Turkish Smokers Punished

From today Turkey falls into line with the EU and extends its ban on smoking to bars and restaurants , previously it had applied to offices, public transport and shopping malls. predictably bar owners are up in arms because of anticipated loss of revenue, and they are right to be so, Turkey  is known as a smoking nation with a high percentage of smokers, other Country’s that have put the ban in place have seen business’s fold because of the ban notably in England where even now pubs are closing at a rate of up to 5 a day.  Turkey hope to join the European union and would need to sign up to the smoking ban then anyway, but I fear a more sinister reason, Prime Minister Recip Erdogan a pious Muslim does not smoke and discourages smoking around him, none of his Ministers smoke, he even goes as far as taking cigarettes of staff and making them promise to stop, this new legislation dovetails nicely with Islam’s distaste for drinking and smoking and  its feared this is his way of punishing establishments that serve alcohol.  An army of 4500 snoopers have been employed to enforce the ban in a country that is the fourth largest tobacco producer in the world, where 22 million people including half the adult population smoke.

Sir Alex Ferguson

The union for referees has demanded the FA get tough with the Manchester United boss for accusing Alan Wiley of being unfit. The over reaction to his comments have become ludicrous, from losing his Knighthood to being kicked out of the game altogether, these are just a couple of the suggestions put forward as suitable punishments for Sir Alex’s comments.

Taking away his Knighthood wins the prize for the stupidest suggestion as that would be a non footballing punishment, how ever he is chastised and chastised he will be it has to be of a footballing nature.

I agree that what Ferguson done was wrong in personally attacking Wiley but his reaction was borne out of frustration for his teams performance not Wiley’s, though they earned a draw it was their worst performance of the season.

Facts that have come to light after the game show that Ferguson could not have been more wrong in his criticism and  his condemnation of the referee, Wiley was accused of being to unfit to play the proper amount of time facts show he covered more ground than all but four of the players on the pitch, he did in fact run over 11000 meters.

Ferguson should be man enough to apologize unreservedly to Wiley and accept his punishment from the FA which should be at most a 2/3 match touchline ban, anything else would be over the top.

Those fans who want Sir Alex hung and then electrocuted will have to settle for the ban this time.

DurdensView Tags: Sir Alex Ferguson, Wiley, FA

The Italian Solution

Italy has a new immigration law, and human rights groups are up in arms about it, I don’t see the problem with it, the main crux of the law is that if you enter Italy without a visa or authorization, you will be arrested and fined up to 10,000 Euros, the fine is waived if you agree to leave straight away, for those not willing or unable to pay, the period of detention goes up from Two months to Six months, then a hearing when you will be deported anyway.  Furthermore you cannot rent accommodation or get a job without a visa or authorization. and anyone renting or employing you is committing an offense, and could be jailed for up to 3 years. There is a part of the new law that could do with being omitted, and this is that groups of citizens can patrol their own areas reporting any problems they may come across, these people would be trained by the Government. Naturally there are screams of racism and rights abuses, but I don’t see it that way these people are entering a country illegally that in itself is a criminal act, and with no money and no jobs can only be a burden on Italian society, if these people are genuinely looking for a different or better life why not go through normal channels and apply to enter the country through the front door. We have seen first hand in this country what happens when you have no control of your borders, we have a huge problem with illegal immigrants, of which crime is the most serious, in a recent metropolitan police report a huge percentage of arrests in the early part of the year in London were of foreign nationals. also our resources are stretched, medical care, housing , education, all at bursting point. So what is wrong with having controlled immigration in this country. I propose a border police force to work in hand with the coastguard and other agency’s working to stop illegal traffic, once we have the borders under control then we implement a ban on any further immigration, 10 years would not be unreasonable to give our country time to cope with what we have here already to integrate them into mainstream life,  help with accommodation and jobs where practical, then introduce an orderly system of accepting immigrants again. There is nothing remotely racist in my mind with what I propose just common sense.

From Russia With Love

Gambling in Russia becomes illegal as from today, there will be four designated gambling areas and that will be it. At first glance it seems strange for a government to ban something which brings in 1 billion dollars in tax a year, it will also put an estimated half million workers out of a job. But desperate times call for desperate measures, there has a been a massive rise in gambling addiction in Russia, after the collapse of communism the sudden freedom afforded to the population has spawned a gambling culture that has got out of control, money lending and money laundering are just two other by products. No support groups or counselling over there its straight for the jugular with the cure, If only our rulers could be so decisive. In the UK we have gone the other way by increasing the amount of ways people can lose their hard earned cash. bookmakers have turned their shops into mini Las Vegas's with wall to wall slot machines,horse racing from all around the world, Dogs, Football, Cricket, Tennis, Rugby you name it, it's available to be bet on. In fact you can bet on just about anything nowadays, staring from 8 am in the morning to 9pm at night. For those days where the weather interferes with the racing programme there are virtual horse and dog racing cards, with predetermined results, that you can throw your money at. Who would have thought we could ever envy a Russian government, there are not many things we can take from the Russians but this is something we should.

FA Clowns

Liverpool boss rafael Benitez faces a touchline ban  after being charged with improper conduct by the FA,this is because  Rafa  tapped his glasses as he spoke about referee Phil Dowd after losing to Spurs earlier in the season.

Now far be it for me to stick up for anyone remotely concerned with the Scousers let alone their manager but I have to say this is ridiculous, it’s getting so that soon managers or players for that matter wont be able to open their mouths at all.

Last time I bothered to check this was still a free Country (only just) and free speech was still tolerated, The FA are making themselves look ridiculous and petty if they follow through with  this charge.

One of the great things about football is that every game has a talking point an incident or two in a game that friends and work colleagues can argue and debate Monday morning, we all have our own opinions and different takes on how we see incidents in a match, why should managers not be afforded the same right to discuss and argue their points to.

So I hope the FA reconsider and drop this, Liverpool have enough problems this season on the pitch without outside interference, when they drop out of the top four this season I don’t want them to have anything they can blame except their own shortcomings.

Incidentally this will be the only time I ever stick up for the whinging Scousers.

DurdensView Tags: Liverpool, Scousers, Rafa, Benitez, FA

McCanns win Injunction

A Portuguese court upheld on Thursday a ban on a book about the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann written by former detective Goncalo Amaral who led the initial investigation.

Published in 2008, Amaral's book, "Maddie: The Truth of the Lie," was removed from shelves following an injunction last September after the McCanns claimed the book defamed them by suggesting Madeleine died in her room in a Portuguese holiday resort and they faked her abduction.

Speaking outside the court the father Gerry McCann said, “this is a victory for us there was never any evidence to suggest Madeline was killed ”

That’s not strictly true, dogs that are trained to sniff out bodies reacted to the McCanns rental car, and again to the apartment they were staying in, if we are honest there is no evidence to back up the McCanns version that Madeline was kidnapped.

 

DurdensView Tags: McCanns, Madeline

Football Hooligans

Disgraceful scenes at Upton Park last night for the league cup tie between West Ham and Millwall, it looked like these kind of nights had been banished from our game but sadly this was hooliganism at its worst.

All the hard work of the last 15 to 20 years by the F.A had paid dividends and it had pretty much cleaned up the game , but there are clubs out there that consistently drag us back, well its time to get tough with these serial culprits.

First of all both teams to be excluded from any further part in this competition for 5 years, Millwall I know are already out this year  because they lost so make their ban  run for 6 years, also any more trouble from either of these two teams supporters must result in their League home games at their respective clubs to be played behind closed doors.

Behind closed door matches will severely hit gate money but the games can still be filmed and shown on TV whether that be live or recorded, so its not all doom and gloom on the financial front.

If this to fails to stop the trouble then they must be thrown out of the football league, its only harsh punishments like these that will have the desired effect, morons and violent thugs these so called fans are, but they do love their football.

There are certain fixtures around the Country that do have the potential for this kind of aggro, Birmingham host Villa next Month and that is another game with the potential for violence, so to Swansea  versus Cardiff, there are many more like these, so why do the FA not anticipate this and make them early morning games if its a Saturday or Sunday game or  behind closed doors if its a midweek evening.

Any matches with a history of trouble should be put on notice, clean up your acts or these will be the punishments, I fear if we don’t get tough the nightmare of the 1970’s could return.

DurdensView Tags: West Ham, Millwall, Hooliganism, League

Gaddafi Flips

Muammar Gaddafi has appealed for jihad against Switzerland, long regarded as one of the most peaceful nations in the world.

The Libyan leader’s call for a holy war was, he said, a response to a Swiss referendum in November to ban the construction of minarets on mosques.

In a rambling tirade he called on all Muslims throughout the world to go to airports in their masses and block the runways so Swiss planes can’t land, and to do the same at harbours to prevent any Swiss ships docking, apparently being unaware that The Swiss do not have a merchant Navy or a coast.

In fact this has nothing to do with religion or minarets, it relates back to 2008 when Gaddafi’s son Hannibal was arrested and held in Geneva on charges of beating his servants.

He made clear that Switzerland, “an infidel, obscene state which is destroying mosques”, was at the very least an ideological enemy.

When Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were held by Swiss police, the Libyan authorities cut oil supplies to Switzerland, withdrew several billion dollars from Swiss banks and held two Swiss businessmen. One was allowed to leave this week, but the second,  is still in prison.

Madman Gaddafi is unbelievably one of the middle East’s longest serving rulers. that says a lot about the region, and go’s some way to explaining why it has so many problems.

DurdensView Tags: Gaddafi, Switzerland, Minarets

Russian Nightclub Fire

At least a hundred people were killed and a 140 injured last night when a firework display went horribly wrong in a Russian nightclub.

Clubbers rushed for the doors of the Lame Horse nightspot in the centre of Perm, a city of 1.2m, 870 miles east of Moscow, after a pyrotechnics show went disastrously wrong.

Witnesses quoted by local media said a stray firework sparked the blaze during a stage show, prompting panic as hundreds of clubbers rushed for the exits.

Enforcement of fire safety standards in Russia is notoriously lax and in recent years there have been several catastrophic blazes at drug-treatment facilities and apartment buildings.

Russia records nearly 18,000 fire deaths a year, several times the per capita rate in the United States and other Western countries. Nightclub fires have killed thousands of people worldwide.

Ten people died when a so-called "fire show" went out of control at a Moscow club in March 2007.

In February 2008, a fire in the Golden Rock nightclub in the Siberian city of Omsk killed four people. Officials said the blast might have been caused by natural gas.

In Russia it appears they have no health and safety regulations, well at least none that are strict enough and none that anyone seems to take any notice of.

We complain all the time in this Country about what a nuisance our health and safety executive is and how they interfere to much in our lives, but given the appalling loss of life and most of them sadly in their teens, I wont be complaining about our health and safety rules anymore.

What a terrible way to lose your children, in something as innocent as a night out dancing, given the frequency of this type of tragedy,  worldwide there should be a immediate and total ban on fireworks indoors, it will take a while for everyone to fall into synch, but if the punishments for breaking the rules are severe enough eventually everyone will fall into line.

DurdensView Tags: Russia. Fire, Nightclub

Boy George

I am amazed at the fuss at the decision to not allow Boy George to appear in next weeks TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

Mr Justice Bean dismissed the application, saying that an offender serving the non-custodial part of a sentence should not be allowed to “take part in a high-profile television production”.

Lawyers acting for the  musician, whose real name is George O’Dowd, had claimed that the ban was imposed amid fears that the Probation Service would come under attack from the media if he was allowed to take part in the show, which begins on January 3. He was expected to have earned £400,000 for his appearance.

Yesterday there were radio shows that dedicated huge sections of their programme to that decision, most of them that I heard were criticizing the Judge, these people who are backing George today are the same ones spouting of the rest of the year about how weak and ineffectual our justice system is, how there is one law for the rich and one for the poor.

George was not jailed for a traffic offence or non payment of a fine,  or even for using drugs where you could argue that he was only hurting himself.

Have these people have forgotten what it was he was jailed  for. it was for  assaulting and falsely imprisoning Auden Carlsen a male escort that George had hired for the evening, following a trivial argument George chained him to a radiator and beat him with a chain, his ordeal only ended when he managed to escape George did not release him who knows what George had in mind for, this could have ended in more serious injury or worse with  murder.

Imagine the roles reversed and the escort had done the same to Gorge he would have got at least 5 years, so for George to get sentenced to 15 months only was a good result for him and out of that he served only 4 months, and is out on licence until April of 2010, the terms of his licence state that he may not change his address and must be able to be visited by his social worker daily.

As these terms would be violated if he entered the Big Brother house his request was rightly  denied, why should he be treated preferentially because of his celebrity status.

Hats of to Justice Bean for treating George as the criminal that he is.

DurdensView Tags: Boy George, Justice Bean

Miaow Miaow ban?

The Government’s official drug advisers will recommend later this month that the “legal high” mephedrone should be banned because of the potential serious risks to public health.

Typical knee jerk reaction from the Government, do they really believe making it illegal will stop people using it?.

Lets look at the evidence, Cocaine Heroin Crack Cannabis etc etc all illegal, yet freely available and more popular than ever, so banning this “drug” which is in fact a plant food will make no difference.

This answer if there is one lies in education, teaching kids the dangers of drugs, one way is  showing  hard hitting anti drug films in schools, there is a company the Government use for their no drinking no smoking campaigns that turn out the most brilliantly terrifying adverts against drink driving and smoking.

Showing the effects on the mind from using these so called legal highs will shock many into not going near them, the after effects can be pretty terrifying, like the footage I saw yesterday of a  14 year old boy going through various stages of terror and paranoia, followed by aggression  shown on sky news, if I had any intention of trying this drug, and I don’t,this would have been enough to deter me.

So forget about gimmicks Gordon we know there is an election coming up, you are not fooling anybody, lets get educating our youngsters to the dangers now.

DurdensView Tags: Miaow Miaow

Ban Rambo

It’s time the Government stepped in to save people from themselves, I am referring to the situation in Iraq, another two hostages murdered, and their body’s sent home to their families as some kind of macabre gift on fathers day. The latest two Victims Jason Cresswell and Jason Swindlehurst were both working as bodyguards in Baghdad for a reported £500 a day, now that is a fantastic wage, but is it worth your life, both men were fathers and now those kids will grow up without them. Times over here are tough and you cant blame men  looking to better their families lives by earning the kind of money they can over there. But like a beaten boxer who doesn’t know when to quit its up to our politicians to throw the towel in the ring for them. Simply do not allow any more family men to go to Iraq to work until the situation is stabilised. I know I sound like a wimpy liberal but I don’t care. If your a single man and want to go play Rambo that’s your choice, but if you have children and want to play , then you cant, I realise that there are thousands of soldiers out there that are family men , and the risk of kidnap and torture is just as real for them, but they are not as exposed or as vulnerable to this kind of crime as civilian contractor’s are.

Higgin’s Snookered

The world’s number one  snooker player was suspended last night after allegations that he was willing to take a £261,000 bribe.

John Higgins claimed that he had agreed to lose frames in four matches against three prominent players because he feared he was being threatened by the Russian mafia.

In a sting by the News of the world Higgins was exposed as a money grabbing cheat, he has tried to weasel his way out of this by making the allegation about gangsters, but having watched the clip of Higgins and his manager there is no doubt from the body language of both men that there was no duress involved.

The player, who won the world title in 1998, 2007 and 2009 and was appointed MBE for services to sport  insisted yesterday that he was innocent, I have no sympathy for Higgins and hope that he receives a life ban and has his MBE taken of  him, the image of snooker as a gentleman's game has been shattered and only strong and immediate action by the game’s governing body can bring any sort of credibility back.

I don’t for a second believe that Higgins is the only player to be involved with this betting syndicate  because of the huge sums involved in frame betting and more names will come out in the following days and weeks.

It will take a long time for snooker to recover from this.

DurdensView Tags: John Higgin's, Russioan mafia

The Blues Have The Blues

Chelsea have been banned from signing any players for the next two transfer windows, after being found guilty of inducing a player to quit his contract, in this case Gael kakuta from Lens back in 2007.

Along with steep fines for the both the club and the player Fifa also banned Kakuta, 18, a skilful left-winger who had been named in Chelsea's Champions League squad, from taking part in official matches for four months

At first glance this does seem a harsh punishment, but when you look closer at the Chelsea policy of signing young players you see that something has to be done, This policy will save  many if not hundreds of millions of pounds in transfer fee’s for Chelsea in the years to come, by snapping up talent for peanuts at an early age  Chelsea look to produce a conveyor belt of talent in the future, and even if the player does not mature to a standard good enough for the Blues they would still have a future in football and would have a sell on value. just fining a club with Chelsea’s wealth would have zero effect but this will bite deep.

Gervais Martel, the Lens president, said “The player was under contract with us, and they came and stole him away, Chelsea think they are immune from  following the rules they contacted the player when he wasn't even 16 and while he was  contracted to our training group, he had been with us from the age of eight.

Kakuta is a fantastically gifted left winger, who was already at the tender age of 17 in the full Champions League squad for Chelsea this season, having just watched some clips of the lad in action http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2621362/Youre-a-bunch-of-thieves.html I can see why the Blues were so keen to secure his services, this is definitely a superstar for the future.

This type of punishment however  is not unprecedented recently Fifa punished Switzerland's FC Sion for a similar offence the club was told it could not sign players until the 2010 off-season. This was punishment for signing Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary in 2008 before his deal with Al-Ahly had expired.

My own team Manchester Utd could have similar problems in the very near future over their actions in recruiting French under 16 Captain Pogba from Le Havre in France last month. Utd stand accused of giving large sums of money to the youngster’s parents to get them to persuade their son to sign for the League Champions.

United  deny the accusations but could face the same charges as Chelsea did over Kakuta. The Champions claimed they were within their rights to sign the player, as he had not signed any legally binding Le Havre contract. A United spokesman “ We have nothing to fear everything has been done within the UEFA guidelines.

The case is still to be heard.

DurdensView Tags: Kakuta, Chelsea, Fifa, Ban, Utd, Pogba