Diamond keeps STUM

It was inevitable, the writing was on the wall. First in line, speculation arose this Sunday on RBS’s chief executive would be snatching a bonus estimated in the region of 2.5 million. Now to today second in line, brought the news of Bob Diamond who is expected to extract eight million pounds as a bonus of taxpayer’s money. Today he was questioned for that immense figure by a panel of 11 but his argument was simple that he did not take a bonus in both 2008 and ’09. So should he take an eight million pound bonus?

The bonus should be put on hold, the government should make this as a statement it shouldn’t be the decision of Mr Diamond, this is public money after if this is not immoral what is?

I am still unaware at who is running this country; the revelations over the past couple of days have provided me with a certain answer; that it’s the banking industry. It is definitely not the government who can not compete or tackle such a task. So do we live in a democratic country? One does wonder……

Mr Diamond did say that banks should be allowed to fail and I agree now if that was said in 2008 well it would be a different ball game now wouldn’t it. The matter of the fact is even if bonuses have been cut or are to be cut some of the banks salaries have risen and or will rise in the foreseeable future so the problems will not end no time soon. Lets make it clear and understandable the taxpayer is just used to underwrite the banks losses it’s that crystal clear.

Bogus Bonuses and dodgy deals makes you a millionaire

This time next year I will be a millionaire, thoughts of delboy one would guess but instead it was the thought of the Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester. 

The Prime Minister has spoken so lets listen in one ear and take it out of the other. Well, if the PM is addressing a problem he must address a solution too. I am a huge fan of the Tories but what are they doing? The government holds 84 percent of RBS and there is not a single term of dictation.

It has emerged that the nationalised bank RBS is under speculation AGAIN, this time in awarding their chief executive a huge bonus estimated in the region of 2.5 million. The FSA in the UK has rectified its rules in bonuses where the bonus must be paid half in shares and half of the cash must be cashed at a certain time in the future.  So is this is a good move? Fifty percent of the bonus will be taxable income and eventually that should be spent on goods in the UK. So are we led to believing that this move is the correct way forward for our Treasury in the distant future? We must understand that whatever is taxable will be an undersized figure to be paid, this is due to tax mitigation exercise and we know that the cash generated from the bonuses will be invested in companies offshore.

Banks will continue in paying bonuses at our expense it’s just ludicrous!!!

The bulldog bites the kangaroo

24 years later mission accomplished, nowhere does the England team go back to their old habits well lets hope not.  After being humiliated for years by their colonial cousins the kangaroos, England have convincingly displayed how to bat and bowl against an Australian side in Australia we showed that the 'POHMs' are the better side and have shown that in the past two Ashes series.

The England team hammered the Aussies beating them convincing each time by an innings winning the five match series at 3-1. The roles have reversed where the buoyant English side look to take top spot in the rankings and where the Australian side is placed at a diabolical 5th, with a team of misfits and under performers.

I doubt England will knock a resilient Indian team off the No.1 spot but time will tell as they come head to head in England this summer. Congratulations to the England side for regaining the urn. 

Welcome back to an odd.....2011

Into 2011 and we begin with the VAT rising to 20 percent.....the first woman president in Brazil...

The year 2010 brought its usual ups and downs, the 33 Chilean miners now superstars, brought themselves 700 metres up from the rubble 69 days later after being trapped. Later were invited by Manchester United to watch a game.

A fresh face walked into 10 Downing Street with the promise to run the country better than the lacklustre performance of Gordon Brown. A change was needed but at what cost. The new government was to be a coalition; it had been since 1974 that the UK had been run by its last coalition. The Tories had the majority vote and were confederated with the Lib Dems, Prime Minister David Cameron and Nick Clegg Deputy PM. It would have been better with just the Tories in charge, but great to have David Cameron running the country.

What a devastating year for BP, oil spilling in the Gulf of Mexico due to an explosion in April. The disastrous course continued with the spill reaching 154 million gallons only measured in just six-months, which is roughly 75% spill being dispersed of. Ecological nightmare, very sad and disappointing.

The much awaited world cup in South Africa was looking good for a talented English side, with one of the worlds best Rooney on top form or it seemed so. Yet again it was the same story England losing out to the Germans. The stage was set up for the newly crowned European champions Spain,  who performed game after game outclassing any in their path the deserved winners!!!

Jun and Eva got married in September, what an amazing day. The church wedding was something special with readings and performances by family to the ‘I do’ EPIC. This was followed by the reception at Crowne Plaza that had exceptional views, ending with of course my great speech :)  Congratulations guys. Bring on Dipesh and Shelia’s wedding.

Tracks of the year Edward Maya Stereo Love, Swedish Mafia feat Pharrell … One, Rhianna feat drake what’s my name, Inna..Hot, Usher OMG and DJ got us fallin in love.

Movie of the year Avatar in 3D too good.

Happy New Year!!!!

White Christmas

Finally we are surrounded by a white Christmas but hasn’t it just been a headache with travelling, last minute shopping and lets not forget the slipping and sliding.
Wish you all a great Christmas period, eat for the fat kid inside of you and get merry ;)

Benitez bamboozled

With only six months into his first season in Italian football, we can safely say this has to be his worse and shortest attempt at winning a league title for Internazionale , even worse than Liverpool.

The Inter team had the foundation set-up by the chosen one with great players too; whom were all performing well after having a great world cup campaign like from Eto to Maicon to one of the players of the tournament and mine too Wesley Sneijder.

Benitez brought his poor run from the Merseyside club to CL champions, with a win ratio at a rate of 48%. Placed in 7^th in the league the team is already 13 point adrift from rivals AC Milan, the decision of sacking the Spaniard doesn’t look like a difficult one. Europe’s elite clubs maybe interested in securing the Spaniard as their coach but due to his current form should think again.

With recent controversial axing of premier league managers that were completely out of the blue, this was not out of the ordinary. Poor results have led to the demise of who once was a good manager or was he a lucky manager with just good players….. 

Friday Frolics

Every team involved in the CL have high expectations of lifting the cup come May. However, the time has come where the top dogs will look dominate their counterparts. After the manageable group stage matches the draw on Friday lived up to the high expectations we have come accustom to in the CL delivering some mouth-watering ties, this is a prominent time in the cup.

This is not the case for Manchester United who have a relatively easy tie against French champions Marseille. The team is very experienced in Europe and will walk all over Marseille. The three time champions will win both ties and head straight into the quarters with little difficulty. Predict 3-1.

On the other hand the Arsenal contingent will fear the match up against a ruthless Barcelona team. The El Clasico was a great example of how this team goes about their business, the way in which they walked over a talented Real team. This is a great stage for a young talented Arsenal side to prove they can go up against the top dogs. Barcelona are favourites, but never count out an underdog. Predict 5-2.

Tottenham would have fancied anything at this stage beggars cannot be choosers. Playing well till date they have proved that they can challenge the top contenders, however fighting for a fourth place finish in the league whilst in Europe will drain the North London team. Spurs have not got the stamina and will run out of breath. Bale will perform as he does but this is a team effort not a one man army. Predict Milan 2-1.

Tie of the round is the repeat of last years final. Bayern looking better placed than Inter.

The Little Genius

He is an icon worshiped by a billion, who lives up to everyone’s expectations. He has again emulated that by completing his 50th test hundred, another milestone ticked off. The first to do so in the history of the game, the little master came to the crease with the tourists in a tough position trying to save the first test match. However, Tendulkar’s resistance paid off with some master class cricket shots, reaching the feat after tea. He stands above all leading in both tests and in shorter form of the game a true champion, the games best modern player by far.

The next challenge is to get a 100 hundreds in both versions of the game, with only 4 more to achieve I predict this will come in his home land on the largest stage the cricket world cup 2011.

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	175	286	31	14513	248*	56.91			50	59		62	106	0
ODIs	442	431	41	17598	200*	45.12	20401	86.26	46	93	1927	185	134	0

Weekend sport = big freeze

Once again the snow has caused its usual havoc around the country, sport in the UK has come to a stand still with many of the games being postponed. Football supporters were anticipating a mouth watering tie between the league leaders and the current champions, so it’s very disappointing when you think of a Manchester United against Chelsea game being postponed. It is a crucial period in the season and the leaders were looking to strength their position by stretching their gap on top. With Chelsea currently in poor form it would have been the ideal time for the leaders to face the South London side.

On reflection on the other side of the world the sun is beating down the England side, a below par performance by a side looking to win the Ashes down under for the first time in 24 years. Credit must be given to the Australian bowlers knocking over the English top order cheaply, the first time in the series that Johnson, Harris, Siddle and Hilfenhaus have all performed. Australia are in complete control of the test match and will hope to wrap the game up with a day remaining.

I must mention the great result for the red devils on Monday beating second placed Arsenal, a lackluster performance by the gunners it must be said.

India top of the tree

It was the great West Indian team who led the cricket world in the 80s and early 1990s, were then followed by over a decade of domination by the mighty talented Australian side. The current crop of Indian stars have excelled and lead the team to No.1 position in the test rankings. Has time come for the Indians to dominate world cricket in this modern era?
Under the management of Indian coach Kirsten and captain Dhoni, India have started to believe in their ability a lot more and this has shown in the manor in which the play the game today. The team have cemented their position as the No.1 test team after displaying great performances, winning series after series over the past 18 months. India are ready to showcase their talents against a well complete South African side, they know how important this series is as it will define how they are perceived in the world cricket. The team has the right balance with experienced senior stars such as Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag and VVS Laxman who are at the top of their game and this is vital leading in to a tough series. The young guns have immense talent too with the likes of Raina, Pujara, Vijay, Ojha and Ishant Sharma looking to prove that they can be adaptable on all kinds of surfaces, they are the key to future of the Indian game. The IPL has given these young Indian stars a platform and with the experience of playing in front of large crowds will only help them. They are a bunch of talented players and therefore have no reason to under perform.

This is ideal time for India to challenge the South Africans, with their extraordinary batting line up all in top form and bowling line up better than any before. Although, the pitches prepared in the past have troubled the Indian batsman, with the extraordinary bounce and pace of the South African tracks. This will again be a major factor of how the series is decided. India will have to counter the short-pitched bowling that they have been vulnerable in the past and look to attack the protease. The deadly duo of Steyn and Morkal will be hoping that the strips are prepared bowler friendly to utilise the bounce and pace from the pitch. The two opening bowlers have an impressive record against India and will look to emulate that this time round too.   

I believe the dark horse of the series, the one to watch will be Harbhajan Singh. At present he is running through a dry spell in the wickets column but the will seek to in getting assistants from the pitch. Bajji is more threatening when there is a bit of bounce and pace on the track making his top spinners difficult to deal with. He has taken 45 wickets in eight matches and has proven difficult to deal will for the Protease. India will also be looking to Bajji in holding one end up bowling tight whilst the seamers are plugging away from the other end.

The South Africans are the favourites due to home conditions but India are No.1 and will prove difficult to beat.

The series will end in a draw 1-1.

England take lead

Australia is a declining team, with an out form over aged captain and a team of misfits. It would be a great achievement for the Australian team to even win a single game in the series, let alone capture the ashes. England will regain the Ashes with little difficulty; the team is young, fresh and with bags of talent. The batting line up is looking formidable with great performances from Cook, Piertersen , Strauss and Trott looking extremely comfortable against lackluster bowling. However, with Broad out of the series the attack will slightly ease the pressure put on the Australian batting line up. Although it does give another of England’s talented bowlers a great opportunity to shine on Australian grounds, and where best to show their talent and utilise the fast and bouncy surface of Perth. 

England to win series 2-1. Come on England!!!