Too Hot for Football
Posted: Fri 4 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, News, Sport 2 Comments »I must admit, I really don’t understand the whole ‘it’ll be too hot’ kerfuffle going on about the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After all, you would imagine that FIFA were aware when they awarded the World Cup to Qatar that playing it in the Summer is likely to be – well – bloody hot.
But no, it seems to have come as a surprise to them that any countries would be a tad upset at this, and also at the ‘back-up plan’ of playing it in Winter rather than Summer. Because well, playing it in Winter means that the football seasons for many of the countries in question will be spectacularly disrupted for a couple of months.
I don’t get the thinking behind it – assuming there was any – although I have to also point out that I don’t much care one way or the other anyway. It just seems pretty stupid to organise a sporting World Cup in the middle of summer in the Middle East. It’d be like awarding the Olympic Games to the region. But then, what would I know?
GP Hours
Posted: Wed 2 October, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health, News, Thoughts Leave a comment »In the news yesterday, there was a lot of talk about the Prime Minister’s speech suggesting that GP hours should be expanded to 8am-8pm and operating seven days a week.
Personally, I think this is a good idea – or at least some semblance of it. I don’t necessarily think they need to be open seven days a week – although, thinking about it, how long can it be ’til Tesco et al start having GP surgeries within their supermarkets? But simply being open for longer/better hours, and (ideally) on a Saturday would make a massive difference to most people, I suspect.
Currently, my own GP is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. That’s only useful if
- You’re unemployed, or based at home (whether home-working or raising a family)
- You work in the same location
For me – and for most working inhabitants of the village – using that GP means taking time off work for a simple GP visit. That’s unacceptable. If I were on medication (like when I was on anti-depressants a few years back) then I’d have to take time off every so often for a re-checkup. Fortunately, I was with a different GP at the time – the one in Norfolk ended up doing longer days (7am to 8pm I think) which made things a lot easier. (Of course, having made a pain in the arse of myself with the practice manager also helped, and meant that things got sorted a lot quicker anyway)
Basically, it doesn’t (in my opinion) need to go from one extreme to the other – but simply recognising the needs of the community that deal with each GP would make life one hell of a lot easier all round. Simply opening six days a week instead of five, and/or longer hours would be enough.
Of course, the other major difference/improvement would be to hire good receptionists who make appointments, rather than trying to find out what you’ve got for no good reason. It’d also be beneficial to have decent systems/methods in place that don’t mean the only free appointments are taken by 9.05 on any given day, and appointments for non-urgent enquiries can be made more than a week in advance…
But hey, what would I know?
Photos of Building Sites
Posted: Sat 9 February, 2013 Filed under: London, News, Photography Leave a comment »I don’t quite know why, but I find this set of photos on the BBC really interesting.
Basically, as the title says, it’s about photos of building sites in London, but the views just make it interesting.
Cheese, the Tunnel Blocker
Posted: Wed 23 January, 2013 Filed under: News, Weirdness Leave a comment »Among the more surreal stories yesterday, there’s this one from Norway…
Yes, a truckload of burning goat’s cheese has blocked and seriously damaged a road tunnel. That’s pretty impressive by anyone’s levels.
Not guilty, yet guilty
Posted: Thu 27 September, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Hypocrisy, News, Thoughts 13 Comments »[Disclaimer : I know fuck-all about football, and generally couldn’t care less]
I really, truly do not understand the Football Association (FA).
In today’s news, John Terry has been given a four-match suspension, and a £220,000 fine for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand during a match last year. Fair enough, racial abuse is never right (even among footballers), and those doing these things should be punished.
Ah, but. In this case Terry had already been cleared back in July by Westminster Magistrate’s Court of the exact same offence.
So what I don’t understand is why someone can be cleared in a court of law, but punished by a player’s association? Or have I missed something relevant?
Olympic Security
Posted: Thu 12 July, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, London Olympics, News, Thoughts 3 Comments »Another day, another Olympian feat of fuckuppery.
Today, it’s the news that 3,500 extra troops are being drafted in for Olympic security, in addition to the 13,500 already allocated to the job.
And why is this happening? Because ‘security group’ G4S (who used to be, if memory serves, Securicor, then Group 4) can’t guarantee that they can supply the full quota of 10,000 guards that they’ve been paid £300m to provide.
Some of the extra soldiers have only recently returned from postings overseas. And I wonder how many of them have also recently been told that they’re surplus to requirements ?