It finally feels like a recession...well to me it does

Call me naive, but when I first heard news of Britain sinking into a recession back in 2007, I was expecting there to be images of a descent into squalor in urban environments and a drastic change in the behaviour of people affected by this economic crisis.

What I mean is, I was expecting to be bombarded by constant media coverage of picket lines and demonstrations of irate and desperate unemployed workers; I was expecting a plethora of boarded up and dilapidated shops to suddenly start appearing; I was expecting rubbish to suddenly engulf the streets; I was expecting whole families to be walking around in torn clothes begging for money.

Hell, I was even expecting some sort of dust storm to sweep across Britain taking with it every inch of arable soil, making it virtually impossible for our farming industry to continue.

Clearly my expectations of a recession were influenced by images of the Great Depression in 1930s and the Winter of Discontent during the 1970s.

None of the aforementioned has really happened. We are still subject to constant advertising campaigns of Apple’s latest release; people are still walking through Oxford Street buying the latest fashion; celebrity controversy and X-factor still dominate television; Premiership football is still attracting large audiences with millions continuing to be spent on players and their wages.

To put it bluntly, apart from the daily news reports of how unemployment is rising and how some numbers on a computer screen have changed somewhere, it doesn’t feel like a recession.
That is, until recently.

In a recession, there is always one group of people in society affected who are most visible to the media. In the 1930s, it was the American urban workers who were often photographed queuing up for jobs or handouts. In the 1970s, it was the British trade unions and their marches that became defining picture of that era.

Now in the late 2000s recession, it seems as though it is the students who have taken up the mantle of potentially becoming the iconic picture of our economic crisis. The thousands who have marched, and the minority who have rioted on the streets of London have finally made it feel, to me, as though we are indeed in tough times.

Students are, by no means, the only faction affected nor are they most severely affected. There have been many other groups in society that have already felt the grip of recession for several months and perhaps even years now. It just so happens, that this time round, the students have had the loudest voices.

And with several commentators mentioning that we are to expect more demonstrations in the upcoming weeks, it seems very likely that they will indeed become defining image of this era.

When You go to Prison, You are Denied your Liberty – but not your Human Rights.

“Oh those bloody Europeans and their damned liberal ways” was the thoughts of many today as news broke out that the government now had to consider giving the prisoners the vote under pressure from the European Courts of Human Rights.

But like it or not, prisoners are still human beings that are under the rule of the state. And consequently their basic human rights must still be adhered to.
Before all you Daily Mail readers jump and maul me to a painful online death, please consider this: what is the real point of prison? And the answer to that is: to restrict and rehabilitate those that have been a danger to society.

The key words are ‘restrict’ and ‘rehabilitate’. When you go to prison, you lose your liberty and freedom of movement. This removes the threat to society. You also go in to be taught a lesson and to potentially come out (if you ever do come out again) a changed person who will no longer pose a threat to society (although this part of the function of incarceration and how it is enacted seems to be somewhat questionable these days).

I concur with the idea that prison should be a harsh place where authority is harsh and punishment is even harsher. There should be no comfortable mattress nor TV viewing pleasure (and unfortunately, this notion has seemingly not been adhered to by the previous government who have given some prisons an almost homely feel). However, whilst these despicable individuals who have committed crimes deserve to be treated unsympathetically and severely, they do not deserve to be treated inhumanely.

Without the vote, government pays less attention to prison and what goes on inside them. Without the vote, prisoners lose touch of society and their road to rehabilitation becomes more difficult one to walk.

Our Society places too much emphasis on achievement and not enough on learning

So that time of year again has come and gone. The time of year where we hear there are record numbers of people excelling in their GCSEs and A-levels. Where some extraordinary 5 year old with obviously pushy and deluded parents passes a Maths GCSE. Where workaholic individuals who spent their whole school life locked up in their bedroom slaving away at their homework achieve 6 or more A*s at A-level in a bid to prove just how bloody brilliant they are, whilst they fail to realize that they lack the sufficient social skills, common sense and experience that will actually get them somewhere in life.

And whilst I do come from an advanced educational background, I do find it absolutely ludicrous how we place so much value on a couple of slips of paper with our name and some grades on that apparently prove our worth to people and employers. My achievements in life summed up by a few letters of the alphabet and a ratio (2:1). Great.

Why don’t we teach students instead of training them to jump through hoops in exams. It seems as though schools just want to achieve higher amounts of A grades so they can get that magical lump of money that allows them to purchase new desks and projectors that aren’t covered in obscene graffiti about how shit their supposed great achieving school is.

Children and adolescents are no longer learning any useful in life. Most of these individuals finish school having no idea of how to manage their finances, write a CV, apply for job and generally not be a cunt in a professional setting. No wonder we have a growing underclass that we love to point and laugh and label as chavs, whilst we slowly come to realize that a good proportion of the population of Britain will soon be made up of these job seeker’s allowance claiming scumbags.

There are too many clueless people around whilst the government sits on its fat Tory arse (with a slight hint of Lib Dem) and pats itself on the back for the record number of high grades, whilst they fail to do anything about the thousands of students who can’t get into university or attain a job despite their grades. What good is a qualification if it gets you nowhere?

How many of you have worked diligently at your exams only to come out of the hall afterwards and realize that the information you have spent the past month or so cramming into your overloaded brain has been instantly forgotten?

Exams are a poor, poor way of assessing people. They are tests of memory where those can remember bits of information the best are the ones that succeed. Not a real test of your abilities.

We should stop deluding ourselves into thinking our system is still the best in the world and realize that without reform, we will continue to have these problems.

How not to handle a hostage situation

Hong Kong, a special administrative region in South-East China that usually takes a position of neutrality in international affairs, was caught up in a horrifying incident that has sent shockwaves throughout the Far East and most of the rest of the world.

A coach load of Hong Kong tourists, who were travelling through Manila in the Philippines, was hijacked by an armed former policeman who was angry at his unfair dismissal from the police force. Dubbed the ‘Manila Siege’, the incident dragged on for many hours before concluding with a bloody gunfight between the suspect and the police as they stormed the coach. The resulting fatalities were eight Hong Kong tourists. Two survivors were identified as British nationals.

What has shocked people, is not just the act of terrorism, but the level of incompetence shown by the supposedly highly trained Filipino SWAT team whose strategy to rescue the tourists was filmed entirely by the media and seen by most of the world.

The anger amongst the Hong Kong people is understandable. Watching the team carry out their mission was like watching a bunch of unruly children trying to smash up a dilapidated car with bricks and cricket bats. I have seen better tactics and strategies employed by people at paint balling events. Had it not been for the tragic deaths of 8 people, the whole incident would have been laughable.

I’m no expert on hostage situations, but even I know that attempting to smash the windows of a coach open with sledgehammers whilst an irrational armed gunman inside is rapidly panicking is not a good idea at all. What was even more aggravating was learning that several times during the incident, the gunman actually walked right to the door of the bus, with his gun by his side, to talk to the police. Where were the close combat police ready to take him out? Or even better, where was the marksman ready to take a shot?! Don’t let him get back on the bus with the hostages!

And even if it wasn’t possible to take him out there and then, surely it would have been better to simply give in to his demands! After all, he was one man and one man only. Not a terrorist group. Give him what he wants, draw him out into the open and arrest him.

I think the one piece of footage that really summed up the whole farce was that of a Filipino SWAT team member attempting to throw some sort of smoke grenade through a hole in the window – only for it to fall back out again resulting in him having to do it a second time.

Utter shambles, utter incompetence and sadly, a tragic end to a situation that could have been solved without any loss of life.

Even worse is how the Philippine government now acts as if they handled the situation in the best possible manner.

Understandably now, the relations between Hong Kong and the Philippines are strained.

But there is another thing we have to remember and I hope that all people who feel some sort of anger towards the incident remember. You are angry at the decisions and actions of the Filipino Police and government – not the Filipino people. It has been astounding how, over the past few days, some Hong Kong citizens have expressed their fury at the Filipinos particularly the sizeable Filipino community that resides in the region. Some Filipinos have even lost their jobs as housekeepers in Hong Kong households as a result of this. We must remember that this amounts to pure racism and misdirected anger.

Why this has been the most disappointing World Cup of recent memory

Whilst the Spanish celebrate their historic first World Cup triumph, it is now for the rest of the football world to review how this tournament has panned out. I suppose the first world that comes to mind is disappointing and here’s 5 reasons why.

The quality of the football

This was a World Cup characterized by terror. No I’m not talking about what the North Korean team have to return to, I’m referencing the attitude adopted by many of the teams on the field. They were simply terrified of losing. And this resulted in defensive, anti-football tactics which left little room for creativity, attacking flair and, most importantly, goals. The fact that Spain, the champions, scored only 8 goals for the whole tournament is testament to this. After 64 games played, I could probably count out on two hands the amount of matches that actually had me on the edge of my seat. A real shame but then I suppose many of the managers of lesser teams were being realistic. Sending North Korea out to go all out attack on the Brazilians would have been like telling the armed police officers of a truck full of money travelling through South Africa’s deepest, darkest, dodgiest streets to take the day off. Absolute carnage.

The failure of the top stars to perform

Was it fatigue? Was it the pressure of expectation? Or perhaps it was the result of the defensive tactics employed by the teams they played against? Whatever the reason, many of the supposed top stars tipped to shine at this world cup failed to show up. Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi. The appearance of these names would normally be enough to send most men to a quivering wreck of excitement, but the reality was that they were about as gripping as an episode of Doctor Who.

Those fucking vuvuzelas

The sound of a thousand angry bees will now haunt me for some time after this world cup. Blowing a tuneless horn with no semblance of rhythm constantly for 90 minutes is not atmosphere. It’s fucking annoying.

Outpriced South African fans

Fifa pledged to make tickets available for all local residents. This is how a World Cup should be – a chance for the local residents to experience one of the biggest sporting events on earth. Unfortunately Fifa also forgot the average wage of a South African is well below that of many of their European counterparts and so did not lower the prices of tickets. The result? Visibly empty seats at many of the matches including the semi-finals.

The Jabulani

Why change the most integral piece of equipment for a football match Adidas? Whilst the new technology and design of the ball promised more true flight and harder shots, it rarely failed to live up to its claim. Having played with the ball myself, I have to say I hated it. Too light and anything but predictable when it was airborne. This was shown by the amount of players who couldn’t master controlling and striking the ball despite being top class professionals. Give me a good old fashioned 32 panel ball any day.

My 2 Cents on the England team

It’s been a week now since England were embarrassingly dumped out of the World Cup by our old foes Ze Germans. The dust has finally settled and every commentator, pundit and blogger has offered a multitude of reasons why the English football team has failed again: The weight of expectation from the fans and media; the fact our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be; the manager’s decisions; the fact we underestimated and under rated the German players; the lack of young English talent as a result of old fashioned English football coaching culture; tiredness from a long grueling Premier League season….and so on.

I’m not here to pin point one reason. In fact I’m here to say that they are all valid reasons for why the England team has failed and will continue to fail until we address these issues. And in this article, I will address the 3 most important ones.

England Expects

The English are a proud and passionate bunch. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. Perhaps the very fact we’re an island and have experienced many attempts from other nations to invade our shores which has turned us into fighters. Or perhaps it’s the once glorious yet non existing British empire which has continuously reminded us that we are apparently a great nation. Our perhaps it’s the fact we have been on the winning side of two World Wars and triumphed in the face of adversity.

Whatever the reason, pride and passion are clearly evident in our attitude towards war and competition. And because the English can no longer throw their military weight around like they have done in the past, we focus our attitudes and expectations towards competition particularly through sport. Tennis, Rugby, Cricket…Football. And yet, whilst a little bit of patriotic pride is healthy in uniting a nation; our media and fans often take it to monumental levels whenever the England football team begin a tournament. This places enormous pressure on our players who know that should they fail, they have a whole country read to tear them apart on their return. Yes, we all experience pressure in life, but to have 60 million people breathing down your back should you founder is an entirely different matter.

And whilst some may point out that all the other teams in the tournament have expecting fans and media, I personally do not think they are as demanding as the English. Take the French team for example. They may have failed spectacularly in the world cup, but rather than the focus being on their poor performance, attention was paid more towards the way the players the humiliated the nation through their behavior towards each other and the manager rather than the lack of results on the field.

Brazilians are perhaps the closest when it comes to expectations of their football team. Yet at the same time, Brazil have 5 world cup and 8Copa America’s to their name. Such a rich history of successes gives the team confidence and inspires them towards victory. England, on the other hand, have 1 World Cup win and have lost all but one penalty shootouts in all competitions. When you’re an English kid who is aspiring to be a professional footballer, and you are repeatedly taught this history, this has a massive a psychological impact which hangs in your head as you step on to the field having worked hard enough to make it as a professional and be called up to the England team.

Our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be

The majority of our players aren’t world class. The Premier League is the most watched league globally and this is in no small part due to highly effective marketing. However this marketing also serves to hype up any English player with any semblance of talent. Their images appear on adverts all over the world and their names are shouted with ferocity by commentators in a hundred different languages.

The problem is, that just because you’re English, famous and play in arguably the best football league in the world, it doesn’t make you a world class player. Within the England team, I see only 3 world class players. Wayne Rooney (although now debatable given his failure to perform at both World Cups he’s been in), Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand.

The rest of the bunch are pretty damn good. But world class? Definitely not.

Take Steven Gerrard for example. Quite clearly, the lad has talent. In fact, in terms of technique and technical ability, he is one of England’s best. But his lack of a football brain hinders him from using his talent effectively and ever being world class. Too often I see him taking the wrong decisions on the field. Trying to force the killer pass when he should be playing it simple to retain possession, playing a stupid Hollywood long ball that again results in possession being conceded, shooting from ridiculous positions etc.

A commentator on the England vs Germany game said that only 1 player from the German team could make it into the England team. Rubbish, pure arrogance and lack of respect towards some very good German players.

Yes I’m telling you now, we have barely any world class players and worryingly, we have very little coming through the youth systems. And this brings me on to the third issue:

Old fashioned, English football coaching culture

The writer of Arseblog.com, the unofficial Arsenal blog summed it very well in his piece immediately after England’s defeat to Germany:

“foreign players are far, far better technically. They learn a different game as kids, they're not stuck on a full sized 11-a-side pitch at 9 years of age and told that passion and spirit are what will win games. They learn to pass, control the ball, move off the ball, retain possession, slow things down and not do everything at 100mph. Technical ability counts at this level, having players who don't think they're the best in the world is a good thing too.”

For a nation that is obsessed with football and has arguably the best football league in the world, our approach to how we play the game and teach our kids to play the game is laughable. As the Arseblog writer correctly wrote, we do indeed stick our kids on full sized pitches at far too young at age and pressure them into winning rather than playing good football. The biggest, strongest, most athletic players who can punt the ball the furthest up the field succeed whilst skill and technical ability are coached out of them.

We also get the most inexperienced coaches to look after youth football when really it should be the most experienced ones as it is at this age when most young footballers develop their skills.

Arsene Wenger once said that to create a successful player, you must approach it like building a house. The basement represents the key technical, football skills which every footballer needs and keeps the structure standing. No basement means the house can never be built. The ground floor represents the physical aspects of the player – whether he has the strength and athleticism to keep up with the game. The 1st floor represents the tactical aspect of player - whether he can understand the game and how it should be played. Finally, the roof represents the desire and passion of the player to become a professional.

Unfortunately, most English coaches of football prefer to build bungalows with no basements. As a result, too many English players are hard working athletes rather than footballers.

Football football football

The papers tomorrow will probably use words such as ‘incredible’ and ‘impressive’ to describe the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. I however, beg to differ. It was tedious and almost predictable in some places. Whilst it’s always nice to see a nation’s demonstration of its culture in sporting ceremonies, World Cup openers have become routine events where as many pop stars, musicians and children from the nation in question are shoved in to produce an over bulging ritual that simply tries too hard. I suppose my own standards were pretty high having watched the immensely impressive, yet hugely expensive, opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics two years ago. I don’t think we will be witnessing a ceremony better than that for many years to come.

That said, it was rather nice to finally see a highly criticized country prove to the world that they could pull it off. It was like watching the end of those TV shows where fat, ugly people are put through a makeover and surgery and finally revealed to their friends as this transformed and somewhat attractive individual. Well done South Africa and well done Africa.

In terms of the football, the quality has been poor so far. The opening match between South Africa and Mexico was average at best bar a stunning goal from the hosts. France against Uruguay was even worse. Still, it was the first day and group A was never really going to set the tournament on fire. I am sure that in the next few days, we will be watching edge-of-our-seat matches where grown men will readily admit to messing their pants after witnessing a goal scored using immense skill and finesse.

And one also hopes that come 9:15pm tomorrow, we will be cheering an England win over those loud mouth Yanks.

Enjoy the world cup ladies and gents :-)