British drivers uncertain for new F1 season

With the new F1 season less than a month away it’s a good time to assess which teams and drivers we can expect to see fighting for the title, however it seems we can discount the British drivers who are not so confident they’ll be in the mix.

Following his move to Mercedes Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his new car is not fast enough and doesn’t expect to be winning races anytime soon; instead he expects to be fighting for top 10, which makes you want to re-ignite the debate as to why he left McLaren in the first place.

That is until you read Jenson Button’s comments that it’s been a tricky winter for McLaren and he has concerns about his new car.

So does that mean we can expect another Vettel-Alonso scrap for the title this year? Probably.    

UK loses AAA credit rating

The UK has lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978 on expectations that growth will “remain sluggish over the next few years”.

The ratings agency Moody's became the first to cut the UK from its highest rating, to Aa1.

Moody’s said the government's debt reduction programme faced significant “challenges” ahead.

Chancellor George Osborne said the decision was "a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country".

Osborne is absolutely right when he says this downgrade is a reminder of the debt problems; however it’s also a reminder that he’s not dealing with them properly.

Admittedly both the US and France have shown losing the top rating isn’t as damaging as everyone might have expected as it appeared to be damaging only in a symbolic sense, but this is certainly another blow to Osborne and his economic strategy. 

FIFA ok’s goal-line technology for 2014 World Cup

FIFA has confirmed goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The system was successfully trialled at the Club World Cup in December, and is being used for this summer's Confederations Cup.

A FIFA statement said: "After a successful implementation of Goal-Line Technology (GLT) at the Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Finally FIFA are beginning to bring football into the 21^st century and in line with all the other sports, technology wise.

I think it’s worth mentioning the fact that this technology has been available for quite some time yet it has taken until now to implement, but given FIFA’s track record you’d have to call this real progress.

All they have to do now is build on this and address the other glaring problems in football, like racism and club finances.  

Police under investigation over dog witness statement

Police dog handlers are all too aware of how crucial their four-legged colleagues are in the investigation of many crimes.

However, when the CPS demanded a witness statement in the name of a force dog, officers realised that it would be taking their canine skills a step too far.

They wrote back explaining that PC Peach was in fact PD Peach, stressing that PD stood for police dog but to no avail.

Eventually, the exasperated handler completed a form as if it had been written by the Alsatian, signing it with a paw print.

The statement read: “I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.”

It stated that the age of the witness was four and that his number was PD4341.

One officer took a photograph of the statement and it soon appeared on Facebook and on several police Twitter accounts. 

The CPS, however, failed to see the funny side and complained to the police that their mistake had been turned into a very public joke.

I’m not exactly sure why the CPS is so upset, because this whole incident has been caused by their own stupidity and could have been avoided in someone there had an ounce of common sense.

Who was it exactly that when told you can’t have a statement from this officer he’s a dog went, I want one anyway.

While I’m not exactly the biggest fan of social media sites, in fact I can’t stand them, but in situations like this they are a good way of publicly highlighting the idiotic nature of the world at times.

Hopefully the CPS has learnt their lesson, and police terminology, and next time won’t ask for an eye witness account of what happened during a riot from a horse. 

Derren Brown to turn gay man straight and vice versa?

Derren Brown has undertaken some audacious stunts as part of his television shows for Channel 4, including attempting to convince a man that the world had been hit by a meteorite and taken over by zombies in Apocalypse.

In an interview with Gay Times, the illusionist hinted at perhaps tackling sexuality. "I was thinking about this the other day - it would be interesting wouldn't it? To take a gay guy and make him straight and a straight guy and make him gay."

Why does this guys shows get given airtime? Seriously why? Remember a few years ago when he said he was going to predict what the numbers would be in the lottery draw, in fairness when he revealed his numbers they matched, only he revealed his after the lottery draw had aired. 

He’s not an illusionist he’s a con artist, his shows just target the gullible who will seemingly believe absolutely anything and he’s made a fortune of the back of it, Channel Four can you please put a stop to this man’s antics, we’ve had enough.  

Doctors want fizzy drink tax and ban on junk food ads

Fizzy drinks should be heavily taxed and junk food adverts banished until after the watershed, doctors have said, in a call for action over obesity.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents nearly every doctor in the UK, said ballooning waistlines already constituted a "huge crisis".

Its report said current measures were failing and called for unhealthy foods to be treated more like cigarettes.

Its recommendations include:

• ·         A ban on advertising foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt before 9pm
• ·         Further taxes on sugary drinks to increase prices by at least 20%
• ·         A reduction in fast food outlets near schools and leisure centres
• ·         A £100m budget for interventions such as weight-loss surgery
• ·         No junk food or vending machines in hospitals, where all food must meet the same nutritional standards as in schools
• ·         Food labels to include calorie information for children

Its clear obesity is a growing problem but I don’t think these measures are the answer, I would really like to know why there is a request of £100m in the budget for things like weight loss surgery.

Is there a logical explanation as to why that amount of money should be put aside to suck the lard out pigs that can’t control themselves around food, because I can’t see one.  

Instead make them spend the money on say a gym membership or simpler than that put them on a diet don’t subsidise them with public money, spend that extra £100m on surgery for people who are in ill-health through no fault of their own.  

I also think comparing junk food to like cigarettes is a little extreme, because I doubt anyone’s ever died from inhaling the aroma’s of someone else’s calorie laden dinner.

Although this obesity is similar in a way to smoking, and perhaps the answer to both is let them get on with it, if you want to smoke and increase your chances of contracting cancer fine go ahead and if you want to over eat to the point where you’re at risk of a heart attack or developing diabetes then fine go ahead, just don’t come crying to the NHS and wasting their resources when you run into problems.    

12 hour wood burning programme shown in Norway

Norwegian public television is broadcasting a programme showing a crackling fireplace for 12 hours.

The NRK woodathon features firewood specialists providing commentary and advice on subjects such as chopping, stacking and burning the wood.

The head of programming at NRK, Rune Moeklebust, described it as “slow but noble television”.

NRK is no stranger to such programming, in 2011 it broadcast more than 130 hours of a cruise ship sailing up the Norwegian coast to the arctic.

This without doubt the most peculiar, yet downright hilarious synopsis of a TV show I’ve ever read.

The best bit about this has to be that there are specialists who provide commentary, what do they say?

And there it is its lit, oh look the smokes started, the smokes started I can see an ember and wow there we go folks a full flame, just listen to the crackling sound, there are sparks flying everywhere boy this in entertaining, I imagine that’s not how it goes but............. 

I would like to hear the ‘expert’ advice on how to chop, stack and burn the wood.

To chop the wood get an axe find a tree and hit it really hard, making sure that when you’ve chopped through the tree it doesn’t fall on you.

To stack the wood place the chopped up blocks on top of each other, but don’t be tempted to turn it into a giant game of Jenga, because the stack might topple over and land on someone.

To burn the wood put some in a pile pour some paraffin over it, get a match strike it and throw it in the general direction of the pile.

The head of programming at NRK called it “slow but noble” TV, I think what he meant to say was we’ve ran out of ideas so we just put this on for a laugh.

If I lived in Norway and I donated money to this network and sat down to find out they’ve dedicated 12 hours of their programming time to some burning wood, I’d be rather peed off mind you this still sounds a darn sight better than a series Big Brother or I’m not a Celeb. 

Japanese restaurant fines customers with leftovers

A restaurant in Japan is fining customers who leave any food on their plate after their meal.

The seafood restaurant states on its menu that customers who leave any part of their dish will be fined a surcharge, which is donated to the fishermen who caught the meal.

The menu of The Hachikyo states: “The working conditions for fishermen are harsh and so dangerous that it's not unknown for lives to be lost.

“To show our gratitude and appreciation for the food they provide, it is forbidden to leave even one grain of rice in your bowl. 

“Customers who do not finish must give a donation.”

A while ago, I’m not sure exactly when, a report was published that said up to half the world’s food gets wasted, well clearly the proprietors of The Hachikyo saw that because this is quite an ingenious way of trying to solve the wastage problem.

This system may work well in Japan given that a large part of the diet is made up of fish, but I can’t see this working quite so well in Britain, I don’t think the providers of our mostly meat diet have it quite as tough.

Fishing in swirling winds and torrential rain on wavy seas in the middle of a winters night is, I imagine, very dangerous, but here in Britain there’s very little risk of a farmer dying while grazing his cattle, I think we would need to come up with a different system.    

Madrid vs. United: Ferguson ready for ‘acid test’

Sir Alex Ferguson says “getting through” the first leg of their Champions League tie with Real Madrid is key to Manchester United reclaiming winning the Champions League.

Ferguson was in confident mood ahead of Wednesday's last-16, first-leg clash with Jose Mourinho’s side in Spain.

He said: “The acid test is this game - I have no doubts about that.”

While it may be the acid test for United it’s one I can’t see them passing, this tie is Madrid’s season whereas United showed at the weekend their more concerned about reclaiming the league from City.

History also favours Madrid in the previous four ties United have progressed only once and United’s record against Spanish opposition in the Champions League is poor to say the least, add that to Ferguson’s poor record against Mourinho and there’s very little room for optimism.  

United’s defence and goalkeeper have been shaky and suspect far too often this season, and at this level that won’t do, you can’t expect RVP or Rooney to score a couple of late goals to get and get away with it as you’ve done in the league for most of the season.

Madrid also have their own problems, but usually where games of this magnitude are won and lost is in the centre of the park and Madrid have more quality in that area than United.   

Obviously United can win, but over the two legs I don’t think they will, I think Madrid will win 2-0 tonight and get a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the return leg.

Finally a quick little sidebar, Celtic please stop moaning about what happened last night you were comfortably beaten in the end,  and for all the industry you showed at that level only one thing matters and that’s quality, something which you showed last night you don’t have.      

Wrestling excluded from Olympics

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has voted to exclude Wrestling from the Olympic programme, after a meeting in Lausanne.  

Modern pentathlon, taekwondo, table tennis, football, badminton, tennis and weightlifting were the other contenders for expulsion.

It’s clear that the programme needed updating but out of that list surely football or tennis, or both, should have gone as the Olympics isn’t the pinnacle of those sports, if you’re a footballer or a tennis player a gold medal isn’t top of your priority list.

I also think would be better for the IOC to review the whole Olympic programme and axe a load of sports all at once, instead of sitting down after each Olympics and removing a sport and green lighting another.

Premier League agrees new spending controls

The Premier League says its clubs will be punished with a point’s deduction if they breach new spending controls.

Each team will not be allowed to make a total loss of more than £105m over the next three seasons and must limit their player wage bills from next season.

“If people break the £105m we will look for the top-end ultimate sanction range - a point’s deduction," said Premier League boss Richard Scudamore.

The rules are designed to improve the financial sustainability of clubs.

The Premier League has just passed the half-way mark of its 21^st season, and despite the fact that pretty much every team in it, particularly those at the business end, are operating insane losses and have huge debts.

So why has it taken essentially a threat from the government for footballs top executives to agree that maybe the situation is a little out of control and there are problems that need to fixed.

Also the amount of debt that clubs are allowed is significantly more than the amount allowed under UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, so they are either pointless rules of Premier League clubs will not be competing in Europe in the near future, I wonder which one that’ll be.

Osborne backs bank break-up powers

The UK’s big banks will be separated if they fail to follow new rules to ring-fence risky investment operations from High Street outlets, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

He has said taxpayers are angry at banks’ behaviour and will never again be expected to bail them out.

His speech comes on the same day the government introduces its Banking Reform Bill in Parliament.

Mr Osborne had previously warned against “unpicking the consensus” over structural reform of the sector.

But the chancellor appears now to have accepted a major recommendation of last year’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards which called for a reserve power to “electrify the ring-fence” if banks did not implement reforms.

Ring-fencing the banks to ensure their customers money isn’t recklessly gambled away by bankers indulging in risky investments is an intelligent, sensible, workable idea that would have a lot of support given what happened in 2008.

But as this government has shown previously any big tough decision of this kind that really needs to be made now has been pushed back until after the next election.

So don’t be surprised to see Osborne on the evening news saying we will ring-fence the banks, we will electrify the fence, in 2017.    

West Brom criticise Odemwingie

West Brom say striker Peter Odemwingie acted “wholly unprofessionally” after his apparent attempt to open talks with QPR without the Baggies’ permission.

The 31-year-old arrived at Loftus Road on deadline day, but West Brom stated no fee had been agreed and he was not free to discuss personal terms.

Chairman Jeremy Peace said: “Peter has acted wholly unprofessionally.”

QPR say Odemwingie did not enter club premises and Hoops boss Harry Redknapp put the situation down to a “mistake”.

“It was unfortunate really. Wires got crossed somewhere,” Redknapp told BBC Sport.

This was the most comical thing I’ve seen on any deadline day ever, Odemwingie trained with West Brom in the morning/afternoon, drove to London and turned up at QPR’s HQ hoping to sign, only to be told terms hadn’t been agreed and he wasn’t given permission to go there in the first place.

So now he’s got 18 months left at West Brom, I’m the sure the fans, players and backroom staff will welcome him back with open arms, not.

Vegetarian diet cuts heart risk by 32%

Ditching meat and fish in favour of a vegetarian diet can have a dramatic effect on the health of your heart, research suggests.

A study of 44,500 people in England and Scotland showed vegetarians were 32% less likely to die or need hospital treatment as a result of heart disease.

Differences in cholesterol levels, blood pressure and body weight are thought to be behind the health boost.

I don’t care what the results of this or other study say I’d rather carrying on eating meat and take the risk, than spend the rest of my life eating a plate of dreary dull looking green stuff.

Humans are omnivores we’re supposed to eat a balance of meat and veg, and anyway veggies always look miserable and can’t wait to lecture you how noble they are, despite the fact that if you look them in the eye you can see they’re desperate for a burger or a steak.