24 finally gives us some hope....

After being turned off by main stream TV the last couple of years, when the writers strike forced many shows to cut corners and squeeze in realistic storylines into impossible time-frames. It was nice to actually sit down and look forward to a return of one of the old favourites. Namely 24 starring Kiefer "make mine a double" Sutherland.

This time the writers had sensibly started with the idea of the story being set outside Los Angeles (I mean how many near-catastrophic disasters can one city take ?). We pick the story up in a small central African nation. Were Jack seems to be living out his tormented days helping in and around a school for orphaned children. However with cival war just around the corner, Jack is undissapointingly 'forced' out of retirement, as some of the boys from the score are captured/killed by a rebal group trying to force them into joining their illegal armies.

One could not help notice a few similarities to events in the film 'Hotel Rwanda'. With a similar voiced villian and machetes being brandished at any opportunity. However it set the tone nicely and as Jack and his mate (played by Robert Carlyle) tried desperately to get the boys to the American embassy, which was being evacuated.

However on arrival Jack was 'forced' into handing over himself to the authorities in exchange for safe-passage of the boys also. With Jon Voight and company seeming to be playing a sinister element of government which is actually funding and supporting the rebels. All is set-up for a well-paced and gripping 24 which starts in 2008.

Let's hope it can live up to the excellent first show :-)

Jack is Back !!!!

My final word (I hope).....

As the 'Baby P' story continues to unravel itself on a daily basis, the harder I find it to withdraw myself from it. Seeing newspapers and message boards filled with sadness, remorse and at times hate and anger towards the perpetrators does nothing to answer the real question 'why ?'

Myself I cannot answer that or even begin to understand the logic behind this. Having two beautiful children, who I love and cherish with all my heart, makes it all that harder. However in a hope that I can release the sad feelings that currently consume me regarding this at the moment. I put this poem together for Peter in the hope it will make me realize the value of my own children that little more and that I can be a better Dad as well.

My poem is called "I bet you never knew"

I bet you never knew......that you'd grab a nation's heart.

I bet you never knew, you'd have a brand new start.

Where there's no monsters or nothing to fear, just happy playtime and lots of cheer.Running around and playing each day, never having to remember your life the old way.

Laughing and smiling and having lots of fun, for Peter my boy, you were a fine son.

Everyone's loss is now heavens gain, deep in our hearts we now all feel your pain. But you done nothing wrong, you have none of the blame.

We all love your face and your little smile, it will be here in our soul for a very long while.

So as your now upstairs looking down on us all, we will promise you this, we will walk tall. Never again will we let these words be said "we failed a child and now he is dead".

You have inspired us all to be that bit stronger and we will put up with this for no minute longer.

We promise you Peter this won't be in vain, and one day in heaven we'll all meet again.
Your million new friends and just little you, I bet you never ever knew.......

Thank Heavens, no soccer phone-calls...

It's a typical Friday night and there I am waiting for the phone to ring. Why ? Well the other coach hasn't called, the ref has yet to confirm and there I am going through the million scenario's of what may happen if that call doesn't arrive.

This is pretty much my story throughout our soccer season, how many Friday's have been spoilt because of my anxiety ? I guess too many, although by my own admission I try to be Mr.Cool more often than I used to be.

Whenever I played you turned up and played, no forms, no confirmations, everything just seemed to muddle through and work out. Now I am involved where there are rules and the stresses are even greater !!! You see not getting a referee can lead to manipulation of the rules that you wouldn't believe. Having a team who has been very succesful with parents who seem to analys every rain cloud and decision that gets made, add to this. Not through any fault of there own, but it certainly does not help. I don't know how some might cope if I said we never had a referee coming. It could be straight-jackets all round !!! I guess if we were a middle of the road team not chasing much it wouldn't matter too much. However being a victim of our own success ensures that every single week we have a BIG game !!! Being such a worrier myself, I send myself into a frenzy of imagining a volunteer ref from the other team cheating horrendously, a mob of parents shaking their fists and carrying torches and pitch-forks, a team full of players in tears and a team torn apart by the failure of others who are supposed to make the calls and help us out.

None of this is realistic of course, but it doesn't help me one iota to know it's a possibility. That is why it was so wonderful this weekend with no games, no calls, no worry. For the first time in 12 weeks I feel like myself again and do you know what. I love it :-)

Here's to a LONG, RELAXING winter without a non-recieved phone call ruling my life :-)

Peter Connelly....

I am sure I was amongst millions when I read the tragic story of Peter Connelly. This was the name of the 17 month old boy who has been refered to as Baby P in the British press as we heard the horrors of his suffering at the hands of his tormentors during his short life.

Without repeating the upsetting catalogue of injuries because to list them is just simply to traumatizing. It goes without saying that something was horribly amiss here. As a reletively new parent I look at my own children and whenever they fall or don't feel well I fell so responsible and wish there was a way to take their pain away for those short moments. This is why I find it so hard to understand why someone would get any satisfaction or pleasure in causing the suffering of young child or indeed anyone over a prolonged period.

Much will be written about how it happened and what should be done to these monsters. Anyone who saw the pictures just released of this baby cannot help but be moved by his awful plight. This poor little boy, through no fault of his own was tortured and maimed until his body could take no more.

Peter, wherever you are now, I am sure it is a better place than you were.

God bless you and sleep tight little man :-(
The Nash Family xxxxx

and if you know your history......

What a fabulous Sunday that was. Kristina and I both woke up far too early, grumbled a bit, moaned a bit, missed a train, forgot loads of stuff BUT we did get out of the door and headed off to the Museum of Natural History in New York.

An uneventful train journey ended at Penn Station, where we disembarked to each hungrily devour a hot-dog each, Anna taking the low-carb option and disregarding the bread whilst William's just seemed to crumble without him getting too much !!!

We jumped into a yellow cab, certainly something Anna seemed excited to do as we weaved our way Northbound. Actually the journey wasn't too bad, I have been in NY taxis that seem to give you the equvilent of a ride on the Corkscrew at Alton Towers.

Anyhow, in we went, $40 for 4 of us, not bad at all. First we visited the African mammals section, watching Anna and William's little cup of joy overflow was a wonderful experience as they moved from exhibit to exhibit in excited ecstacy that only children can create. As a parent it is so lovely to see your children get so much out of something as educational as a museum visit. We must have passed through at least 20 different sections, some a blur, others offering really facsinating bits of information.

About 3/4 of the way through Kristina and I both looked longingly at each other and we realized we were both starving !!! However we both did remarkable with our blood sugar level dropping and continued through more parts of the museum. The thought of a table at Carmines with garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs served family-style, and a glass of pinot were starting to eat more and more into my mind. Although seeing the blue whale in the ocean exhibit section reminded me not too think to much about food !!!!

However we headed back downtown, this time the journey seemed to fling us around alot more, on at least two occasions a seatbelt saved me from being thrown threw the partitioning and into the front seat. We finally got to 44th Street, it was closed !!! No not the restaurant, the road. We opted to hop out and walk the 3 or 4 minutes. Sadly even this was not simple (why does this happen when your REALLY hungry ?) as the road closure was due to a crane being assembled. We waited and waited as this huge bulk of metal was painfully slowly lifted, lowered and lifted again. All of a sudden a chink of light, pedestrians were allowed through, we barged through, using the buggy as a battering ram more than anything. Finally we reached our destination, Carmines thank heavens. There was a bit of a queue but no worries, I could wait 20 minutes......

...... but alas our world come crashing down. The waiting list was so long they couldn't even give us an estimated waiting time, in fact they had a waiting list to get on the waiting list. With that I looked a three beautiful but hungry faces. So we swallowed our pride and went over to Virgil's BBQ Smoke Pit. All was nice but when you have your heart set on something, it's hard to enjoy the second choice with the enthusism that your first choice would have given you !!!

Anyhow we went back to Penn Station, done the maddest dash to the train ever (not because we were late but it's the only way to get a seat !!!) slumped in the 'family' pull down seats and left William to entertain the train with some, let's say, interesting behaviour !!!

In the end it was a great day and one we'll treasure for a long time :-)

We

and this weekend's winners are......

I am delighted to say that my Girls U12 soccer team clinched it's third divisional title after a convincing display on Saturday. It hasn't all been plain sailing, but i'd say that the best team one. Now we go into Division One, this will be a true test of our character and whilst I do not expect us to win the league, a good solid showing would be lovely.

I think if we can keep the group together for the next couple of years they will be a phenomonal team. Speaking of which, I see Arsene steaded the ship somewhat with an impressive victory over Man.Utd this weekend. I don't know if they will win anything this year, but if they can keep players fit and get a bit of a run going, there is always a chance something might happen :-)

Come on you reds !!!

Come on you Reds (and no not Russians or Gooners !!!)

I am actually going to step away from the political scene for a minute, a) because it's no good for my blood pressure !!! and b) because there are millions of other things to talk about !!!

This weekend two teams who I know very well and are dear to my heart, play two really important matches. Before anyone thinks I am talking about my beloved Arsenal FC playing Man Utd, I am actually moving away from the bright lights of the Premier League and all of it's trappings to talk about two lesser known teams.

One being Harlow Town FC, who I followed for a number of years are playing Macclesfield Town in the F.A.Cup First Round at their new Barrows Farm stadium. There first apperance in the competition proper since they lost 7-0 to Peterborough back in 1991.

The other being my 'work-in-progress' which is a group of 11 year old girls who play under the name of Stony Brook Academy. This weekend sees us going for our third divisional title on the bounce, a remarkable achievement in many respects because of the uniqueness of what we teach and how we play. I won't bore you with the particulars, but what I will say is that I feel lucky and privilaged to have such a great group of players to work with. Their dedicated, thoughful and just love the game without any big-headedness of boastfulness. It's very refreshing and rewarding and I hope they do enough to bring home the bacon !!!

Come on you Reds !!!!

America's Choice

I guess not that many people are familier with the name Paul Krugman. He has just won the Nobel Prize for Economics. That would tend to suggest that he knows what he's talking about.

However according to Joe "let's be disagreeable for the sake of it" Scarborough. Krugman's column in the New York Times was nothing more than a 'left-wing rant' at failed Republican economic policies. Krugman's 'crime' was suggesting that the economic mess was created by the "Greed is Good" mentality that has been evident in Wall Street and of course for which we are now all suffering.

This is not just some dismissive statement said by the man on the street Joe is it ? This is fact. Not everything said outside you margin's of agreement is a 'left wing attack/rant/opinion', it's fact. Again I question the wisdom of MSNBC leaving this man on the air, his opinions have been buried more time the Fido's favourite bone, yet everyday he is there just wittering on about how screwed up the country now is because Barack Obama is now the top man.

Look around you Joe, the country was screwed up long before Barack Obama came along, so why not let go of your posturing, pouting, whining and being so gripped with anger everytime someone does not say exactly what you want. We can all shout or raise our voice to make our point but please if your going to do it, make sure what comes out is going to be something intelligent and meaningful.

Republican chickens come home to roost.

Poor Sarah Palin....... Yes I said it. The chief troublemaker of the Republican candidate is being blamed for the election defeat through 'unidentified sources close to McCain'. I thought Sarah Palin was a nasty piece of work at times throughout her parties failed campaign. However as time moved on, like George Bush, she was just a mere puppet for the more sinister elements.

You could almost here the whispers of "Say this Sarah, Say that Sarah" and trying to benefit her party she did, at times almost with the naivety of someone venturing out of their State for the first time in their life. We heard how she had 'energized' the base, how people were in 'awe' of her. The fact that people said she 'won' the debate with Joe Biden was just laughable. I think the fact that she didn't fall flat on her face was the only triumph they can claim.

The worst thing about all this was that many, many, many people outside the base said that this Hockey Mom/Diva/Maverick/Rogue/Intense shopper would not be ready to lead this country should anything happen to the president. McCain sat there time and again saying through gritted teeth that she was his number one pick, she was ready. John, do us a favour, you know she was nowhere near Presidental material. Everytime she made a glaring error in interviews etc, you all tried to cover it up blaming the media for asking 'loaded or misleading questions'. To the neutral observer it was clear that if this lady could not tell us what newspapers she read, what the Bush docterine was or if she knew of any supreme court cases outside Roe vs Wade, how on earth would she be able to make a decision of a presidental magnitude ?

So now as the dust settles we start hearing things from your people like "Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country". John YOU picked her, her weaknesses were obvious from the outset, yet you chose to deny it and got your team to respond to questions of Palin by not allowing her to be questioned !!! Instead you set her up as an attack dog in one of the most negative campaigns in American history and now your house of cards has come crashing down, you want us all to believe that she is just an uneducated fool.

Whatever she is, she is not the reason you lost. There is a guy sitting in the White House at the moment who played a massive part in that, you know, the fella you voted with over 90% of the time !!! The guy taking his place also had a massive part in that, THAT ONE who won States that hadn't voted Democrat for the best part of a quarter of a century. The fact you told us that the fundementals of our economy were strong a week before the biggest financial collapse in recent times. Sarah Palin was on your ticket, but the truth was the election was lost as soon as your team made the decision to make this campaign about Barack Obama and not what you could offer us.

Therefore let's stop with the negative attacks from you camp. We don't need a weatherman outside with us to tell us when it's raining do we ?

Silly season begins in earnest.....

and so it begins. E-mails crucifying people for daring to vote Obama and the ruin our lives will become. Wait a minute, hasn't the last 8 years been a total disaster for this country ? What's happening on Wall Street is no accident. The country has been put into this mess by greed, deceit and to many people looking after number one, which when seeing John McCain's motto "Country First" plastered everywhere surely begged the question "Since When ?".

America is a great country and is full of great people, however it does seem to have more than it's fair share of idiots as well, particularly around election time. It makes sense to me that if a guy earns $10,000,000 annually and pays $2,000,000 in tax, give or take a little. Will it destroy the guy to pay $2,300,000 instead ? How much is enough, how much more do you need ? People seem to get insulted that this person may have to pay more and almost suggest that it should be the working man who shoulders the burden, well guess what, if it wasn't for the working man in the first place you wouldn't be enjoying that $10 million dollar a year salary. If he wants to earn more, expand your business, get more people working for you and bump yourself up to $15 or $20 million a year as your company performs better.

I guess coming from the UK I view things that bit differently. I guess our financial elite is much smaller, but thankfully so is the percentage of people living below the poverty line. The middle-class is alive and well and normally reflects the view of the nation at election time. The fact that we always had healthcare was a big plus. We all chipped in, it is part of our heritage. I am not sure how it would work here though. I can imagine people would complain they wouldn't want to pay because they never got sick and people who did get sick were using there money. Heaven forbid that happening eh ??? Your taxes helping out someone else, what do you think this is socialism ???

Here in America we have these 'opinions' rammed down our throats by people like Bill O'Reilly and Joe Scarborough about how we should think and anything otherwise is 'unpatriotic' or 'unAmerican'. If someone does not agree with you, just raise your voice and constantly interrupt, what a great way to make your point !!! These are two individuals who have no idea about real America but are left by their respective networks to preach their drivel and continually insult the intelligence of anyone who bothers to watch them. Watching their bitterness these last couple of days has actually been quite refreshing, but I guess until they get there miserable mugs and opinions off the box, we'll keep getting veracious e-mails from their 'deluded' followers.

Did this tell the story ?

Looking at the two candidates final speeches summed up for me the true feelings of what the respective parties represented. In the Blue corner we had Barack Obama, a guy short on experience but big on ideas. In the Red corner we had the old war-horse John McCain who'd been there, done it, got the t-shirt and then auctioned it off on e-bay with the help of his VP candidate.

The problem for the Republican party was it seemed they were 'intent' on quashing anyone who dared suggest that Barack Obama MAY offer something a little different. The nastiness and bitterness from their rally's was evident, much of which was 'whipped up' by chief cheerleader and shopper supreme Sarah Palin.

I almost felt sorry for John McCain last night as he tried to deliver a heartfelt speech about his defeat and the campaign. However this was spoilt by the 'booing and hissing' of the Republican party supporters whenever Obama's name was mentioned. Part of me feels that if McCain had grabbed the bull by the horns 3 months ago when this trend started at his rally's, he would have not only gained the respect of his own party, but that, crucially of some of the independant voters. Instead everytime a cry of "Kill Him" or "Terrorist" was screamed out, both him and Palin did not 'hear it' and continued to preach their messages of negativity and fear. When asked about these lunatic fringes, it seemd they both shrugged their shoulders and despite 'lightly' condemning these actions, never met them with the firmness they deserved. Hence when this guy really needed his people to listen to his message and give HIM the respect that he deserves, his speech will be remembered more for the behaviour of his supporters rather than his very dignified speech.

In contrast Obama's acceptance was that and more of a winning candidate. The fact that the crowd acknowledged McCain with a hearty round of applause was a reflection on the man himself and one he should be proud of.

Say it ain't so Joe.....

In 1981 England lost a World Cup qualifier in Norway 2-1 in what was a major upset. The Norwegien commentator (Bjørge Lillelien) at the time came up with this brilliant summing up of the game in jubilation of his countries historic victory......... Click the link below.....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wqupNjswVnQ&feature=related

So in honour of that I would like to share my version with you......

"George Bush, Dick Cheney, Joe Scarborough, Karl Rove, Pat Buchanen, Sarah Palin, Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Rumsfield, George Bush Senior, Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Hannity and Colmes........................ Your Boys took one hell of a beating" :-D

Barack Obama thank you...

As my first ever blog entry I am so happy I could write this at a time when history is being made. The date of November 4th 2008 will live on in the memories of all of us. It is the stories we will pass on to our children and them onto theirs. This was the day that America improved itself as a nation and now gives itself the chance to lead the world into a brighter future.

This election was historic for many, many, reasons. Obviously 'race' being what many political analysts where focusing on. Thankfully and ultimately this contest was not about 'race' for most, it was about having someone who believed that people wanted change. No disrespect to John McCain and the decisions he made during the contest, but he was a 20th century guy in a 21st century world. Plus having the albatross of the worst president in history hanging round his neck, he was on a hiding to nothing.

Having lived in the United States for over 5 years now I finally wake-up knowing that at long last this country has woken up to the fact that there can be a better future for us all if we truly believe it can happen. My wife and I made donations to Barack Obama, not because we wanted too, i'd rather have spent it on Pizza to be honest !!! However it felt that there was a unique calling on this occasion to try and do something good, something honest.

As an outside observer to this process, never in my life have I witnessed such passion, energy and drive for change. When the results came in last night for Ohio it was obvious to most that the deal was sealed and Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States and ultimately the free world.

When he delivered his acceptance speech I felt that this was a one of those moments in history which would always be pointed at as when 'good triumphed over evil'. In my lifetime and indeed most people's those moments are few and far between. From my own experience, the release of Nelson Mandela, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and indeed Arsenal winning the league at Spurs in 2004 ;-) were probably the best examples of this. Not that I ever voted for Labour when I lived in England, but I can start to understand their euphoria at finally defeating the Tories in 1997 in such a way it would change the political climate for generations to come.

Seeing those people on the streets in New York and Chicago just so happy gives you hope that as people we can overcome whatever barriers that may be in our way. In fact it was poinient when there was a cheering crowd gathering outside the White House. I asked myself why would people do that ? Part of me wanted to see those people rip down those fences and remove George Bush and all of his cronies so we can start our tomorrow today.

No doubt I will be writing alot more over the next few days, weeks, months and years, but today I think I can say that we have all played our part in history and when Barack Obama delivered his speech, telling us the story of a woman of 106 years old who had voted. He went on to tell us about all she had seen in her lifetime and how when the people of America were told "You can't do that" (something particularly prevalent during the Bush administration). On the occasions that as a people we stand strong, we can all say "YES WE CAN".

Thank you Barack Obama, thank you.