So the day that all Palace fans have been fearing is finally now upon us. Sheffield Wednesday Away. A point needed to survive in this division. A loss... well it doesn't even bear thinking about.
Ever since our form nose-dived following the 10 point deduction imposed for slipping into Administration, people have stared transfixed at the final fixture of the season, just praying it wasn't going to come down to that. But deep down, we all knew it was pre-determined, primed and ready to be written into footballing folklore.
You see following Crystal Palace is the footballing equivalent of living with Bipolar Disorder. Short periods of calm and order, interrupted by wild swings of ecstasy and despair. Pivotal days that will live in our memories forever have shaped our fortunes since I've been a supporter for the past 25 years. That next pivotal moment is Sunday and quite possibly this is the most pivotal of them all.
It's fair to say I haven't been the greatest supporter over the past couple of years. This was my first year without a season ticket, something which felt slightly shameful but also strangely liberating. Watching Palace under Simon Jordan was to me like watching a man on death row. Everything was stacking up against us and the man was slowly strangling the life out of the club, edging us closer and closer to the tipping point of catastrophe, a cliff that we are now well and truly falling off.
A point on Sunday could signal that rock bottom has finally been reached and we can maybe start our climb back up towards the next dizzy high point. Failure to secure this point could, I fear, lead to a period of massive irrecoverable decline, even extinction.
For those of you who support other teams or simply couldn't care less about football, just spare a thought for us Palace fans on Sunday lunchtime. We will be going through it for each and every one of those 90 minutes.
Unless we're 4-0 up at half time. Even we couldn't screw that up? Could we?
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Free the 'West Memphis Three'
Over the past week or so, I've been startled and engrossed by a series of documentaries about a brutal mass child-murder case which took place in Arkansas, USA, back in 1993. Three 8-year old boys were stripped, mutilated and dumped in a muddy ditch in a small wooded area of West Memphis, known as Robin Hood Hills.
The first documentary follows the police investigation and subsequent murder trials of three young men, Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. As you can imagine, the utter shock, disgust and outrage that such a heinous crime will bring out in a small tight-knit community is there for all to see and these men provide a focus of hate for a grieving town.
What follows however is nothing short of jaw-dropping as you watch the prosecution press home their charges with the flimsiest of evidence.
I say evidence. There wasn't any.
The sum total of the evidence presented that convinced the jury beyond a reasonable doubt to effectively end the free lives of these men forever, and put one of them on death row, was as follows. 1) A coerced confession from one of the boys, Jessie, who has severe learning difficulties. 2) The testimony of two young girls who thought they'd overheard Damian admitting to the murders to his friends and 3) The fact that he listened to heavy metal and wore black, so was clearly a satanist.
That was it. Not one scrap of physical evidence. Nothing in the prosecution's case added up. Jesse's account of what happened on the day of the murder didn't even match the known facts of the case. It took the police 12 hours of suggestion to get him to change his story enough so that everything married up. They maintained that the boys carried these murders out in darkness, there in the woods, yet somehow, these young boys had managed to clean up every last drop of blood and forensic evidence from the crime scene.
16 years later they still rot in jail, although DNA breakthroughs since the initial trial have all but proved their innocence (and implicated one of the victim's step fathers)
Even some of the parents of the murdered boys are now convinced of these men's innocence and are actively campaigning for their release.
Yet to do so, would mean the Arkansas law makers admitting they'd made a terrible mistake, which has ruined the lives of three innocent men and allowed a child killer to walk the streets a free man for all this time.
It seems that is too bitter a pill to swallow.
What's more unsettling is to think that this is only in the public arena because HBO decided to document the case at the time. How many other witch hunts and miscarriages of justice have their been in other small towns that we'll never get to find out about?
And if this is happening in The Land Of The Free, the mind boggles as the sheer numbers of innocent people currently locked up or worse around the world as we speak.
Find out more here
The first documentary follows the police investigation and subsequent murder trials of three young men, Damian Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley. As you can imagine, the utter shock, disgust and outrage that such a heinous crime will bring out in a small tight-knit community is there for all to see and these men provide a focus of hate for a grieving town.What follows however is nothing short of jaw-dropping as you watch the prosecution press home their charges with the flimsiest of evidence.
I say evidence. There wasn't any.
The sum total of the evidence presented that convinced the jury beyond a reasonable doubt to effectively end the free lives of these men forever, and put one of them on death row, was as follows. 1) A coerced confession from one of the boys, Jessie, who has severe learning difficulties. 2) The testimony of two young girls who thought they'd overheard Damian admitting to the murders to his friends and 3) The fact that he listened to heavy metal and wore black, so was clearly a satanist.
That was it. Not one scrap of physical evidence. Nothing in the prosecution's case added up. Jesse's account of what happened on the day of the murder didn't even match the known facts of the case. It took the police 12 hours of suggestion to get him to change his story enough so that everything married up. They maintained that the boys carried these murders out in darkness, there in the woods, yet somehow, these young boys had managed to clean up every last drop of blood and forensic evidence from the crime scene.
16 years later they still rot in jail, although DNA breakthroughs since the initial trial have all but proved their innocence (and implicated one of the victim's step fathers)
Even some of the parents of the murdered boys are now convinced of these men's innocence and are actively campaigning for their release.
Yet to do so, would mean the Arkansas law makers admitting they'd made a terrible mistake, which has ruined the lives of three innocent men and allowed a child killer to walk the streets a free man for all this time.
It seems that is too bitter a pill to swallow.
What's more unsettling is to think that this is only in the public arena because HBO decided to document the case at the time. How many other witch hunts and miscarriages of justice have their been in other small towns that we'll never get to find out about?
And if this is happening in The Land Of The Free, the mind boggles as the sheer numbers of innocent people currently locked up or worse around the world as we speak.
Find out more here
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
What choice do we really have?
The hare is now officially running and in a month's time, we the electorate, will be asked to exercise our democratic duty in choosing the next Government for this great country of ours.
But what choice are we really being given? How are we realistically meant to decide on where to put our cross?
Politics in this country is already at its lowest ebb following expenses scandals, illegal wars and voter apathy. A general election should be just what the Dr ordered. A chance to draw a line in the sand and move in a new direction. So why is it so difficult to make any major distinction between the 3 main parties?
Media commentary on the election campaign seems obsessed with the leader's wives, which ad agency have been commissioned for the latest billboards, their oratory ability, which backdrops they chose to make their speeches in front of and the people they chose to have around them as they spoke.
Nothing is said about the content of these speeches or any policy clues they contain. We seem obsessed on the race to No 10, but not what each party will deliver when they get there.
For the first time, I am what you could call a floating voter. Historically always a Tory voter, I'm still waiting to hear anything from Camp Cameron to convince me he deserves my vote. For a while I thought maybe Lib Dem could be the way to go, but again, a glance through their election pledges turns up nothing to indicate any major change in direction.
It seems I'm gonna have to make the concerted effort to trawl the news channels and the depths of the Internet to gleen anything of sufficient gravity to help me cement my decision.
If we're going to turn around the trend of lower and lower turn-outs at the polls, they're going to have to make it a lot easier than this.
For bullshit-free opinion on the election campaign, also see http://matthew-urbanamish.blogspot.com and http://liampennington.blogspot.com
But what choice are we really being given? How are we realistically meant to decide on where to put our cross?
Politics in this country is already at its lowest ebb following expenses scandals, illegal wars and voter apathy. A general election should be just what the Dr ordered. A chance to draw a line in the sand and move in a new direction. So why is it so difficult to make any major distinction between the 3 main parties?
Media commentary on the election campaign seems obsessed with the leader's wives, which ad agency have been commissioned for the latest billboards, their oratory ability, which backdrops they chose to make their speeches in front of and the people they chose to have around them as they spoke.
Nothing is said about the content of these speeches or any policy clues they contain. We seem obsessed on the race to No 10, but not what each party will deliver when they get there.
For the first time, I am what you could call a floating voter. Historically always a Tory voter, I'm still waiting to hear anything from Camp Cameron to convince me he deserves my vote. For a while I thought maybe Lib Dem could be the way to go, but again, a glance through their election pledges turns up nothing to indicate any major change in direction.
It seems I'm gonna have to make the concerted effort to trawl the news channels and the depths of the Internet to gleen anything of sufficient gravity to help me cement my decision.
If we're going to turn around the trend of lower and lower turn-outs at the polls, they're going to have to make it a lot easier than this.
For bullshit-free opinion on the election campaign, also see http://matthew-urbanamish.blogspot.com and http://liampennington.blogspot.com
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Tents,Tuborg and terrible burgers
After a stressful night trying to secure Reading festival tickets for some friends and the official line-up announcement on Radio 1, I'm suddenly feeling very excited about the months to come.
With Hot Chip, The XX and Editors already done and Century Man, Chew Lips, Deadmau5 and The National all coming up, I'll have already seen more bands this year than I usually do in 5.
Follow that with a chilled weekend in Cheltenham for the 2000 Trees Festival in July and then the main event at the end of August, Reading!
2010 is shaping up to be a stonker!
Monday, 29 March 2010
The hills, THE HILLS!
Well yesterday saw my first serious test in my preparations for London - Paris. And I'm sorry to say, I failed miserably!
On paper, it seemed easy enough. 40 miles through the rolling Kent countryside. I've done 40 miles before several times. I've done it on my heavy old hybrid with it's chunky wheels. This will be a breeze on the road bike. I thought.
How wrong could I be?!
It has to be said my preparation for the event could have been better. After getting hammered on Thursday night watching Editors, I then decided to down a good few on Friday night at a friend's leaving do, then Saturday night, I was on the beer again at a poker night at my folks place. A poker night that went on the wee hours. I of course, was tucked up in bed by 11pm, but you try sleeping when downstairs all you can hear are screams of delight about Full Houses and High Straights.
So with barely 3 hours sleep, off I drive at the crack of dawn to Hildenbrough to take on what was clearly the hardest cycle I've ever attempted.
From the outset, I quickly realised that this ride was all about the hills. One slow painful ascent after another, punctuated with all too brief descents at break neck speed to the bottom of the next hill.
After 6 miles I'd lost one of my cycling companions to a busted knee. My other by this point had sped off over the horizon. I wouldn't see him again till the finish line.
The energy literally sapped from my body. I could barely get out of the 'granny' ring even when I wasn't climbing. Many of the hills had me off the bike and walking.
Then finally, after about 22 miles, a flat section. I cruised along the A25, slowly picking up speed and regaining some kind of psychological and physical strength. I could do this!
Who was I kidding? The only reason the course had flattened out was because I'd missed a turn up the next steep, torturous hill. Admitting defeat, I pulled my iphone out to see how I could negotiate my way back to the car. I'd continued 5 miles past where I was meant to turn off and there was no way I was doubling back to re-join the course.
I then spent the next hour and a half, slowly covering the 11 miles back to the car. More unclimbable hills. Stopping constantly to check my position. Mentally, I was ruined. I was in a bad place.
The route to Paris of course is planned to be as flat as possible, not as hilly. That said, I feel pretty dejected right now. I failed to complete 40 miles. On day 3 of the Paris trip, I've got to cover 100. And that's after cycling 60 and 70 miles on the previous 2 days.
I'm planning to get out on my own this weekend and strike off a 50 mile ride.
Hopefully then I can start looking forward to Paris again.
On paper, it seemed easy enough. 40 miles through the rolling Kent countryside. I've done 40 miles before several times. I've done it on my heavy old hybrid with it's chunky wheels. This will be a breeze on the road bike. I thought.
How wrong could I be?!
It has to be said my preparation for the event could have been better. After getting hammered on Thursday night watching Editors, I then decided to down a good few on Friday night at a friend's leaving do, then Saturday night, I was on the beer again at a poker night at my folks place. A poker night that went on the wee hours. I of course, was tucked up in bed by 11pm, but you try sleeping when downstairs all you can hear are screams of delight about Full Houses and High Straights.
So with barely 3 hours sleep, off I drive at the crack of dawn to Hildenbrough to take on what was clearly the hardest cycle I've ever attempted.
From the outset, I quickly realised that this ride was all about the hills. One slow painful ascent after another, punctuated with all too brief descents at break neck speed to the bottom of the next hill.
After 6 miles I'd lost one of my cycling companions to a busted knee. My other by this point had sped off over the horizon. I wouldn't see him again till the finish line.
The energy literally sapped from my body. I could barely get out of the 'granny' ring even when I wasn't climbing. Many of the hills had me off the bike and walking.
Then finally, after about 22 miles, a flat section. I cruised along the A25, slowly picking up speed and regaining some kind of psychological and physical strength. I could do this!
Who was I kidding? The only reason the course had flattened out was because I'd missed a turn up the next steep, torturous hill. Admitting defeat, I pulled my iphone out to see how I could negotiate my way back to the car. I'd continued 5 miles past where I was meant to turn off and there was no way I was doubling back to re-join the course.
I then spent the next hour and a half, slowly covering the 11 miles back to the car. More unclimbable hills. Stopping constantly to check my position. Mentally, I was ruined. I was in a bad place.
The route to Paris of course is planned to be as flat as possible, not as hilly. That said, I feel pretty dejected right now. I failed to complete 40 miles. On day 3 of the Paris trip, I've got to cover 100. And that's after cycling 60 and 70 miles on the previous 2 days.
I'm planning to get out on my own this weekend and strike off a 50 mile ride.
Hopefully then I can start looking forward to Paris again.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Feed the plants and you will die! Or will you?
So the story nobody can escape today is that of two teenagers from Scunthorpe who have died allegedly as a result of taking Mephedrone.
I say allegedly because as yet, we have no facts whatsoever about this case. The police believe the deaths to be attributed to Mephedrone and that alone is deemed suitable clinical evidence to prompt the Tabloid press into a salacious frenzy of reporting about how this new killer drug needs to be banned.
In keeping with the other draconian and ineffective drug laws we have in this country, Mephedrone was always going to be banned eventually anyway. Nothing this good was ever going to remain legal forever. This case will simply expedite the process.
But what about the facts? As David Nutt, former Chief Drug Advisor to the Government found out recently to his peril, the facts are at best ignored and at worst can cost you your job.
There are far too many unanswered questions with this case to make any rational conclusion.
How much Mephedrone did they take? (Any chemical is dangerous if the correct dosage is ignored)
What if any other drugs were taken? (Alcohol certainly and reports are coming through that they were also taking Methadone, the Heroin substitute)
What was the actual cause of death?
Has the batch they took been lab tested?
This all smacks of the hysteria that was whipped up when E first hit the headlines in the early 90's. Everybody remembers the story of Leah Betts, who died taking an E at her own birthday party. (Strangely, nobody can recount the ONE high profile case of someone drinking themselves to death) It turned out that is was water, not the toxicity of the E that killed her. I don't think the Tabloid press ever ran this story though.
Yet the aforementioned Mr Nutt's advice when asked about Mephedrone recently, was that people would be better off taking MDMA (E) because it's been more thoroughly tested and is known to be relatively safe.
The one small problem here is that if you followed Mr Nutt's advice, you could end up in jail. Mephedrone is legal, available over the Internet and is about a fifth of the price. It's not quite as good as E, but hey, for a tenner a gram, it'll do.
This all points to the wider problem with our drug laws. Certainly the way Mephedrone is freely sold now is not the answer. Anybody of any age with access to a credit card can order a bag of white powder over the Internet which will arrive within a couple of days. It's labelled 'not for human consumption' so why would there be any dosage advice on the packet? And even if there was, how many people have electronic scales in their house to make sure they get their dosage right?
Yet prohibition doesn't work either. Now you still have all of the above problems, but you have to interact with criminals to get your supply and more than likely what you get is going to be cut with heaven knows what. You just hope it's something benign like talc (And it almost always is, by the way. It's not good for business to knowingly harm your customers).
People are going to take drugs. The Governments of the world have been fighting a losing battle for decades, yet drug use, particularly among young people continues to rise.
So the answer has to be decriminalisation, regulation and education. The supply can be tightly controlled to stop drugs easily getting into the hands of children in the same way alcohol and tabacco is now. Dosage information should be readily available and 'hits' sold in the correct doses to stop people making lethal mistakes. Honest and factual information should be presented to consumers to help them make informed choices about what they put in their bodies. And best of all for the Treasury, huge sums of tax revenue can be raised. Boy, do we need that right now.
Of course, it's never going to happen. We'll be fighting The War On Drugs probably as long as we're fighting the equally absurd War On Terror. No Government will risk upsetting Middle England with their Daily Mail drip fed blinkered view of the world - it would be political suicide.
So you have a choice. Take the police's advice and throw all your Mephedrone away and get yourself down to the local A&E, or quickly order as much as you can afford now, because once it's gone, it's gone.
I say allegedly because as yet, we have no facts whatsoever about this case. The police believe the deaths to be attributed to Mephedrone and that alone is deemed suitable clinical evidence to prompt the Tabloid press into a salacious frenzy of reporting about how this new killer drug needs to be banned.
In keeping with the other draconian and ineffective drug laws we have in this country, Mephedrone was always going to be banned eventually anyway. Nothing this good was ever going to remain legal forever. This case will simply expedite the process.
But what about the facts? As David Nutt, former Chief Drug Advisor to the Government found out recently to his peril, the facts are at best ignored and at worst can cost you your job.
There are far too many unanswered questions with this case to make any rational conclusion.
How much Mephedrone did they take? (Any chemical is dangerous if the correct dosage is ignored)
What if any other drugs were taken? (Alcohol certainly and reports are coming through that they were also taking Methadone, the Heroin substitute)
What was the actual cause of death?
Has the batch they took been lab tested?
This all smacks of the hysteria that was whipped up when E first hit the headlines in the early 90's. Everybody remembers the story of Leah Betts, who died taking an E at her own birthday party. (Strangely, nobody can recount the ONE high profile case of someone drinking themselves to death) It turned out that is was water, not the toxicity of the E that killed her. I don't think the Tabloid press ever ran this story though.
Yet the aforementioned Mr Nutt's advice when asked about Mephedrone recently, was that people would be better off taking MDMA (E) because it's been more thoroughly tested and is known to be relatively safe.
The one small problem here is that if you followed Mr Nutt's advice, you could end up in jail. Mephedrone is legal, available over the Internet and is about a fifth of the price. It's not quite as good as E, but hey, for a tenner a gram, it'll do.
This all points to the wider problem with our drug laws. Certainly the way Mephedrone is freely sold now is not the answer. Anybody of any age with access to a credit card can order a bag of white powder over the Internet which will arrive within a couple of days. It's labelled 'not for human consumption' so why would there be any dosage advice on the packet? And even if there was, how many people have electronic scales in their house to make sure they get their dosage right?
Yet prohibition doesn't work either. Now you still have all of the above problems, but you have to interact with criminals to get your supply and more than likely what you get is going to be cut with heaven knows what. You just hope it's something benign like talc (And it almost always is, by the way. It's not good for business to knowingly harm your customers).
People are going to take drugs. The Governments of the world have been fighting a losing battle for decades, yet drug use, particularly among young people continues to rise.
So the answer has to be decriminalisation, regulation and education. The supply can be tightly controlled to stop drugs easily getting into the hands of children in the same way alcohol and tabacco is now. Dosage information should be readily available and 'hits' sold in the correct doses to stop people making lethal mistakes. Honest and factual information should be presented to consumers to help them make informed choices about what they put in their bodies. And best of all for the Treasury, huge sums of tax revenue can be raised. Boy, do we need that right now.
Of course, it's never going to happen. We'll be fighting The War On Drugs probably as long as we're fighting the equally absurd War On Terror. No Government will risk upsetting Middle England with their Daily Mail drip fed blinkered view of the world - it would be political suicide.
So you have a choice. Take the police's advice and throw all your Mephedrone away and get yourself down to the local A&E, or quickly order as much as you can afford now, because once it's gone, it's gone.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Time to get serious
It's been a while since I checked in and already a quarter of the year is gone. Highlights so far have been a couple of great gigs I've been to, seeing both Hot Chip and the XX in the past few weeks. I've got a real taste for music at the moment with more gigs and festivals lined up for the coming months. Happy times!
I've also been busy pestering anybody who will listen for sponsorship for my upcoming cycle ride to Paris for Marie Curie. The fantastic news is that I've already reached my target of £1300, so thank you to everyone who has chipped in. You'll see the odd Facebook and Twitter post over the next couple of months, but if you've managed to escape a personal email / Facebook message /BBS PM /Twitter DM then the good news for you is, you got away with it!
Still, at least now I've hit my target, you can be assured that any money you chip in now will all go 100% to the charity. I know some people have made a few sly digs about having to pay for my weekend break away :)
Now, all the money has been raised, I now need to switch my focus to actually being able to cover the distance in May!
The absolutely disgusting winter we've had has certainly cut my training back. As soon as the snow and ice disappeared, it seemed to rain non-stop for a month. Then when the sun finally came out, the temperatures dropped again. I took a spin round Richmond Park last Sunday in biting cold conditions with a headwind ripping in to me seemingly all the way.
My first proper training event is now booked. A 65km ramble through the hilly Kent countryside, starting at Hildenborough on the 28th March. I'm hoping to get another two proper organised rides in after this before I head off to Paris.
So once again, thanks for everyone who has sponsored me so far. Others can get involved at http://original.justgiving.com/kevintuk
Word out motherlickers
I've also been busy pestering anybody who will listen for sponsorship for my upcoming cycle ride to Paris for Marie Curie. The fantastic news is that I've already reached my target of £1300, so thank you to everyone who has chipped in. You'll see the odd Facebook and Twitter post over the next couple of months, but if you've managed to escape a personal email / Facebook message /BBS PM /Twitter DM then the good news for you is, you got away with it!
Still, at least now I've hit my target, you can be assured that any money you chip in now will all go 100% to the charity. I know some people have made a few sly digs about having to pay for my weekend break away :)
Now, all the money has been raised, I now need to switch my focus to actually being able to cover the distance in May!
The absolutely disgusting winter we've had has certainly cut my training back. As soon as the snow and ice disappeared, it seemed to rain non-stop for a month. Then when the sun finally came out, the temperatures dropped again. I took a spin round Richmond Park last Sunday in biting cold conditions with a headwind ripping in to me seemingly all the way.
My first proper training event is now booked. A 65km ramble through the hilly Kent countryside, starting at Hildenborough on the 28th March. I'm hoping to get another two proper organised rides in after this before I head off to Paris.
So once again, thanks for everyone who has sponsored me so far. Others can get involved at http://original.justgiving.com/kevintuk
Word out motherlickers
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