My first match at the new Wembley; and a surprisingly reliable knee-joint

On Monday, my girlfriend, my good old-time drinking buddy JK and I went to Wembley to watch England take on Mexico in the first of the World Cup warm-ups - a much more entertaining affair than their tie against Saudi Arabia at the old Wembley stadium in 1998.

That was the last - and indeed, the first - time I saw England play and although I had a fantastic day out (with my Mum, bless her), the game was a bore-draw. Not that I cared, of course. I was about 13 and loved every minute.

Monday's match was far more entertaining, even if the performance was patchy at times. Seeing five Spurs players get an outing was great, and the appearance of one in particular filled me with joy.

Ledley King is the nearly man of the canon of English centre-halves. A superb defender, quick, mobile, with two good feet and great aerial ability, the only thing that has prevented him from challenging Terry and Ferdinand at the heart of England's defence has been a knee which inflames to the size of a beach-ball at the end of each match (drunken pant-wetting episodes in London's West End notwithstanding).

As such, 'Deadley' (as he's definitely not known to his mates) cannot play more than one match a week and has to train on his own. In a swimming pool.

This sorry state of affairs has threatened his career but his inclusion in Capello's squad seems to have spurred his ligaments into some kind of magical self-healing as he completed all 90 minutes on Monday night, capping it all off with a great headed goal to open the scoring after 15 minutes.

Not bad for a player who's not had a cap for three years.

King has since made a pledge that he will be fit and healthy for every match if required during the tournament. Just how well he knows how his knee is going to react during the competition remains to be seen, but as a Spurs fan who loves the guy (but admits to having doubted his staying power at club level let alone internationally) I couldn't be more pleased.

Well done big man. Keep up the good work.

Everyone, breathe!

It was almost inevitable that, as the World Cup in South Africa looms, English football fans shed their veneer of confidence and return to outwardly displaying the jittery, nervous pessimisim about England's chances of returning home with the trophy, regularly recoiling in belly-gurgling fear at every sign that Fabio Capello has lost the plot or some more-than-crucial member of the squad has ruptured something important.

I, on the other hand, have faith that the genial Italian knows exactly what he's doing.

Yes, he made an error of judgement regarding that Capello Index thing, but this was short-lived as both he and the FA acted swiftly to ensure it remains no more than a footnote in the team's build-up to the tournament.

Yes he tried to tempt an old war horse out of retirement in the shape of Paul Scholes, and certainly many have questioned his selection of Jamie Carragher (none more so than myself, having been unfortunate enough to have watched Liverpool play a few times this season).

But look how everyone questioned his faith in Emile Heskey, until the mighty oak emerged as a key part of our attack.

Recall how the team posted one of the best qualifying records in recent times (with the only loss coming in a match which was played after we'd qualified and only shown on the internet, and as such no-one was watching anyway.

Consider how the man can nonchalantly drape a (no doubt, very expensive) sweater casually over his shoulders without looking like a) your Dad on holiday b) a twat.

This is why the man is coining it in to the tune of six big ones every year. Sven Gorn Eriksson, with his possibly homesickness-fuelled ex-weathergirl daliances and extremely dodgy computer game endorsements, he is not.

So, in conclusion, everyone should just calm down. Fab's got it all under control.

Bigots, apologies, and fuss over nothing

As insults go...it wasn't actually an insult. Today, Gordon Brown's latest stint on the campaign trail hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons as he described a voter in Rochdale - 65-year-old Gillian Duffy - as "bigoted", without realising he was still miked up from an earlier radio interview.

He had spent a minute or two discussing immigration with Mrs Duffy in a visit to her street. By all accounts, it appeared to be going quite well, but as Big Gord hopped into the waiting car he began moaning to an aide about how he should never have been forced to speak to her in front of the cameras, before describing her as a "bigoted woman".

Commentators left, right and centre have been blathering on about how the gaffe (when is this word used in any other context?) has pulled the legs out from under Labour's election campaign, which is probably true if they continue going on about it for long enough.

But let's consider the facts. If you listen to the recording, Dear Prudence doesn't actually slate the woman, or go on and on about it, labouring the point. He just expresses his dismay at her views. That's it.

Meanwhile, the incident has generated a flurry of apologies. Brown apologised during a Radio 2 interview in which he was played the tape, head in hands, before telephoning the woman to apologise shortly after.

Obviously this was deemed to have been unacceptable as he then commanded his driver to throw the Labour Party battle bus into a handbreak turn, in order to go directly to Mrs Duffy to apologise to her in person. For more then half an hour.

He emerged from her modest two-up, two-down, all smiles, and apologised again, referring to himself as "mortified" and a "penitent sinner".

Back in Westminster, Peter Mandelson uttered something approaching an apology, seemingly to counter all the other party's spokespeople literally throwing themselves in front of microphones to add fuel to the fire.

So far, it appears no-one has yet apologised to me. Not that I'm a Labour voter, or particularly deserving of some kind of contrition, it's just that while everyone else is getting in on the act... I'm not holding my breath.

But as I said in my comment on the story on the Evening Standard website earlier today: everybody calm down.

This whole business raises a number of questions, which I will now do my best to answer.

Q: Does this debacle mean Labour will lose the next election?
A: No, that was already quite likely to happen a long time ago.

Q: Is the media scrum over this gaffe justified?
A: No, it was just a slow news day.

Q: Should Gordon offer up Peter Mandelson (or perhaps Jack Straw) as a sacrifice to regain favour with the Gods?
A: Yeah go on, why not?

Q: Will Gillian Duffy be voting Labour on May 6?
A: Don't bet on it.

Angry under-educated resident in expletive-laden email to local journalist shocker

After being on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse from a BNP supporter on the strength of something I posted on Facebook a few months back, I've now had my first angry email from a reader about one of my articles. Notoriety is mine at last.

Leaving aside petty criticisms of his spelling, punctuation and grammar (as satisfying as they may be), what makes it all the more entertaining is that he has no point whatsoever.

Here's the email, in all its inarticulate glory.


Subject: What gave YOU the right to talk total crap on my behalf ?

Wow !! now I know what a total pratt and f#cking idiot low life journalists that work for silly little newspapers like you do !!

DONT EVER EVER SPEAK ON MY BEHALF YOU TOSSER !

Your story on how redbridge dont want Nuclear weapons is sh1t like you..

How many people did you ask ?

What were their ages ?

What area of Redbridge did you poll?

What % of your crap poll said what ?

How many were undecided ?

This is what makes you a f#cking idiot... NO ONE I know wants rid of any of our Nuclear weapons or subs..

What a total prick you are.

Sad that you are just a liar working for a silly little newspaper !

Lets do a poll on what the public think of journalists workiong for 2 bob papers desperate to pull a story ! hahahahaha

And here's the article to which he so eloquently refers.

A print-out of this now takes pride of place on the noticeboard beside my PC monitor, and I now have an abuse folder in Outlook.

And, as my colleague said as we laughed about after it had done the rounds in the office:

1.) He hasn't read my story in full, because it details the sample.
2.) He's getting confused between the messenger and the story.
3.) I must be doing something right to get an email like this.

I am officially worth 0.057 of a human being. Sort of.

After discovering that I should probably vote Green (see last post...), any political engagement I had developed as a result now teeters on the edge of the abyss of indifference - as it turns out my vote counts for pretty much sod all.

I don't claim to explain the maths behind its figures but the Voter Power website takes into account the probability of the seat changing hands and the size of the electorate, to calculate how much each person's vote is 'worth'.

I live in Chingford and Woodford Green - one of the Tory's top seats and one of the safest in the country overall. If my knowledge of politics, such as it is, tells us nothing else then at least it shows that the higher profile the MP, the safer the seat (by and large).

Former Tory leader, 'Mr Broken Britain' and probable future cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith currently holds my constituency and has done since 1992 and most people around here don't have a bad word to say about him.

As such, my vote in the election is equivalent to 0.057 of a vote. That's perhaps not as bad as it sounds, given that the average UK voter has 0.0253 of a vote. Or perhaps it's all just terrible. I'm confused.

Knackers to it, I'm still not going to vote Tory.

Green fever

As the general election looms - in addition to the local council elections for all my fellow Londoners and I, plus plenty more people around the country - my mind has finally shaken off all the usual ephemera it concerns itself with (Do we need milk? Will I have time to go the gym tonight? Why do Spurs break my little heart time and time again?) and come round to pondering the most pertinent topic: namely, who will I vote for?

The date of said election was only announced a matter of days ago but given that it was possibly the worst kept secret in living memory, the parties were only too ready to spew forth a raft of stage-managed public appearances and election promises.

Such is relatively short period of time between now and polling day, I (like a few other million people, I wouldn't mind betting) am already feeling a touch overwhelmed about what specific policies each party plans to put into action during the next 4 or 5 years.

Thanks be, then, for a new website called 'Vote for Policies'. It lays out, point-by-point, what each of the the main six parties (Lab, Con, Lib Dem, Green, UKIP, and Naz...er, sorry, BNP) plan for all the major policy areas, such as democracy, immigration, welfare, the economy, health and education.

Earlier, I took the test and I was slightly surpised, if not exactly bowled over, by the results.

In truth, I'd thought I'd already made up my mind. I can't stomach any more Labour mismanagement, thanks very much, and I'm deeply opposed to the neo-Thatcherite lunacy of 'Call Me' Dave Cameron. Despite the fact that my incumbent Tory MP, Iain Duncan Smith, is sitting on rather a nice majority and will almost certainly keep his seat and become a cabinet minister in the next parliament, I felt my best bet was to vote Lib Dem.

I've met the candidate, briefly, and he seems like a stand-up guy but I'm far more concerned with the policies at a national level than any personality traits I might like in my MP. I'll be using my vote at the local elections to decide on specifically local issues (althought this will more than likely see me voting Lib Dem as well, but there we are).

But the fact that, according to my relatively serious policy decisions on the online test, I'm 55% Green, I might be forced to reconsider.

It's hardly surprising that my views should run roughly along the line of the Green party, as I've become more and more engaged in the battle against climate change in the last couple of years (I've become a bit of a 'Standby Nazi' and continue to infuriate my mother by turning the kitchen telly off at the socket on a daily basis).

Plus, the Lib Dems have always been too pro-Europe for my liking, but I was prepared to take a hit on that single policy area in return for competence with the economy (thank you, Mr Cable) and a bit of detachment from the two parties that have been making a general of a hash of things since I was in short trousers.

So, rather than clarifying exactly who I should vote for on May 6, this clever and informative website has seen me go from being fairly certain to fairly confused.

Such is politics, I suppose.

Sunday is the new Saturday. Fact.

The recession, logistics and the low pay in local journalism all conspired to make a trip overseas for my girlfriend and I's fifth anniversary yesterday next to impossible.

For our first, we went to Riga in Latvia, our second was spent in Krakow in Poland, our third in Seattle (from our temporary home at the time in Whistler - we weren't feeling particularly flush that year or anything), and last year we were away skiing in Valmorel, France.

But what could have been a let-down was actually a fantastic trip, and all no further away than zone 1 of the tube.

We stayed for the evening at the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho. It started well, as on arrival we were told that our special web-rate booking had been upgraded to their second largest room (which would otherwise have cost more than three times what we paid). Mildly self-satisfied smiles all round.

The hotel itself is decorated in a classic style (even down to the decades-old furniture and fittings) but with a contemporary twist, although not with anything so smug and off-putting as irony. The reception area is all leatherbound books and - yes, you saw it coming - rich mahogany, while the rooms are painted in muted tones. I'd pin the furniture down to the period if I didn't find Antiques Roadshow so consistently dull.

Oh and the following should almost be mentioned: Flatscreen LCD telly? Check. Sky HD? Check. Blu-ray player? Check. Retro-styled DAB radio? Check. Bose SoundDock? Check. Softest bed-sheets ever? Check. Bloody great big bathtub in the room itself? Checkity check-check...check.

We ate at the hotel's restaurant downstairs and that didn't disappoint either. My starter of haddock souffle with a creamy mustard sauce was light but substantial, while my monkfish main with fennel was moist and flavoursome. Treacle tart with marmalade ice cream: every bit as good as it sounds.

The only slightly underwhelming part was our brief trip to Soho House, the exclusive members club on nearby Greek Street. Our hotel and the club are owned by the same group and they rang ahead so we could nip inside for a cheeky aperitif.

Our anticipation of something achingly hip fell by the wayside as the only area open was the rather bland House Kitchen room on the third floor - it was a Sunday night, after all. Still, the service was great and my bottle of Bombardier slipped down a treat

All in all, thoroughly recommended - particularly if you can get in on a quiet night and pick yourself up a bargain.

It took a neo-Nazi buffoon to bring me back from the wilderness...

Hello all. It's been far, far too long - six months? - but I'm back, and so is this esteemed blog.

I've become more and more interested in anti-fascism over the last few months, as the rise on the BNP has increasingly horrified me. I try to have a positive opinion of the general public but then things like BNP councillors getting elected keep happening, which really tests my resolve.

Anyway, a charming young chap by the name of Joshua Wren contacted me on Facebook earlier today. I've never met him and never heard of him, and I presume his unsolicited message was the result of my membership of the Expose the BNP group. Anyway, I looked beyond his basic grasp of the English language and argued the toss.

Here it is, in full, with my typo's intact to boot...

Joshua Wren 23 February at 17:16
As a reporter you should also know that the BNP are a democratic party. If it wasnt then it wouldnt be allowed to stand. Start reporting the truth for a change and not bullshit like you always do. VOTE BNP


Jim Ranger 23 February at 17:20
Interesting view. Have you actually read any of my work?

The next time I write about the BNP and their democratic process - which I've never denied - I'll make sure I also mention the fact that the party is a thinly-disguised group of racists and white supremacists.

How's that for reporting the truth?


Joshua Wren 23 February at 17:22
yes i have and its crap maybe you should report that i am an openly gay member and would gladly be interviewed for your filth. Also you can report how barking will become a bnp mp in may also. that would be some truth for a change.


Jim Ranger 23 February at 17:42
It's crap? Of course it is. Could you do any better? Please try, I'd love to see how you get on.

It's shame you don't live in my area as I'd also really like to interview you. What would happen then is that, after you spout some racist nonsense, the 99% of people in the borough who have a brain would then realise that the kind of person the BNP attracts shouldn't be trusted with a can opener, let alone a seat in the House of Commons.

I'm pretty confident that there are enough people in Barking who are so horrified by the idea of Nick Griffin possibly becoming their MP that they will vote for a legitimate party, any party, instead of your mob.

In a way, it's not entirely your fault. For whatever reason you feel disenfranchised by mainstream politics. All the other political parties have their flaws, there's a lot wrong with them, and the expenses scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. But they don't hate people because they have different colour skin, or talk a bit funny, or come from a different country.


Joshua Wren 23 February at 17:44
the last stament is correct and for your information i dont talk any racism actually. I have friends who are white,black,and asian. Why dont you people report on the evil islamic extremists that run riot in our country??? or why the facists (lol UAF) dont come out to protest about that??? very ironic indeed

Joshua Wren 23 February at 17:46
for the lat time also the BNP ARE A LEGIT party


Jim Ranger 23 February at 17:54
So you're a hypocrite then? Black and asian friends, yet you belong to a party which - whatever it's leading figures may say - is founded on the politics of hate.

Perhaps Nick Griffin and the other BNP figures who speak to the media present the image that the party is just out to look after the interests of 'indigenous' British people, but most people simply don't buy it.

Everyone else realises that the great majority of the party's membership consists of racists, and the it plays on the fears of the people in the UK who simply can't deal with immigration and ethnic diversity.

Extremism in all its forms is dangerous - racist nationalist extremism, like the kind you promote, is just as harmful and divisive as the kind "evil Islamic" extremism to which you refer.

And I wouldn't mind betting that there are more people in the UK who think like you, than people who think that we should impose Sharia law and that it's ok to blow people up in the name of Allah.


Joshua Wren 23 February at 17:58
Well you think what ya like which is why your articles are are bollox. You dont know me or know what i am like. I am no hypocrite i am a realist. What you fail to report also is the fact that griffins best mate is a sikh and that he was the main witness in dismissing griffins race hate trial.


Jim Ranger 23 February at 19:01
So one Sikh man falls under the illusion of the BNP and that legitimises the whole operation and its supporters. Well thanks for clearing that up. It's about on the same level as your 'I'm not a racist, I've got loads of black friends' argument earlier on, which was a real gem.

While we're on the subject of your illustrious leader's credentials, I also recall he studied at Cambridge. However, that doesn't mean the man isn't an inept bigot.

The BNP has also just voted in favour of admitting black and asian memembers. That doesn't mean it isn't a racist political organisation.

Thinking of it now, I don't think I've ever written an article on the BNP, it's certainly never been much of a theme in our paper. Perhaps you think the articles I write on residential planning disputes, nightclub licensing hearings and charity fundraisers are all bollocks.

Thankfully I write about an area which has managed to resist the creeping influence of your particular band of hate-mongers, and I hope it stays that way. There's only one BNP councillor in Redbridge Council, and he never actually does anything except sit in meetings looking bored, and the word is he'll lose his seat in due course.

Rather than a triumphant moment for the BNP, I have every confidence that the next election will mark the moment that the sensible majority in this country take to the ballot box and exercise their democratic right to show the BNP that their particular brand of neo-fascism has no place in 21st Britain.

Thanks for messaging me. I've never knowingly spoken to a BNP supporter, so this has given me an insight into the kind of distorted a worldview people like you have.

I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do with our exchange, although I'll certainly be sharing with the other members of the Expose the BNP group and anyone else who shares my position.

One final thought - as a gay man, have you ever been called homophobic names? Spat at? Physically abused? Had defamatory leaflets distributed around your neighbourhood?

I ask because supporters of the BNP have done those things because other people were born in a different country or don't have white skin. They are the proponents of hatred and I know that if I was a member of a group which had suffered at the hands of bigots - and still does in some corners of the world - I could never bring myself to associate with a group of hate-mongers.

However, as you've made clear, you don't see the BNP as that. As far as you are concerned it's legitimate and the only party which cares for the British people.

I, for one, hope that the great majority of the UK completely disagrees.


Joshua Wren 23 February at 19:20
No i have not and there have never been any leaflets like that posted ever. If there was then we would of been arrested and havnt so they werent offensive then were they??? as for 'your encounter' i havnt given you any reason to attack me havnt made any comments that you may find offensive or given you an excuss to call me 'nazi' racist' etc so maybe you can now see that we are desent people just concerned about not been listend to by the so called goverment. i will no longer reply now as i dont trust filthy reporters one bit as it wouldnt suprise me to find you have alterd my words to suit you. I will however drop you a message when we have mps in parliment. To rub that in to your filth written bullshit


Jim Ranger 23 February at 22:56
Not once have I attacked you, whereas you have sworn at me and attacked me professionally. We clearly have a very different idea of what 'offensive' means'. You've called my work bullshit and bollocks - and I doubt you've any idea what you're talking about.

Perhaps no BNP operative has ever done those things while on official party business, but I would not be surprised to learn about members engaging in that kind of thing on their own time.

I used the term neo-Nazi to characterise the kind of fascism which drives organisations like the BNP, which is perfectly legitimate.

And, believe me, I would have no need to alter your words one bit in order to suit my own anti-fascist agenda - not even by correcting the terrible spelling, punctuation and grammar (particularly seeing as mine hasn't exactly been perfect).

I don't expect you to be convinced by my arguments as you're obviously completely entrenched in your blinkered far-right extremist views, and I hope you would do me the same courtesy and understand that your angry, poorly-argued datribes will do nothing to change my views.

I'm serious about an interview, if you'd like to give me one. So how about it - the day the BNP get an MP in Westminster, we'll sit down and thrash it out.

You might have a chance if you just learned to think for yourself rather than simply doing what is easy: being scared of and angry at immigrants, blaming them for the all the problems up and down the country, scapegoating them because society can't accept collect responsibility for the current economic and social mire we're in.

So in May, when you get your MP or - God forbid - MPs, drop me a line and we'll talk.

So, anyone thinking of voting British National Party in a few months time?