NFL in London, why?

The NFL is back in London, and tomorrow sees the New England Patriots take on the St Louis Rams at Wembley, quick question why?

I fail to see why every year since 2007 a regular season NFL game is played in England, I don’t see whose best interests this is in, because to me it seems to benefit no-one.  

The home team in these matches lose out on playing in front of their home fans and the away side have to travel thousands of miles.

It’s like when Premier League chief Richard Scudamore suggested playing a 39th round of games with teams jetting off to all four corners of the globe to do so, the whole idea is just wrong.

If I was a fan of either of these teams I’d feel cheated by the fact that they are disappearing across the pond for a game, I’m an Arsenal fan and if I was to find out that they were off to New York to play a league game against Newcastle, I’d think WTF.

I see what the NFL are trying to do by having a game outside of America, but its shows a lack of pride and respect for the sport as they are essentially pimping out their national game, and it sounds like it’s only going to get worse.

Next year two games are going to be played here and there’s talk of having a team here, and if that proves successful a new location will be looked at for inclusion, fortunately there is a solution to this proposed madness, makes tomorrow's game the last one outsdie of the US.

EDF raise prices by 10.8%

EDF have become the latest energy firm to declare a price hike which will see a 10.8% increase in customer fuel bills.  

The move described as a “hammer blow” will affect 3.1 million people in the UK, in response EDF admitted the rise would be “unwelcome” (understatement of the year) and blamed the rise on the cost of wholesale energy prices.

While other energy firms SSE, Scottish Power, British Gas and npower, have all announced price rises recently, EDF are the first to do so after PM David Cameron promised to ensure that customers would get the lowest available tariffs.

So either this decision by EDF is a clear sign that energy firms are snubbing the government and are simply refusing to listen to them, or they are raising their prices now to squeeze as much money as they can from their customers before they are forced to offer them the lowest tariff.

Champions League qualification isn’t as good as a trophy

I'll get the formalities out of the way up top, I’m an Arsenal fan have been all my life and I along with many other long suffering gooners I've had to endure seven frustrating years of watching our side win jack.

So I was very surprised to hear that at Arsenal’s AGM our manager, Arsene Wenger, revealed that he felt qualification for the Champions League is better than winning a trophy.

Either he genuinely believes that or he’s just saying that to cover up the pain of the baron run we’re on when it comes to silverware, because that’s a ridiculous thing to say.

I love the fact that we’ve qualified for the Champions League on such a consistent basis under Wenger but it’s not the same as pointing to the trophy cabinet and saying look what we’ve won.

In my opinion Wenger has been the best manager we’ve ever had, but as we are currently the most expensive club to watch each week and the fact that we’ve spent the last few summers selling our best players, I think every Arsenal fan has the right to feel aggrieved at the situation we find ourselves in.

If Wenger wants to win the fans back he can start by doing one simple thing, spend some real money on players, it’s estimated that Arsenal around £150m sitting in the bank, if Wenger spent some of this money in January or the summer it would show a real desire to compete with the other teams at the top, because the way we’re doing at the moment means we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

Yes it’s important to qualify for the Champions League for many reasons, but it will never replace the feeling a fan gets from watching his team lift a trophy.

UK economy grows 1%

After falling back into recession and three consecutive quarters of contraction, the UK economy grew by 1% in the three months from July to September.

While this marks some much welcomed positive news concerning our economy, business groups are still cautious, with the Institute of Directors group saying the expansion was good news “but not enough to pop the champagne corks”.

1% of growth was larger than most analysts expected and was boosted by one off factors such as the Olympics, however this does leave many wary that this period of growth itself could be a one-off and that figures for the final quarter of 2012 will reveal the true nature of how the UK economy is doing.

But at least for now we can all feel a little better that we’re no longer in a recession.

It doesn’t matter if the rest of the world wants Obama

The BBC World Service has kindly taken the time to conduct an opinion poll which shows that Barack Obama has a higher overseas approval rating than his challenger Mitt Romney.

Quick question, why?

What difference does it make if 72% of the people surveyed in France prefer Obama to Romney, I doubt he’ll be using that piece of information on the election trail in the next fortnight.

Equally what does it matter if all those surveyed in Pakistan preferred Romney.

Then only people’s opinions who matter in the US election are US citizens that are eligible to vote, that’s it.

Maybe the BBC World Service could produce more stories focused on the US election from a US perspective rather than wasting our time with this sort of crap.

EU to debate women board quotas

EU commissioners are due to debate proposals that would force quotas for women on corporate boards.

The plan is to make it mandatory for companies to reserve 40% of seats on the board for women.

Of all the proposals and policies discussed and created by the EU, this one has to be right up there in the stupidity stakes.

All having a gender quota will do is create a huge mess, people, male or female, should be hired for a job based on one thing and one thing alone, are they the best candidate for it.

If this idea is introduced what will be the incentive for men to apply themselves and excel in the workplace if there is a policy in place that means they can’t progress any further up the career ladder, because those positions have been reserved for women.

Hopefully this proposal doesn’t make it past the debate stage.

BBC Newsnight editor resigns

The BBC have said that the editor of Newsnight is “stepping aside” following his decision drop a report into claims about Sir Jimmy Saville's  sexual abuse.

The BBC said that the move involving Peter Rippon was happening with immediate effect after it issued a correction to a blog entry by Mr Rippon in which he explained his reasons for dropping the report, due to editorial reasons, to be “inaccurate or incomplete in some aspects.”   

While the police inquiry into the claims made against Saville will continue for some time, incidents like this will only further damage and sully the reputation of the BBC, who many see as covering things up and failing to intervene and prevent wrongdoing.

More details about what the BBC did and didn’t know will be laid bare in a panorama special tonight and that programme will no doubt spark a frenzy of new questions and accusations, which will seemingly leave several BBC figures past and present with a lot to answer for.

At the moment the whole scale of this investigation means we are getting more questions than answers, hopefully tonight we will see a move towards the truth and the answers, and not be left with even more questions.

Mitchell resigns on one month anniversary of plebgate

Four weeks to the day since it was reported Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell ranted at police officers outside the gates to no.10, the Tory MP has fallen on his sword and resigned after losing the confidence of his colleagues.

On leaving Mitchell did acknowledge swearing at a the two police officers who refused to let him cycle through Downing Street’s gates, maybe if he had come out and made this public sooner he could have saved his job.

After a month in which this whole saga has dragged on to farcical and ridiculous proportions, I have to ask the question was it all worth it?

I mean what has really been achieved here, the answer is very little, Mitchell has been forced into resigning, despite apologising to the two officers involved and meeting members of the Police Federation to try and draw a line under the issue.

While I admit he should have revealed what he really said, what more could he have done, I think far too much attention was given to a frankly minor issue, he lost his temper he swore big deal, he’s not the first and he certainly won’t be the last.

What makes this whole thing worse is that John Terry has been given a four game ban and £220,000 fine for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, but will be remain Chelsea captain, continue to play for the club, and earn millions of pounds in the process.

Why isn’t there an extensive media campaign for him to quit football and what about the police officer who tasered a blind man after mistaking his walking stick for a samurai sword, I think there needs to be a greater sense of perspective on what the real issues are and we need to stop obsessing over the trivial.    

Rabobank ends sponsorship of pro cycling team

Rabobank is ending its sponsorship of its professional cycling team, citing the revelations surrounding the Lance Armstrong doping case as the reason behind their decision.

The Dutch bank will ends its 17 years association with the sport when its current deal worth £12.2m a year, expires on December 31^st.

Bert Bruggnik of Rabobank said: “We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport.”

This news follows the decisions made by other sponsors, Nike, Trek and Anheuser Bush who have recently severed all ties with Armstrong in the wake of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report that concluded Armstrong engaged in “serial cheating.”

Cycling is now in perhaps the darkest place its ever been where surely now the only way is up, it’s one thing to have individual cyclists banned for cheating or be accused of cheating, but it’s just as, if not more, damaging when major long-time sponsors start pulling out.

In the modern sporting world sponsors are an essential part of a sports success and if more sponsors follow Rabobank and wash their hands of cycling, then the future of the sport is greatly under threat.

Cycling isn’t like football or tennis or golf where sponsors are falling over each other to get their brand associated with a star player or the sport itself, cycling has relied on a group of loyal long-time partners and if like Rabobank more choose to leave, there really won’t be much left.   

Energy companies forced to inform of cheapest tariffs

Energy regulator Ofgem has unveiled plans to force suppliers to inform its customers about the cheapest gas and electricity tariffs they have on offer.

Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan said: “Our plans will put an end to consumers being confused by complex tariffs and will usher in a simpler, clearer, fairer and more competitive energy market for all consumers.”

This announcement finally brings to an end days of uncertainty after PM David Cameron brought up the issue during Prime Ministers Questions, when he said he planned to force firms to put customers on their lowest tariffs.

While these changes are still at the consultation stage, if they are given the green light they could make the energy market much more regulated and allow customers to take more control, basically stopping them getting ripped off.

Those within the energy industry were said to have been greatly surprised by Cameron’s initiative, I’m sure not half as shocked as a lot of their customers who are facing a hike in their bills, maybe this will be the beginning of the end for the energy industries gluttony.