I went to The Emirates Stadium last week to see the Arsenal/Liverpool Carling Cup match tie. It was my first time ever in a Stadium and – though my team lost - I had a LOVELY time. Liam (bless) sorted out the tickets. We sat in the Arsenal end. It was funny when the Arsenal supporters chanted 'Stand for the Arsenal' - resulting in Liam and I pretending to stand up with the all the 'gooners'. Similarly, I had to laugh when the Liverpool contingent taunted the Arsenal fans, chanting: 'Where are your European cups' .

When Liverpool equalised, I forgot myself and jumped up to celebrate; eliciting a few 'looks' from some Arsenal fans lol. All in all, it was a fantastic evening out; the adrenalin of watching a match in a Stadium is surreal. Next stop, Anfield .

Keeping things football; when/if Benitez eventually gets the sack, it will be because of the disdain that he routinely accords The Premiership. Why take off Torres after he’s just got you back in the game? Rafa’s illogical decisions are enough to make one go potty. All my 'enemies' had a field day after the match lol. And is It just me, or did the 3 nil scoreline flatter Arsenal?!?! I thought Spurs 'contained' them very well until their 5 minutes of madness towards the end of the 1st half!

On Friday I went to BCortes b'day gig at The Driver Bar in Kings X. The music was top notch: Tasha Thomas' "Shoot Me With Your Love" sounded lovely again when Jarred played it. I also loved it when Dave Holloway played Moodymann's "Ya Blessin' Me" – Big music! Shading it as my tune of the night was MAW’s mix of Jody Watley's "Love to Love" - Classic.

We all went to the Wah Wah party afterwards (did anyone go?). I particularly enjoyed it in the dubstep room; congrats again to Dom Servini.
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*I’m 'hooked' – pls. pardon the pun – on the ongoing row b/w the government and members of its drugs advisory committee. The Home Secretary sacked its chairman - Professor Nutt – a distinguished scientist, because he 'advised' the government that alcohol was a greater danger to teenagers than soft drugs. His sacking has sparked a war of words b/w the Home Secretary and a few of Nutt’s colleagues, who have resigned in protest.

Let's ignore the fact that the ensuing farce has left the Government's drugs policy in tatters; and let's ignore the pros and cons of any drug of choice. My question is this:

Why appoint a body of scientists' to undertake research on drugs and then sack the head of the committee because you disagree with his findings?!?!

I don't get it. It seems to me that the Government is playing 'politics' with scientific findings because of the approaching General Election. Your debate is always greatly appreciated.
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Tony Blair has also been in the news. A few international politicians are lobbying for him to be installed as the 1st ever President of the European Council. Unlike all of TB's 'enemies', I’m not against the move because he was economical with the truth over the invasion of Iraq; neither am I against the move because he was then bizarrely appointed as a 'peace' envoy to the Middle East region . I’m against the move because I will not be able to stomach the sight of Cherie Blair standing alongside Tony as the 'first lady' of Europe. It was grating in itself when we had to put up with her in Downing Street lol

And keeping things on the International political scene; this Thursday the 5th marks the 1st year anniversary of Obama's stunning presidential election win. But as Harold Wilson famously said: 'a week is a long time in Politics'. Is Obama's landmark win now a near-distant memory? Obama - Respect, anyhow.

Moving into the world of television, I hear the BBC is looking to recruit an older female newsreader. If true, they should reinstate the lady below with immediate effect...



They should never have gotten rid of her in the 1st place. Newscaster of newscasters!!!

I hear Barbara Windsor [aka Peggy Mitchell] will be leaving East Enders in the New Year. As grand matriarch of The Mitchell dynasty, she made the role her own. My memories of Barbara Windsor date back to when I used to watch The Carry On movies in the 70s. She had a great 'pair', then; and she still does now [at 72] haha. Speaking of EE, I have been enjoying it again. The Owen vs. Lucas standoff is gripping.

and, Simon Cowell going on record saying that he will leave England if Jedward win X Factor means that they would surely win it - or be in the final, at least.

Heads Up: it’s all about the Sa-ra Creative Partners @Deviation on Wednesday: word on the street is that its going to be very busy a la Dam Funk, last month; and speaking of Dam Funk, I hear he’s playing at Southport this weekend (a big Shout to everyone going…). On Saturday, I’m going to Charlie Dark’s 'School Of Dark' event at the Haywood Gallery [in Southbank]. Andreya Trianna (VOCALIST) will be making a guest appearance. There’s a big buzz on the streets about this one; its free entry as well!

And in Beatcave, there are so many quality mixes to choose from at the minute; not least, Slim SK's mix for Feel Up. A must-listen imho. Slim SK is one of the original old skool (and i don't say that lightly). A true 'teacher' - Fulllllll Respect! I’m also looking fwd to listening to Joe Minnis’ mix. And I see Dave P has just posted up a new 'autumnal' mix. Nice one. I also like the look of Joc's A Touch Of Jazz mix. I've been checking the T/L: Cal Tjader "The Fakir" – beautiful 'eastern' jazz and, I forgot about Heavy Usker’s edit of "Futebol De Bar", also in Joc's mix (Big up Rob Smith – original Brownswood mafia) Lastly, pls. make sure you check out Jarred's new mix.

It’s all good!

Looking fwd to Gilles P back on the radio tomorrow. He never comes back from his travels 'empty-handed'...Respect!

Blessed week.

: )

D

We were pretty poor on the day in the first 35 minutes in particular and especially Diaby losing too many balls but we still managed to get a fair result in the end by mainly exploiting Tottenham errors and lack of attack. How pathetic were all those long balls to Crouch, yeah Crouchy knock it down to Keane...every single time they failed... It could have also been 5-0 to the Arsenal if it was not from some poor finishing of Eduardo. Overall a fair result me thinks and waht an atmosphere best ever so far this season. I almost fainted when Fabregas scored LOL too much excitement!

I think Prof Nutt is being a bit of a plonker, I didn't read his statement but my guess is the sacking is not over the knowledge per se, but how he measured it. Sure it might be a lesser evil but the base line isn't another drug which is legal and deeply embedded in our culture. Thats not good science.


So while alcohol on paper might do more damage spliffin it - its pretty slippery grounds - smoking weed has nuff side effects too on mental health and lungs "all black and shriveled up like a raisin" to quote the Pharcdye

The only thing that annoys me about Benitez is that whenever Liverpool lose its never his fault.

He has got away with it in the past by blaming refereeing decisions , injury etc as LFC would only lose the occasional game.

Now that they have lost 6 out of 7 he just sounds like a whinging tw@t who refuses to take any responsibilty for the results.

how can you comment if you haven't even read his statement?

you say he is a plonker for giving an impartial assessment of the relative risks of different drugs?

how?

I have more faith in a scientist's perspective than the narrow-minded Gaunty view of the world and I think most honest, intelligent people would sympathise with the Professor.

it wasn't a statement, it was an independent academic study published in a scientific journal. which is after all what he does for a living.

he is (or was) an unpaid academic advisor to the govt, specifically because he was very good at his day job. to then sack him because he was continuing to do his job is just ridiculous.

cheers for the kind words D.

bless up big bro

I've met Nutt in the past and I have to say that he is blase about things (evidence) I wouldn't be blase about. But I find myself becoming increasingly impressed with his stance on this issue.

It all boils down to the Tony Benn style 'are British people adults or children' debate. The fact is, we all take risks all the time - getting into a car or an aeroplane, smoking, drinking, going outside on a sunny day without suncream, eating BBQed food. Illegal drugs are no different - they are another risk. And enough people have tried them such that we have a fairly good idea what will happen if you take them. There is no magic or mystery about it.

When you are a child, you are asked to avoid risky situations, because your capacity to deal with them is diminished, and you are not expected to have much understanding of what is going on - in Rumsfeld's terminology they are 'unknown unknowns'. And we are naturally averse to these.

However, it seems to me that New Labour consider that their purpose is to 'lead' us (like children) rather than to represent us. They took us to Iraq when most of us did not want to go, citing spurious evidence. And here, again, they are deliberately clouding an already complex issue simply in order to gain a few votes here and there from a frightened public. Yet with our own money, reinvested back into the banks, they are unable to represent us adequately, allowing bankers to take enormous bonuses.

It seems to me that New Labour have done nothing to shed us from our feudal culture. Our leaders treat us with the contempt that they consider that we deserve for being foolish enough to vote them in. They are a pathetic bunch - anyone watching their miserable performance on the Griffin QT must agree (there are clear and obvious reasons why the BNP are not a viable party in a functioning democracy - these could have been straightforwardly trotted out - whereas it was left to the general public to land a few blows). The opposition are no better - Cameron's recent contribution to the drugs debate is typically feeble.

As they say, 'all political careers end in failure', and Nutt chose to fall on his sword now, apparently after years of advice that had fallen on deaf ears. I admire his decision, and I fear his is a dying breed. It may seem like a small matter, but we could do with a few more of his kind in British public life.

a good read dude

Simon Cowell leaving the country would be an extremely good thing.

The emirates is great isn't it - you've been spoiled now though mate, anfield isn't half as impressive

I thought arsenal were good for their 3-0 to be honest, spurs never looked dangerous for me.

I can sympathise with benitez taking torres off. He said after the game that he took 4 days to recover from the 80 minutes he played the other day so he needed to rest him. It just brings up the old debate though doesnt it? Are liverpool any good without gerrard and torres? Not sure. You're missing Alonso though without a doubt.

i did that at carrow rd one year when west ham played norwich
the lady who sat next to me was outraged and threatened to write a letter in to the local paper. LOL
it all ended amicably though as norwich equalised and the game finished 1 - 1
her and her husband even offered me a few fairy cakes and scones at the end of the game. haha

as for benitez, the writing is on the wall i think. and if liverpool lose on wednesday, it will be 'adios'

what a ridiculous time we had on the Hammersmith End on Saturday. appalling refereeing, golas from unexpected players, a team in red going down to 9 men...

it was just like the Man United game last season

Carragher's first mugging of zamora should have been a penalty (not even a booking), the second shouldn't have been a sending off. torres' goal was splendid (and i say this as a long term season ticket holder at Fulham), much of the rest was comedeeeeeeeee.

Do you really have to ask that ?

I notice that Rafa aint come out with any 'facts' recently

for all the money Rafa has spent LFC are effectively where they were when he took over.

2 trophies in 5 seasons (both won on penalties lets not forget) doesnt justify the outlay on players.

yep the gap between money spent and money received aint that much (which is a credit to him) , but the fact that he has bought and sold almost 70 players without really moving them on tells its own story.

Liverpools strength is still through the middlle - Carragher - Gerrard - Torres

2 of these players where already there when he took over.

I'm quite happy for him to stay , this in itself tells its own story.

as i said a few weeks ago, carragher is looking a bit past it now

two professional fouls it two weeks
he was lucky to get away with it against man utd