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Sunday

TdF3 - Mountains, mountains...and Paris

Stage 16 sees the Tour arrive in the Alps.  Supposedly a ‘gentle’ start – the Tour website describes it as ‘medium mountains’ – with just one climb and then a long descent to Gap.

So despite being a mountain stage, the climbers and the leaders of the general classification seemed to be thinking ahead to the ‘high mountain’ stages of the next two days.  Contador did attack, seemingly as much testing out his rivals as anything.  Evans covered every move with an economy of effort that suggests he’s ready to protect the time his has over the other main contenders, pushing on to take 21 seconds out of Contador and Samuel Sanchez and over a minute from Andy Schleck on what’s supposed to be the Schleck’s preferred racing terrain.

But with bigger mountain stages to come Andy Schleck claimed to unperterbed.  Meanwhile that left the door open for breakaway stage win.  Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal led over the final climb, but once Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, of Team Sky, caught the Garmin-Cervello rider, that gave the pursuing Thor Hushovd the green light to chase down the leaders.  

As a team mate of Ryder Hesjedal, Hushovd would have left his colleague out in front if he was heading for a lone stage win.  But now Hushovd proceeded to give a master class in mountain descending.  Reaching speeds of almost 70mph Hushovd caught the leaders and outwitted fellow Norwegian Boasson Hagen to take the stage, his second of the Tour and his first ever mountain stage victory.  The big Norwegian is starting to rival Voeckler as man of the Tour.  But not quite.  The Frenchman even tried to stay with Contador today and lost just 15 seconds, to remain in yellow.





Friday

The real race for Paris

As the Tour de France heads through the Alps some people are asking if Mark Cavendish will make Paris, but there's another survival struggle unfolding for those of us keeping tabs on the Tour via Eurosport.

Judging by the last couple of days the real question is will James Richardson make it to the conclusion of the Tour?

TV’s most under-used sardonic sports presenter is clearly battling a dose of manflu.  On Thursday his voice was barely recognisable and today he couldn’t complete a link without accompanying coughing and spluttering before there was time to close the mic.  


Poor old Jimbo, let’s hope he makes it to Sunday.

As the man himself would – and indeed does – say;

Woof!


Bears... woods...

So according to a couple of ex-News International managers, James Murdoch might, just possibly have fibbed a bit, when he was being so helpful to the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee.

Gosh.  Really?  No, that can't be right.  What's that?  Humpty Dumpty, he was fat you say.  That Pope chap, he really is a Catholic and you're quite sure about the bears doing poo poos in the woods.  Phew, who'd have though it eh..?

Wednesday

Talking heads...once in a lifetime?

Inevitably the high drama of Murdoch & Son appearing before the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee yesterday grabbed all the headlines and in between some of Murdoch senior’s Pinteresque pauses he really did say ‘I must not prejudice the cause of justice’, which was worth the two and a half hours of theatre alone.  Although his claim that Singapore is the example of democracy and freedom we should all aspire to does run it a close second.

However, it was ultimately an anti-climax, in part due to the apparent amnesia and lax management claimed by Murdoch senior and the patronising obfuscation of Murdoch junior.  But just as much it was due to the poor quality of most of the questioning, which was all too often convoluted, rambling and failed to pick up or challenge the unlikely answers offered to the committee.

Honourable exceptions were – unsurprisingly – Tom Watson MP whose pressing of Murdoch senior had James Murdoch desperately trying to intervene and Louise Mensch MP, whose closing questions finally asked direct questions about Rupert Murdoch’s own responsibility as CEO.  Which of course he denied.

Far more revealing and forensic was the Home Affairs Select Committee, that was relegated to a support act.  Which was a shame, as, in the course of three sessions with senior Metropolitan Police figures the dysfunctional nature of the Met. Police was laid bare.  Each witness contradicted each other, passed blame around and showed a remarkable lack of knowledge of their own processes.


Tuesday

Er, am I missing something..?

Hacking scandal pt 194...

As various sometime News Corp employees are getting arrested - although not charged - in connection with police corruption, as well as phone hacking, has anyone else wondered if the Metropolitan Police isn't getting into conducting an investigation into themselves..?
We are assured that the judge led inquiry will look into police corruption, as will an MP's Select Committee and quite possibly the Police Complaint Commission for that matter, but any actual prosecutions will come from the same police force as any likely suspects.

Meanwhile there are now a growing number of inquiries set to be launched into the whole affair, 6 according to the BBC News, but an hour later Channel Four news was claiming it was 10! the term 'inquiry spaghetti' is already being bandied about and with good reason.
So, as the top Met Police bosses are resigning, while claiming to have done nothing wrong, I was thinking it might be worth bringing in an outside police force.

At least until I heard an interview on the radio with a former Detective Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, who was so dismissive of the phone hacking at News International (and by extension the alleged bribery of police officers) that I thought he was an News Corp spokesperson.

Oh dear, they still don't get it, or is it just they don't want to?


Tour de France – week two

Oh dear, my last TdF post turning into stage by stage reflections, has made a rod for my own back - guess I’ll have to finish the job now.

But I can think of worse things to do...

So after a rest day, which we were told repeatedly wouldn’t be much of a rest as most of the cyclists would be out on their bikes for an hour or two, just to keep the muscles supple, it was back for another one hundred miles round France on stage ten.


Remarkably both Fletcha and Hoogerland started stage ten, the latter in the king of the mountains polka dot jersey and with thirty stitches in his legs and backside.  Despite a long breakaway and an attempt by Philippe Gilbert to pinch a solo win off the front of the peloton, the stage came down to a bunch sprint and a Cavendish win.  Er, no actually, despite the usual HTC lead out train Cavendish seemed to misjudge the sprint and lost out to former team mate Andre Greipel, who had to leave HTC to get a ride in the Tour.

Greipel, who really ought to be nicknamed ‘the muscles from Rostock’ had plenty to say about being second string sprinter to Cavendish.  Cavendish of course gave as good as he got, on and off the track.  Apparently the two buried the hatchet after Greipel’s win, helped by Cavendish conceding that Greipel had produced a near perfect sprint.

Overall, little changed as the leaders came in together ahead of the Pyrenees.

Monday

One man's architecture...

... is another man's eyesore.

Noticed that both the Open golf coverage and the Tour de France included some cutaway footage of wind farms this weekend.  In both cases drawing negative comments from the commentators, Wayne Grady and Phil Liggett (I think) along the lines of how ugly they are and they wouldn't want to live near one.

Really?  Well each to their own.  I'd take a wind farm over a new nuclear power station on my door step any day.

He's literally nailed him

The Guardian's Barney Ronay with a nice closed season riff on Redknapp junior's limited vocabulary... not the only one by a long chalk, but he appears bereft of any kind of opinion or insight.  An easy - although deserving - target, for those irritating holiday advertisements alone and a top, top article from the boy Ronay.

Back of the net!

Tuesday

Mad, bad and dangerous to be in

 A review of week one (and a bit) of the Tour de France, up to the first rest day and it’s business as usual, only more so...

As if determined to hang on to the black skull and crossbones jersey as the sporting event that ‘goes up to eleven’, to slightly misquote Nigel Tuffnel, the Tour de France continues to cross the line between genius and madness like it’s the pedestrian crossing by my local newsagents.

Before it even started, you got a sense that all would not be well over the 3 weeks of sporting sadism that is Le Tour.  At a slightly surreal ‘introduction to the teams’ held in what appeared to an old Roman amphitheatre, defending champion* Alberto Contador was roundly booed.  Why?  Well it’s all in the asterisk.  After last year’s Tour it was revealed Contador had failed a dope test.  The Spanish cycling authorities accepted his claim that it was due to eating some contaminated meat and cleared him to race on.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) weren’t so easily satisfied and wanted a new hearing before this year’s Tour.  Lawyers for Contador got the Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing postponed, so he’s free to take part this year, but nobody knows if he’s the defending champion or not!

Saturday

The Strange Death of Illberal England

Everything I could hope to say on the News of the World/Metropolitan Police/phone hacking story has already been said, written, blogged and tweeted.  And no, I’m not just using this as a weak link to The Jam’s ‘News of the World’.  I did think about it, but seeing as it’s now better known as the theme tune to a TV comedy quiz show...no, it’s been done.

Of course there are a wealth of songs aimed at journalists or the media.  Straight off the top of my head – Adam & The Ants ‘Press Darlings’ and The Cramps ‘TV Set’ spring to mind, but that probably says more about me.

Oh, yes, back to the matter in hand.  The demise after 168 years of NOTW.  You almost have to admire the sheer arrogance of Murdoch in sweeping away a title he’s owned since 1969 as soon as it becomes a problem.

That’s almost.  But not quite.  While the staff are coming to terms with being summarily dismissed by managers who remain in place and data is wiped from hard drives before the boys in blue have moved in, it seems like another case of the elite pulling up the drawbridge.

Just like the bankers and the MPs a few sacrificial lambs will be offered up and an awful lot of good and blameless people will lose their jobs.  Meanwhile take a look at whose running the media in six months time.  Just like parliament and the banks, I suspect there will be a lot of familiar faces.  A few job titles may have changed and some nice fat pensions will have been cashed in, but is it really a pivotal moment, when power shifts and we have a ‘step change’.  (What is a ‘step change’ by the way?  I’m sure we never had such a thing when I was a lad...)

So now we’ll get a properly regulated press externally controlled by the body that comes out of the Public Inquiry that’s just been announced.  Sounds like a good thing right?  Erm no, actually that’s the irony of this whole sorry mess.

There is a real danger that politicians and/or business interests will find it far easier to gag the real news that a free press should be digging up all because we liked hearing about celebrity gossip.


Friday

Guile unplugged

I've written about Guile before and considered them one of the best unsigned bands around.  Well there is some justice in the world as they're now signed to a small Birmingham label and have a single due in September.


If you're quick you can hear Guile in session on BBC WM's 'Introducing...' here doing stripped down acoustic versions of some of their live favourites including forthcoming single 'Deep By The Dockery' - highly recommended!

For a more typical indication of the full on Guile live experience though, you might want to try this as a starting point...




Or here for a free download of one of the tracks on the forthcoming album.  

Guile play London, at the Islington Academy, with Suzerian and Civil War on 23rd July, before a full UK in September.


Wednesday

21st Century South Sea Bubble

Remember when Myspace was Facebook?  The site everyone just had to have a page on?  Seems a long time ago now, but there really was a time.  In fact those of us of a certain age and disposition – i.e. anyone involved with an unsigned band – can remember the angst and worry going round when News Corp bought Myspace. 

Was every channel on Myspace now just a small part of the News International empire?  Well, yes, probably... Would Rupe have a claim on all the music we were uploading?  Perhaps, although push never came to shove on that one.

That was 2005 and £362 million changed hands.  Last week News Corp sold all but 5% of Myspace.  For £22 million.  Still a considerable chunk of change, but you don’t need to be an accountant to spot it isn’t the best bit of business the ex-Australian paperboy’s done.

But then, getting burned on a social networking site deal is probably not top of Rupert’s agenda right now...

The moral of this story is, the value of shares can go down as well as up.  Terms & conditions apply.

Friday

Magazine - Slade Rooms Wolverhampton

A band that can open with 'The Light Pours Out Of Me' can't really go wrong and as this latest incarnation - dubbed Magazine version 6.0 by Mr Devoto - showed, they've got the back catalogue and they're not afraid to use it.

When Magazine reformed in 2009 there was a sense of it being an exercise in experimentation, rather than a full blooded reunion.  Always too arch to do the obvious, God forbid 'play the game', you got the impression that Magazine needed a reason to justify breathing life into the old corpse again after twenty odd years.  And we're not talking pension plan top ups here (although I'm sure it's a pleasant by-product). 

Here at the pleasingly full Slade Rooms - that's pleasingly full of Old Men - we got our answer.  Alongside, 'Permafrost' 'Thank-You' and 'Motorcade' we get a brand new shiny song.  A new Magazine song.  A new Magazine song in 2011.

OK, let's rewind.  It's been reported for some time that the band were working on new material and no doubt an album's in the works.  But in amongst a 45 minute greatest hits set (this was a warm up for their Hop Farm Festival appearance supporting Iggy & The Stooges and Morrissey, in Kent...you couldn't make that up, could you?) up pops one previously unheard of song to confound us.

On one listen it owes something of a debt to Joy Division, with a naggingly familiar Hookyesque foundation.  Time will tell, but it fitted in with a set that illustrates why Magazine have stood the test of time so well, why they are so often referenced and why they will probably bear listening to in another 20 years.

Having said all that there is still that element of cabaret as with all reformations.  Barry Adamson's other commitments mean that Jon 'Stan' White has stepped into the old Jazz Devil's shoes for this tour.  Big shoes to fill and while White can't hope to be the same character as Adamson had become by the 2009 dates, he certainly did a good job musically (although I know others would disagree).

It's the same dilemma as guitarist Noko faces.  Clearly a good musician in his own right, but how much is he (can he) give of himself, when he's got the sizable task of filling in for the late, great and criminally under-rated John McGeoch?  To a lesser extent Noko is also covering for 'Correct Use Of Soap' era guitarist Robin Smith, [edit: see comments for correction to my schoolboy error] but it's McGeogh's work that always fought with Dave Formula's keyboards for attention.  Both running through Magazine's back catalogue like the greeting on a seaside stick of rock.

So how good are Magazine 6.0? I've no idea and to be truthful nobody will have until we get to hear the result of those new recordings.

What I do know is that live they're doing justice to a great and much neglected body of work and if the version 6.0 lineup can recapture some of the magic of those first three albums then Magazine will have found their reason to justify their reformation. 




Badly shot clip from way too far back, but you get the picture.
Go here for more of the same.