England fumes as snow & ice -and jack-knifed lorries- ruin sports, shopping and travel plans days before Christmas. Why so many lorries on roads now?

Channel 4 News: U.K. snow strands air travellers Correspondent Victoria Macdonald at Heathrow Airport
http://bcove.me/byscxokf
Story at: http://www.channel4.com/news/uk-snow-strands-air-travellers

Despite knowing that it was highly likely that the Chelsea-Manchester United football game would not go on today as planned in West London (at 11 a.m. my time in Miami) due to, supposedly, the treacherous road conditions caused by the unrelenting snow and ice -or as one website put it, "ran afoul of snow"- I'm still disappointed NOT to be able to see the game on Fox Soccer Channel, which has substituted a game in Switzerland between teams I've never heard of for the canceled game at Stamford Bridge.
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/Home/0,,10268,00.html

Especially disappointing when I am hearing differing stories today on what the actual road conditions around Fulham Road, SW 6 are like.

But then I have many viewing choices in the U.S., and was, of course, planning on watching the NFL games this afternoon, including the Dolphins game here against the Buffalo Bills and C.J. Spiller, whom I wanted the Dolphins to draft back in May.

Those choices I have put in rather stark perspective a strong sentiment I heard often yesterday and today on BBC Radio's 5 live about the much-discussed idea of the Premier League following the Bundesliga in Germany and taking a winter break, so that games are not scheduled when you know in advance that the conditions could be quite problematic weather-wise. http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/

After the jaw-dropping World Cup debacle in South Africa, where the English National Team performed perfectly miserably and looked old, slow, unenthusiastic and not-so-talented in their last game against Germany, there were many knowledgeable callers to live 5 in the immediate hours afterward who said that one of the many things that needed to be done to make ENT relevant again, was to finally end the idea of playing games at times of the year that don't make sense weather-wise. http://www.thefa.com/England

It was said often that this continuous playing of league matches, daily practice plus games in various UEFA tourneys and the FA Cup that pay big money and have much prestige, leads to players being worn out in ways that even vacations to the sunny climes of South Beach can not mend.
My own experience is that you tend NOT to get 'fresh legs' in South Beach.
Just saying...

Well, yesterday, the opposing sentiment to this notion of a winter break came in fast and furious and I must admit, it's self-evident nature caught me a little short.
"Then what are we going to do in the winter?"

Hmm-m...I hadn't actually thought of that!


On this show and many others I've heard since this summer, one caller after another has volunteered how much their own childhood memories of Christmas had to some degree been shaped by the Boxing Day fixtures on Dec. 26th, big games that I have watched for years from afar, but read about and followed in newspapers, magazines and books, and now online, for years, since they tend to get more mention historically.

They're NOT just regular season games because people's memories of this year's holiday will be shaped in some part based on how their own team does, regardless of what division they're playing in.

For some fans of more modest means, this may be the one home game they go to all year, or the only one they attend with their family and not their friends from work or the neighborhood.
That's not insignificant.

In some ways, though it's far from an exact comparison, those Boxing Day football fixtures are England's version of the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys always playing on Thanksgiving Day, and those NFL games becoming part of the national consciousness in ways that other NFL regular season games don't. If you're a sports fan, esp. a devout one, they become almost a subconscious part of your memory.

Real American sports fans of a certain age can even recall great games or foul-ups from years gone by that happened in Turkey Day games, even when they didn't involve their own favorite teams.

The 1993 Dolphins at Cowboys game, featuring Leon Lett, comes immediately to mind, though that is of a different sort, owing to my being a Dolphin fan for 40 years, since I still recall games I was at from 1971 and the Perfect Season of '72.




The idea that English sports fans would have little to choose from for their spectator or TV-viewing satisfaction is something that can't be underestimated.

There's no NBA or NHL or NCAA college basketball, men or women, plus the lack of the corresponding youth and High School teams in these sports to the extent that is true in the U.S. and Canada.
It's simply a different sporting culture.

I'll have more to say on this issue of a winter break for Premier League teams in the future, just wanted to share a few thoughts now since it seemed a propos.


Earlier today, just before Noon my time, I received my daily Channel 4 Snowmail, with Chief Correspondent Alex Thompson penning his pithy overview of stories that'd be appearing later in the night on the Channel 4 newscast, with weather being an integral part of that.

He asks a very reasonable question that nearly everyone seems to be asking,
"It is almost invariably lorries which stop [U.K.] motorways in snow... Why is this state of affairs allowed to continue?"

On the roads there is still serious disruption. It is time to tell a simple truth here: it is almost invariably lorries which stop our motorways in snow. They cannot handle the hills, they drive too fast too close (as every motorway-user will testify) and they jack-knife. As I write an LPG tanker's gone over on the M25, closing the motorway that is rarely far from crisis on a balmy June afternoon. Why is this state of affairs allowed to continue? Why cannot the haulage industry - including their heavy clients like the supermarkets - be instructed to take their fleets off the road for the six to 12 hours needed, once or twice a year?

We will not starve. We will not run short of fuel. Life will continue. And most of all the motorways will function far better because the gritters and ploughs can get through. In any case - since when was a very expensive truck, static for eight hours on a motorway, good for anybody's haulage bottom line?

You can read more and comment on Alex Thomson's blog at
http://blogs.channel4.com/world-news-blog/uk-snow-why-are-there-so-many-lorries-on-the-roads/14653

Video of jack-knifed lorries:
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/191210/clipid/191210_4ON_SNOWOTHER2_19

At the end of the Snowmail it grimly reads:

WEATHER WARNINGS OVERVIEW
There are several weather warnings being issued by the Met Office, see them in full: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_warnings.html


TONIGHT Snow showers will continue in northeast Scotland overnight and outbreaks of snow will spread into the far southwest. It'll feel bitterly cold everywhere, with severe frost, ice and freezing fog patches.

TOMORROW
The snow in the southwest will spread to most of Wales, the south Midlands and southeast England during the day. It will be another very cold day with many places staying below freezing.

OUTLOOK
There's no sign of a break in the bitterly cold weather. Snow and ice will continue to be a problem throughout the week.

-----

See also:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/

http://www.clubcall.com/

Color me pleased as punch: Wash. Post: Defeat of DREAM Act reveals failed White House strategy, advocates say

Given this bit of good news from Capitol Hill on what is otherwise a wet, cool and miserable Saturday afternoon exactly seven days before Christmas -may I suggest some hazelnut coffee at Panera's?- where I'm listening to BBC Radio's 5 live's Saturday Edition with Chris Warburton, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tl9cb and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two, amidst all the reports about the bad weather -6 inches of snow in 25 minutes at a North London mall and canceled football matches everywhere- I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

Yes, there will likely be hard-luck stories galore in Sunday's Miami Herald but likely little insightful analysis that matches what I have for you below from the Washington Post's Shankar Vedantam, who wisely keeps to the facts and doesn't editorialize in his stories, as seems so common at the Herald, where facts that don't support the passage of the DREAM Act simply don't appear with regularity in stories, despite the fact that a clear majority of the country opposes it.

Not that this stops the Miami Herald or their minions.
Their editorial board, reporters, columnists and editors have long championed a ridiculous immigration policy that defied logic and reason that was the very definition of "backdoor amnesty for lawbreakers" that critics like me said it was.

They lost because it was a bad idea that failed to persuade.

-----
The Washington Post
Defeat of immigration measure reveals failed White House strategy, advocates say By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 18, 2010; 12:55 PM

Whenever Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and other immigrant-rights advocates asked President Obama how a Democratic administration could preside over the greatest number of deportations in any two-year period in the nation's history, Obama's answer was always the same.

Deporting almost 800,000 illegal immigrants might antagonize some Democrats and Latino voters, Obama's skeptical supporters said the president told them, but stepped-up enforcement was the only way to buy credibility with Republicans and generate bipartisan support for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws.

On Saturday that strategy was in ruins after Senate Democrats could muster only 55 votes in support of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a measure that would have created a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children. Under Senate rules, Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome Republican opposition to the bill. The House of Representatives had passed the measure earlier this month, 216 to 198.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121801679.html

Earliest snowfalls to hit England in 17 years has Britons looking for True Grit -for the roads. Why did Britain slide into snow chaos?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Today's Daily Telegraph headline asks the simple question that people were asking throughout England on Wednesday:
Why did Britain slide into snow chaos again?
An inquiry into how the freezing weather crippled Britain's transport network ordered by the Government
Caroline Gammell and David Millward 10:19PM GMT 01 Dec 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8175167/Why-did-Britain-slide-into-snow-chaos-again.html




Channel 4 News -Half of England & Scotland stay home from work due to heavy snow and transport problems, especially smaller towns. Scotland gripped by the worst winter in 45 years
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=694613892001
http://www.channel4.com/news/uk-snow-arctic-weather-set-to-stay

The bad weather created a larger than usual captive audience for BBC Radio 5 live and listeners took advantage by generating lots of calls and emails about what people were doing with their time, or, alternatively, relating their "war" stories.

Over 150 motorists were stuck in their vehicles on the A57 for two days and were helped by Mountain Rescue teams.

On Richard Bacon's afternoon program it was apparent that residents of Kent, Surrey and Essex largely stayed home, staying out of gridlocked, motorways and London after driving 6 hours hours to get 15-20 miles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pstlg
http://www.channel4.com/news/snow-gallery-november-2010

In Kent, estate agents (real estate) signs were being snatched by kids from in front of properties and being used by kids to slide down hills, i.e. what we call sledding, but they call sledging.
And reports are that the snow is only getting worse there.

One particularly interesting conversation I heard concerned the Halifax Courier publisher discussing the era of the new media, but then saying that while he was in charge of a media business with a newspaper component, at times of such bad weather, those abstract ideas about the future would have to take a back seat to him and his team trying to cope with getting news to readers while snow made deliveries impossible on Wednesday, with no print edition.



http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/View-a-digital-edition-of.6645971.jp
http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/

At one point, someone, I don't know who, even remarked that they couldn't wrap a set of dishes in an iPad, which caused me to laugh, but depending upon your point of view, that's either an overly-romantic image of the news business, or merely stating the facts Jack Webb-style.

Gatwick Airport is now officially closed until Friday.

http://www.accuweather.com/ukie/index.asp?partner=dailytelegraph

BBC 6 Music to air Primal Scream's Screamadelica gig LIVE on Friday, 9 p.m. G.M.T./4 p.m. U.S. (Eastern)

Hadn't listened to BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast so much the past week, owing to some family health problems that have required me to spend lots of hours at Aventura Hospital ever since Nov. 14th, but early this morning, with nothing good on TV, I finally got back in the groove.

I first heard an an interesting discussion on class consciousness in modern-day Britain -subject of a forthcoming blog post involving Kate Middleton.

Moments later, I heard a great-sounding promo for BBC Radio 6 Music to air Primal Scream's Screamadelica gig LIVE on Friday, 9 pm G.M.T./4 p.m. U.S. (Eastern)

BBC Press Release on Friday's event:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/11_november/19/screamadelica.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

Primal Scream - BBC Artist Page
Primal Scream - Official Site

There are loads of videos at http://www.theprimalscream.com/news/index.html

On Sunday the 21st, on 6 Mix, Andrew Weatherall played music which inspired him and Primal Scream to create Screamadelica.

You can hear the podcast at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00w4gsf/6_Mix_Andrew_Weatherall_on_Screamadelica

You can listen to 6 Music live via http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_6music

6 Music homepage at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

I was over at Aventura Hospital on Sunday when this was first broadcast, so I'm glad it was up on the BBC website so quickly, something all the BBC channels do right, in stark contrast to how some things get done in perpetually sleepwalking South Florida media circles.

When the podcast first started playing, it instantly reminded me of being back at my favorite Indian restaurant in the whole Washington, D.C. area, Aditi, located in Georgetown actually.

On a cold snowy January night in 1994, Aditi, with its delicious food and great service, was the scene of one of the world's greatest-ever second dates, which, oddly enough, had started out earlier that afternoon in Northern Virginia, when my then-beloved was having laser surgery done on one of her eyes to minimize a really scary problem that had her and me worried.

At one point after he'd performed the surgery, with me holding "C's" hand the whole time, and she was was out of the room, the doctor asked me nonchalantly whether "C" and I were getting married that spring, or were we going to wait until the fall.

When I smailed and told him that we were actually just going to have our second date later that night, he laughed and thought I was joking.

I said no, actually, that was the case, even though she and I had more things in common than anyone I'd ever met before.

As I eventually discovered, with the exception of the better part of three years in the '80's when I was living in the Chicago, the early Dan Marino years, she and I had lived within an hour of one another for over twenty years.
That included time when we were both in Indiana, where she was from -Indy- and where she and I had both gone to college, me at IU and her at our arch-rival, Purdue, and then later in the D.C. area, but we'd never ever met, despite having so many common interests and similar personalities.
(I immediately thought, "So many years that could've been SO MUCH happier.")

The doctor then said something that I can still remember like it was yesterday, saying that "C" and I seemed more "in sync" than any two people he'd seen in quite some time. "I hardly know you, Dave, but based on what I've seen, you two NEED to get married. This year. Really."

The doctor was right of course.
Oh for what might have been!
C'est la guerre!

But then dear reader you're doubtless thinking, "Well, Dave, if that had happened, there'd never have been a Hallandale Beach Blog to inform and entertain, right? Oui!

Sorry for the tangent, I was just feeling wistful.

Profile and recent articles about British Education Secretary Michael Gove:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelgove

Aditi
3299 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007
Phone: (202) 625-6825
http://www.dineaditi.com/

The Klaxons -Twin Flames (featuring Charlotte Church) from Richard Bacon's new afternoon program on BBC Radio 5 live

Charlotte's new album 'Back To Scratch' is out right now in both the U.S. and the U.K.

The Klaxons -Twin Flames (featuring Charlotte Church)

Richard Bacon Show,
BBC Radio 5 live,
October 26, 2010



--------
The first time that I knew that Charlotte Church's talent was more than self-evident but transcendent, was when I heard her interviewed and sing on, of all things, The G.Gordon Liddy Show on WJFK-FM in Washington, D.C.

That was back when it aired just after 11 a.m. following The Howard Stern Show, which I faithfully listened to every morning for years from the moment I woke-up.

Once I left my house in north Arlington by 7:30, I listened to Howard and Robin via my radio earbuds as I walked down busy and winding Glebe Road to the Ballston Metro train station -next to the National Science Foundation HQ- which had among the best selection of out-of-town newspaper vending machines in the Washington area, with machines that were never broken!

Every morning, I could count on seeing The Boston Globe, a few Philly papers, The New York Times, New York Daily News and New York Post, plus many, many others just sitting there, tempting me and the thousands of Metro riders who made their way up and down the stairs and escalators all day.

That was an existence and flexibility so different than my current life, where getting access to physical copies of the the non-New York papers requires great deal of effort, not a good thing for a news junkie like myself, who still prefers the tactile touch of a newspaper in my hand to an online experience.
That experience also infroms you why I am so currently frustrated with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald.
Plain and simple, I'm used to better, given that I read the Washington Post everyday, too.

The D.C. version of the Los Angeles Times, which I read just about every day, was usually not there at the Metro station until after 11 a.m., so I'd sometimes swing by the huge office building downtown on Eye Street, N.W. where the Times and then-owner Times Mirror had their Washington bureau, and secure copies from friends and folks I knew there, or if I was short on time, from the nearby vending machines.

The D.C. version of the paper has most of the same articles as the edition in LA -minus the local section- but had zero ads, and was of better paper stock than other papers, and a ridiculous bargain for a dollar, esp. on the days it had an entire section full of stories from their foreign correspondents, back when they had among the best in the business, including Robin Wright reporting on the Middle East.

So very, very different than my current life and existence here in Hallandale Beach, where accessing physical copies of the the non-New York newspapers requires great deal of effort, and not just a trip up to the east side of Young Circle in Hollywood to see my favorite news stand guys; not a good thing for a news junkie like myself.

Once I got off the Metro downtown and had made my way up to street-level, I put my earbuds back in and rejoined Howard & Robin in mid-yuck or guffaw.
But once I was at work, I turned on my Sony cassette recorder, but obviously, lowered the volume at work due to others' sensitive ears!

As many of you already know by now, I was listening to Howard Stern on the morning of 9/11, which is how I came to hear of the first plane crash into the Twin Towers.
I was working in my my office across Pennsylvania Ave. from the Dept. of Justice and the FBI, just four blocks from The White House. See my post on that at my other blog, South Beach Hoosier: http://southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/2007/09/flight-93-national-memorial-sixth.html)

As far as that moment of clarity with Charlotte goes, I was sitting by myself in a law firm's large conference room with a great view overlooking Connecticut Avenue, N.W., and was surrounded by about 50 Banker boxes full of documents I had been reviewing over the previous week on behalf of my firm.

And the combination of my second Coke Classic and my first Hazelnut coffee of the day were not having their usual effect.
It felt like 3:15 in the afternoon already and yet it was actually not even Noon yet.
I felt like spinning around in my office chair until I woke up.
Not that that ever works.

I'd heard of Charlotte, of course -who hadn't?- since she was seemingly everywhere at the time as the adorably cute and precociously talented Welsh singing dynamo.

But I'd never bought a CD of her's because, frankly, her music, amazing as it was, just wasn't all that appealing to me.
I wasn't her demographic.

After listening to the show for a while -I think her mother was with her in the studio- and hear a completely enchanted Gordon probably use the word "amazing" a dozen or so times, not unlike the way you often hear young parents gush about their own infants, he finally asked the then-15 or 16-year old Charlotte to actually sing something.
Finally!

But the cynic in me thought that after having already done lots of news show or chit-chat interviews that morning in Washington, I figured she'd beg off, saying that her voice was sore or something, but she said okay.
A few seconds later...
Wow!!
You just can't deny her talent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two

http://www.klaxons.net/


Charlotte Church - Snow



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6IIgDrVT9w

http://www.charlottechurch.co/

http://www.youtube.com/user/charlottechurch

Aaron Sorkin re misogyny in 'The Social Network': "These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's..."

Above, cover of New York Observer of October 11th, 2010, "Good Nerd, Bad Nerd" illustration by Viktor Koen.

Aaron Sorkin on misogyny concerns in David Fincher's new critically acclaimed film 'The Social Network' that Sorkin wrote.

"These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback..."

Yeah, I know, I know.
I'm about a week behind in posting about this excellent piece from Sharon Waxman's TheWrap.com.
And second of all, no, I haven't seen the film myself yet, but will likely get to it later this week.

As you read Jeff Sneider's article, be sure to read the informed and opinionated reader comments that area as good as the points that Sorkin makes and refutes.

One thing is clear, no matter how successful you are as a writer, and regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, there are few that have been as consistently successful over the past 20 years as Sorkin, there's always someone you've never heard of who wants to tell you what your real "problem" as a writer is.
LOL!
But first, a nice coincidental introduction to the theme under discussion in the article courtesy of BBC Radio's 5 live film critic Mark Kermode.

BBC Radio 5 live:Kermode reviews Social Network



TheWrap
Aaron Sorkin Addresses Claims of Misogyny in 'Social Network',
The screenwriter himself defends David Fincher's film in a post on Ken Levine's blog
By Jeff Sneider,
Published: October 11, 2010 @ 6:33 pm

Many people who have seen Sony's "The Social Network" have taken the filmmakers to task for the movie's "misogynistic" portrayal of women.

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin responded to one such attack from a commenter named Tarazza on Ken Levine's blog, Sorkin's publicist has confirmed to TheWrap.

Read the rest of the fabulous piece here: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/aaron-sorkin-addresses-claims-misogyny-social-network-21628

Continuing with this theme on The Social Network, my new issue of The New York Observer arrived in the mail later than usual last week, but as I was so busy catching up on some things, including some overdue posts here at the blog, it would hardly have mattered if it'd been on time, which is usually Tuesday without fail. http://www.observer.com/
Yesterday, after the Dolphins surprising victory over the Packers, while waiting to meet a friend at a local haunt of mine, I finally cracked it open.
I was immediately reminded why I love it so much.

One of those reasons would have to be sheer prescient puckishness, as evidence by a delicious and fictitious 'as-written-by' Mark Zuckerberg piece on page 2 by Christian Lorentzen.


Then I read the three-page cover story, which under the illustration had the following:
"In the new Facebook movie, Mark Zuckerberg is a backstabbing, money-grubbing misfit. It works for Hollywood. But the geek stereotype may not apply in New York, where tech excecutives have perfected their own kind of cool." By Leon Neyfakh.
Deftly put!

Here's the problem: these two articles are not available online and may only be seen by subscribers, like myself, or by well-informed customers choosing to buyg a copy, so get yourselves to a large Barnes & Noble superstore ASAP, like the one on Biscayne Blvd. in the Loehmann's Fashion Island down in Aventura.
18711 N.E. Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180
(305) 935-9770

Here's their online store locator:
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/storelocator/stores.aspx?x=y&
You won't regret it.

See the past New York Observer stories on Mark Zuckerberg here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=Mark+Zuckerberg&x=14&y=0

Past NYO articles by Leon Neyfakh, many of which are tech-related, are here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=%22Leon+Neyfakh%22&x=34&y=16

Past NYO articles by Christian Lorentzen are here:
http://www.observer.com/site-search?keys=%22Christian+Lorentzen%22&sa.x=6&sa.y=3&sa=Submit
11:45 p.m.
To see a glimpse of some scenes from the trailer of the film -with some Swedish V.O. tossed in- you can see it here on Teresa Tingbrand's report for Aftonbladet TV:


http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/noje/article7869353.ab

http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/

While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom

Jon Snow guides us through what is new on the Channel 4 news website.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkfeCqBuy4

While savvy Channel 4 News (U.K.) gets even better, lazy U.S. TV network & cable newscasts AND shallow South Florida TV newscasts race to the bottom.

It's okay, you're among friends.
You don't have to be shy about venting your frustration about how embarrassingly banal the American network TV newscasts have become of late, of the utterly predictable never-ending dog-chasing-its-tail quality of the U.S. cable newscasts, or the brain-dead nadir that local South Florida TV newscasts reached over this past summer, where you thought they couldn't go any lower and get any more insipid -but then they do.

And you are dumb-struck once again.
And you are reminded all over again what part of America you live in.
The part of America where they can't support a News Radio format.

For instance, recently, the 11 o'clock newscast of one Miami TV station really DID spend more time talking about who might be featured on a prospective Miami-based "Housewives" reality show than they did on what had happened that day at the Broward County Commission's FY 2011 Budget meeting in Fort Lauderdale, and what some of the programs slated to be cut might be and their impact on citizens.

And to compound this, they also DIDN'T mention which Broward commissioners voted for or against the 2011 budget, nor display the names or tally on-screen.

Yes, actual votes by elected officials, that boring civics stuff, especially when compared to talking about dopey Miami wannabe celebs, whom we just know in our hearts will be loathed across the country like they already are among their small circle of friends in the 305 or 954.

And if you're thinking globally not locally, the antidote for all that shallowness, banality and low-quality journalism is closer at hand than you might otherwise think.

And no, I'm not talking about the new and highly-popular Breaking News Twitter feeds, http://twitter.com/BREAKINGNEWS, though for some people, though not me personally, that may actually be a nice addition to their handy news toolbox.

I've written often here over the past year or so about how much I've integrated the Channel 4 News (U.K.) and BBC Radio 5 live diet of news and information into my busy schedule to make more sense of the world.

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two
Listen LIVE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live

Especially since I no longer get the hard copies of all the international relations and foreign policy journals I subscribed to when I was living up in the Washington, D.C. area, and actually could use what I already knew and had read at events at embassies, the IMF, the World Bank, SAIS and myriad think tanks, plus the great schedule of Russian-related events they had over at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center, under Blair Ruble, back when it was inside of the Smithsonian's castle on The Mall.
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm
http://wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1424&fuseaction=topics.profile&person_id=4997

The very informative post-Noon Channel 4 email news updates I receive like clockwork before 1 p.m., the so-called Snowmail, named after veteran news presenter Jon Snow, and authored by him and other Channel 4 correspondents, gives me a real insightful head's up for what to expect later in the day on that night's newscast at 1900 G.M.T., but which I watch much later.

The fabulous Catch Up service on their website allows me to look back at anything that I may have missed within the past 7 days, which tends to happen a lot in the middle of the week due to evening local government meetings I attend.

As I've stated here previously, I often find myself watching the missed news segments on Saturday mornings before I get around to watching the Premier League matches on Fox Soccer Channel, or something on The BigTenChannel.

Plus, the Channel 4 broadcasts are broken down into news segments that are embeddable, thus making them perfect for blogs and websites, as I've used plenty here over the past year to great effect.

Well, at the end of September I received this new video from London that's p at the top of this post, and I think it gives you a pretty good appreciation for what is now available to you if you want to know what's going on in the real world outside of the rather shallow intellectual confines of the Sunshine State.

Such a deeply distressing story on so many levels...

Aid worker may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan

Jonathan Rugman reports aid worker Linda Norgrove may have been killed by US grenade in Afghanistan.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=631900533001


Channel 4 News homepage: http://www.channel4.com/news/

Channel 4 News Catch Up Service: http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Channel 4 Blogs homepage: http://blogs.channel4.com/news/

BBC 5 live's Bryan Alexander's behind-the-scenes special from Eastlands on Manchester City FC from last Thursday

Football Daily podcast, 26/08/2010

Brian Alexander spent a day behind the scenes at Eastlands, speaking to Roberto Mancini and also Brian Marwood, Manchester City's chief football operations officer, who gives an intriguing insight into life at the richest club in the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/5lfd

Manchester City v Liverpool extended highlights - Video - Manchester City FC http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Video/Match-highlights/City-v-Liverpool-long-highlights

This was a beautifully played game, the best Man City has looked in ages! And the triangle passes were like a training video, with Liverpool channeling the Washington Generals, the perpetual opponents of the Harlem Globestrotters.

Official Manchester City FC website: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/
A lot more honest than the Dolphins website!

Official Barclay's Premier League website:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/Home/0,,12306,00.html

5 live Football Daily homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070hx6

Selling American Brad Friedel to Fulham, not James Milner deal to Man City, is why Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill is quitting as manager

I'm listening to The Monday Night Club with Marc Chapman on BBC Radio 5 live now, which is how I heard this surprising bit of news.

Aston Villa owner, American Randy Lerner is clearly clipping Martin O'Neill's wings and selling players rather than strengthening team, with January's apathy in acquiring a player to move up a leading reason for why season ticket sales are down 40%.

O'Neill doesn't want to settle for mediocrity after bring team back to some semblance of quality, a view shared by hardcore Villa fans who don't want to be seen as "feeder club" for Big Four.

In listening closely, another thing that has clearly changed is that Lerner's no longer considered the 'Good American' owner by Villa fans -compared to the reviled Glazer family from Tampa at Man U- as his Greta Garbo-like mystery act has gotten old, esp. with local media whom he ignores but for one meeting a year.

Apparently, Lerner also refuses to speak to the Premier League's TV people, which is a nice bit of sabotage that you'd never see in the NFL, which does everything it can to appease the TV networks that pays the huge rights fees.
I guess having billions gives you more chances to be spiteful or stupid in unusual ways.

Some commentators on the show say that O'Neill may succeed Sir Alex Fergusion at Manchester United in a few months, while others openly wonder if his hands-on style and thin-skinned personality can handle the different expectation of the Man U fans and owners, where actual championships, not simply improving, is the expectation.

FYI: My promised analysis post on England's horrific 4-1 World Cup loss to Germany in late June, and all the sharp finger-pointing that has resulted from its wake, is close to being finished now that I've digested manager Fabio Capello's press conference this morning, which revealed that, in my opinion, things are, in fact, as bad as English football fans feared.
He even brought up the Frank Lampard goal that was dis-allowed.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hP_re4YSJVLLrrDXvDxWfIBqmnzw
Really!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/chat/r/t-10167532/index.html

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/431874-if-aston-villa-sell-james-milner-is-it-necessarily-a-bad-thing-for-them

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/08/09/2063197/revealed-the-full-extent-of-the-power-struggle-that-provoked

British Labour leadership debate on BBC Radio's 5 live with Victoria Derbyshire was ab fab -everything U.S. debates aren't: illuminating & humorous

In my Friday post I referenced having gotten up very early Thursday in order to do something. That something was getting-up in time to listen to the BBC's 5 live broadcast of the British Labour party leadership debate from Stevenage, north of London, in Hertfordshire. The Wikipedia entry for Stevenage says among other things:

In 1861 Dickens commented "The village street was like most other village streets: wide for its height, silent for its size, and drowsy in the dullest degree. The quietest little dwellings with the largest of window-shutters to shut up nothing as if it were the Mint or the Bank of England."

Not unlike most of you, so many times in the past, I've gotten up early for things that have proved quite underwhelming and disappointing personally, and I wondered the night before if this was going to just be the latest such incident.

For instance, in my own case, in the mid-'80's, when I lived in Evanston and Wilmette, just north of Chicago, right off Lake Michigan, I once caught the first "El" train of the morning to meet a friend of mine at O'Hare who was on lay-over for a few hours for her flight to Europe, but she was so tired from her late-night flight from the West Coast that she was barely awake while we had the Tartan Tray restaurant at O'Hare pretty much to ourselves, almost like it was a VIP suite.

(I used to know the layout of O'Hare like the back of my hand for it was easier to navigate than my own neighborhood, since once you knew the basic parameters, it was easy to get around, even logical, a far cry from MIA when I was using that so often in the '70's and '80's. I especially loved the Tartan Tray restaurant because they were always friendly, delicious and safe after midnight, with very reasonable prices for an airport vendor. Plus, the radio reception there was among the best in the entire airport, even if you weren't near a window.)

So getting back to Thursday morning, not surprisingly, given how closely I follow what's going on in Great Britain, I've been closely following all the press stories and leaks surrounding the five candidates vying to succeed Gordon Brown as leader of the Labour Party, even as they fight for a job where they don't know exactly when Prime Minister David Cameron might call for a new general election and they will have to show their mettle during a 4-6 week window of a campaign: Andy Burnham, former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, his brother Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and Diane Abbott.

Just as is often true in team sports, sometimes it's better to not be the guy who follows a certain head coach or manager but rather to be the one after that, where the legacy, good or bad, has dissipated enough so that you can be judged on your own relative merits.
See Vince Lombardi, Earl Weaver and Ara Parseghian.

Gordon Brown was the person who had the unenviable task of succeeding someone who had fundamentally changed the public perception of the British Labour Party, Tony Blair without ever having been voted in as PM himself, and he suffered greatly for it, not unlike Gerald Ford's presidential campaign in 1976.

Since Cameron's election, something I openly hoped for on this blog, I've read with great interest the stories in the British press, especially in The Times and The Telegraph, as well as those on BBC Radio 5 live and TV4 News, the various heartfelt and exasperating interviews with former Labour leadership personnel about how the longstanding personality clashes between the Blair and Brown wings of the party had caused continual friction and heartburn for many caught in-between in ways that had never been publicly known 'til recently.

There were always lots of rumors, but it turns out that where there was smoke there WAS, in fact, fire.
And at this debate, you'll hear plenty of very specific criticisms for how that party cleavage affected morale and political decisions during the last campaign.

This cleavage between the two wings was particularly problematic when it came time to have an agenda (manifesto) that could win in non-Labour strongholds.

Like the most liberal Democrats here in the Northeast U.S. and on the Left Coast, many Labour MPs have very safe constituencies that allow them to travel around the country stumping on behalf of the party and other candidates, with very little concern that they'll lose their own election because of all the natural institutional advantages they have, which have little, if anything, to do with them personally.
The best example of this in Florida is the dreaded Debbie Wasseman-Schultz for instance.

It's all very well and good for her to spout very liberal, reflexively pro-Obama nostrums since she doesn't run from an evenly remotely competitive district, but for those Dems who come from evenly divided congressional districts, or even Republican-leaning districts, like many of the DLC candidates I've mentioned here previously, it's not such an easy thing to simply vote with blinders on.

What made listening to this debate -and watching it via streaming- so fantastic was that the host, Victoria Derbyshire, was like a combination of the best of Ted Koppell and Charlie Rose, plus those rare great old moments on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," where politically astute pols of the late '60's and early '70's would eagerly
answer questions from Johnny that were either personally revealing or sometimes fraught with political danger, especially if you bombed and came across poorly, knowing the whole nation was watching.

Just like all young comics appearing on Carson for the first time, you desperately wanted Johnny's approval!


Johnny Carson, Rolling Stone 287, March 22, 1979,
Photo by Annie Leibovitz

I only read this article about 50 times when it first came out!


Derbyshire was masterful going from one candidate to another to elicit some intensely personal insight or political reflection to some often very difficult questions of a sort that you rarely if ever see on American TV, due to American pols reluctance to appear and 'let it all hang out' as it were. And she even got some of the candidates to personally call each other out in a way that you never see here publicly.

If you consider yourself even slightly a political activist or Anglophile or both and watch this video -available for viewing until Wednesday night U.K. time- you will get a first-class education into how to conduct a proper political debate that is both informative and lively, and something we should very much like to see more of on this side of the Atlantic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t7f6q




http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two

Listen to the Labour leadership debate

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