It's Rubbish Being Talked Here

Of course the point of the story is nothing to do with our dialogue with migrants. It is a nifty way for those in Government who are of a euro sceptic/xenophobic bent to plant the message that Bulgarians in Britain is a problem that needs action. My guess is that these negative ads will never appear, we in globalised market are not going to trash ourselves. But there will now be lot of frothing about the EU being the root of all evil and us being swamped by an easily vilified group.

It's Rubbish Here

We are going to deter Romanians and Bulgars by advertising the downsides of British life ( insert own personal Room 101 list of Colonel Blimp Grumbles). It won't work of course. When Idi Amin was busy expelling Asians Leicester tried something similar. If I recall the story the council took out newspaper ads saying basically 'don't come here, there are no jobs and we are full.'

The outcome was that the one place at the forefront of people's minds when they arrived was Leicester.

So, it is a really rubbish plan. Stop it now.

Cyclists - Nice Supportive People

I was in Butlers, browsing the sale and overheard a young racing snake talking about watching a 4th cat race. Now for all those not in the know, the 4th Cats are the minnows, the complete newbies. Below is my half recollection of what our correspondant had to say:-

'The 4th Cats were chaos, they were not taking the corners properl,y following the racing line. They cut right in and kept peddling. I knew somebody was going down. Well the surface was like this sandpaper. I said, there's gonna be spill here, lets go and keep an eye out. Sure enough, crash, over they go. With that sandpaper stuff  it took their skin right off, right off.'

That was a promotional message from British cycling.

Alarm Call

Steve and Ross- from the Kibbutz

'Wake me up in the morning.'
It wasn't a request. Ross knew this was a fools errand. He wanted to be away from Steve already, move out of the hut, into one of the others, the empty ones. Steve scared him. He was intimidating enough when he was awake, but at least then he was under control, had self control. It was when he slept that scared Ross the most. He had already been woken out to find Steve sat on his chest. The night terrors, Steve shouting and fighting in he sleep, then sitting bolt upright eyes staring full of rage, until he slumped back into more uncomfortable sleep.
Steve had told him the story. It came from the time he was in Wandsworth for burglary.
'The screws don't try and fight you when you have a screamer, no they pin you down, and get you with the chemical cosh. Then when you are conscious but still dopey, fucked but awake, then they beat you, heavy blows, no sharp edge bruises.'
*
Dawn approached. Ross wasn't going to let his alarm go. As quietly as he could he got up and pulled on his shorts and boots. The fridge was humming outside the door, his breakfast was in it so no need to mess around in the room. Steve was turned on his side, very asleep, quietly grumbling to himself.
Carefully Ross clicked open the front door to the hut and stepped outside into the cool of the morning. Then closed the door behind himself. He sat there for a few minutes until the watch came round to the time. Then, nervous but from  the safety of his side of the door he started.
Bang bang bang, wake up Steve, time for work, wake up.
Inside there was a crash, a roar, curses, Steve woke up fighting something. The attacker all too real in the imagination. After a few moments the rage subsided and a voice came from inside.
'Thanks Ross'

Free Gift from the nice but expensive people

Received a nice order of expensive but lovely cycling stuff from Rapha the world leaders in nice but expensive cycling stuff. Opened the box and was thrilled to see they he sent me two very swish cappuccino cups as a free gift with my order. Wow, that is treating us loyal customers well.
Sadly when I had dug through my order to the delivery note I realised  it was not largess.

Dear Mrs C of SW1
The nice but expensive cups you ordered are not going to arrive today as they have been sent to me. I will let Rapha know and return them. I hope you don't need them for a present this weekend or anything. They do look very nice though. I would post a picture but that would be cruel.

Bravery is all about timing

So Wiggins accuses Lance of being a 'lying bastard' over his claim to have been clean in 2009. Ahh yes.  Now that the big beast is at bay people are so much braver. If a few  senior pros had stuck their heads above the parapet earlier we might not be in the quite this depth of doodoo now. It is all a bit late.

But there is something that is not too late. Last time I looked the UCI was still run by a discredited leadership. They may or may not have conspired to cover up doping but they have lacked the strength to tackle the problem with the tenacity required. So, British Cycling and Team Sky go on record give a clear vote of no confidence and demand regime change.

The Pro's in Women's Football- not there to be nice

The lowly status of the women's version of our national game is to be honest a disgrace. I have commented before about the huge inequality in cycling, where Sky pour millions into a men's team while our world class women are basically semi pro. Nicole Cooke, a world and Olympic cycling champion, winner of the Women's Giro d'Italia in a good year pulled down £50k! Brad's sideburns earned more last year.

But the differences in earning power between  the top men and women is even greater in Football in this country. TV revenue drives football and has done for a very long time, and it has all been about the boys. So it is great news that there is a decent deal being put together for the women's Super League.

That presenters of the status of Clare Balding is getting behind it can only be a good thing. Balding set out what she thought were the attractions of women's football to those jaded by the excesses of the men's game. These included less diving, racism, spitting, and abusing the ref. All to be applauded. As a game fashioned in the 21st rather than the 19th Century I hope it will long keep racism (and homophobia and sexism) away.

But I also think she was missing the point. The Corinthian ideal is so much easier when nobody is watching, nobody is paying and the outcome matters only to those on the pitch. For me the sign that women's football has made it will the day that in a cauldron atmosphere a gifted super star buys a soft penalty, the opposition surround the ref, and the next day it is headline news. Why? Because then we will know it matters. We will know it  has moved out of the list off things we will politely support, to something a lot of people actually care about.