Come on England! My thoughts on the Englands chances

 I swore I wouldn't do this, but as I suspected I've got a bit wrapped up in it all. Holding the tournament in thhe orange ogre has not made me happy. If just about anyone else had been President I would have gone, but not with him there. My sister lives in the USA so I'd love to have visited.

But I cannot watch a game and not get involved. When it is England I simply have to watch. I didn't know what to expect. However, I was pretty sure that England had the best manager, and two of the best players in the tournament, as well as a solid back up cast. Like many tournaments, it started as a slow burner, but now we are at the business end of the tournament. There should be no jeopardy in the group phase for teams like England. This was the case. A commanding performance against Croatia set us up. A stutter against Ghana was unexpected, but didn't really matter. Panama was solid if unconvincing. 

So England started their knockout phase campaign. DR Congo were excellent, took the lead but Harry Kane came though with a brace. A pattern emerged. A poor first quarter. A stern talk and reorganisation from Tuchel and a vast improvement. So it was on to Mexico. A very difficult game with real jeopardy. Mexico were at a home, in a stadium that was not exactly lucky for England. But Bellingham stepped up.  Norway were up next. Once more a poor start by England and Belllingham stepping up.

And England find themselves in the semi final. They are up against Argentina. A country that hates us. A country with possibly the greatest footballer ever in the team. They cruised through an easy qualifying group with little problem. However the knockout games have all proven controversial, with highly iffy refereeing and a clear bias towards Argentina. It seems likely that Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland will be cheering England, feeling rather cheated. There is a perception that FIFA want Messi to win the tournament. It will be good for business. It will be in the back of the England players minds that they will get no favours. 

I normally have a feeling how things will go, this time I find it incredibly hard to call. I think England will need a superb performance and three goals to win. I think Messi will get a goal and maybe make one. But I also think we have Bellingham and Kane and they can make all the difference. I'm going to go 3-2 to England. However I do think that they will not get the run of the ball and that come the end of the night I may be feeling even more sick and disgusted than I did when Maradona scored the "Hand of God" goal. I just have this sickening vision of Infantino, Messi and Trump all poncing about waving the world cup on Sunday and saying that a clearly rigged tournament was the best ever.  I just hope I'm wrong. An Egyptian friend told me that he doesn't normally like England, but he hopes we win 8-0 and Messi gets sent off. 

Here's a bit of fun The False Dots put together. Enjoy!

 

Goodbye Gareth Southgate and thank you for everything

 It has just been announced that Gareth Southgate has resigned as England manager. What a rollercoaster it has been under his reign. Two finals, a semi final and a quarter final. A couple of dodgy penalties away from a win against Italy in the 2021 Euro's. A team that was favourites to win in Germany and which certainly had the players to bring the trophy home. The achievements on the field were way beyond most people's expectations when he took over after the debacle of Sam Allardyce's short reign.

For me though, the biggest success of Southgate's reign is to make me feel proud to be an England supporter. Whatever you think of his football record, the way he conducts his business is exemplary. He clearly had the respect and support of the team. He brought the best out of some of the players, supported players on the receiving end of racism, in a way no other National manager seems capable of. He managed to rebuild the confidence of the players such as Saka, to the extent that they took penalties in a shoot out, following all of the obnoxious racism they received when they missed against Italy in the last final. He has transformed Harry Kane into Englands most successful striker by some distance. He has had faith in younger players. He has built for the future. If you look at Englands ranking now, compared to when he took over, that tells you all you need to know. 

As an England fan, I hope that the next manager builds on the foundations Gareth has laid and takes us to the next level. As for the candidates? Jurgen Klopp and Graham Potter have been mentioned. I'd be delighted with either. But that is for another day. For today, all I want to say is Thank you Gareth, you've been a credit to England and you have made us all proud. Good luck in wherever life takes you now. 

- --

I had planned to retire this song, but here's one more blast for old time's sake!

It's coming home! Gareth Southgate gives us a wonderful evening!

 What were you doing last night at 8pm. I was in a sports bar near The Angel, with a group of friends. What a roller coaster we had. When the Netherlands scored, the whole place fell very flat. Then the penalty. As soon as we saw the playback and that there was a VAR review, we knew that it would be a penalty and that Harry Kane would do the business. From that moment on, it looked like there would only be one winner. One of my friends had put £10 on a 1-1 draw. Two minutes before the winner, I said "cash it in now". He could have had £50. I knew that we'd score. Palmer and Watkins had added another dimension to the team. I am not a Harry hater, but it was clear that we needed fresh legs. I felt sorry for Phil Foden coming off, he'd had a great game. When Watkins banged in the winner, the whole place erupted and the party started. Even the bouncer, who had the demeanor of the most miserable man in the universe cracked a smile. It was by far the best England performance of the tournament. England have been solid if uninspiring thus far, but last night they played with a degree of freedom that had been missing. Just about every player had their best game. It is worth noting that nearly every goal England have conceded has been a 'worldie'. Last night was no exception. As a football fan, all I can do is stand back and admire the strike from Simons. As admirable was the way he shrugged Declan Rice off the ball. Fortunately that one moment of brilliance was just about all that the The Netherlands had. One aspect of the win that made me very happy was the fact that the Dutch manager was Ronald Koeman. It was poetic justice and karma that he got knocked out, in no small part because of a rather soft penalty. We owed it to the cheating sod who should have been sent off in the 1994 World Cup before scoring the winner from a free kick. In truth his team didn't really turn up. 

And so, on to Sunday's final. Spain is an altogether tougher proposition than the Dutch. England need to be absolutely on top of their game to get anything. The Spanish are a brilliant team and they will not allow us the domination of possession and time on the ball that we had last night. But we have players that can hurt them. If Foden, Bellingham, Saka, Kane and co play as we know they can, then we have a very good chance of winning. We have to believe. 

The False Dots recorded a very special song to cheer England on. Have a listen! We think it's a rather good football anthem.

England 2 - 0 Germany - My thoughts

 I was three years old when England last beat Germany in the finals of a tournament. I have vague memories of it. We had a telly, which was rare in 1966. The house was full of my elder brothers friends, neighbours, relatives etc and a big party was had. I wasn't really aware of what was going on, but the joyous day made a big enough impression. For the 1970 World Cup, Dad upgraded to a Colour TV. For the quarter final, the house wasn't quite as full and the long years of hurt at the hands of Germany had started. 

It has been a very long time. When I saw Gareth Southgates team selection, I felt that he'd been far too conservative. I went to the Mill Hill Services club to watch the game with friends. The slow pace, the continual sideways passing, Harry Kane missing a gilt edged chance that he'd have buried six months ago did not bode well. Jordan Pickford pulled off a couple of fine saves. It felt to me that the match was slowly grinding towards its inevitable conclusion. I was delighted to see Jack Grealish emerge from the bench, but felt is was harsh on Saka who had looked one of Englands most progressive players. I am a fan of Grealish, who makes things happen. In the second half, England looked far more solid. AND THEN.....

England finally put together a series of good offensive passing and Raheem Stirling who started the move buried it. The Services club erupted. Interestingly, the club has multiple tellies and the one we watched was three seconds ahead of everyone else. We were on our feet celebrating, before the key pass was made for the rest of the club! I was so pleased for Raheem Stirling. He has been the difference for England. He seems to always be in the right place at the right time at key moments. A few minutes later,  a loose pass from Stirling almost undid all the good work, but this wasn't the Germany we all know and love. England turned the screw, took control and having been almost invisble for most of the game, Harry Kane finally remembered who he was and what he does. Grealish put a sublime ball in and Kane buried it. That was that. You could see it in the German players, the belief went. At the final whistle, the club exploded. But lets keep our heads screwed on. This isn't even a quarter final. In truth, Germany were awful. Our next game is against Ukraine. They are unfancied, but can play with total freedom. England will be in Rome instead of at Wembley. 

It was a night to remember. The two goals were almost from another game, incisive, clinical. It seems to me that every time Jack Grealish plays, he adds another 0 to has value. Roll on Saturday. It occurs to me that if the tournament had happened last year when it was supposed to, the likes of Grealish, Foden, Saka, Mount, etc would have been considered a bit to inexperienced. We have a great squad now. Lets just hope it isn't just another false dawn. Having said that, we've beaten World Cup finalists Croatia and Germany so far. That isn't a bad start. 

Did Manchester United sell the wrong striker - Welbeck shines for England

Six weeks after the World Cup and competetive International football is back. England started their 2016 qualifying campaign with the hardest of the group games they are likely to face. They were up against the mighty Switzerland, ten places above England in the FIFA rankings. Unlike England, Switzerland acquitted themselves reasonably well in the World Cup finals and didn't come back to a barrage of flak from the press. Many England fans approached the game with a bit of trepidation. England have a long record of performing extremely badly in matches in September. To be drawn away against your toughest opponents for the first game was not a gift from the footballing gods.

Whilst the results for England at the World cup were truly awful, I felt that this didn't tell the whole story. England played very well against Italy and were desperately unlucky to lose. Against Uruguay, they were undone by Louis Suarez, who is one of the very best strikers in the world. Having said that, results don't lie.

So it was with a feeling foreboding that the telly went on at 7.15pm for the match. There was a moment of comedy when the ITV pundit team of Hoddle, Wright and Dixon along with Adrian Chiles got soaked as they were commentating by the sprinkler system on the pitch. I wondered if this would be the highlight of the match. I must say that generally my view is that ITV pundits should be put on permanent ice bucket challenge. For some reason as soon as a pundit joins ITV they seem unable to utter a single intelligent word. Much as I may loath Gary Neville at Sky for his Manchester United connections, you can't deny he is an excellent pundit. Even my missus who hates football says he does a good job. Is it part of the ITV contract that you have to have a full frontal lobotomy?

So onto the game. It started fairly tepidly, with England having quite a lot of possession going nowhere. For some reason Jack Wilshire seemed unable or unwilling to try and find space in midfield, with the result that the diamond formation was as flat as a pancake. Delf seemed to be of the opinion that getting sent off in his full debut was the way to get a few headlines, seemingly haking down everyone in sight, earning a yellow card after about 15 mins, having given the ref no choice.

Every game has a critical moment and this games came from an unlikely combination. Joe Hart picked out Danny Welbeck on the left wing and Welbeck ran at the Swiss defence with great purpose. All of a sudden the Swiss defenders started to look rather scared. From that moment, England started to play with drive and purpose.  Rooney was set up beautifully for a volley, but it seems he is lacking confidence and he took and extra touch and the chance was gone. Rooney doesn't look the player he was two years ago. He had a few decent touches, but doesn't look confident. Is the captaincy weighing heavily on him? Welbeck on the other hand was a  revealation. Full of purposeful drive and running, he looked the real deal. His first goal was a shinned finish, but he was in the right place at the right time. Just before injury time Rooney was replaced by Ricky Lambert. With five minutes to see out, it seemed like a move to close out the game. Stick Lambert up front and use him to hold up play. In the event Stirling got hold of the ball, passed to Lambert who set up Welbeck for a glorious second goal. For a striker who is not meant to be able tpo score, he looked pretty good. Did  United sell the wrong striker? Is it possible that the current situation at Utd is acting as a millstone on their players and suppressing their natural sparkle?

As to the rest of the team, Jones and Cahill had a solid game. Baines probably had his best game in an England shirt. Wilshire was a tad disappointing, not really showing the purposeful drive we've come to expect. Stirling had a quiet game, but played a part in both goals. Bizarrely the ITV commentators suggested that Joe Hart was the man of the match. Joe had a good solid game and is seemingly back to his best, but come on guys. Welbeck was the man.

This England team is an improvement on the World Cup effort. At no point did I think "We need a Gerrard or a Lampard in there". It is a work in progress, but there are green shoots. As an England fan, that is something to behold.

England are off to the World Cup finals !

So England have made it through the qualifying stages and are off to the finals of the World Cup in Brazil. As a football fan, I cannot help but be chuffed at this prospect. Had England failed, then the whole tournament would have seemed rather like a damp squib to me. The qualifying group has been at times painful to watch. There is no doubt that players such as Hart, Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard and Cole are world class and that on their day England are a match for anyone. It's just that until last Friday, they really haven't been "on their day" at all. What is more surprising is where the spark seems to have come from. Andros Townsend, a player virtually unknown outside of White Hart Lane until Friday seems to have lit the blue touchpaper that  set Englands campaign on fire. Although Rooney was deservedly man of the match tonight, Townsends fearless attitude seemed infectious. His shot that rattled the bar in the first half seemed to be the turning point for England, after an at times shaky start.

It was great that Rooney and Gerrard should score the goals that wrapped up the group. They are both proven big game players and both had outstanding games. I am not a fan of the Gerrard/Lampard midfield pairing and I think it was noticable that with Carrick and Gerrard, England looked far more balanced. I am not a fan of Chris Smalling as England right back, although he had a solid game. I'd like to see Micah Richards given another opportunity once he's fully match fit. I think he gives a manager other options and is also capable of playing as a centre half in an emergency. I was pleased with the contribution of Baines as left back. I believe he is the man to take England forward, even though Ashley Cole is proven at the international level. Baines also brings a wider dimension with his talents at dead ball situations.

In the centre of defence, Jagielka looked solid and assured and worthy of his selection. Up front, Sturridge looked lively, if at times his first touch let him down. I am not so much a fan of Welbeck. He looks a tad lightweight.

Having said all of that, it is one thing to beat Poland, who were out of the tournament anyway, at Wembley. When we get to the finals, we're talking about a different league of player. I can't see England coming close to Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain or Portugal. Assuming England get out of the qualifying stage and with a lucky draw and the rub of the green, I could see us scraping into the Semi's although the quarter finals is more realistic. I can't see too many England players who will set the teams mentioned above quaking in their boots. As Steven Gerrard said, England have a good mix of youth and experience and our best hope is if Townsend continues his stellar rise and if another player comes from nowhere to set the tournament alight. However unlikely it may seem, I didn't think I'd be writing a blog mentioning Andros Townsend last Thursday, so who knows. I am firm believer in players of genuine pace. They unsettle opponents and if they are fearless can change games. At international level games can be tight and turn on a single moment of brilliance. I was four when England last won the World Cup. I met Roy Hodgson when I was in Sweden in the early 1980's. At the time he was an unknown (in England) coach. He told me that he thought England were twenty years behind nations such as Holland in their approach to coaching. He said that we were falling steadily further behind in our main rivals. Roy was the first person I had an intelligent conversation about football with. He asked me about my experiences of football coaching at school. I hadn't actually had any and had no appreciation at all of the game. He said this was typical and was the root of the problem.

33 odd years later, those two expats having a conversation are both celebrating in our own different ways. I doubt Roy thought he'd be England manager then. I certainly never thought I'd be writing things which anyone would bother to read about England. Roy is a genuinely decent bloke and I sincerely hope that he proves us all wrong and brings the World Cup home. It is true to say that I've never been more sceptical of our chances, but in truth, is that such a bad thing. I will sleep happily tonight.

Ukraine 0 - 1 England

Last night we had the third of Englands three qualifying games. We all knew the maths, a point would see us through and a better result than France would see us top the group and play Italy rather than Spain in the quarter finals. Perhaps a true reflection of the relative strengths of France and England could be gauged when  an Italian friend wished me luck earlier and said that "All Italy was hoping for an England win".

When the match kicked off, it soon became clear what Roy Hodgson's game plan was. Sit back, restrict Ukraine to pot shots and then hope that the superior finishing powers of England would prevail. Thus it transpired. I wondered whether the injury to Frank Lampard was a belssing in disguise. Not only does Steven Gerard seem rejuvinated, but our luck has changed. Now it is England getting the benefit of dodgy decisions, when balls are clearly over the line. I have much sympathy for Ukraine. When Lampard "scored", there wasn't a bloke standing two yards away on the line with a flag. I wonder if that particular man will be featured in a specsavers ad. The match also saw the return of the Handsome Prince, Wayne Rooney. Adding to the feeling that Hodgson is a lucky manager, he scored a goal which even my mum could have scored, although to be fair to Rooney, he was in the right place at the right time, which is something beyond some of Englands former centre forwards. 

How good are England? Well they scored three goals against Sweden, France couldn't manage one. They beat Ukraine on their own turf and they got a score draw with France. They have also had credible shouts for penalties turned down in all games. Are France worse than we thought? I suspect that we will only really know after they face Spain. I think that may be the game of the Tournament. 

I am extremely pleased for Roy Hodgson. We shouldn't underestimate the job he's done. He had no time at all to prepare the squad and has only worked with a handful of players (those at Liverpool) previously. He has managed to fashion a well organised and disciplined side, who hold a tight line and fashion decent goalscoring chances against more than decent sides. Although Ukraine had  a lot of pressure, they only had one chance which you'd reasonably have expected a decent striker to finish. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson from yesterdays game wasn't for England or even the Ukraine. It was for Sepp Blatter, who has resisted goal line technology. His idiotic position is now completely exposed. How many more important games will have their outcome altered by this mans Luddite stupidity?

England 1 - 0 Wales - Wembley Stadium

******** Updated 23:38 ********
Stan Collymore has just tweeted that a fan was killed in a fight at Wembley. We saw no trouble inside or outside the ground. It just adds to my gut feeling that we are getting our priorities all wrong when it comes to Football as discussed below.
***********Update Ends *******

So off to see England Vs Wales tonight at Wembley. £92.50 for two tickets. One for me and one for my 11 year old boy. Gripe no 1. No concessions for children. Now there was me thinking that the FA were supposed to promote the game to young people. Some hope. Due to the wonders of modern ticketing systems, I was emailed tickets to the wrong address. This meant I had to ring up, wait 20 minutes in a queue yesterday and then be told they couldn't resend them to the right email address. Nope, I had to pick them up from the box office.

So off we went, nice and early. Despite my fears, sure enough two nice tickets awaited us. Off we trotted. We got a nice program (£6). A bet for me (England 3-0 winners, Lampard to score) and one for the boy ( England 3-1 winners, Lampard to score) - yup your never too young to acquire bad habits if you are  a Tichborne. Mind you it was only £1 each. A pre match tradition of mine. Sadly our lords and masters don't allow us to indulge in that other pre match tradition -  a pint.

As to the game, the only moment of quality in the 1st half saw Young score and ruin my chances of getting a free(ish) night out. I must say the welsh were in good voice. I don't really know what they were singing - Odes to dead relatives or dead sheep, but it sounded far more tuneful than the chants of ENG-ER-LAND.

At half time we indulged ourselves. A small Fanta and two bags of crisps. A snip at £5.50. Of course we're English. Robbery and mugging is allowed if it's done by corporations and large organisations. £104 to watch 90 minute of football with and eleven year old. Just as well I'm a rich man (or I was).

At half time, we had a moving advert for help for heroes. They've raised £110 million for injured ex servicemen, to help them rebuild their shattered lives. It made my blood boil. Not that people dig into their pockets to help our brave forces, but the shameful fact that this is done as an act of charity. This country should pay for the best possible care and recuperation for injured soldiers, sailors and airmen from the public pot. The fact we need a charity called "Help for Heroes" to pay for rehabilitation from injury is a complete scandal. As I watched it I thought of this £110 million to rehabilitate our servicemen. £50 million for Torres to Chelsea, £35 million for Andy Carroll to Liverpool. Ashley Young to Man United for £16 million, Arteta to Arsenal for £10. Add those deals up and it's more than the ENTIRE cash collected for Help for Heroes. I'm a Manchester City fan. I saw somewhere that the team we put out against Spurs is worth £175 million. Are they really worth one and three quarters what we've paid as a nation to help rehabilitate our injured servicemen?

I just couldn't help thinking of all of the lies which landed us in Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I love football, but when I saw that video and heard the figures, I felt sick to my core. Am I the only person who thinks that it is a national disgrace that we rely on charity to fix up the bodies of the fallen. Am I the only one who thinks it is a disgrace that four fairly mediocre premiership players, not a premiership winners medal between them, are worth more than fixing the bodies of our brace soldiers?

Oh and the second half? There was really nothing to distract me from my maudling thoughts of national self loathing in the whole 45 minutes, apart from a half decent save by Joe Hart towards the end. 

As the final whistle approached I finally started to cheer up. I suddenly realised that I'd watched 90 minutes of football completely devoid of diving, play acting, players waiving imaginary cards at the referee. How much injury time - nothing in the first half and 2 mins in the second half. Not a physio on the pitch in the whole game. I thought how odd it was. Then I realised that all of the players on the pitch were British. As a nation we do play fair. We may be mugs, we may get turned over, we may not be able to string more than five decent passes together without giving the ball away, but we do play fair. And that is why I am proud of us. I saw a recent interview with Mike Summerbee, the Manchester City legend. He said "You don't support a team because they win or because they play nice football. If that happens it's a bonus. You support a team because you support them". That is why, come the next England match at Wembley, I'll be there, more in hope than expectation.

As we departed the ground, the  stadium announcer said "The man of the match is Aaron Ramsey". A bald fat Chelsea supporter next to me said "Whoever picked him is a F*****ng Gooner". That's football fans for you. I suspect that with the prices and the people running the FA, they'd rather have a rather different sort of customer. I hope to God they never get their way.

If you haven't donated any money to Help for Heroes - please click this link :-

http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk

We have a national duty to support these guys. If twats like me can pay £104 to watch a game of football, we can damn well afford to donate a few quid to the people who have suffered from the stupidity of the idiots we've elected. And if you voted Conservative or Lib Dem in the last election or Labour in the three elections before that, then I'm sorry to say that you share some of the blame for the fact that we ain't paying to look after these guys properly - and before you ask, I'm on a four out of four roll in that respect (3 Lab, 1 LD).

(and if anyone is tempted to leave comments promoting extreme parties by this comment, I will delete them -because this post ain't a soapbox for you).

Did you enjoy the match?

So England made the second phase. I broke my finger last Thursday and I've been working on a recording I urgently need finishing. It's a cross between bubble gum rock and rockabilly. As I couldn't play my guitar part, I thought I'd ring my old mate Boz Boorer and ask him if he could (it's right up his street). He was in the pub celebrating. "Did you enjoy the match?" I asked. Boz replied "I don't think you could describe it as enjoyable". The truth is we were in an "easy group" and we scraped through. It was like awaiting a firing squad. I still haven't recovered. Still if we beat the Germans and the Argentinians I guess it will soon be forgotten.

A question for Councillor Harper, Deputy Leader of Barnet Council

Dear Andrew, what country do we live in? I was tempted to ask him what planet, but that might seem a tad rude.You see Andrew objects to the proposal to fly the flag of St George over the Town Hall for the duration of the world cup. Here's what Andrew had to say about the issue

The Town Hall is the civic heart of the borough and the only flag which should be flown at the building is the Union flag. Personally, I’ll be following the World Cup with great interest, as I’m sure will many Barnet residents. But in times of tough economic pressures, the council as an organisation has greater priorities to deal with. 

 So what could be a greater priority than encouraging pride in our magnificent country? Well you could attend this comic book workshop organised by Councillor Robert Rams, Cabinet Member for Customer Access and Partnerships. Councillor Rams proudly boasts. You could have a barbeque following Councillor Melvin Cohens latest advice in his press release.

You see, telling people not to wash their pork chops is more important than national pride in Barnet. That is a priority. Anyway, IF YOU CLICK HERE YOU CAN FIND OUT HOW TO TELL ANDREW WHAT YOU THINK OF HIS PRIORITIES.  David Cameron said we should all take a role in running the country so what better place to start.

Oh and if Councillor Harper is worried about the cost of a flag, Don't Call Me Dave, Barnets most sensible ex-Tory has offered to donate one free of charge.

And just to clarify one little thing. I'll be cheering England even though I'm of Australian/Irish ancestry, because you know what? unlike our local Tory bigwigs I'm damn proud of this country.

England

We've qualified for the world cup. Well done boys. That says it all, nuff said. I've got a crate of lager that needs a little bit of TLC

Proud to be English - 50 reasons

I'm proud of all of the little bits of my ancestry. The Irish bit, the Aussie bit, the Canadian bit and all the other little bits as well. I'm no less proud of the English bit or my troublemaking English ancestors. I empathise with old Chidiock Tichborne - poet and conspirator. He changed the law of the land. When Queen Elizabeth the First found out that his public disemboweling had aroused public sympathy, she insisted that people were hung until dead before such inhumanity was inflicted upon them. I suppose Chidiock was a "proto blogger" writing his eulogy the night before he was executed. I'm rather proud of the English in general. We've got a long history of not being too keen on extremist idiots. We lead the world in abolishing slavery. We had the Magna Carta before anyone else had thought of such a thing. Anyway here's 50 reasons I'm proud to say I'm English. If like me you are the son of an immigrant who was born in this fine country and cheers for the England football team, all of these things make me feel English and proud of it. I don't believe you'd get any of them anywhere else (apart possibly from no 1!) and every single one of them makes me smile

1. John Barnes goal for England Vs Brazil
2. The Mill Hill Tandoori and the Day of the Raj Restaurant
3. William Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery
4. The Sex Pistols
5. St Pancras Station
6. Brighton Pier
7. The St Albans real ale festival
8. The Notting Hill Carnival
9. The Clash
10. Wembley Stadium illuminated arch at night
11. The 1948 Olympics
12. Rebecca Adlington
13. Red Rum (The Horse)
14. The Grand National
15. The Pogues
16. London Zoo
17. The North Cornish Coast
18. York Minster
19. Frank Whittle
20. The Vacuum Magnatron
21. The Morris Minor Traveller
22. The smell of fish and chip shops
23. Whelks from a stall at the Seaside
24. The Tate Modern
25. The Roundhouse (especially when X-Ray Specs are on stage)
26. Harry Patch & all those vets who died before him
27. Walter Tull (footballer & winner of the Military Cross)
28. Watling Boys Club (now Watling FC)
29. The Wellington Bomber in the RAF museum Hendon (my Dad flew one)
30. The Battle of Cable St
31. All of London's Greasy spoon Cafe's
32. 2000AD (featuring Judge Dredd)
33. Bob Crowe's intransigence
34. Manchester City fan's silent observance of the minutes silence at the 50th anniversary of Munich
35. Manchester City's 2-0 victory over United immediately after
36. The big oak trees in Mill Hill Park
37. The discovery of Jimi Hendrix
38. George Orwell
39. Thunderbirds
40. The 4th Plinth
41. The Specials
42. Passport to Pimlico
43. The Sweeney
44. Life on Mars
45. The Life of Brian
46. Life on Earth
47. The Triumph Bonneville
48. Linton Kwesi Johnson
49. Cox's Orange Pippins
50. The smell of kebabs at pub chucking out time

In the course of researching various blogs, I often take a peek at various BNP & other right wing blogs and websites. There are many sad things about their stilted views of the great country, but the saddest thing of the lot is just how many great things they are blind to. Maybe you don't agree with some/most/all of my list, but it all genuinely makes me happy and proud to be in such a diverse country with such a great tradition of tolerance.