out meat, is the same as when your friends use your android whilst you are driving and they complain about buttons being in different in different places.

Im sure if you are an android user you have your own problems with Iphone users, and our constant trouble of overcoming adversity, the pain is real!    

Freedom to Jack

So its essay season here at University, So I best make todays blog short, as an essay on the political Ideology of Iran awaits my attention.

After watching the parliament programme on the BBC yesterday, the hoisting of the Winter flag (smaller version of the Union Jack) got me thinking.

Why is it that in a country as old as ours does the Union Jack cause so much offence. If we think just about the union as a whole and not the individual kingdoms the Flag is mainly seen by most as a sign of Right-wing racist parties such as BNP or the National Front.

As I have said before I am a very patriotic person, but feel that if I had a Union Jack flaying from my window people would think that I am exceptionally right winged.Which is sad! 

This is due to political parties trying to tap into the idea of patriotism and saying they are true to their countries ideals.

So what I suggest is this and If I had the time I would truly start a campaign to see this instigated. That no political party or political action group may use a nationalities flag (eg Union Jack, St'Georges Cross, The Saltire etc) in any of their logos, advertising or events. This means that the flag becomes a neutral symbol. That will only represent the nation and not a set of political ideas.

Lets stop this type of thing happening!

Oh Captain, My Captain

It has been 6 months since the death of one of my favourite actors of all time. I was reminded of his passing after watching the oscars and seeing his name pop up at the memories section.
You can probably guess who I am on about, Robin Williams. Probably the first film I saw him in, well technically heard was Aladdin. He made that movie, I didn't know it back then but that blue genie was a genius.

As I grew older I watched more of his films, a lot of them were duds, for example flubber, but to his credit he always gave a good performance. I would say it wasn't until I reached my 20's that I truly started to enjoy his more serious work. Good Will Hunting is possibly one of my favourite films, and he is magnificent in it, the scene when him and Matt Damon are sitting on the bench is moving to say the least. 

In the dead poets society one of his lines has helped me write, has taught me that what I write can change the world, but tbh only 40 people read my last post so I doubt it. But the line I remember so vividly is:

  
Away from the seriousness he is an incredibly funny comedian, who's improv and enthusiasm is un matched. Watching him do improv is a feet into its self. You feel tired after watching him, which makes you wonder how he does it! Good morning Vietnam is a classic example of his fast passed humour. His brain does not switch off.

His brain not switching off is probably the reason for his problems through out his life, he was a manic depressive as are many comedians, he was a drug addict which charlie being his crux, which probably shows how he can be so enthusiastic.     

Depression is an illness which affects many peoples lives, many people have suffered it in some form at some point in their lives. I know I have, and it still affects me, to quote a film I saw recently depression is like a dark cloud that fogs your brains so you can't see anything else. Never suffer in silence, talking is the key! 

To mention the great things Robin Williams did in his life I would be here for a while, but I hope you have been affected in a positive way by the great man, enjoy some of his best bits.

ITS SPITTING

So today I took my American friend on a tour of London. He had never really been to London before so he was excited, and I like giving tours of London because there is just so many things to see, plus it makes me feel important.

So going to London can be stressful at the best of times if you are doing touristy shit, but I checked the weather report last night and it was for rain, I thought brilliant there will less people there, which was true it was quieter than a Saturday, and we both had waterproofs on so happy days.

Although it was grey it wasn't raining so happy days, when we got round to Buckingham Palace is started spitting. This is when the worst thing in London happens after a tube strike, Umbrellas came out! 

These flimsy pieces of shit are the most annoying and dam right unsafe things that litter London's pavements. Being 6ft I am at perfect height for the pointy ends to go straight in my eye, so I have to avoid them like trying to avoid an overconfident waiter take out 20 plates at once.

Many times I had to step into traffic or duck out of the way looking like a dick, or move walk into things because these things block all view on a pavement. People with Umbrellas are also just crap a walking with them, they are often short women who pull them so close to their face they cant see where they are going, who walk slower than a glacier and because they are often in a gaggle you can't pass them, so when they stop to take a selfie with a phonebox you ram right into them. 

Words really cant describe how much I hate umbrellas in busy cities, which is kinda against the point when writing a blog. But they should be banned. Next time I go London I'm gonna wear a cricket helmet and just walk around bashing people flimsy pocket umbrellas out of their hands. If you use a golf umbrella there is a special place in hell for you! Get a rain coat!

Warning this contains words

This post will be more of a rant than anything else, I have long gone with the idea of, you cant argue with stupid people. Stupid people can not be reasoned with, they can't listen to reason. They are the type of people for which ladder training was invented for.

Most people who know me well will know that if I think someone is being stupid, I have a very hard problem of hiding my distaste in peoples stupidity.

I grew up near the church where Charles Darwin got married, I feel that the rule of natural selection should be used now more than ever to keep tabs on our ever increasing population.

In developed countries like ours we have education systems which many lesser states strive to achieve. So maybe the problem of a ever increasing stupid gene pool would be to get rid of all stupid warning signs which litter our lives. Allows natural selection to truly take hold. 

Do you really need a sign on a pack of peanuts saying "warning may contain nuts"?. Which fuck up thought "you know I have a nut allergy, but I'm almost certain that peanuts aren't nuts".

Or warning signs on films, who watches a film with the name saw and thinks its going to be about sodding puppies. How about before parents have ago at game developers about awful games corrupting their beautiful children's minds, they, you know not let their 11 year old play on a game with an 18 sticker, but that's a rant for another time.

Signs that say hot tap, when its above a hot tap? Or signs that read risk of drowning next to a fucking river! This would get rid of the Jeremy Kyle generation of fuck ups quite quickly, and it would all be their own fault.

OH THE HUMANITY

I have come to the conclusion that first world problems are awful, little things that just make living in a safe world just awful.

I should probably put a disclaimer at the start, but I'm not going to as I hope you realise this is humour.

• My first one is when you have fancy bread which looks really nice, and is described the best bread for toasting, but its to big for the toaster and you have accurately rotate the bread around, and no matter how hard you try it will always be burnt on one side.
• Going for a poo and forgetting your phone, or a magazine and you end up reading the in and air freshener.
• When the only person who likes you whitty Facebook post is your mum.

• Wanting to complain in a restaurant but you don't want to make a scene, so when the waiter/Waitress asks how your food is you go "yea its great thanks" even though it tastes like arse.
• When having to reset the Sky Box and it takes what feels like a life time. 
• The sheer panic you feel when you have to prioritize what stays open on your phone when your battery is at 5%, it really is Sophie's choice.
• Wanting to buy a neck pillow in an airport, but you know it will make you look like a dick.

I could list off more but I need the loo and my phone is on 5%

Not impressed with local electorate!

Last night the speak for the House of Commons, Mr Bercow came to our university to give a talk on how he has improved the commons and how he hopes to improve it further. The University that I attend happens to be in his constituency, Buckingham if you don't know already. Many people attended this talk mostly people from the town, there was a few people from the University body but only a handful. 

Mr Bercow, who is a great public speaker started the evening about his constituent matter to keep the ageing crowed happy from the start. His main stand point that got the biggest round of applause was that he did not agree with HS2, the development of a new highspeed rail from London to Birmingham and then on to the north of England. He said that he will not tow the party line on the issue. 

That is understandable I mean here in Buckingham it seems to be the only thing people feel truly angry about. I can imagine that if he was the MP for my area Crewe & Nantwich which is an area heavily reliant on Railways and is planned to get a new Parkway station in the plans for HS2 he would happily vote towards it.

But back to the talk, as Mr Bercow denounced HS2 as a awful idea the entire lecture hall irrupted into an explosion of clapping and cheering. It took me off guard if I'm honest. But as the applause carried on I look round the hall and thought that most of the people who seem very against HS2 will probably be dead by the time it is built so why do they care so much.

Whilst Mr Bercow spoke on other local matter than I really don't care about, I did some research of the route for HS2 through Buckinghamshire it will disrupt the natural landscape mildly, you hear horror stories about banks not giving mortgages to house near the supposed route, landscape being ruined. No matter how you see it development is need to improve the link to London. People of Buckingham have it far to easy to get around, you are in the middle of two major motorways which can get you anywhere in the country, you have Milton Keynes junction near you so getting to London is easy. But they will never think about the other people and most people don't on local issues and why should they. 

Looking closer at the plans there will be a Service depot built just outside of Brackley which I'm sure will create a nice amount of jobs for the area. Having lived near the West coast mainline the majority of my life I can tell you that Network rail do an excellent job of stopping sound pollution in built up areas. Although I do respect the elderly but they do have far to much political power! lets be honest most of the stuff they want wont be made into law in time for them to be affect. 

It people like me who politicians should be trying to pander, HS2 is designed for people of my generation not theirs. Half the audience last night had hearing aids! How can they complain about noise? 

Cake or Death?

Sky's new phycological thiller, Fortitude has hit our screen. After the, The Tunnel which is an incredibly dark murder mystery. I was encouraged to start watching Fortitude, plus know that Stanley Tucci is in it, one of my favourite actors, gave me even more of a reason to watch it. 

I won't tell you much  about what the story is about, apart from its a murder set place in a town set in the Arctic circle, where you can only get into by air or by sea. It is a made up area, that is most likely resembles Svalbard. Which is famous for having a seed bank!.

That part of the world you are under the constant threat of polar bear attack. So there for you have to carry a rifle at all times out of the main towns. Now I know that some countries you have to carry protection from wild life. But Polar Bears are silent, powerful killers who can easily blend into the snowy landscape, and are beautiful could you kill one? 

I know that the first question they ask you when you apply for all armed forces is along the lines of can you take another persons life. I know when I applied I said yes, I'm sure if the times comes when you are faced with that decision most people have that survival instant to stay alive. 

You hear about people who have survived in-human conditions, or people who have walked miles with a broken leg, instead of lying on the ground and accepting fate. Could most people get over pain or the idea of death in their head so that they may see their loved ones again. 

I have never faced any event like the ones I describe, nor do I hope I do. Closest one being stuck in town when is was 15 and no money for the bus. Luckily Subway let me use their phone, which was nice.  

We have a great show for you tonight...

As I woke this morning, I checked my phone as most people do, I checked facebook, snapchat, and finally twitter. I normally see what was trending, Balotelli, Harry Kane and TheDailyShow. I thought ooo something fun must have happened on The Daily Show, hopefully they have made fun of the recent Koch brothers fundraiser.

But to my shock I found that Jon Stewart is to step down. Stewart is possibly the biggest reason I got interested in Politics, which is now why I am doing a political degree. Jon Stewart is a satirist, one of the greatest. Many have said that he is the voice of the young and intelligent holding the big boys of Washington to account through humour. 

There is no denying that Stewart is a left of centre in the American sense, he is a rational voice in a world dominated by fox news and Sarah Palin. He and his writing staff have used humour to show the stupidity of the American Political system. He has used his position to hold all types of politicians to account. Also people who hold political power, with him systematically making Glenn Beck look like a deranged jackass!

 

I remember staying up late years ago flicking through the TV channels and I happened to stop on More4, channel 4s higher quality channel. I saw the daily show, I had heard about it in the past from trips to the States but I had never really watched it. It had only just started, so I watched it. His energy for his work is the first thing that catches your eye. The pointless piece of paper and pen his desk. Then as you start to watch you see and hear that behind his sharp humour is a smart well read and reasoned man. 

Using humour in questioning politics is a very clever and efficient way of making politicians look stupid. Because most politicians don't know they are being laughed at. If they are in a room where loads of people are laughing they will laugh along because they want to be seen as they know what is going on. They can't be funny unless their script writer tells them. 

And if people are shown to be stupid on his show they always say he is a comedian, and try and laugh it off. But it only does one things re-inflate their ego.

I wish I could write an amazing piece on how much Jon Stewart inspired me but my way with words is nothing in comparison to his. I hope that him leaving is him making a run for politics but I doubt it, he isn't an idiot. Than you Jon

 

Make it rain

News today is that the new Domestic TV deal for the Premier League is £5.1 Billion. That means that each game on tv from 2016 will cost sky £11 Million and for BT sports £7 Million. That figure is per game, now the league states that every team should appear on TV at least twice in a season. That means a game between Hull and Swansea will cost Sky £11 Million. 

Is it really insane to think how much money is spent on the Premier League. That figure is only the Domestic figure, they suspect if you add the international rights it will top £8 Billion. That is higher than any other football league, but still not as high as the NFL which just signed a TV deal worth $27 Billion. 

When Cardiff got relegated last year they got more money in parachute payments than Manchester United got from winning the league the previous year. I don't know is this is fact, I heard it on the radio but Swansea who are the 29th richest football team in the world will become the 15th richest club just from this deal, making Stoke City the 16th richest, which is nice.

But does this influx on money ruin football? If you are not a loyal fan of a club. Would you really want to spend close to £50, plus over priced pies and beers and freeze your tits off, or would your rather sit in a nice warm sitting room and watch what could be a total of 7 games over a weekend for £20 on NowTV? 

Would this influx of money cause clubs to lower their ticket prices, even though I'm not an ARSEnal fan I hope they lower their prices for fans, its criminal what they get away with!. Saying that A Denver Broncos ticket cost me $130 for one game and seeing how much money they get for TV its insane to think that people are willing to buy tickets. They also get to watch every game on telly if you live with in a particular boundaries.

Stoke do, do their part for the fans as they have given free away travel for fans for the past two seasons, and have kept the season ticket prices the same for 7 years! I'm not to clued up on other clubs but I doubt that many clubs will do that. Manchester United have been known to blackmail fans in to buying tickets.

I have never really gone with the idea of fans are the most important thing in football. Maybe they were but now football clubs are business, where one goal could cost millions. Why should they care if fans cant really afford tickets, because someone will buy them. But those clubs don't have souls, a true club will make sure everything is sorted out perfectly.    

Think of others you gits

This post is very targeted at a few people. But when editing your news clips please use headphones!

For one I am probably already editing a story so I don't want to hear yours. You don't get a good reading on sound quality with the speakers, which means its very hard to know what it really gonna sound like when it goes live.

You cant tell if the sound has be accidentally recorded in mono. Plus it is just fucking annoying! It's bad enough I have to hear the same clip over and over again for a hour or two let alone having to hear yours on full volume!

This is more of a rant than a blog post but I don't care, just spent the last 4 hours having to listen to some one failing at editing! 

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.