Bernie Ecclestone wants double points for last three races

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wants to extend his controversial double-points scheme to the last three races of the season.

The new format, criticised by fans, teams and drivers, has been introduced for the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Now Ecclestone has written to the teams saying he wants to extend it to the two preceding races, in the USA and Brazil.

Thankfully Ecclestone needs unanimous support to get the go ahead for this and judging by the uproar caused when double points were introduced for just the last race, I’m hoping everybody tells him no.

The whole point of this proposal is to make sure the battle for the title lasts longer, but it seems that Ecclestone has completely forgotten about the enormous regulatory changes for the 2014 season that should be more than enough to make it interesting, and he doesn’t need to go further and award double points for races, which by the way is a stupid idea.

In fact why did Ecclestone and co change the points system in the first place, this is a self-created problem and I really don’t think a man who can’t enter a court house through a revolving door properly should be in charge of anything, let alone a multi-billion pound sport.    

Much like Blatter at FIFA, Ecclestone is hindering the sport he governs and like Blatter at FIFA he should have stepped down a long time ago and moved far, far away from F1.  

Jose Mourinho says West Ham play 19th century football

Jose Mourinho accused West Ham of playing “19th-century football”, after his Chelsea side were held 0-0 in Wednesday's league encounter.

The Blues had 39 efforts on goal, while the visitors only managed one, having spent most of the match defending.

“This is not the best league in the world, this is football from the 19th century,” said Mourinho.

Now I agree with Mourinho in the sense that everywhere Sam Allardyce goes his gets his teams to play negative anti-football, but as much as I admire and respect Mourinho his teams don’t exactly whet your appetite.

Which is frustrating because when they do have to chase a game, like they had to against Liverpool; they played some great football which makes you wonder why they don’t do it more often.  

With these comments in mind it will be interesting to see how Mourinho sets Chelsea up when they play City at the Etihad on Monday, can’t really see them doing anything other than a more tactically astute version of what West Ham did to them.     

Scottish cycling advert banned over ‘no helmet’

A television advert promoting safe cycling has been banned for showing a rider without a helmet.

The advert, part of a campaign by Cycling Scotland, seeks to encourage drivers to give cyclists the same space and care as they would give a horse.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it should not be shown on TV again as not wearing a helmet was "socially irresponsible".

I saw the title of this story and thought hmm could be interesting then I saw a still from the ad that shows a car overtaking a woman on a bike with the caption “SEE CYCLIST THINK HORSE”, and after doing a double-take, rubbing my eyes and looking again to make sure, I thought that’s a bit harsh on the woman just because she’s not wearing a helmet we should think of her as a horse.

But apparently that isn’t the point, the real point of this ad is to tell drivers if you see a cyclist you should give them the same space as a horse, which is monumentally stupid.

I don’t know if the people behind this campaign have ever seen a horse before, but they’re quite a lot bigger and take up far more room than even the fattest of individuals chugging along on a bike.

I’m pretty sure when they were putting this ad together they were thinking of a Shetland Pony and got confused, even the bit about the ASA moaning about the no helmet is stupid, as wearing a helmet is not a legal requirement, so the ad is wrong the reaction is wrong everything about this is just, well wrong. 

Child car smoking ban proposal before Lords

A Labour plan to ban smoking in cars carrying children is due to be put to a vote in the House of Lords later.

Labour peers are to table an amendment to the Children and Families Bill detailing their proposal for England.

The party says that if it is not passed in this vote, it will be included in its manifesto for the next election.

While you can’t disagree with the intentions of this Bill, like the Bill that bans you from using a mobile phone this one seems like it will be virtually impossible to enforce.

Even on the shortest drive you usually see people chatting away barely concentrating on the road and yet you never see them get stopped so why would it be any different with smoking, the only difference would be that the person cutting you up will be puffing on a cigarette rather than talking on a phone.

I’ve said this many times before, and I'll say it again now, instead of spending who knows how much time and money slowly but surely reducing the number of places people are allowed to smoke, why not just say from February 1^st, 2014 no one is allowed to smoke again, we’re introducing a total ban.

At this rate in a few months time I’ll no doubt be reading about how one of the main parties wants to introduce a ban on people smoking in houses containing children. 

Man City draw Chelsea in FA Cup

Manchester City will play Chelsea, while Arsenal are at home to Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez will face one of his former clubs, Swansea, while Sunderland will host Southampton in the other all-Premier League tie.

Premier League strugglers Cardiff are at home to holders Wigan, Hull travel to Brighton and Sheffield Wednesday host fellow Championship side Charlton.

I would never suggest that the draw is fixed. . . . . but the fact that the four biggest teams left in the competition drew each other looks to me a bit more than just a coincidence or luck of the draw.

On top of that there’s another two all Premier League ties and there’s also an all Championship relegation battle between Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton with one being guaranteed a quarter-final place.

So basically with all the big teams drawing each other it means which ever ones get through will certainly get a much more winnable tie in the next round and be odds on for a place in the semi’s, and most likely make it to the final so there’s maximum interest around the game and the FA can make a fortune by inviting 40,000 people who have no interest in the game and who spend most of it nowhere near their seat, to help hide the fact that they went massively over budget rebuilding Wembley and they now need to prostitute it for every penny it’s worth which is why they play the semi’s there as well, but like I said the draws not fixed.

While I’m on the subject of fixture arrangment I find it interesting how my team Arsenal have all of our games against the teams around us consecutively, in February we play Liverpool, then United, then Liverpool again in the cup, followed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League all in the space of 11 days.

It gets worse in March and April as we play Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City and Everton one after another, if you add in the fact that we beat Bayern and progress in the Champions League, which I acknowledge is highly unlikely, but for the sake of this let’s say we do and end up drawing Real Madrid, we could end up playing Tottenham, Chelsea, Man City, Everton and Real Madrid twice in the space of 25 days.

I accept the fact that over the course of a season it’s a guarantee that your team will have a run of tough games but to have to play all of the teams around you, and Man United, in such a short space of time and tough cup games as well is a bit excessive, but like I said the draws aren’t fixed.   

Ed Balls pledges to ‘balance the books’ by 2020

Labour will balance the UK's books and deliver a budget surplus in the next Parliament if it wins the 2015 election, Ed Balls has said.

The shadow chancellor said Labour would pass a law to ensure it adheres to "tough" and binding fiscal rules.

This would mean eliminating the deficit - so the government generates more cash than it spends - and cutting debt as a share of GDP between 2015 and 2020.

While this all well and good and sounds promising, it’s very easy to say oh in seven years time we’ll balance the books, but it’s hard to take it seriously because that target is so far off and needs many things to happen before Balls has a chance of putting this into practice.

And let’s not forget he was part of the previous Labour government that did such a good job of balancing the books. . . . . 

I think politicians should be banned from spouting stuff like this in a non-election year because they can just say anything they like and not have to back it up, if Balls was saying this in the run up to the next election fine because it’d be scrutinised in close detail but saying it now with the election so far away nobody is thinking that far ahead, or cares.

Of course Balls and Labour aren’t alone the PM is one of the worst offenders of this on many issues he says this is an important issue and it should be addressed and we’ll do so in 2017 if we win the next election.

I always think when I hear that if it’s really as important as you seem to be stressing it is why not deal with it now and not in four or five years time if, and it’s a massive if, you win in 2015.

I think it would be much better if politicians focused more on the here and now and stopped making declarations and pledges of things they may or may not get the chance to do in five years time. 

UK pay rising in real terms, says coalition

Most British workers have seen their take-home pay rise in real terms in the past year, the government claims.

It has produced figures showing all except the richest 10% saw their take-home wages rise by at least 2.5% once tax cuts were taken into account.

That is more than the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate of 2.4% in the year to April 2013.

Once again a government has been uber, uber, uber selective with the figures it chooses to use to back up a point and try and make itself look good, but as always the paper they've chosen doesn’t come close to covering the cracks.

What I don’t get about this is that every government is armed to the teeth with spin doctors, and pr people so they must all know that no matter how selective they are with the figures and no matter how they present them, everyone will be able to see through them and realise it’s bollocks and yet they persist in doing time after time, it all seems rather futile to me. 

Man United fan calls 999 asking for Alex Ferguson

A drunken Manchester United fan called 999 "demanding" to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson after the club's defeat.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were called at 22:30 GMT on Wednesday by a man from Crumpsall after the team lost to Sunderland in the Capital One Cup.

GMP said it "can be sad and depressing" when a football team loses a game but asked the public to "remember that 999 is to be used for emergencies only".

Before I get into it I urge you to listen to the recording of the conversation because it is hilarious, at one point the operator asked if he wished to report a crime and the guy said “the crime is that Man United were absolutely knackered” and when told to get off the line he asked to be called back.

Still not sure why they haven’t named and shamed this guy for being such a feckin eejit.

I also love the response from Greater Manchester Police, I get that you can be a bit sad when your team loses, but depressed come on if you’re depressed by a football result then you’ve got your priorities all wrong.

What’s even worse about this is that it’s been about eight months since United won the league for the 20^th time and already one of their fans feels there in enough trouble for a police intervention.

If United don’t win a trophy and fail to finish fourth this season, which is a real possibility, what will this guy do then? If you live near Old Trafford then don’t be surprised to see a NATO Response Force hovering around if United don’t reach the targets I mentioned.    

Central heating may make you fat, say researchers

Having the central heating on may be contributing to our ballooning waistlines, Dutch researchers suggest.

They say higher temperatures in homes, offices and hospitals provide more comfort, but mean bodies no longer need to burn extra calories to keep warm.

A Maastricht University Medical Centre group says 19C (66F) is sufficient to provide the right balance.

Stories like this always bring a smile to my face, so-called ‘researchers’ are always coming out with bizarre crap like this.

When I read the research was done in the Netherlands I wasn’t surprised, although I was surprised to read in was done at a University because it sounds like it was done in the backroom of a coffee shop in Amsterdam.

The suggestion here seems to be to turn your thermostat down and put up with cold, which I’m sure will work for a while until you end up having to compensate by eating more just to keep warm.

It never ceases to amaze me that ‘research’ of this nature continues to be funded. 

Chelsea accept £37m Juan Mata bid

Manchester United have had a bid, believed to be in the region of £37m, accepted by Chelsea for Spanish midfielder Juan Mata.

The 25-year-old will have a medical on Thursday before completing a move to the Premier League champions.

Mata is expected to sign a four-and-a-half year deal at Old Trafford.

When you look at the time United have had of it lately, out of the FA Cup, definitely out of the title race despite Moyes and his delusional insistence that they aren’t, out of the League Cup after the worst penalty shoot-out ever, only three out of ten were scored, and to top it all off this morning they dropped out of the top three on the football rich list for the first time since its inception. Oh how the mighty hath fallen.

With all that in mind the signing of Mata, if you’re a United fan, is surely something to raise spirits, or is it? Think about it Mata is a number 10 and is most effective when playing in the pocket just behind a striker, only if you look at United’s current squad they already have a number 10 in Wayne Rooney who plays just off the striker and despite his current injury has been their best player by miles this season, where does that leave Mata?

United desperately need a central midfielder in the Paul Scholes mould, someone who is comfortable on the ball and who can push forward and score goals, and yet they’ve made no attempt to sign anyone like that in this window, although they aren’t alone when it comes to clubs ignoring the obvious, Barcelona for the last three years have been crying out for a centre back and they’ve spent the whole time buying holding players and trying to convert them which hasn’t worked, my club Arsenal need a real striker to back up Giroud because Bendtner doesn’t count, and as always there’s plenty of talk and no action.

It’s almost as if all the top clubs have looked at their squads and identified the area they need to strengthen most and then decided to deliberately not sign the players they need.    

Anyway back to Mata, while I’m sure he’ll be glad to leave Chelsea and get some first team football, although I’m still not sure where he’s going to play, I think Mourinho has made a massive mistake in freezing him out of the team and letting him go.

Clearly he prefers Oscar and everyone seems to think he’s made the right decision, but is Oscar playing to a higher level this season than Mata played to last season, for me he isn’t, not that he’s not playing well it’s just he’s not playing as well as Mata did last year and I believe would be playing this year had he been given the opportunity.

If Mata had played as many minutes as Oscar I believe he would have more goals and more assists and surely that’s the point of choosing which attack minded player to play the one who’s going to make the biggest difference in the final third, as much as I admire Mourinho and am delighted to see him back in the Premier League he seems to pick his attacking players based on their defensive attributes.

Of course players need to work back and help out but it shouldn’t the main reason why they’re picked, and I’m confident that if Mata had been first choice Chelsea would be top of the league right now.   

   

Reading some of the articles written about Mata being sold many seem to view it as a masterstroke, but I think, and have thought so since the start of the season, Mourinho is making a big mistake. 

123456 named worst password

The number sequence “123456”  has been named the worst password of 2013, according to new research.

It finished top in a list of the 25 most commonly used passwords, compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online last year.

The word “password”, which previously held the top spot in the rankings, slipped to number two on the list, according to SplashData, which compiled the data.

Reading this all I could think of was how lazy do you have to be to think right I need a safe and secure password that will protect all my valuable information online, I know I’ll make it 123456, what idiot does that.

If you’re one of the idiots I just mentioned and your password is 123456 or one of the rest of the top five which were:

2. password

3. 12345678

4. qwerty

5. abc123

Then frankly you deserve to have your details stolen or your accounts hacked etc. Because you’re asking for trouble for being so lazy.

Having one of these as your password if the equivalent of leaving your car unlocked overnight or going on holiday and leaving your front door open, your s**t is gonna get nicked.

Npower blames draughty old homes for rising energy bills

Energy giant Npower has claimed bills in the UK are high because the country’s “old and draughty” houses waste so much gas and electricity.

Npower chief executive Paul Massara said the actual unit prices of gas and electricity in the UK are among the lowest in Europe - but bills are high "because British houses waste so much energy”.

In the supplier's second “Energy Explained” report, Mr Massara said: “If we can increase the efficiency of the UK’s old and draughty housing, we can ensure that annual energy bills are some of the lowest too.”

This is a moronic, albeit ballsy, statement from the boss of an energy company to basically turn round to his customers and say it’s your fault we’ve raised our prices because you all live in old run down houses that allows all the lovely energy we sell you at a ridiculously high price to escape, I may have improvised with that last bit but you get the drift.

You can tell that Mr Massara, Npower and all the other big energy companies are full of s**t when you read that in the UK unit prices of gas and electricity are among the lowest in Europe and yet we have stupidly high bills.

That doesn’t really add up does it, and quite clearly tells us that the energy companies are run by greedy bastards trying their best to rip us off, and who try to justify it by offering up pitiful excuses like the one put forward by Mr Massara. 

M40 pub ‘at odds’ with public views

A new pub being opened at a motorway service station today was "at odds" with public opinion which was firmly against the move, according to road safety campaigners.

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon said its Hope And Champion will be open from 4am to 1am, seven days a week, in the Extra Motorway Service Area at junction 2 of the M40 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.

Off course this pub is ‘at odds’ with public views, because opening a pub at a motorway services is a stupid idea, and sends the complete wrong message.

How are they going to advertise this pub, always drink and drive responsibly?

But while this pub maybe there its fate lies in the hands of the motorists so I would urge anyone who stops off at this services regularly, or who lives in the area, to avoid this pub at all costs and discourage everyone you know or meet from going in there as well.

That Wetherspoon's won't be able to afford to keep it open.    

Orange cards proposed by FIFA candidate Jerome Champagne

FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has suggested introducing orange cards that would allow referees to send players to a sin-bin.

The Frenchman, 55, launched his bid to succeed Sepp Blatter as the world governing body's president on Monday.

He also wants to punish teams when players question officials and hopes football will consider using more technology for key decisions.

Interesting stuff and as Blatter has lied again and said he will run when he said he wouldn’t, there is someone who’s prepared to challenge him.

Or maybe not, when announcing his intention to run Champagne bizarrely said if Blatter does run again, which he will instead of doing the decent thing and standing down and getting as far away from football governance as possible, he had no chance of winning and has admitted if Blatter ran again he would most likely pull out of the race.

What’s the bloody point of that? Why announce you’re going to run and list the ideas and proposals you have to change the game and then say oh by the way if this guy decides to run again, which everyone knows he will, I’m going to pull out of the race and allow him to be re-elected unopposed.

No wonder Champagne has come out with the stupid ideas of orange cards and sin-bins, sounds like he was just making this stuff up on the spot.  

Australian Open medical officer defends heat policy

The chief medical officer at the Australian Open has defended criticism of the competition's "extreme heat policy" after Jamie Murray was treated for heatstroke.

Play was suspended on uncovered courts for more than four hours on Thursday as temperatures breached 40C for a third consecutive day.

But Dr Tim Wood insisted the players' health was not being compromised.

“We evolved on the high plains of Africa chasing antelope for eight hours under these conditions,” he said.

Nice contemporary and relevant point made by the doc there...... we haven’t chased antelope on the African plains for quite a while now.  

That piss poor attempt at an excuse and the fact that play was stopped is basically an admission that the medical team got it WRONG! It’s fairly obvious that play should have been stopped long before today. 

All the players have been saying that it’s almost impossible to play in that kind of heat, one even thought he was going to die and a ball boy collapsed, but despite all this the medical team thought everything was fine and dandy.

Tell you what as a PR stunt to prove their point all the medical team should play at least an hour’s tennis in the middle of the day in 40C+ heat to show clearly to everyone just how ‘safe’ it is.

I know the organisers have a schedule to keep to but it’s amazing just how expendable they think the players are because they’ve almost been forced into calling play off for a bit.

Why is it that we have evolved to the point where it takes people’s lives to be in danger before we can be bothered to do anything about it?  

Spies to be allowed to break speed limit

Spies are to be allowed to speed under changes to the UK motoring laws. Spies are to be allowed to speed under changes to the UK motoring laws.

MI5 and MI6 officers currently have to abide by the rules of the road even if national security is threatened.

But they will be given the same exemptions as police vehicles, ambulances and fire engines by transport minister Robert Goodwill.

I certainly wasn’t aware that even in cases were national security was threatened our spies had to obey the speed limit, thankfully that barmy law has been corrected and now when the country is in danger they can get from A to B as quickly as they can and not sit behind the wheel checking they’re not speeding.

James Bond would be very different if the old law was factored in, the bad guy would speed off and Bond would jump in his car to chase, realise he’s in a built up area and so can’t go more than 30mph, be forced to chug along for miles until he gets to a motorway, by which point the bad guy’s already half way across Europe. I don’t think it would have been anywhere near as successful had this been the case. 

David Moyes says Manchester United ‘having to play referees’

David Moyes claimed Manchester United are “having to play referees” as well as the opposition after seeing his side lose to Sunderland in the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final.

The United boss was upset referee Andre Marriner gave the home side a penalty when Adam Johnson tumbled in the area.

Fabio Borini then scored from the spot to give the Black Cats a 2-1 win.

It seems that Moyes has quickly inherited Fergie’s delusional philosophy about the whole world being against United as well as his distinct lack of graciousness in defeat.

Moyes is also looking evermore out of his depth; I said when he was first appointed he would struggle because he simply doesn’t have the experience to manage a team expected to win the biggest prizes, and boy is he. 

For a few years now a lot of ex-players and pundits have been prattling on about giving a British manager a chance at a big club and when Moyes was appointed they were all singing and dancing saying how he was a perfect fit and he’s great manager etc. six months later United are facing an uphill struggle to finish fourth, they’re out of the FA Cup, they’ve just lost to relegation battling Sunderland in the League Cup, and while they will no doubt get through in the Champions League they have no chance of winning it. Hardly the record of a great manager is it, he's also damaging the chances of other British managers being given top jobs. 

Another thing everyone’s going on about is United's squad and how Moyes should be given time to strengthen it, but he had all summer and after passing up signing Ozil and botching the deal for Ander Herrera, he decided to sign Fellaini, who like Moyes is struggling and looks out of his depth at United. If Moyes was a foreign coach the fans would be demanding he be sacked.

When Ferguson retired and he chose Moyes to replace him he knew that Moyes would struggle and it would make him look even better and he’s been proven correct. 

Vince Cable criticises David Cameron’s migration target

David Cameron’s target of cutting net migration to below 100,000 by 2015 is “not helpful” and will almost certainly not be achieved, Vince Cable has said.

The business secretary’s comments come as a survey suggests more than 75% of Britons want to see immigration cut.

And 56% of those quizzed by the British Social Attitudes survey wanted to see a major crackdown on immigration.

I agree with Cable in that I don’t think that cutting net migration to below 100,000 is achievable, but I do so for different reasons.

He seems to be under the impression that it can’t be controlled saying on the subject politicians must be “practical and accept that net migration cannot be controlled.”

With the measures, or lack of measures, currently in place now then yes that 100,000 figure is unattainable but if the government actually act on their rhetoric and commit to some proper controls then maybe just maybe that 100,000 figure could be reached.

After all trying to reduce the net migration figure to a manageable number is surely better than what Cable is suggesting which is to do nothing and hope it all magically works out.  

FIFA President Sepp Blatter critical of Brazil’s World Cup preparations

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has accused Brazil of being badly prepared with five months to go before it hosts this year's World Cup.

Six of the host nation's 12 stadiums have failed to meet FIFA’s 31 December completion deadline.

Three workers have been killed in recent accidents at stadiums in Sao Paulo and Manaus.

“No country has been so far behind in preparations since I have been at FIFA,” Blatter told a Swiss newspaper.

I think this shows just how badly the Brazilians are doing when Sepp Blatter feels the need to step in and criticise, if Blatter is criticising you for your organisational skills then you know you’ve got big, big problems.

Of course Blatter is right and the Brazilians are well behind and deserve some criticism but is he really the one to do it, when reading his comments the phrase those in glass houses.....comes to mind.

The thing is though, no matter what the event, no matter what the sport, in fact scratch that just in general it seems anywhere in the world where there’s a major building project to complete it is almost never completed on time, in this case Brazil has had seven years to prepare and with a little over five months to go to the opening game half the stadiums aren’t finished, how does that happen?

That leads me to FIFA’s selection policy, why do they pick nations to host that have either renovate all of their existing, or build all the new stadiums for the tournament from scratch, you’re asking for trouble if you do that.

Amsterdam alcoholics paid in beer for collecting litter

Alcoholics are being paid in beer to clean the streets of Amsterdam as part of a project partly funded by the Dutch government - the organisers think other countries should abandon "old-fashioned political correctness" and adopt the same approach.

You’ve got to love the Dutch attitude, even if this idea does sound a bit crazy, and it sounds crazy well because it is.

So what the organisers of this project are saying is instead of trying to help alcoholics overcome their addictions, we’re going to pay them in beer to pick up litter, I’m guessing a lot of which is their own beer cans.

What will they do next, pay everyone in Amsterdam who is overweight in burgers and fries instead of money, or will the people of Amsterdam with drug addictions be paid for wandering round the city picking up shiny things?

I’m not exactly sure what the point of this initiative is, but I hope we in the U.K. are not one of the other countries who takes it up. 

George Osborne warns £25bn more cuts needed

A further £25bn of spending cuts will be needed after the next election, Chancellor George Osborne has warned.

He suggested making welfare savings by cutting housing benefit for under-25s and restricting council housing for those earning over £65,000 a year.

His comments about future cuts comes as he warns of a “year of hard truths” in a speech in Birmingham.

Wait what’s going on here I thought that, well the impression I was getting from various politicians before Christmas was that things were on the up the economy was turning the corner and we would start seeing proper growth again, instead of everyone in Westminster arguing over whether the economy grew by 0.1% or not.

But clearly I was mistaken as less than a week into the New Year and boom another round of massive spending cuts; clearly Osborne and co weren’t visited by three ghosts during the holidays.

I distinctly remember that after the last big round of spending cuts reading about how there wasn’t much room for manoeuvre if the government wanted to make more cuts in future, but they’ve managed to wrangle another £25bn so this tells me two things, one the economy isn’t anywhere near where we are being told it is and two there’s plenty more things they can, and will, cut despite the billions and billions already slashed from almost everything.