Why England can win Euro 2012

It might all seem like doom and gloom at the moment being an England fan. Roy Hodgson's first game in charge was a relatively straight forward 1-0 against a Norway side who won't be competing at the European Championships. It didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. It was boring and predictable.

England's group consists of a very strong French team - arguably their strongest since their win in 2000, a bogey team in Sweden who England continue to mysteriously struggle to beat, and host nation Ukraine. Everybody knows playing at home is always an advantage.

Not only are the games going to be tough but a number of key players are missing from the squad. The majority of the country is at a loss to explain why Glen Johnson and Stewart "no goals or assists" Downing are in the squad ahead of Micah Richards and Adam Johnson, or why Jordan Henderson is on stand-by to replace Frank Lampard while Paul Scholes stays at home. Of course Wayne Rooney is suspended for the first two games, Danny Welbeck is struggling with an injury and Andy Carroll is struggling to find the barn door from 6-yards.

However, there are some positives to hang on to. Ashley Young is on form and has four goals in his last four starts for England. If he can continue anything near to that form into the Euros then who knows what can happen. Giving Steven Gerrard the captaincy might just have been a stroke of genius. The Liverpool midfielder has had a largely indifferent season but the responsibility of leading his country out at a major tournament might just be the push he needs.

A fully fit Scott Parker could be another key for England, giving the back four extra protection and allowing Gerrard the freedom to go forward - especially with the absence of Gareth Barry.

England are defensively solid. Joe Hart is the best goal-keeper in the Premier League and one of the best in the world. Three of the back four - John Terry, Gary Cahill and Ashley Cole, who have all recently won the Champions League with some outstanding defensive displays along the way, are used to playing with each other at Chelsea. They work together in training every week, and that could be a massive advantage over the other teams in Group D.

To progress in the tournament England will need players like Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll to find consistently good form. Every championship, however, at least one team defies the odds and over-performs. Everyone in Europe has written off the Three Lions but if they can get past the group stages then anything can happen, and with exciting prospect Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the secret weapon - England could just be this year's surprise package.

Let's all be optimistic! COME ON ENGLAND!

How long before having a spliff is as acceptable as enjoying a cold pint on a hot summers' day?

Dr. David Nutt has raised some interesting points this week in the long running cannabis debate. The problem is that most of these points have been argued time and time again. Of course the typical arguments have cropped up once again like “horse riding is more dangerous than ecstasy” and “nobody has even died from a cannabis over-dose”.


This may all be true but is it really something MPs and Lords are going to take into consideration when deciding upon the legalisation of cannabis? The case for legalisation has had considerable backing with Richard Branson claiming this week that pushing through legislation decriminalising marijuana is “win win” for the government. Tax it, he said. You free up valuable prison space by not convicting small time users of the drug, waste less tax payers money and police time in making their arrests in the first place and earn the government money from taxing the produce.




It might not be long before farms like this are common place in Britain


Legalisation can only be a good thing. It would mean introducing a whole new industry to Britain – and mark my words, this industry would be huge. It would create thousands of jobs. Growers will be required to farm the crop, drivers will be needed to transport it, and someone will be needed to help sell it.

In the current financial climate, the government can ill afford to pass up such an excellent opportunity to pull some of that illusive “drug money” back into the economy. Of course, importing and exporting will be relatively off the menu for now but if Britain were to take the plunge and commit to its decriminalisation – others will surely follow.

Those sceptical of the proposals should look to Portugal for reassurance. Not a single person has been arrested there in 10 years for a drugs offence and drug-related deaths have been reduced.

Dame Judy Dench has also given the campaign her backing saying if it is proven that the current stance on drugs is failing then “immediate decriminalisation” is necessary.

Once people get used to the fact that cannabis is not actually harmful if used properly then we will see the benefits of its medicinal properties. With the right instructions for use, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

So with much high profile support, are we really nearing a time when a joint will replace the cigar as the standard after dinner treat? As Dr. Nutt would argue...it’s certainly healthier.

A case of one good liar, and one a bit too old and slow

"This is the most humble day of my life" he says...Yeah, it should be!

I watched with interest today as Rupert Murdoch and his son James sat not so pale-faced, white nailed and with their tails between their legs, as MPs and the like questioned their integrity.



I have to say I didn't really expect to see anything extraordinary but I thought at least Murdoch Sr. might have had something to say for himself aside from long pauses while he carefully thought about whether his answer might come back to bite him in the proverbial, followed by "yes", "no" or "that's not something I was aware of."

James Murdoch on the other hand appeared to handle the questions well, but it just seemed like the better liar was the one with the younger and faster working brain. It all seems a bit too convenient that the chief executives of a company didn't know anything was going on.

More than a few disgusted laughs were provided though, the entertainment value of which I am grateful. RM sat and played the burning martyr as he moaned that "those he had trusted" had been the culprits of the phone hacking and that he had no idea it was going on.

He also claimed ignorance in that he had no idea who some of his employees responsible, some of whom had been arrested and even convicted, were. Anyone else smell faeces of the farm yard animal variety?

As clear as it is to many of us that the Murdochs cannot possibly have had no idea about the goings on at the New of The World, it is even harder to prove unless its shown in written evidence. As much as the guy bangs on about how his shame brought him to pull the plug on one of the nation's favourite papers, I can't help thinking he did it because he could, out of spite if nothing else.

Rumour has it, old Rupe is about to step down. The day can't come sooner as far as I'm concerned. Just look at the picture...smug git.

Everything seems so much better when the sun is shining!

We all notice a difference when the sun has his hat on and is high in the sky. The winter months are depressing and the cold makes it even worse.

The last two days have been filled with glorious sunshine, enough to make even Gillingham seem like it's not so bad after all. Amongst the chavs, hobos and generally quite deformed characters, the sun makes it all better.

No matter what troubles you may have, a nice afternoon walk to catch some rays will sort you right out. It's something so simple, and easy to do, but it works.

I have only realised recently how much of a difference the sun makes to everyone's mood. Walking around uni when the weather is good, you notice how much it actually affects the mood. 

In the words of that great boy band Five;

"I woke up today with this feeling,
Better things are coming my way.
I know the sunshine has a meaning,
And nothing left can get in my way."

So, everyone, get out and enjoy the sun, remember that everything is going to be all right, and forget about the stress of work and all. Roll on summer!

How to complain...The British way!

In Britain, we like a good moan and in fact somehow manage to find joy in complaining about something. If everything was right in the world and we had nothing to complain about I think we would actually feel a bit lost.

It actually makes us feel better to have a good old whinge about how everything is not fair and nothing ever goes our way.

It's how Britain complains as a culture that bemuses me - the letter writing culture. In the USA, if you don't like something, you march right on down there and you tell'em.

In some parts of the world if you complain, the likelihood is you won't live long enough to have the opportunity to do it again - people who would love the opportunity to be able to freely tell people they are wrong or that something is wrong.

So why is it that in Britian we think that the good old stiff, stern, snotty letter will get us the most attention? Why not go down there and kick up a fuss?

I think it's partly down to balls. It's all well and good writing a letter because you can read it over and over again. But actually going to speak to the person face to face would be much more of a problem. We would end up freezing up and fluffing our lines, whilst absorbing their corporate jargon (or whatever it may be), end up apologising and walking out, red faced, tails between our legs and a smacked bottom.

I rarely write letters, I think it's usually a waste of time. If I was working for a company and I received a snotty email I don't think my reply would be too dissimilar to "find something worthwhile to do with your time."

However, I did come across something this week, which has actually been bugging me for a while. Football ticket prices are absolutely shocking. The other day, I logged on to the Arsenal website to book tickets for the Leyton Orient FA Cup replay, thinking they won't be more than a tenner.

I was wrong - £34 at the cheapest price. I was so angry, I wrote them a letter. Observe...


"To whoever it may concern,


I have just found out, to my disgust, the price of the tickets for the FA Cup replay with Leyton Orient. I think it's absolutely disgusting that you are charging £34 per ticket to a game which is, in effect, a bonus to ticketing revenue for the season.

We have already gone all the way in the Carling Cup, had home games in all previous rounds of the FA Cup and four games in the Champions League, including the astronomically priced FC Barcelona game.

I am a student and would love to come and support my team, I love Arsenal, but I simply cannot afford to do it at these prices. I understand the club needs to make money from ticketing and has a vast role of staff to pay for...but making a cup replay £20/£10, like you have done with the Carling Cup, would hardly have broken the bank, and allows real fans, who might not be able to afford to go every week (for whatever reason), to go and see a few extra games a season rather than clogging your ticket centre up trying to get United or Chelsea tickets because it's the only game they can afford to go to and might as well make it a big one...

I highly doubt you will sell out this game, first reason being it's against Leyton Orient, and with no disrespect to Orient - it's hardly a high profile derby. The second is it's on a Wednesday night and night games can be a problem for some people. The third and probably most important is that it will be on TV anyway. It seems to me a very strange decision to make it even harder for yourselves to sell out by keeping the ticket prices so high.

I am not usually one to write snotty letters, but I only write to you because I care. I love my club and want to support it in all ways I can. All I ask is for something small in return. Don't get me wrong, it won't stop me from buying a season ticket as soon as I can afford it, but right now (and this will always be the case with thousands of fans), I have to limit the number of games I attend. So far this season - only Ipswich at home.

I hope you can understand my frustrated point of view.


Yours sincerely,

James Warner"

It sort of fades out at the end because by that time my anger had deteriorated. I was quite proud of my achievements but of course, that was sent on Tuesday and I'm still waiting for a reply.

The Return of The Rock

It has been about seven years since I last watched wrestling...around the time The Rock left the WWE (or WWF). It has gone down hill ever since. I'm not sure if this is because I have grown up and am not fooled in any way by the ridiculous moves and fake punches, or it just got worse and worse. I think it is probably a combination of the two.

There are so many wrestlers or characters, who I have seen from my few occasions of watching (when there is nothing else on), who are extremely irritating or I just don't like. Sheamus, The Mizz, John Cena, Randy Orton - probably the only ones I can name of the new generation - all of whom I dislike. 

I genuinely miss the feeling of excitement I used to get leading up to a Wrestlemania or even something as simple as saturday morning Smackdown. I have attempted to watch it since but it's not the same without the Stone Cold/The Rock/Triple H/Kurt Angle etc. rivalries.

Only one of them was ever needed to make me start watching wrestling again, though...The Rock! And now he's back. After I found out, I instantly went to see when late night Raw was on. 2am on Monday night? Oh, and I have Tuesday off! There is absolutely no way I am going to bed before 4am that night.

I will almost certainly never be as excited as I was when I was young, but the return of The Rock is about as close as I'm going to get.

By the way, I really wanted to write about Arsenal vs. Barcelona, but I knew I would be accused of bias (because Arsenal were amazing and are now the best team in the world by default) which I am trying to avoid. So this is why you have this to read instead.

'It's not what you know, it's who you know.'

As a journalism student I have sometimes found it difficult to do any 'actual journalism' in assignments because nobody wants to talk to students.

There are two reasons for this, the first is that many people feel students are not qualified enough and are a waste of time.

The other is that people tend to look to what they might get out of an interview, and with a student, it's not likely to be published anywhere.

However, using contacts, I have recently discovered, it's not as hard as it looks. If you persist, and ask the right people, anything can be achieved.

It all comes down to the 'six degrees of separation' theory which suggests that everyone in the world is connected through six stages, yourself being the first stage, and anyone you know being the second.

Using this theory I have managed to get an interview with Chris Moncrieff, and through him, in the next week I will be interviewing Sir Bernard Ingham, and Lords Norman Tebbit and Ian Paisley - quite a scary prospect, especially the latter.

At least two of these people once had or still has a very strong and close relationship with Margaret Thatcher. (Bernard Ingham was her Chief Press Secretary and Chris Moncrieff travelled with her around the world as a political journalist.)

 Maybe Mrs. Thatcher herself could be my next interviewee?

In a business where they say "it's not what you know, it's who you know", using the six degrees of separation, there should, in theory, be no problem for anyone who wants to find a story worth sharing.