Slightly at a tangent, & not related to any potential criminal charges, but can there be anything worse than the life of a working Royal? I can't imagine anything worse.
If you think it through, surely not one person here would swap their life with that of a working Royal, the boring stuff they have to endure daily, and it's consequent total lack of freedom, would they?
What use is a posh house in the country & loads of money if you can't enjoy it & be free to do what you want?
In 1 sense, developments today look amusing. Whereas, in reality, this sort of media-led bloodlust is going to cause problems.
"Misconduct in public office" is a strange Criminal Offence. Not least because it is totally different to how most people perceive it.
In whatever job most of us do, misconduct leads to disciplinary action and, at worst, serious misconduct leads to Dismissal. Not some sort of Media Trial and Arrest.
Next, "Public Office" is a bit of a stretch. Why was he a Trade Envoy? It wasn't because of his brilliant mind. Or his knowledge of Trade. It was his Title and his Address Book. And anyone who genuinely believes that part of his brief wasn't to divulge various "secrets" is living in a lovely sweet world divorced from reality. Dim people tend to do dim things.
This is the bit that is problematic. There are lots of people who do Jobs that are essential for the smooth running of MI5, MI6 and the like. Who have to be able to make judgment calls. Where a wrong choice doesn't involve public arrest. Because I am long out of stuff, but I guarantee there are a lot of people essential to our Country both taking advice and demanding written assurances before doing their jobs.
Imagine being a Working Royal. Or a US Ambassador. Any idea how many lies you are supposed to feed to the Trump entourage? Or how many things you are supposed to "accidentally" let slip? And there will ne nothing in writing-until now. Any idea just how safe we are going to be when Andrew lifts the lid on a whole load of stuff? Because, if he is charged, he is going to have to.
It's Andrew's Birthday today. Why pick today? And why not just invite him in for questioning instead of this Grand Theatre?
Totally agree about the Lance Armstrong analogy. Mind you, you have only come 2nd 5 times since 2004. And when it comes to actually winning major trophies, there's only 1 word for it:-Spursy
Watched the game on Sky last night-you were terrible. The moment that summed it up for me was this. About 85 minutes gone. You get a Corner. Usual corner-taker, Saka, has gone off with Dandruff, or some such. Declan Rice has (as usual) run himself into the ground. Any football fan can admire someone who gives his absolute best. Whereas Eze, who is probably more naturally gifted, has only been on about 5 minutes, and can't be arsed to run 5 yards to take the Corner. The look on Rice's face as he had to run 40 yards to take it instead was priceless...
I would say that you look like a team in crisis at the moment. Fortunately, you have been prescribed a visit to Doctor Tottenham...
Quick story about Colin (ctbn). I miss the old hippo pictures
I once mistakenly called him "cbtn". To which he replied, in his splendid Scots accent:-
"It's easy to remember, Phil. It is Colin The Bastard N..."
To be fair, he does bear a remarkable likeness to a hippopotamus.
As I'm sure you are aware, he & I are good mates & I love him to bits.
Away from his clown acting at the poker tables, he has a proper job with Network Rail or one of their CE contractors, he is a manager/supervisor for Permanent Way work - maintenance, upgrades, incidents etc.
Was due to retire this year but is going to work on for another 2 years. His health was bad 8 or 10 years ago but he seems fine now. Long may it last, he's a good man.
The Premier League has always involved bigger teams using financial muscle to get players. Eze this Summer was a classic example. Spurs are (financially) a far bigger club than Palace. So when we offered him £8 milly a year, Palace knew they couldn't compete. Then Arsenal offered £10 million a year, doing to us exactly what we were doing to Palace. Like it or not, it's the reality-for everyone (except, possibly, Real Madrid). It's an open secret that 7 or 8 of the current Arsenal squad cost more than Spurs have ever spent on a player. And 6 or 7 of the current Arsenal squad are being paid more than Spurs have ever spent on a player. Saka, for example, earns more than £5 million a year more than any Spurs player. Which is, of course, why Arsenal are in various respects a bigger club than Spurs.
Postecoglu was completely right when he said that, in some respects, Spurs are not a "big" club. There isn't a "big 6". There is a Big 5 financially-(in no order) that is Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool Man City and Man Utd. Spurs are the 6th biggest financially-but rather closer to the likes of Newcastle and Villa than the ones above them.
1 way anyone can readily see the difference is in the approach to bedding in players from other Leagues. As an example, Hincapie is being given time to bed in. The size of your squad affords the luxury of picking his games to bed him in. Would he have got that time at Spurs? I fear not.
The Press take what I term as the Jamie Carragher approach. Make 1 half-decent point. And then bang on about it endlessly, to the exclusion of all other relevant factors. Let's mention 1-the importance of the Ground. No-one would ever suggest that the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is anything other than a massive upgrade on the old White Hart Lane. For exactly the same reasons as the Emirates and Highbury. But-and it is a big but-the new polished grounds do not provide the febrile atmosphere of a Lane or a Highbury. That is part of the reason why Spurs have not been as good at Home. Or why, in Arsenal's case, what is probably the 2nd best funded side in the Prem has not won the League since 2004. At Highbury.
Incidentally, for those who have not seen them, the Tiny Desk Concerts, all of which are on You Tube, really are very good & feature some great bands.
Sadly, I'm not sure they are making any more, as they were on USA NPR (National Public Radio) & Mr Trump withdrew all funding for PBS & NPR shortly after taking Office.
But, as far as I'm aware, they are all still on You Tube, so a quick search should soon find them.
Gotta be the coolest 57 year old on the planet. Even Thewy (similar age) is not that cool.
Noel & Liam have entered the chat!
Back to the 90s, just like that
The difference is Damon has talent, so GTFO outa here with your Oasis bilge.
Jarvis has to be in the conversation though
That's spooky, Jarvis/Pulp are another, along with Damon/Gorillaz, I have happily rediscovered of late. It's light stuff but has aged well, & Jarvis always puts on a proper performance, with all the hand actions & strange oohs & ahhs. They've been around (on & off) over 40 years, & I think Candida has been there the whole time. She's so crippled with arthritis in her hands she can only play very basic note sequences, but it all works nicely & it's good that they've stuck with her, & unusual to see a lady in her 60's in a pop band. Hard to pick my favourite Pulp work but "Something Changed" is in the mix, & there's scores of versions of it on YT.
For any Pulp fans here, there's a thing on You Tube called "Tiny Desk Concerts" a sort of modern version of MTV Unplugged, The Pulp edition is excellent, with Jarvis at his theatrical best, Candida doing her repetitive note stuff, Webber hilariously cocking up a guitar riff, & Banks (drummer) using his chair as a drum. Well worth a watch, it's in my daily music mix.
Here you go...
I think Banks is playing a Cajon - a Peruvian percussion instrument.
#Invalid YouTube Link#
Even after 20yrs I still can’t post a YT link
As an aside, he could have used a Dube.
Oh I SEE, now it all makes sense.
Tiny Desk Concerts are "stripped down" but it made no sense to me that he seemed to have to make do with just a chair.
