Thursday, August 4, 2005
The Nature of Blog

Yeah it gave me a chuckle writing it, but I've been thinking about what exactly a blog is over the last few days and I'm not entirely sure that I have any answers. Some folks have used it to promote themselves and their wares, others to vent on the world about anything and everything ... including politics, I'm guilty as charged, but which I won't point out isn't really allowed - DOH!.
Anyway is a blog a diary? Not really because I haven't seen anyone list what happened to them everyday, aside from the occasional anecdote or rant.
Is it a soapbox? Yes but that's not all it is because blogs suprisingly, to me at least, are also fairly participatory. You have comments options, links and e-mail addresses to hold further debate if you so choose.
Yet it is the content that makes a blog so difficult to define. I've been ranting and talking nonsense for a good seven months now and I'm still not sure what makes a good blog entry. Some topics I thought nobody would be interested in have garnered a lot of comments, some I thought lots of folks would have views on managed zero.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-08-04 18:56:02

Monday, August 1, 2005
Conflict of Interests

Some of these seem to be the most fascinating things about the news recently. What's most intriguing is that the people involved never seem to see it and you wonder how on Earth they can't. My favourite example to date has to be Cherie Blair. I mean I try not to judge people by how they look, yet right from the get go she looks like Cruella De Ville and does a very good impression as well. First off was the 'private American talking tour' for which she banked a nice chunk of change whilst using government resources and facilities. This while her lesser half Tony was begging W for money to help Africa. Before that, was the classic court case where she got a fundamental law of education over-ruled due to the Human Rights Act, something that hit the Labour government hard.

For those who didn't know/couldn't be bothered Mrs Blair is a defense lawyer who defends some of the most repugnant people in the UK against the government charges.Search google using the words 'Cherie Blair's job' and see what you come up with.

So to the other day, where Mrs Blair thought, in the wake of the London bombings and further arrests, that it was a good time to sound off on how the rights of the terrorists are highly important, adding the crass statement:
"As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up, you are never going to make progress"
So how isn't a woman who uses her husband's position to make money at every turn,at thetax payers expense when she earns 20 times the average wage in the UK, whose colleagues are due to impeach her husband, who chairs seminars at Downing Street on issues such as transport policy and lectures the people who lost loved ones in the bombingsabout the rights of terrorists? All we need now is a husband who supports her and the cycle is complete, oh wait ...

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-08-01 19:06:29

Sunday, July 31, 2005
So this blogging thing

From the few that I read (big thanks to Justin Thorne for putting me on to them - http://standingonthebox.blogspot.com and http://www.jasonmulgrew.com/index2.php ) it seems that blogging has become quite a serious part of internet activity. I guess we shouldn't be surprised when keeping a diary has been highly popular for centuries and who doesn't like to sound off now and again with their thoughts, especially when they believe people are listening. I've been looking back over some of the stuff I've written and man is there a lot of junk in there but it's interesting how quickly I'd forgotten about some of them; events that took place that avoid remaining vivid to your short-termmemory, ideas that seem good at the time but in retrospect don't really hold up to scrutiny etc

But what has also been interesting is how, despite my intention of keeping it brief and occasional, I seem to have written more in this blog than I have on my actual pieces that lie on this computer under the heading 'Pieces that need writing'. It seems I have unintentionally followed Heinlen's maxim of writing a thousand words a day (including forum posts) without really thinking about it. It's fascinating because, foums particularly, we don't really think about anymore, at leats I don't. I log on, answer the threads I'm interested in, have a wonder round and don't give any thought to using the keyboard. It's become so much like a normal conversation to me it's quite eerie. Who knows maybe in the future we'll have forums that accept voice recognition or even allow instant communicationwith other members on-line, now imagine trying to moderate that kind of forum ;)

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-31 20:05:04

Friday, July 29, 2005
Trust

It's fair to say I have some trust issues but one thing I've always been brought up to respect isauthority, so when someone rings your house and says "Hi this is PC Johnson, I have a drunkenwoman in custody claiming to be your daughter could you come and identify her"you don't question who this person is. Now for those who have read this blog at all, you'll know I'm a little young to have a teenage daughter. I explain this to the officer saying "Sir I don't have a daughter I'm 23 and I don't have a sister." In retrospect this is the point where I should have shut my mouth. I didn't. Instead I tried to help,

"My parents have just left on holiday and this number is ex-directory so how did you get it?"

"The girl gave it to us, could you come down and identify for us that she is not who she is claimingto be."

"What's the girl's name?"

"Sarah. She said her dad's name was John Smith or something."

"John Smith? Seriously? Our family name is Jones."

"Well can you just come down and sort it out mate."

"What down the police station? By Argos?"

"Yeah mate I know it's a hassle but can you?"

"Let me contact my brother and seeif he knows a Sarah, what number can I contact you on and who do I ask for?"

"655555, PC Johnson"

"PC Johnson?"

"Yeah."

So I rang my brother who doesn't know anyone called Sarah and he only gives girls his mobile number anyway.It should have started smelling already. I rang up the police station, whose number is 655555, and they put me through to the officer in the station.

"Can I speak to PC Johnson please?"

"PC Johnson? We don't have a PC Johnson working here."

"What? He just rang me about some drunken girl claiming to be my sister."

"Sorry sir, we have hadno drunks at all through here yet."

"So it was a prank call."

"It seems that way sir, have you tried 1471?"

"No not yet, I will now, thank you."

1471 - caller withheld number.

So now I'm pretty paranoid now. I should have thought about the fact he never gave the girl's second name, John Smith isthe equivalent of saying Joe Bloggs down here but I do know a John Smith so go figure. The way he kept calling me mate, the eagerness to get me down the station all of these things looking back on it I should have questioned. Which is my point, you don't, especially when someone says'My name isPC whatever'.I've rung the police again to tell them that someone was impersonating a policeman and that given my folks are away on holiday maybe someone saw them go and thought our house was a nice, cosy target. I don't know. What I do know isnever trust anyone on the phone, ever.

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-29 20:35:30

Thursday, July 28, 2005
Fantasy Football

I'm not as big a football fan as I am rugby but I do like to watch Premiershipfootball on Sky onthe weekend. So I'm not particularly emotionally invested in the game but from the outside I have to suggest the game is goin down a long, dark tunnel from which it may not escape. Before I qualify that allow me to put in the inevitable 'buts' people will think of: (1) Yes the game is the national sport of England so it will always have support, the parochialism and tribalist nature of supporting football is deeplyingrained in the very nature of the country.(2) Yes there is far too much money in football for it to ever go completely bottom up and (3) Yes it is the largest sport in the world and one of the easiest to particpate in at any age group.

Given those three factors I would like to point to the destabilising effect of Chelsea, or more aptly Chelski, on the game of football. This week they offered £60m for Andrei Shevchenko of AC Milan. It would be the largest ever deal done in the history of football by quite a margin. No club in the world can compete with that figure nor could any club resist accepting that kind of offer. So what you may say? So sport is built on the nature of competition and a level playing field. At this moment in time one does not exist in the Premiership. Chelsea can field international players in every position on the field and most if not all of the subs bench. Essentially the title was bought last season and it will be again this season. In two years Chelsea have spent over £200 million onsome of the bestplayers in the world, they are nothamstrung by finances as every other club in the league are and so they can buy any player in the world, no exaggeration. Sure you can argue that they can only put 11 men on the field at a given time but if all those players are international standard playing against men who have just come up from playing in Crewe, Hull and Stoke ( no disrespect intended but it's not quite the same as playing at the Bernabeu etc)

More than this Chelsea have the best facilities, the best trainers, coaches and advisors. It's spiralling out of control and has been since the start of the Premiership. Lots of fans from other teams hate Man Utd with a vengeance, I'm not exactly a big fan either, but they won so many titles with a lot of home grown players - we all remember when Alan Hansen said Utd couldn't win the title with kids, and they did - Chelsea and Arsenal have very few English players and those that are there have been bought with the possibility of playing few games, Shaun Wright-Phillips is a prime example. How does it help the game when Arsenal field a side with noUK player in the team let alone no Englishman?In other leagues there are similar situation, Bayern Munich in Germany and Real Madrid in Spaincome to mind, yet in both those instances those teams play in competitive leagues where the top five teams are challengers. In the Premiership there are barely three and maybe only one team in it this year, no prizes for guessing sorry. So in view of this now rant-length blog I declare the Premiership officially renamed the Fantasy football championship because it might aswell be played on the computer or paper as on a field in a stadium charging people lots ofmoney for the inevitable. What are the odds on Chelsea winning the Premiership? Don't know - the bookies aren't taking bets ;)

Posted by Owen Jones 2005-07-28 17:51:15