The Seasider's are nearly there.

What a season this is turning out to be. Not many people gave us much of a chance of staying in the Championship at the start, never mind vying for a place in the Premiership. Last week's Seasider's victory against already relegated Peterboro and Swansea's defeat against Sheffield Utd, ensured that we occupied the last play-off position at their expense. It now means we go into the last game against Bristol City at Bloomfield Rd on Sunday a point better off than the Swans. All the tickets for the game have been sold and a crowd of 12,000 is expected. It is also being televised live by Sky Sports ( better late than never). Although Bristol City have nothing to play for after finishing a disappointing season for them in mid table, they will be out to spoil our chances of making it to the play-offs. Why? Well, Ollie started his football career playing for their arch rivals, Bristol Rovers and they have also recently appointed Steve Coppull as their new manager, so they will be out to impress him. Ollie won't allow the players to get complacent and he will gee them up ready for the final push. If we managed to get into the play-offs I fancy our chances against any of the other teams and can see us go all the way to the final at Wembley. Whatever happens this season has been a pleasure to watch. If there are any neutrals out there, throw your weight behind the boys in Tangerine.

Election vote.

I have finally decided who I am going to vote for in the forthcoming election. My decision is based on my desire to see a difference in the way this country is governed. I am fed up with just having either a Conservative or Labour government. They have monopolised British politics for years and have shared power for all this time. Each blames the other for the ills of the country and use this as an excuse for their own shortcomings. We drastically need a complete revamp of our political system and that is why I am going to support the Lib Dems. Hopefully then we can look forward to seeing Proportional Representation being introduced, which should help to do away with the current two party state.

Volcano and the aftermath.

It's only when a natural disaster occurs that we realise how fragile our existence on earth is and how it doesn't matter how big we think we are because nature is a great leveller. The Icelandic volcano has had a massive impact on our way of life in a very short time. We sometimes think these disasters happen elsewhere in the world but not here. Even as I write this blog we still do not know how long the present situation will last? The last time it erupted, it continued to do so for a further two years. Yesterday (19/4/2010), the volcano was becoming more stronger rather than weakening and with the wind direction changing it was expected to disrupt the UK and Europe airspace even more. I think we all know of somebody stranded away from home, waiting for the situation to improve. Everyday we are hearing shocking stories of people having to pay over the odds either to stay where they are or to get home by whatever means necessary. The chances of claiming compensation are practically nil, because this disaster is classed as an "act of God". Some airline companies believe the EU have over re-acted by banning all flights and say as long as aircraft do not fly directly through the cloud planes should be ok. Apparently British Airways are losing £20m per day. One other problem the eruption is causing, is the impact it is having on imports and exports and is highlighting the difficulties some countries with fragile economies are having. It should be interesting to see how things develope in the next few weeks. Anyway, to lighten the mood here's some thoughts local wags have come up with....

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  I think it’s too soon to make jokes about the Icelandic volcano…we should at least wait until the dust settles.
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  Volcano in Iceland…What next Earthquake in Asda?
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  What do Cheryl Cole and the Iceland volcano have in common? They both chucked out ash.
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  It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes were spread all over Europe.
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  There’s no pleasing the English. The last time they got the Ashes they were over the moon.
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  Went outside today and got hit by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau and some fish fingers. Someone said it's a fallout from Iceland.

Conservative, Labour, Lib Dems, A N Other?

With the election gloves well and truly off we are starting to see politicians everywhere. It's amazing what they all come up with prior to an election to secure your vote. Where is all the money coming from to finance the promises they are making. After all, we are currently supposedly in the middle of the worst financial crisis for decades. I still say, it will only be after the election that we will find out the true price of what each of us will have to pay as a consequence of the worldwide crisis. Unfortunately, without Proportional Representation (RP), the winner will be either Labour or the Conservative and each will blame the other for the plight we are in. No matter how hard the Lib Dems shout, the best they can hope for is third place. What hope therefore are there for the minor participants, such as UKIP, The Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Independents, The Jury Team and the extreme political parties. The extremists deserve all they get, a BIG NOTHING, because all they want is a world suited only for themselves. The big parties like to  toy with the idea of RP especially at election time, but let's face it they're not going to change the political voting system for one that would make it harder for them to win. I truly hope the electorate give both major parties the proverbial "kick up the backside", because I for one, would like to see a big fundamental change in the way our votes are counted. I also hope the corrupt expenses, lobbying and more than one job MP's are shown the door too. How can some MP's have time for other jobs if they are truly doing what they were elected for. Surely a second or third job would compromise their government work or is that me being too naive?

Is South Africa heading towards further violence?

Anyone outside the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) can have little sympathy following the death of it's controversial leader Eugene Terre'Blanche, who's name seems to have been concocted to mirror his style of politics. At one time he wielded a great deal of power and influence in South Africa, especially at his home base in Ventersdorp situated 100 miles west of Johannesburg. He founded the AWB  in Heidelberg back in 1973 after he became disillusioned with other political parties. At the height of his popularity he claimed the AWB had a membership in excess of 70,000. He was known as the Leader to his followers and surrounded himself with the black clad bodyguards known as the Iron Guard. He was known for his oratory, which was likened to that of Hitler. Terre'Blanche's thunderous voice and magnificent style of delivery - alternating between roar and husky whisper, with gestures to match - helped to disguise the complete meaninglessness of what he was saying. His oratory would sweep from the plight of white farmers, to ancient Greek philosophy, to the state of the Soviet Union, without any apparent logic. He seemed to walk a tightrope between racist menace and national joke. He strongly opposed and never really accepted the end of Apartheid, which put him at loggerheads with the more progressive conservative politicians. His death, allegedly at the hands of two of his farm workers, have opened up all the divisions that have been just below the surface. With the football World Cup due to open in the next couple of months fears are growing that the violence could cause serious trouble. Let's hope things don't get out of hand and things start to calm down in what is a very volatile part of the world.

2010 UK General Election.

I suppose like many other voters, this year's forthcoming General Election has left me in a bit of a quandary. It is the first time in all the years I have casted my vote that I am unable to decide who to support. Ok, lets not kid ourselves, the outcome will be between Labour and the Conservatives. No matter how much the Lib Dems huff and puff, there is no way they will form a new government. The best they can hope for is a hung parliament and they are asked to back up either of the other two big boys. This is because our constitution does not allow for Proportional Representation (PR), which would give the Lib Dems a better chance of getting more of their MP's elected. The general public (I include myself) are still angry about the whole "MP expenses scandal" in which many of our elected members have been found with their "snouts in the trough". There has been a procession of MP's declaring that they will not stand at the election,  deciding it is better to go before they are thrown out by their constituents.

I think we will see the biggest election boycott in living memory, because the majority of people cannot see things getting any better whoever wins. This could leave the door open to extremist parties  getting a bigger foothold in the country. The trouble with extremist parties is they do not have any workable policies. They rely on lynch-mob  ideas where they tend to blame all the ills of the country on immigrants, saying they come over here and pinch all our jobs. What they don't say is, that a lot of the jobs taken are one's that no one wants to do because of the money offered.

I have come across a new group (pictured opposite)  called the "Jury Team", http://www.juryteam.org/. Launched in mid March 2009, the Jury Team they say "is for people who believe in democracy but who have seen how the current party political system has turned the United Kingdom's Parliament and Government into the creatures of a small and increasingly distant group of self-serving politicians". They also state, "The Jury Team will ensure that the electorate have the ultimate power and that Parliament and Government are both run for the benefit of the country and not for those who work in these organisations. We need to give back to people their pride in their country and its institutions and to let them become the ultimate jury". Strong sentiments and when you read their manifesto, their thirty proposals are worthy reading. I don't propose to copy them down on here, but recommend you go to their site and peruse them yourself. I think the big parties should take note and adopt some of the Jury Team's proposals, because to ignore them could come back to haunt them. At least they seem to take politics more seriously than some of the fringe parties, especially extremist ones.