Some news today just seems to jar and shock me into a little perspective, especially when seen side by side.Firstly, it appears that Irish and Spurs soccer captain Robbie Keane has fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing for Liverpool FC. This dream comes with a four year contract on just over 100,000 euro PER WEEK.My lifelong dream is to have a job doing anything that pays 100 large ones weekly for ninety minutes work. Seems like Robbie got my lifelong dream as well as his own."Feel the size of me walleh, Claudine?'Meanwhile, back in the reality that is existence for the vast majority of people on the planet, soaring global food prices have now become so high that not only is there another famine in Ethiopia, but in Haiti people have resorted to eating MUD.Yes, mud. Baked earth. Because...
This BBC radio 3 debate was only recently drawn to my attention. It dates from December 2006, prior to Liverpool's assumption of the European City of Culture title. But it has possibly more relevance now.The question posed is fiendishly simple: Is Liverpool really an English city?Or is it actually the primary outpost of Irish cultures (Gaelic and Dissenter) in Britain, some sort of proto-capital of a notional East Ireland?Or is it better seen as a city state, a one-time global port now irreparably independent in spirit with a greater regional than national sense of identity?Or perhaps like Hong Kong or Cape Town, Liverpool is really just the nearest of the many obscure outposts of the Empire to London, a post-colonial entity struggling to shrug off the post-imperial hangover?There's no...
First they have to share their European City of Culture status with some frozen Norwegian village.Then it emerges that the arsehole Americans who bought Liverpool FC have been attempting to remove Rafa Benitez from his job and replace him with former Olympic diver Jurgen Klinsmann.This is beyond tragic.Thankfully, Rafa kept winning long enough for the blond bombshell to look elsewhere and he will now be mismanaging Bayern next season instead, thank fuck.It seems that the Arab consortium which wanted to buy LFC last year, but were beaten to the deal by the Yanks, are still interested. Fantastic. Let's all pray to Allah that the Americans sell out to them and fuck off ASAP.Hicks and Gillett - you are no longer welcome at Anfield. You do not understand this sport, or this club. You have...
One ticket for the Champions' League final in Athens!I'm serious! I was in Istanbul, and I really want to be in Athens to see Liverpool pick up their sixth European Cup.If you have a genuine ticket that you want to sell, please mail me and tell me how much you're looking for. I've got the money, and I want to go very badly.Please......
Anyone who can work out what I might have been doing in Istanbul in May 2005 will quickly realise that I'm no fan of Manchester United.The team that Fergie built always annoyed me. Not their successes. Every trophy gets won by someone each season. But the fact that the authorities always seemed to side with them. Jammy decisions, long minutes of extra time when they are losing, no away penalties at Old Trafford...It all added up to a genuine annoyance factor.But now there's a new reason to be concerned about Manchester United. Let's rewind briefly to the Eighties to explain this fully.In the late Seventies and early Eighties, English teams dominated European football. In only a few seasons, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa all claimed the European Cup. Other teams like Ipswich...