Wemberlee

Yesterday was my second visit to Wembley. Despite the criticisms I think the views of the pitch are good and the transport links work well.

But the facilities are awful. I queued for 40 minutes to buy a drink. The toilets were an offence to public health. And the staff surly and rude.

Not good enough.

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Winners!

So remind me, who are Chelsea? Oh yes - losers!

What fun it was to see what we did to Abramovitch's hundreds of millions. Who's the special one now, eh?! Step forward S. Ramos.

Seriously, it's wonderful to see us win, and to beat our two biggest foes on the way. As Ramos said in his interview afterwards, this changes everything. The players know they are winners now.

So how about a cup double? Bring on PSV.

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What is Cameron thinking?

This is simply jaw dropping. 

I was having a read of David Cameron's 'Government by gimmick' paper (which you can download here) when I came to Gimmick No 4.

In amongst the lists of gimmicks such as 'honours for sportsmen' amd 'confiscating alcohol from teens' is this:

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Supermarkets and booze

There's an enormous amount of nonsense being spoken about the idea that the government should legislate to keep the price of alcohol high.

Tim Worstall writes some common sense, pointing out:

This is a markedly pro-capitalist and anti-consumer measure.

Alcohol is used as a loss-leader. Stop people from competing on the price of alcohol and supermarket profits will go up: and consumer benefits go down.

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Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Hezbollah

David T links to an ad for this rally.  The speakers are a fascinating bunch:

Ibrahim Mousawi, Editor of Hizbollah newspaper Al-Intiqad

Hassan Jumaa, Iraqi oil workers’ leader

Tony Benn, Former MP

Lindsey German Convenor, Stop The War Coalition

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Journalist

Vinick and McCain

You can't breathe at the moment without coming across a Barack-Santos article or post.

That's all very well, but how about the other, in many ways still more striking, parallel?

That between this man

and this man.

Indeed, as Jonathan Freedland writes:

What's more, the West Wing had the Republicans choose between a Christian preacher - a pre-echo of Mike Huckabee - and an older, maverick senator from the American west whose liberal positions on some issues had earned the distrust of the party's conservative base: a dead ringer for John McCain.

In the West Wing, the McCain figure emerges comfortably as the party's choice. Apparently the character was not based on the current Republican frontrunner, but was simply a function of the casting of Alan Alda.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives." John McCain proves that wrong. 

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Hattersley and my gambling

Tim Worstall rightly points out the idiocy of Lord Hattersley's piece today. Here's the Lord H:

To make casinos profitable, new gamblers have to be attracted to their tables. It will be gullible local citizens from Wolverhampton and Hull, not Hong Kong millionaires and the Las Vegas super-rich, whose money the casino owners take home......And who would benefit? Not the citizens of Sutton Coldfield, Bath, Dumfries or any of the other chosen locations. Only the gambling tycoons have anything to gain.

Only the tycoons, eh? So the gamblers, the punters, they don't gain anything? No pleasure? No amusement as they pass their time? No jolt of adrenaline as they win or lose? Stephen might have a word or two to say about that.

What Roy doesn't get is that the only reason people go to casinos is because they perceive that they get something out of it: it's the same with any other trade or purchase. Voluntary exchange only happens if, as and when both parties gain from it.

I have no idea how much I lose overall from gambling. In the couple of years I kept a book, I was up, but they were freak years when I had a massive series of wins on Best Mate ante post in the Gold Cup three years running, starting off at 16/1. I guess I must be down overall, but I couldn't care less because I only bet what I can afford to lose without noticing. I find it pleasurable backing horses, and I pay for that pleasure, just as I would if I was paying for the pleasure of a coffee or to go to a football match.

It's one thing arguing against the extension of casinos - I happen to be in favour but it's of course perfectly legitimate to be opposed. But Hattersley seems to be opposed to gambling per se and appears unable to conceive that there are people who gamble for pleasure rather than because they are addicts wasting away their money.Indeed, it's worse than that - he thinks:

At a time when the Home Office proposes another “crackdown on serious crime”, the casinos would undoubtedly attract an international army of undesirables. 

Lord Hattersley was deputy leader of the Labour Party 1983-92

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Oops

Just heard Derek Thompson say this on At The Races, of the jockey on the race leader having a look behind him:

Paul Moloney has a peep and I think he'll like what he sees between his legs.

The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey.

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A waste of time

There's a letter in today's Times picking up on a line in my Times piece last week:

Sir, Stephen Pollard writes: “I haven’t reported \ to the police. What’s the point? The police can’t even be bothered to deal with assaults” (Feb 14). However, I would come to the exactly opposite conclusion.

Recently my bag was stolen on a train. I assumed, like Mr Pollard, that it was not worth reporting, but out of sheer bloody-mindedness used the British Transport Police’s telephone at Euston to advise them of the theft. Within a few minutes a community support officer arrived to take the details, and half an hour later she was arranging the retrieval of the relevant CCTV footage which, together with my statement, was forwarded to the police at Swindon.

There a police constable ran through the video, identified the malefactor making off with my bag and circulated his description and image to all the relevant stations. In addition, I have been given regular updates by phone on any developments. I could not possibly have expected more.

Far from railing at the police for their lack of interest and action, I feel faintly embarrassed that the theft of a cheap bag containing little of value should have been taken so seriously.

While the police will doubtess fail to meet our expectations all the time, if we fail to report the crimes that do occur the police will never even get the chance to meet these expectations.

John Heard
West Wickham, Kent

I was on the escalator at Charing Cross Station. Suddenly, as we neared the bottom, the person behind me - who I hadn't seen - lashed out at me and hit or kicked me (I had no way of telling which) in my neck and I collpased. He then calmly walked past me and walked to the platform. I could see him, and the tube train he was getting on.

By chance, there was an attendant standing at the bottom of the escalator looking up. He must have seen what happened as it was, literally, right in front of him.  I asked him to tell the driver to stop the train and to call the police and have the man arrested.

"For what?", he asked. "For assaulting me! You must have seen it, it was in front of you" (I had fallen at his feet). "I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about".

By then, the train had pulled out, and with it my assailant. So I went back upstairs and asked at the control room if CCTV would have captured the incident. They told me I'd need to get a policeman. So I asked them to call one; he turned up after about fifteen minutes. He told me I was making a fuss over nothing and I'd save him and myself al lot of time if I forgot about it. "What harm did it do?", he sneered. 

To cut a long story short, the policeman was useless - deliberately so. I did indeed report it and got him to take down all the details. And that was the last I heard. I made an idiotic mistake and did not get the man's name. When I rang the police a few weeks later to find out what was happening, I was told there was no record of any incident, or of me. I could come to the station and report it if I wanted.

What would have been the point? I would like to have pursued the policeman more than my assailant by then, but did I really want to extend the annoyance for weeks, probably months, and end up - even if things went as I hoped -giving evidence against him in a disciplinary hearing. Life is too short.

The other incident was late at night in a busy road when a man walked up to me for no reason and kicked me in the groin. Luckily he missed the 'key' area and I was only in pain for a couple of days. 

I walked to the police station the next day and reported the attack, in full knowledge that I was wasting my time. I'm still waiting to hear how the inquiry is going. It's only been ten years, so I'm sure they'll call me back with a progress report soon.

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They dance!

Forget all the commentary on Castro. By far the most insightful comment comes from the singer, Craig David, whom I have just heard being interviewed.

INTERVIEWER: So you did some of your new album in Cuba?

CRAIG DAVID: I had lots of misconceptions about it being a communist country and all that. It's true that they're not as privy as we are with inventions, food and so on. But they make up for it with incredible dancing.

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