A Week is a Long Time Part 2

Hello again :)

So after addressing the football I shall now address the main political event of the past week and as usual these days they don't make pretty reading!

There was the vote on Britain's EU membership in the commons on should we have a referendum on staying in or coming out. In the end the government won comfortably with over 400 MPs voting no but 81 eurosceptic Tory MPs defied the three line whip and rebelled breaking the previous record of 41 members rebelling on a Europe vote during Sir John Majors Premiership.

Now for those people out there who don't have a clue what a three line whip in basic terms it's when the political party's top brass demand that every single MP in that particular party vote with the Government and not rebel. Anyone who doesn't comply can be punished and if any government member rebels then they get the sack. Iain Duncan Smith the work and pensions secretary apparently threatened to resign if ever again he had to vote against his principles.

The main problem here is that there was absolutely no need for the Tory three line whip to be imposed. Labour and the Europe friendly Lib Dems had already imposed a three line whip and their number combined nearly equates to half of parliaments MPs and the other parties in the commons are not all exactly eurosceptic. The government would've easily won whatever whip was imposed so to tell people with specific beliefs that they have to vote a certain way is staggering and is not democracy at all more bordering on dictatorship

My local MP Stephen McPartland was one of the 81 who rebelled. In my local paper he spoke the words that the majority of the country is thinking.
"I believe it is wrong that people under the age of 54 have never had the opportunity to vote on the issue of issue of Europe. I believe in choice and people should be able to choose what relationship they would like with Europe"
That sums it all up in a nutshell!

For the record I'm a Conservative supporter and shall vote for them when I'm able to. I believe the austerity measures being taken are painful but necessary and were caused by Labours horrific last government, although I promise thats the only time ill ever say that because even Im bored with government members saying that nearly every day of the week. But I'm not a person who will just praise everything the government and David Cameron does just because I'm a Tory.

All party supporters should give criticism when it's due and the Prime Minister has missed a golden opportunity to adhere himself to voters by steering to giving them more of a say. Instead he packs the TV visible benches with women to try and get more women voters. Ed Miliband will probably start doing this to with his "MiliBabes". How sad can you get?

The most important fact however is that in a national newspaper survey this week it found that almost half the country wanted a referendum on Europe immediately. Perhaps it's time the politicians listen to the people who put them there more often, otherwise I fear democracy may never really be fully recognisable again.

Thanks for reading again. Just to let you know I shall soon be starting a series of articles looking at popular sports across different countries, seeing what impact they have and how do they compare to the UK, so you all have something to look forward to ;)

So until next time The Outsider is out!

A Week is a Long Time! Part 1

Hello again everyone,
I'm back from my holiday in Cyprus and boy did I miss the best premier league game in a while!

The first I heard about the City vs United score was in a local Cypriot Kiosk where they had some English papers printed. When I saw the back pages I, like anyone for that matter was gobsmacked. United 1-6 City. Must've been a misprint surely.

But as this result sinked in you get the sense that the winds of change really are blowing. Sir Alex Ferguson obviously knows this after calling that result his worst day in football. The toughest challenge of his managerial career is upon him and it is one he cannot afford to fail in simply because it is for the pride of Manchester.

City now seem to have a stronger squad and seem to be playing with more confidence. The pride of the City shirt has returned and the players with the egos are starting to do what's vest for the team and not themselves Balotelli is completely bonkers but at least his anitics (and fireworks) are away from the pitch at the moment. Although you sense it's only a matter of time before he does an Ashley Cole and shoots an academy member with an air rifle during training!

Of course United know a thing or two about winning title races and it is certainly not over yet. But reading the match report for the game made it feel like a definitive moment and that this might well be the time for City to make the transition from noisy neighbours to the best club team in England.

Moving on then to Arsenal. Crisis, what crisis? 5-3 win over Chelsea, 1/4 finals of Carling Cup going well in the Champions League couple of points behind Liverpool and Spurs in the League, it's all coming back together for Arsene Wengers Men, not to mention Robin Van Persie who is in the form of his life which is almost single handedly thrusting Arsenal up the table. A few weeks ago we were writing them off not they have turned the battle for fourth place into a 3 way battle (Sorry Newcastle it's not happening although stranger things have happened) So for Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal it's game on my friends game on!

Finally a quick word on the 2 racism rows going on. We should all put club allegiances aside and hope the book is thrown at John Terry and Luis Suarez if they did make racist remarks towards Anton Ferdinand and Patrice Evra respectively. We should also hope that the book is thrown at Ferdinand and Evra if they are found to be lying about these most serious of allegations (I believe Evra is but hey I'm no professional)

Thanks for reading, stay tuned in the next couple of hours as I shall have another blog up on the political events of the past week. Lib Dem rant anyone?

So until then the Outsider is out! :)

Where's Gaddafi? Ah there here is!

Ah I've got 1 post before I go off on holiday and it's my first step into the political realm!

Well theres only one story worth talking about now isn't there? Liam Fox must be thanking the Lord that the spotlight is off him, whilst Libyan rebels finally captured and killed Colonel Gaddafi.

Of course there is much debate going on right now on how he died and the UN seem concerned enough by the possibility that he might have be executed that they have demanded a full investigation.

Some would say that it doesn't matter how Gaddafi died as he was by all account a murderous dictator who had no sense of reality (He wasn't called Mad Dog for nothing you know!) Others would say it's never right to murder/anyone whatever there past contains. Both arguments are valid and can easily be asserted but I highly doubt we shall ever see a definitive answer.

Libyans now though have a great chance to create a peaceful democratic country if they put their minds to it. Unfortunately even before Gaddafi their politics was dominated by secrecy, brutality and just a sense of not being nice to anyone. But as Jeremy Bowen said on BBC News if they put there minds to it there's the possibility of a democratic Libya becoming very successful!

A mention must be made for NATO and the UN as well. To be fair to them if it wasn't for them Bengazhi would've fallen and we'd be back to square one. But with hours to spare resolution 1973 was enforced and it saved the revolution perhaps the entire Arab spring. The person who led this with President Sarkozy was David Cameron who now has a first military victory, which is a rare plus point for the coalition at the moment.

Of course there's a long way to go for Libya for it to become to fully running country again, but with Gaddafi now gone who knows? Perhaps they will be able to get onto the UN security council. Pakistan did earlier today so why can't they?

Thanks for reading, I shall blog again when I get back from holiday (probably back to some sports writing!). I'm also thinking of a little series to do on a specific subject or something like that, but I haven't decided yet so I'll keep you posted!

So until next time the Outsider is out! :)

Up the Toon!

Just a quick Post. One team that I didn't mention that I should've done is the suprise package so far this season; Newcastle. Along with Manchester City and United they are unbeaten and lie 4th after an impressive 2-2 all with Spurs. Shoala Ameobi looks like a new man and the signing of Demba Ba from West Ham looks like a masterstroke.

It's great to see that a group of players that are not seen as world beaters are mixing it with the so called big teams, but then again it wasn't long ago that Newcastle were consistently in the fight for a top 4 finish. Only a couple of years ago the unthinkable was happening and relegation to the championship became a dire reality.

Even when they got back immediatly into the premier league, it wasn't plain sailing. Chris Hughton was unfairly sacked and Alan Pardew was brought in at first without 100% player and fan support, but he has turned it around brilliantly as he now is the highest placed English Manager in the league at the moment. England job anyone?

Personally I feel they will not finish fourth and a top 10 finish is a more realistic target, but as always in football you never truly know until it has happened!

Thanks for reading and until next time, The Outsider is Out! :)

A Premier Leauge Review

Welcome all to my first post.

Hopefully millions of people shall be reading this. ;)

I shall begin with the thing I love most in the world; football. As I'm off to Cyprus next week I shall be missing 2 weekends of action, so for me it is a good time to reflect on the season so far, especially for my club Liverpool.

This time a year ago, Liverpool had just got new owners and relegation looked a distinct possibility. Now after over £100 million investment, the Reds are in the top 5 and have got a real chance of a top 4 finish and a return to the Champions League. Saturday's performance against Man United was very good and we would've had 3 points if it hadn't been for the usual late United goal! With Gerrard back and looking fully fit, it could be a very good season indeed.

The team that will challenge Liverpool for 4th will be Spurs. It's first blood to them with them having a game in hand and the 4-0 thrashing of us last month (I really can't wait for a chance for revenge and hopefully to silence my Spurs supporting friends!). When the transfer window closed I thought they'd had a nightmare by selling quite a few players and turning down £40 million for Modric. In fact it was the best decision they have ever made and with the addition of Scott Parker to bolster the midfield their squad is looking as strong as ever. The injury to Ledley King during the game against Newcastle is a setback though.

Arsenal fans will probably think they can still get back up there as well. Personally I feel the squad still lacks depth and relies too heavily up front on Van Persie, whose magnificence against Sunderland shows how much they will need to rely on him this season. If Arsene Wenger could actually teach Theo Walcott to keep the ball for more than 3 seconds they might get somewhere. They will definitely finish top 10, but I can't see them getting higher than 6th.

A quick mention for the new teams and the relegation battle. Blackburn and Wigan I think will definitely go down, but none of the new teams will join them. I'm keeping a close eye on Norwich especially this season as, their striker Steve Morison, used to play for my local club Stevenage only a few years ago and is now getting praise from the likes of Alan Shearer which is great to see. I hope he does well for club and country for many years to come.

Finally for today, the big debate. The title race. Red or Blue. City or United. (Not Chelsea! They’re not going to win the league but they're in no danger from Liverpool or Spurs so they'll finish 3rd)

Both City and United's Squad are impressive in attack but a bit shaky in defence. The central pairing of Ferdinand and Vidic doesn't inspire anymore, whilst Kompany, Lescott and Toure lack in pace which could prove costly in the Manchester derby next week. Both sides quality of attack is mouth watering though with Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez, Nani just to name a few and for City Aguero, Ballotelli, David Silva and so on (I would say Tevez but he's a greedy idiot so we'll move on) The Manchester derby should give an inkling on should shall ultimately win the war. United have the experience, but City have no fear, even if that means fighting with each other in training every once in a while. Certainly Aguero is there trump card. If he can stay fit and continue this rich vein of form I think City have enough to win the league, but as always you can never count United out. Love them or hate them, there ethos of Never give up is astounding.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, please comment what you think and maybe what I should do to improve. This is all about me practising my writing skills so I have a head start when I hopefully go to Uni to study Journalism so any constructive criticism is welcome!

So until next time The Outsider is Out!