Pointless Inquiries

Is anything going to come out of The Chilcot Inquiry? Will there be a conclusive outcome with repercussions to follow? No, of course not. Tony Blair was giving evidence last week, what’s going to come of that? Nothing. It will just drag on for weeks more at a huge expense and when it finally does grind to a halt there will be so little outcome that it will barley be reported and soon forgotten.

The inquest to the death of Princess Diana took six months and cost millions. What was the outcome? That the irresponsible driving by her chauffeur killed her not the Royal family. Was there ever going to any other outcome? Of course not, it seems like the whole point of the inquiry was to shut Mohammed Al-Fayed up.

Also going on at the moment is the 7/7 Inquest. Only BBC news seems bothered to report on it daily. Today’s news from the inquest is- “A senior paramedic was unaware of any deaths until 30 minutes after arriving at the suicide bus bombing in Tavistock Square.”
What is the point of such evidence? What is the point of this inquest? We know what happened and who the bombers were. Other days headlines are- “The 52 victims of the 7 July 2005 bombings were "murdered" in acts of "merciless savagery.” No shit, you don’t say.
At the inquest they’re also showing never seen CCTV footage. What’s the relevance of seeing twisted metal and people screaming at a new angle. “Out now the 7/7 bombings DVD special edition, with extra unseen footage.”
These inquiries are pointless and only happen so that it seems that the powers that be are doing something.

Cut Price Booze

The price of a pint in my local pub has gone up. Its now £3.10. Its not the cheapest pint in the area, but then I would rather drink in my local backstreet boozer than the JD Wetherspoon’s on the high road. Its not the most expensive as that that title will always be held by the shiny bar on the high road that’s filled with coked up Essex boys.
Its getting to expensive to spend all Saturday night in the pub so now a lot more people stay at home a little longer to have a couple more drinks at before they go out. Pubs are suffering as a result, but its not the customers fault. The price of alcohol in a pub has increased far beyond the rate in the off-licence. I can buy a can of beer in the shop around the corner from me for a pound. A rise of about 20p from when I bought booze (underage) in the early 90s.
Then I heard that the Coalition Government are going to bring in minimum alcohol pricing. “No,” I thought, “now its going to cost a lot more to have a couple of beers at home!”
Then they implemented the law and all was okay. It turns out that a can of beer can not be sold for less than 38p a can. So it will only effect (if at all) the super special promotion bulk buys that they have at Christmas.
Health campaigners are not happy with the new law as it’s a watered down outcome. Well they can stick their morale high ground kill joy stance. There’s nothing wrong with a couple of beers at the end of the working day, and a good few more at the end of the working week at an affordable price. Not everyone that cracks open a bottle is a binge drinking ASBO that’s ends the night puking in the gutter.

Stratford Spurs FC

So David Beckham is training at Tottenham. There was no big deal when he trained at Arsenal a couple of years back in the MLS off-season. But there wasn’t a chance that he might turn out in a Premier League game for them like he might at Spurs. So there’s been news reports from the Tottenham training ground in Chigwell and football hacks and pundits giving their opinion on whether it will be good for the team or not. Because they must be pro or against him in a lilywhite shirt.
“They only want him for the shirt sales,” is a lazy response I’ve heard various people say. A work colleague told me that in the Tottenham shop you can buy a shirt with Beckham on the back with the number 77. I told him that you can have anything printed on the back of a shirt if you ask for it. I can have my name printed on the back, it doesn’t mean that I will be running out at White Hart Lane this weekend.

Its been a Tottenham heavy news week. Should they move to the Olympic stadium? Well it makes obvious sense as a business decision. But tradition is a big part of any football club and that’s countering the pure business decision.
At first I was totally against them moving to east London. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club should play in Tottenham! North London, not east! But then most Tottenham fans like myself are from the surrounding areas, not Tottenham itself. And Stratford is not too far from Tottenham, its only that the postcode changes from N to E, its not like the Olympic stadium is in west London or on the other side of the river. The transport links to White Hart Lane are awful where as you don’t get any better than transport links at Strafford. On a selfish standpoint- Stratford is three tube stops away from me. I could be door to door in half an hour.
If it happens I’m sure that in time I will get used to it but at the moment even with all the plus points it just doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t help when there’s stories like the one in the Evening Standard on Thursday that said that Tottenham may have to change their name to something like ‘Stratford Hotspur.'

But of course that’s just bullshit scaremongering. I fucking hope so.

Vox Pop

If anyone comes up to you in the street or on the train and started talking to you, the natural thing for most people to do is ignore them. Maybe say as little as possible to them so they don’t realise that you want them to go away but by not totally engaging with them they will hopefully move on. like when a drunk starts talking to you at the bar or when outside smoking a cigarette. If the conversation comes naturally then fine, but its not like that when some drunk just wants to talk nonsense to whoever is in their line of vision. Usually they say some quip and laugh as they look for you at laugh back with them. I hate it the most when in happens in the gents at the urinal. Sorry but I don’t want to start a conversation with a drunk stranger while we’re both holding our dicks taking a piss.

But it seems that if a stranger comes up to you in the street with a microphone and starts asking questions then a lot more people are willing to converse. Vox pops- “Because your opinion matters.” Or rather because some idiot who feels they must give an ill informed opinion just because a microphone and a camera are shoved in their face.
Today the terror alert in the UK has being raised, so BBC news went to Heathrow Airport to see what people there thought about it. “Well its kind of unnerving but there’s not a lot you can do apart from looking out for something suspicious and reporting it to the police,” someone said in the as he struggled with his bag in the car park. Thanks I feel better now.

The January Lull

So the summer ends, the clocks go back and the nights draw in, Halloween shortly followed by Bon Fire Night, the build up to Christmas, Christmas eve, Christmas day, Boxing day, New Years Eve, New Years Day, the decorations come down and then its back to work feeling shattered and with serious damage done to your bank account, New Years resolutions broke and the New Year blues kick in, the Christmas trees left out for the dustmen and people still saying Happy New Year well into January.

Well I certainly feel shattered and my bank balance has taken a bit of a kicking but that’s what excessive drinking will do. I’m tired and I think too much time sat on the sofa playing video games has turned my brain to mush.
So my New Years resolution is to start doing more constructive productive stuff. But right now I can’t, I’m just too tired. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I promise.
Maybe I should start taking life more seriously this year and draw out a five year plan or something. Oh fuck off, I said do more productive stuff not become a complete bore.