MPs call for payday loan advert ban on children’s TV

A committee of MPs has called for a ban on payday loan advertising on children's television, but the industry regards its report as wide of the mark.

Adverts could expose children to the idea that loans were "fun, easy and an appropriate way to access finance", the Business Select Committee report said.

I think the words “advert”, “on”, “children’s” and “TV” should be removed from the headline so it reads MPs call for payday loan ban, because that’s really what they should be calling for.

This group of MPs should also be calling on banks to lend more, not saying oh payday companies can’t advertise on kids TV, obviously they shouldn’t be allowed to target kids, but they should be asking for so much more than that.

All these payday companies do is allow people who are struggling with their finances to make that struggle harder, it shouldn’t be a question of where they can and can’t advertise it should be a question of when they should be banned and asked to cease trading. 

Malky Mackay told to quit or be sacked

Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay has been told by owner Vincent Tan to resign or he will be sacked.

In a letter emailed to Mackay on Monday, it is understood Tan listed in depth his grievances with the Scot.

Tan criticised 41-year-old Mackay at length in a range of areas, such as signings, transfer budgets, results on the pitch and style of play.

There are times when managers get sacked and they frankly deserved it, there are times when managers get sacked and they don’t deserve it and there are times, like this one, where the managers is doing such a great job that the word sacked and his name should not be mentioned in the same sentence.

I would love to know the full details of this email, what did it say hi Malky thanks for getting us into the Premier League, beating Swansea in the derby and getting on with the job despite all my f**king loopy behaviour, you’ve got two choices either leave or I’ll sack you, all the best Vincent.

What planet is Tan on; I can only assume there’s a bet between all the foreign owners of Premier League clubs as to who can piss off the supporters the most, maybe sacking Mackay will be the thing that will allow Tan to beat the guy who owns Hull to collect the winnings.

How can Tan, a man who bought a club and then changed the kit colour from blue to red, put his sons’ friend in charge of recruitment and apparently interfered and tried to pick the team, complain about how someone else is doing their job.

What is his next move announcing to the Cardiff fans we’ll be building a new stadium in Swansea, deal with it!

 A lot of owners come in for criticism about being too hands or not knowing enough about football and when you read about the actions of Tan you can see why the guy is clueless.

Let short-term prisoners vote say MPs

Prisoners serving short sentences or approaching the end of their time behind bars should be given the vote, a cross-party parliamentary committee has recommended.

The committee said it would be "wholly disproportionate" for the UK to defy a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights and said the Government had failed to set out a "plausible" case for maintaining the existing blanket ban.

It called on the Government to table a Bill granting the vote in local, general and European elections to those serving less than 12 months or within six months of release, with exceptions for those convicted of particularly serious crimes.

This recommendation is rather hypocritical it calls on the government to lift the existing ban but then states those serving less than a year or those who are close to release can vote but those convicted of serious crimes can’t.  

So this committee has recommended one rule for some and a different one for others, either everyone serving less than a year or  everyone six months away from release can vote or they can’t, don’t say well this group can but this group can’t.

No prisoner, I repeat no prisoner should be allowed to vote and I applaud the government for sticking with its policy of banning them from doing so, and challenging the stupid ruling by ECHR that frankly is doing everything it can to undermine sovereignty in this country. 

Tourist walks of Australian pier while checking Facebook

A Taiwanese tourist had to be rescued after accidentally walking off a pier in the Australian city of Melbourne while checking her Facebook page.

The woman tumbled from St Kilda's pier into Port Phillip Bay late on Monday night.

Police were alerted to the incident by a witness and rescued her in a speedboat after about 20 minutes.

I know when I’ve been out and about and I’m looking at my phone I’ve been distracted and not concentrated on where I was walking but I’ve never moseyed off the edge of a pier before, I wonder if this woman was updating her status as she was falling.

I bet the police were delighted at having to deal with her, if I was them I would be weighing it up in my head on the way there, should we leave her there to teach her a lesson, or do we fish her out and mock her for being so bloody stupid.

I’d have gone with leaving her in there to teach her a lesson, and I don’t mean to sound cruel or cold but I am so that’s how it comes across. 

Tottenham sack Andre Villas-Boas

Tottenham have sacked manager Andre Villas-Boas in the wake of Sunday's 5-0 Premier League thrashing by Liverpool.

The loss was the club's worst at White Hart Lane in 16 years and left them seventh in the table - eight points behind leaders Arsenal.

Former Chelsea boss Villas-Boas, 36, took over at Tottenham in July 2012.

I must say I have some sympathy for AVB as it’s fairly obvious he had no say over most of the distinctly average players that came in the summer and saw his best player sold, hardly the best preparation for a new season.

Also despite the two heavy defeats to City and Liverpool Tottenham are only four points of a Champions League spot without playing that well and AVB has a high win % than all his predecessors, so he’s not done too badly.

Admittedly he didn’t help himself by playing the wrong style of football with the players he had, he tried to play possession football but the squad was much better set up to play on the counter attack.

I suppose he thought he had to play a certain way as it’s what you expect a Tottenham team to do, but as the board at Spurs seem content on dismantling the team and selling their most creative players, Bale, Modric, Van der Vaart etc. and not replacing them it’s hardly a surprise they’ve struggled to break teams down.

I think that’s the last we’ll see of AVB in England for a while, as I can’t see him being given another high profile job anytime soon, and it will also mean that I won’t have to watch commentators and pundits across the media endlessly struggling to pronounce his relatively simple name. 

Australia beat England to regain the Ashes

Australia have regained the Ashes after sealing a deserved 150-run win over England in Perth to take an impregnable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Despite a redoubtable maiden Test century from Ben Stokes in only his second match, Michael Clarke's men took the final five wickets they needed by early afternoon on the final day to end England's 1,577-day ascendancy in cricket's oldest rivalry.

This is one of the most remarkable turnarounds I’ve seen in sports, how can England go from beating Australia 3-0 a few months ago without ever really playing their best to being 3-0 down after three and playing like rank amateurs.

Yes Australia have dramatically improved but the form of the England players, except Stuart Broad, has nose dived and now it’s a question of quickly upping the performance levels to avoid the embarrassment of a whitewash, which seemed unthinkable at the start of the series, but looks a distinct possibility now. 

Airports Commission reveals expansion shortlist

New runways at Heathrow and Gatwick are among the options that have been short-listed by the Airports Commission for expanding UK airport capacity.

The three-shortlisted options include adding a third runway at Heathrow, lengthening an existing runway at Heathrow, and a new runway at Gatwick.

The commission, led by businessman Sir Howard Davies, will also consider a new airport in the Isle of Grain in north Kent.

A final report is due by summer 2015.

This is all very well and good having report after report after report that concludes these options or those options, but wouldn’t it be more productive to have a swifter conclusion and actually have an agreement on when and where airport capacity is going to be expanded.

The man in charge of investigating these options, Sir Howard Davies, said himself that capacity challenges will become critical if action isn’t taken soon, so I think it’s about time the government bit the bullet and made a decision, because after all that’s what they’re there to do.

Even if the choice they make doesn’t sit well with people it’s better than procrastinating and commissioning another load of reports and watching the critical point draw ever nearer. 

Chip shop sells deep fried Ferrero Rocher

First came the battered Mars bar and now there is the deep fried Ferrero Rocher.

The Ambassador’s favourite has been given an unusual makeover and is now being served coated in batter to customers at one chippy. 

Corinne and John Clarkson are serving the dish alongside deep friend mince pies and battered Christmas pudding. 

Is this death of food day or something? First a 3-D food printer and now this. I thought that a chip shop selling deep fired Ferrero Rocher was mad enough then I read that this chippy also sells a battered Christmas pudding. 

Before you mind jumps, no this isn’t in Scotland this chip shop is actually in Preston and, and this really is something, they apparently came up with this idea after trying and failing with a battered Cornetto, you couldn’t make this stuff up.  

When you walk into this shop instead of actually serving you one of their concoctions this couple should slice your chest open and punch your heart repeatedly until you die, it would be much more humane that way. Then they could embalm you in their abundance of oil.

This really is like that Simpson’s episode where Moe turns his tavern into a diner and just orders a giant pressure cooker, dunks everything in it and sells it.

I mean it’s funny when it’s a cartoon, but like many things in cartoons it’s a lot less funny in reality. 

‘Foodini’: the machine that lets you print your own food

First there was the 3D printer – where anything from a toy car to a handgun could be created in hours.

Now scientists have turned their skills to revolutionising home baking.

Inventors of the 3D printer, the machine that can build anything from toy cars to handguns, have unveiled a new prototype they hope will revolutionise home cooking.

The device, dubbed the “Foodini”, squirts out anything from pizza or pasta to cakes in a variety of shapes – from dinosaurs to spelling out names with letters.

What a waste of time this is, for starters a spokesman for the company admitted that this machine doesn't actually cook your food all it does it keep it lukewarm. Also this machine will cost £835 and not be on sale until mid-2014. 

So this revolution these so-called scientists are hoping to create is that in a few hours you’ll be able to print-off a cold inedible pizza that’s shaped like a dinosaur in your kitchen, presumably right next to an oven that will allow you to cook a much larger pizza in 20 minutes that you can eat once it's done. 

When I read stories like this all I can think is are these people so bored that they just thought hmm how ridiculous a product can we come up with that we could still sell it to enough gullible idiots to make a profit, because there’s really no other reason for a food printer. 

MP’s 11% pay rise plan unveiled by salaries watchdog

The body which sets MPs' salaries has confirmed that it plans to give them an 11% pay rise, claiming this will not cost the taxpayer "a penny more" once other changes are taken into account.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) wants to raise salaries by £7,600 to £74,000 in 2015.

David Cameron calls it "inappropriate" while Ed Miliband requested talks between the party leaders and Ipsa.

But Ipsa said public opinion was "more nuanced" than the "outrage" suggested.

WRONG! When Ipsa say public opinion is nuanced who are they referring to exactly? Whose opinions have they surveyed or found that suggest the ‘public’ is not really that bothered about a completely undeserved and unjustified 11% pay rise for MPs? Seriously who?

Whatever your opinion of this pay rise is, it’s hard to agree with a situation where MP’s can come together and decide amongst themselves what they should be paid and no matter what they choose everyone just has to go along with it, including the country’s three main party leaders.

Democracy at work. 

Sebastian Vettel criticises ‘absurd’ F1 double points plan

Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel has criticised plans to award double points for the final race of the season from 2014.

The winning driver of next year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will earn 50 points instead of 25 under the proposals. 

“This is absurd and punishes those who have worked hard for a whole season,” said the 26-year-old, who won the final nine races in 2013.

“Drivers, fans and experts are horrified.”

I applaud Vettel for using his position as World Champion to come out and criticise this stupid idea of giving double points for the final race, I can’t think what on earth possessed the powers that be in the sport to give this proposal the go ahead.

In fact I still don’t know why they changed the points system a few years ago so you now get 25 for a win instead of the 10 you used to.

I think the whole idea of this is to make it more exciting and unpredictable but I don’t think it will, and all it’s done so far since it was announced is piss everyone off.

But as there is plenty of time left to scrap it so fingers crossed.

Gay teacher sacked for trying to wed partner

A gay teacher has been sacked from a Catholic school near Philadelphia after applying for a marriage licence.

The Holy Ghost Preparatory School said Michael Griffin's attempt to wed his partner "contradicts the terms of his teaching contract".

Mr Griffin said his relationship, which spanned the 12 years he had taught Spanish and French at the secondary school in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, had never been a problem before and the couple had mixed with staff socially.

This is the latest example that shows just how backward the Catholic Church is and just how outdated the concept religion has become.

Mr Griffin, for comedic purposes I do hope his first name is Peter, was in a relationship that everyone at the school was aware of he was open and transparent about it, and even mixed socially with other members of staff but the minute he announce he plans to marry his partner he’s sacked? Doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Looking at this from the other point of view how can this school be ok with him being in a gay relationship but then not be ok because he wants to marry his partner, either you’re against the whole thing or you’re not, you can’t say we’re ok with it up to this point but beyond that we’re not.

Anyway Mr Griffin did say that in addition to, naturally, being very upset with the decision he hoped to find employment soon.

Don’t worry Mr Griffin you will and this school has actually done you a huge favour, as after they way they’ve acted why would anyone want to work there.     

MP’s pay: Politicians criticise ‘inappropriate’ 11% pay rise

Plans to award MPs an 11% pay rise have been criticised across Westminster, with one minister describing them as "utterly incomprehensible".

Parliamentary watchdog Ipsa is set to recommend a rise of £7,600 to £74,000, to come in after the 2015 election.

Ipsa does not need to get the agreement of Parliament to bring in the changes.

Even before I come on to the problem of MP’s thinking they are worthy of an 11% pay rise, which they are most definitely not, why is it the case that Ipsa can introduce this absurd rise without Parliament’s consent? That simply isn’t right and shouldn't have been allowed to happen. 

Then we come on to the fact that MP’s want an 11% pay rise, not the 1% rise that all other workers in the public sector have their salaries capped at oh no this lot want that plus an extra 10%, they’ve clearly borrowed a page out of the energy companies playbook.

As if this proposal wasn’t insulting enough Jack Straw decides to come out with the rather misguided, actually I’m being too polite I meant to say moronic, comment that MP’s pay should be increased so it is sufficient enough to attract people from modest backgrounds, insinuating that the current basic MP’s salary of £66,396 isn’t enough to do that.

So at the moment people from ‘modest backgrounds’ are scoffing at the idea of going into politics because they would only be earning two and a half times the national average salary? Don’t think so.

There is one word to describe this situation: WRONG! 

Ashes 2013-14: Mitchell Johnson leaves England is disarray

England are teetering on the brink of a second humiliating defeat in two Tests after fast bowler Mitchell Johnson rampaged through their out-of-form batting once again.

Johnson took 7-40, including a wonderful spell of 5-16 in five overs after lunch, as England were rattled out for a feeble 172 to concede a first-innings deficit of 398 runs.

Well that’s that done and dusted, well done Australia you’ve managed a remarkable turnaround in a short space of time and deservedly won the Ashes back.

I was hoping that England couldn’t put in a repeat of the performance we saw in the first test, but it seems they were trying to outdo their pitiful efforts at the Gabba and at present are succeeding.

How can you bat for three innings on pitches that are good batting wickets were the runs should be flowing and have a high score of 179? I don’t care who you’re playing or what form your opponents are in to have a best of 179 after three innings on batting wickets is a spectacular failure.

Now we’re 2-0 down it must now be about damage limitation and avoiding embarrassment, I really can’t understand how this is the same team that comfortably won the Ashes 3-0 just a few months ago and now they look like 11 people playing the sport for the first time.

All I can think is that the England squad came to Australia and thought given the way we won in the summer we just have to turn up, because the whole squad appears to have left their form at Heathrow. 

2014 FIFA World Cup draw: England get tough group

England will play Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in a tough Group D at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Roy Hodgson's men open their campaign against Italy in the Amazonian city of Manaus on 15 June in the only World Cup game which kicks off at 02:00 BST.

England take on Uruguay on 19 June and play Costa Rica five days later.

So to summarise we got about as tough a draw, with as tough a schedule that we could have got and Greg Dyke’s gesture when the draw was made, while not the best thing for the chairman of the FA to be caught doing, was definitely appropriate as we are the third best team in our group and we will in all likeliness be exiting at the group stages.

We have to play Italy in the middle of the jungle, 1,777 miles from our chosen base in Rio, where it’s 30C and 80% humidity, so the players will spend 90 minutes chasing Italian shadows as they will no doubt do to us what they did at the Euros and pass us to death.

Then Suarez will terrorise our back four and leave us playing for pride against Costa Rica, who we’ll no doubt scrape a 1-0 win against, but at least if it does go to form and we do get knocked out after two games then I can enjoy the knock-out stages and won’t have to worry about us taking a shellacking like we did against Germany in South Africa. Bring it on!

Ashes 2013-14: England toil as Australia dominate

England's hopes of retaining the Ashes took another battering as Australia took complete control of the second Test on an utterly one-sided second day.

A brilliant 148 from Michael Clarke and belligerent 118 from Brad Haddin took the game away from England before lower order hitting from Ryan Harris (55 not out) allowed the captain to declare on an intimidating 570-9.

Given 21 overs to survive in the evening session, England lost Alastair Cook, clean-bowled by the runaway Mitchell Johnson for three before Michael Carberry and Joe Root clung on to leave them 35-1 at the close.

After an even first day I thought ok England have regained their focus and appear to have put the disaster that was the first test behind them, but no it seems that they really haven’t.

Credit to Australia they’ve built on the momentum they carried over from the first test and if they can win this test then they’ll have won the series, as there’s no way we’re coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, or even coming back to draw 2-2.

But I predicted that England would win at the start and for now I’m sticking with my prediction, although it looks an unlikely outcome right now I think that if they can squeeze a draw out of this test then maybe that will swing the momentum back in our favour and give us some renewed hope going forward.

Admittedly that scenario is a long-shot that would require England’s top order remembering how to bat and getting at least 350/400 in response to Australia's impressive total, otherwise it’s curtains. 

Simon Dyson handed suspended two-month European Tour ban

Simon Dyson has been handed a two-month ban from the European Tour, suspended for 18 months, after disqualification from the BMW Masters in October.

Dyson, 35, was disqualified for failing to add a two-shot penalty to his card.

After marking his ball on the eighth green during his second round, Dyson touched the ground in his putting line. He denied deliberately fixing a spike mark in the line of a putt.

As if this punishment wasn’t ridiculously harsh and O.T.T. enough Dyson has also been asked to pay a £30,000 fine and £7,500 in costs.

I’m trying to think of a metaphor that demonstrates just how tough this punishment is in relation to the crime, here’s what I’ve come up with: imagine you’re at work at your desk and you accidentally knock your cup of coffee over and it splashes on your keyboard.

Now imagine that when your boss finds out what happens he/she sends you home and the next day you receive a letter saying that you will face disciplinary action and then you are informed by a disciplinary panel that you will be suspended for two-months without pay, and on top of that you have to pay for a new computer and pay for the cost of the process the company went through to punish you. That is essentially what has gone on here.

I know some might say that it’s the rules and he got what he deserved, which is nonsense because there were much more lenient punishments the panel could and should have handed out, a much less severe fine and a slap on the wrist would have sufficed.

But what this does show is that the rules of golf desperately need to be updated, because it’s clear that the rule Dyson broke and numerous others are stuck in the 19^th century.

Fortunately as Dyson is a 6-time tour winner and seasoned veteran he won’t be too affected by this because he’s good enough to come back and compete for wins again, but I’m concerned that someone not as good someone who battles season after season to keep their card would face a serious battle for their career if they were handed a punishment like this, and all because of an innocent and innocuous error that not one single rules official noticed at the time.  

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies trying to buy crack video

The embattled mayor of Canada's largest city Toronto, Rob Ford, has denied trying to buy a video which apparently showed him smoking crack cocaine.

Court transcripts of police wiretaps detail conversations where suspects talk about the sale of the tape to the mayor.

But in an interview with a Washington DC sports radio station, Mr Ford said the claims were an "outright lie".

When I read the first nine words of this headline I thought he’s at it again, but no instead of trying to buy illegal drugs again Mr Ford was merely trying to buy evidence showing him smoking illegal drugs so there’s nothing untoward going on here. . . . .

I’m split on the issue of what Ford has to do to be either officially removed as mayor or arrested, which he should have been already, because if you look at his, I’m going to be kind and say, discrepancies over the last six months it doesn’t make for great reading.

There’s a video of him smoking crack, he’s admitted he’s smoked crack while very drunk, because that makes it better, there was a video of him threatening to kill someone, he’s admitted to buying crack, then he made those lewd sexual remarks and now he’s tried to bribe two gangsters so he can buy the video of him smoking crack.

What does he have to do to be removed, burn down Toronto city hall by leaving his crack pipe still alight on his desk? Wipe his arse with the Canadian flag live on TV? Decree that all maple syrup in Toronto be poured down the drain? If you look back over what he’s done these aren't exaggerations.  

Either way I never thought I’d be saying this but there is a mayor out there that makes Boris Johnson look dull by comparison, whatever you think of Rob Ford that is some achievement. 

2014 World Cup draw: England fear no-one says Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson insists England do not fear any other side in Friday's World Cup finals draw.

The England manager is adamant the nation should not worry regardless of the outcome at the event in Bahia.

"I will respect and have enormous admiration for everyone," he said. "But the word fear is the wrong one."

Well judging by the way we were picked apart by a second string German side recently, and the fact that we’re in a pot that guarantees us a top team, a Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium, Spain, Germany, in our group I think Hodgson’s message should be: ‘BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!’

However the draw plays out and whoever we end up with in our group I’m not expecting much more than the last 16, we maybe just maybe might squeeze into the quarter finals if, and only if, we manage to end up with the easiest group possible, so Switzerland, Algeria and Iran, and then if we finish top of that group and end up with a favourable draw against a team who finished second in another group we may just make the last eight.

While there will be much speculation about who will win the World Cup, as it’s in South America for me you’ve got to be looking at either Brazil or Argentina as the favourites with Uruguay as dark horses.

As for England if we’re still in the tournament come July we’ll have done ok. 

Britain urges EU change to free migration rules

Britain wants to change the rules governing the free movement of people across the EU, Home Secretary Theresa May will tell European ministers.

Mrs May will speak in Brussels, ahead of the lifting of movement controls on Bulgarians and Romanians.

She says free access to labour markets must not be allowed to lead to "mass migration".

As Labour admitted they botched the governing of EU migration in 2004, it’s a bit late now for Mrs May to be lobbying the EU to make changes now on the eve that controls will be lifted on Romania and Bulgaria.

Instead running round like a blue arsed fly and trying to force through a last minute rule change, which has about as much chance of succeeding as Man United do of winning the Premier League, thought I’d work that one in there, Mrs May and the rest of the government should be spending their time enacting proper immigration reform so that the lifting of controls would have minimal impact.

But as no government has shown any competence with regards to introducing immigration reforms in the last 10 years, why should we expect this current government to be any different, I mean it's not like they came into power promising to do so . . . . .

Autumn statement: young people to work until 70

People in their 20s will have to work until they are 70 under new plans to be announced by George Osborne.

In his Autumn Statement speech, the chancellor will also confirm that people now in their forties will have to wait until 68 to receive the state pension after it was revealed that the date of the planned increase in the retirement age is likely to be brought forward from 2046 to the mid-2030s.

And a further rise in the state pension age to 69 is expected to take place by the late 2040s, hitting people now in their early thirties.

Why doesn’t Osborne just cut the crap and when he’s interviewed after he’s finished delivering his autumn statement look down the barrel of the camera’s and just say ‘young people of Britain you will die at work, that is all’.

Looks like in the future the concept of a pension will cease to exist for the majority, as only the wealthy will be able to afford to retire and enjoy the autumn years of their lives.

For the rest it will be work until you die with the maximum amount of suffering and the minimum amount of enjoyment, cheers George.

What was that phrase, oh yes ‘we’re all in this together’ I think this announcement is the latest entry in the evidence book that we are most definitely not.  

Moyes keeps belief in United’s title chances

Manchester United boss David Moyes stressed his belief his side can still be contenders for this season's Barclays Premier League title after they were beaten 1-0 at home by his former club Everton.

United, down to ninth, are now 12 points behind table-toppers Arsenal with both teams having played 14 league fixtures.

No they can’t! Obviously Moyes has to say that United still have a chance but deep down he should be admitting to himself that United won’t be in the mix this season otherwise he’s seriously deluded.

At this moment in time Moyes should be worrying about United being in the hunt for a top four place let alone looking to finish top.

United are seriously lacking in midfield and rely too much on Rooney and Van Persie, they didn’t add enough to what they had and are now paying the price.

Also it amuses me how everyone was raving about the job Moyes did at Everton and yet Martinez has come in and instantly taken them to a new level.

Although I’m an Arsenal fan and I’m delighted with our form and progress we’ve made this season I still don’t think we have enough to keep pace with Chelsea and City for the whole season, but I can see us finishing third.

I said at the start of the season that it would be either City or Chelsea occupying top spot in May and now we’re 14 games in I think City will win purely and simply because they have so many attacking options and will end up with, if they carry on at their present rate, at least 100 goals which should be enough to see them home.

Either way the title certainly won’t be heading towards Old Trafford anytime soon, certainly not with this squad and with Moyes in charge.