Paul Geater’s Party Time

Attacks on Ipswich betray dark fears in tolerant town

2011-11-04T18:47:00Z

WHEN I wrote my defence of my hometown in The Evening Star today I had expected some reader reaction - but I must confess I've been surprised at some of the criticism that has been levied.

Some of the writers have raised valid points which are perfectly reasonable.

However there are some dark issues raised which are clearly xenophobic and bordering on the racist - a sad indictment of some attitudes that now exist in a town that has a fine reputation for the tolerance of its residents.

Writers have spoken about feeling "threatened" by hearing foreign languages spoken in Norwich Road. I sincerely hope they never go abroad and hear the languages spoken on the streets of Paris, Madrid or Rome!

Another writer (who was apparently unaware of the existence of capital letters, punctuation, or the spellcheck facility on her computer) spoke of needing a bodyguard if she wanted to go to Coes because of her fear of foreigners. I'm sorry but I find those kind of comments offensive - and it is very sad to see such intolerance coming from our town.

On the question of crime. If you think Ipswich is a hotbed of crime then I'm sorry but you have no idea what other towns or cities are like. Yes the crime level is higher in Ipswich than it is in Lavenham, Walberswick or Old Newton.

But compare the crime levels with similar-sized communities: Northampton, Southampton, Norwich, Cambridge, Gloucester, Middlesbrough, Oxford. You'll find Ipswich's crime levels are either on a par or much lower. And if you look at larger cities like Birmingham, Manchester, or Nottingham you'll find the crime level here is just a fraction.

And the fact remains, as I said in my Star article, that crime levels in Ipswich have not increased dramatically over the last few decades. Crime statistics are published regularly. If they had increased we would know. We would tell you. It is not the level of crime that has increased. It is the perception felt by some people.

This is nothing new - every generation feels things are worse than when they were younger. It is a fact of life. And as for the comment that I should go out and prowl the streets at 1am to see the real face of Ipswich - that's a red herring because most of those worried about crime are not on the streets at 1am, not because they're scared but because they're tucked up in bed at that hour!

Two people who clearly did not understand what I had written took me to task for two issues over retailing.

One person picked up my comment that I sometimes visit Norwich, Colchester or Bury to take it that I did not shop in Ipswich. I made the point that while I do enjoy shopping trips with my family, the bulk of our shopping is in Ipswich.

Another suggested that I should visit Norwich city centre if I think Ipswich is so good. I know Norwich very well. It is a great regional shopping centre - and I have already said Ipswich will never be able to compete directly with it.

But while I may visit Norwich five or six times a year, the bulk of my shopping is always going to be in Ipswich because it's where I live and where it is most convenient to shop. I don't consider myself to be either disloyal to Ipswich or blinkered and refusing to understand what our neighbours have to offer!

Yes there are problems with traffic - but that's because more of us have cars and Ipswich's traffic is much less congested than most similar-sized towns (try getting into Colchester or Cambridge at rush hour). The town centre and Waterfront needs investment which should come when the recession picks up.

I still can't work out if those who suggested that because I've only lived in the town for 25 years I was not qualified to comment on it were being entirely serious - if they were I'd like to assure them that as a Suffolk lad, I've known Ipswich very well since I was in short trousers at school. Is there anything from the past I'd like to bring back? Yes, Ridley's clothes shop and Noble Romans pizza restaurant.

But if you're trying to find reasons to have a go at Ipswich, use logic. Don't just play the race card or stoke up unnecessary fears among your fellow residents.

Ipswich cannot compete with Norwich - it needs a different approach

2011-10-24T18:39:15Z

I'VE just returned home from a shopping trip up the road to Norwich. We know the city well - I was a student there many years ago - and we like the place very much and know where the great independent shops are. St Benedict's Street is slightly out of the way but it's well worth the short walk to reach it.

And the blunt fact is Ipswich is never, ever, going to be able to compete with Norwich as a retail centre. The Norfolk city is much further from London and is a genuine regional centre attracting shoppers from a wide area (including Ipswich). Ipswich is never going to have a full-scale John Lewis, House of Fraser and independent department store of the size of Jarrolds - as well as Debenhams and Marks and Spencer - but that doesn't mean the town should be filled with gloom.

There are stores here that offer something different - and the town's Waterfront still has the real potential to attract the crowds.

Last week I needed some new extra-long casual shirts for the winter. Coes were the only place to have them - and there was nothing like this on sale that I could find in Norwich city centre.

And we are starting to see some interesting independent stores opening in Ipswich - but there needs to be many more to create a critical mass.

Ipswich has to shake off the perception that has built up over the last few years that it is a "budget" town with little to attract those with good disposable incomes living outside the borough.

The problem is that most of those stores that people do come into Ipswich to visit are not really in the town centre.

Coes is half a mile out with its own car park. How many of its customers have walked to the store in Norwich Road from the town centre? They have made a special journey to get there and then drive out again.

People may drive from Claydon to Asda, from Capel to Tesco, or from Kesgrave or Purdis Farm to Sainsburys but how can they be persuaded to visit the town centre as well when there rival shopping attractions at Colchester, Bury . . . and Norwich?

Ipswich Central realises the town cannot compete on retailing alone. It has to look at other attractions.

The town has to complete work around the Waterfront. It has to use that to attract people. It has to encourage developments which link the town with the Waterfront and those looking to the future have to accept that it is not retailing that will bring the people in.

New attractions at the Waterfront would help. Boosting the museum/art school with more attractions and better links with the town centre would help. But it will take time. Nothing will happen while the recession persists.

A lament for the Sunday papers

2011-10-23T11:10:00Z

I love lazy Sundays like this - and one of the joys used to be the Sunday papers. One heavy and one a scandal-sheet (usually NotW). I said I bought it for the sport, but there was usually some other interesting titbits as well.

We all know what caused the demise of the NotW and no one will condone its behaviour, least of all an experienced journalist who saw how its actions sullied the profession as a whole - however unfairly for the majority of my colleagues who behave properly.

But the Sundays now are a pale shadow of their former selves - the tabloids are at any rate.

There are still heavies of course. I'm just starting to read The Sunday Times. There's a reasonable amount to interest me there. But what about some light reading?

The remaining tabloids are total dross! They either have non stories about Kylie Minogue's talentless sister looking a bit thin or Pineapple Geldof doing something silly (allegedly). One had a story about Mario Balotelli's extraordinary fireworks show - but that was all over The Guardian yesterday. Hardly a world exclusive!

The mid-market tabloids are either involved in gay-bashing or BBC-bashing (still makes a change from Europe-bashing or elf and safety-bashing).

So I'm stuck with one Sunday paper - at least they'll be less to distract me while I'm watching the Manchester derby!

Politicians need to get real

2011-09-27T18:25:46Z

I'VE just heard part of Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour conference and I'm not much more impressed by him than I was a year ago - he doesn't have the charisma he needs to become Prime Minister.

However my beef is really with all politicians - Labour, Tory, and Liberal - who all seem to think that the public is stupid enough to believe that they are responsible for the economic state of the country.

The power that controls the economy is totally out of the hands of mere politicians. The economy is controlled by international bankers and businesses. And any politician that thinks they are responsible for the state of the economy are frankly delusional.

When the Tories try to blame the last Labour government for the recession, they are either delusional themselves or are cynically trying to manipulate public opinion.

The recession hit because of the collapse of the international banking system. Did the British Labour government cause the collapse of the American bank Lehmann Brothers? Did the British Labour government make Northern Rock bankrupt? No, it saved the bank - and prevented its customers from losing billions of pounds.

And remember that when it left office in May last year, Labour left Britain in no worse condition than many other international countries.

But that is not really something Labour should crow about. Because it was not the actions of the last government that caused the problem or left Britain in a slightly better condition than the rest of the world - that was a piece of good luck for us,

And Labour spokesman who give the impression that the austerity we are now facing is all the cause of the current government are equally economical with the truth.

They know that if they were in power they would be following similar policies to the current government. There might be tinkering around the edges - a tiny amount off VAT here a token tax on bankers there - but essentially politicians are powerless in the face of the economic hurricane.

And that's probably the way it should be. Any government that really controls the economy can only do so by running a totalitarian state - the only governments that really controlled their economies were in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

I'd rather live in a mixed economy, based on the free market, than a country where politicians really controlled the economy. I just wish Messrs Cameron, Miliband, Osborne and Balls would stop trying to convince us that they can do anything to make things better!

Calm heads needed at Portman Road

2011-08-21T08:27:53Z

I'VE loved watching sport for as long as I can remember, well since the 1970 World Cup, and football has always been my first love.

Over the years I became interested in cricket and motor-racing as well - and when the Olympics come along I'll watch them avidly as well. I'm a general sports fan (although I'm happy just to read the results of rugby or tennis matches without having to sit through them!).

My love of cricket, honed during the late 70s and early 80s, had waned somewhat (can't think why) but it has been rekindled with a vengeance over the last six years or so. This summer I've watched the England team's exploits with delight.

But yesterday was a real challenge. As England ripped through India on Sky Sports One, Peterborough ripped through Town on Sky Sports Two. My head told me to stick with the cricket - it was good news after all - but eventually I ended up watching more of the football demolition derby. The fact is that football is my first love and although I haven't been to Portman Road for a couple of years Town remains my team.

And I woke up this morning not feeling elated about the cricket but feeling miserable about the football. So I guess I know where my real heart lies.

So what can be done about a team that has conceded 12 goals in its last two games and frankly looked like a group of shattered individuals who had never met each other before rather than a cohesive unit against what is expected to be one of the Championship's weakest teams?

I have tried to persuade myself that it could be the jolt that the team needed - rather like Norwich's identical defeat by Colchester two years ago.

But it's not really the same. I don't really see Marcus Evans going to Peterborough and prising Darren Ferguson away from them. Paul Jewell deserves a bit more time to try to get the team sorted out and to get another defender or two into the club.

Jewell has made a good impression in the area - he's affable, likes talking to the press, and has done it before with Bradford and Wigan. However time is not unlimited and he desperately needs to put some steel in the backbone of his shattered team.

What they need more than anything is some self-belief. But Jewell does not have unlimited time. The home fans need to see a dramatic improvement against Leeds next Saturday.

I do agree with those who have Tweeted saying now is the time for chairman/owner Marcus Evans to show himself and to talk about his commitment to what is still a massive football club - but I doubt whether he will emerge from the shadows.

Overall what the club needs now is calmness, a couple of new defenders, and an injection of self-belief. A scrappy home win against Leeds would be fine. Another heavy defeat could force everyone at the club to go back to square one.

Thank you and farewell Harry Potter - until I watch you again!

2011-07-17T09:33:00Z

WE'VE just seen the last film of the Harry Potter saga - Deathly Hallows part two - and it is a superb finale to what has been a splendid series of films, tying up a whole host of threads that have been left fraying since the end of Goblet of Fire (part four).

I'd watched the DVD of Deathly Hallows part one just a week or so ago and it certainly helped that some of the events from that film were fresh in the mind.

I'm also one of those adults who actually read JK Rowling's original books - but only once each! From what I can remember the two-part final story is pretty accurate to the original story.

So do I have any complaints about the final movie? No because I didn't bother to pay extra for the digitally-enhanced 3D version that was slotted in as an afterthought by Warner Bros.

I really could not see where 3D would have added anything, apart possibly from the scene in Gringott's Bank, and it certainly is not worth the extra expense and discomfort from wearing the cheap plastic glasses.

I still can't really quite work out why Harry Potter has been such a success among people of all ages.

Maybe it's just that people like old-fashioned fairy tales with a modern twist - fantasy novels became fashionable with Tolkein wrote the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in the early years of the last century.

Whatever the reasoning, I've loved the Potter films. The first four were very good stand-alone stories while the Order of the Phoenix onwards were all leading up to the climax at the the end of Deathly Hallows II.

What is extraordinary is that the producers of the first film did so well in choosing child actors who have grown into highly-accomplished young adult actors with fine careers ahead of them.

Something tells me won't be seeing articles in years ahead about "Whatever happened to Daniel Radcliffe?" I suspect they'll all be stars for life.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Think before you break up News International

2011-07-17T07:44:11Z

IT IS quite understandable in the wake of the hacking scandal and further revelations about the relationship between News International, the government, and the police that there should be calls for media giant to be broken up.

The reports coming out of Wapping are appalling and indefensible and it is right that executives who were in charge at the time should have left the company.

But what worries me is that if the company is broken up some or even all of the titles might disappear - and that would mean the loss of thousands of journalists' jobs.

The fact is that The Times and The Sunday Times have been subsidised by The Sun and the News of the World for years. The closure of the NoW will have an effect on the economics of the company - and I suspect we will find out that the circulation figures for all the titles will have been hit.

That would make the company and its titles much less attractive to any potential purchaser.

Of course the number of all newspapers sold in Britain has fallen steadily over the last few decades as new sources of news become available. News International accounts for about 40 per cent of the national newspaper market.

So take them out of the market and it could make the remaining news groups more profitable - but would it really make the national British press more responsible or more diverse? The largest group then would be the Daily Mail's Associated Newspapers and then they could well end up with a market share as high as News International has today.

There is a chance, of course, that The Times and Sunday Times could be bought by someone else - but who would be a likely suitor? The best chance might be a Russian Oligarch like the chap who now owns the Evening Standard in London.

But I have to wonder whether a Times owned by a Russian Oligarch would really be any better than a Times owned by an ex-Aussie now American business tycoon.

In the meantime I've been left with the dilemma of how to get my weekly fix of Sunday scandal.

Neither the People or the Mirror really appeal to me so I'll probably take advantage of the price reduction on the Mail on Sunday to buy that. But if News International does see the storm clouds blow over, I still think there's a good chance that the Sun on Sunday will rise at the start of the football season.

How long News International remains to support it, though, is a different question.

Why the library campaigners won't go away

2011-07-16T07:21:00Z

THE county council insists that all libraries are safe but these protestations don't seem to have cut much ice with library campaigners who are trying to keep up the pressure.

The issue dominated Thursday's meeting of the full council - kept it going for more than four hours and ended up making absolutely no impact on council policy!

And the issue will once again dominate the council's cabinet meeting on Tuesday - although there will be some positive decisions taken on that occasion.

No doubt the protesters will be out in force again at that meeting even though libraries spokeswoman Judy Terry and leader Mark Bee keep saying they intend to keep libraries open.

Why don't the protesters believe them?

Largely, I suspect, it is a matter of trust. When the first proposals were published at the start of the year it was never said explicitly that the 29 designated as "community libraries" were under threat if local residents and parish councils did not take them over.

However that was the message that reached the public and no one believed the council when it said that was not necessarily the case.

Now the language has changed. The council is trying very hard to persuade us that libraries will not close. Now anyone doing this job has to be sceptical about council statements - but for what it's worth I do accept what the administration is telling me on this.

But there was so much distrust built up between the council and the protesters earlier this year that some of them simply won't believe a word that comes out of Endeavour House.

To be fair the most vocal campaigner, James Hargrave, told the council this week that he did accept there had been a change but he and others are determined to keep up the pressure.

The other issue that is firing up the campaigners is, of course, what kind of library service we are going to be left with.

On this issue they might have more difficulty in carrying the public with them.

While many people are worried about the future of libraries, I'm not convinced that many of the footsoldiers are that concerned with how the library service is run - whether it is a council department, an arms-length company or whatever.

So long as the local library is open at reasonable times, that you are able to borrow books or CDs or go to book clubs or children's groups there then fine. If it's actually manned by the retired teacher from down the road on a Saturday morning, then what is there to worry about?

I can understand that for staff or trade unions this is a crucial point - but it is not something that will get people marching through the streets of Leiston or Stradbroke.

But the library debate will not go away. Final decisions are not now likely to be made until November. The campaign goes on!

Is it really the end for the News of the World?

2011-07-07T18:25:00Z

I HAVE a guilty secret. Every Sunday I read the News of the World. I tell myself it's for the great sport coverage, particularly transfer gossip, but if I'm honest it's also to keep up with the latest scandals.

Over the last few days, though, I've been getting really angry with the paper, for what it's done for the reputation of my profession as the appalling phone hacking scandal emerged.

I had decided not to buy the paper this weekend - I'd go for the People or even the Mail on Sunday instead - but now I will probably buy it just to see what they do with the last ever edition of the 168-year-old title.

But what is really going on? Why have Murdoch father and son apparently taken the decision to sacrifice the country's best-selling paper to save the skin of their chief executive Rebekah Brooks?

Most intriguingly, is it really the end of the News of the World? Should it be the end of the News of the World?

One thing's certain, there will be no more newspapers called "News of the World" after this Sunday. But how long will it be before we get the Sun on Sunday? My betting is that will launch on August 7, the first Sunday of the Championship football season and six days before the start of the Premier League.

So what is really happening? Now it appears that the Sun on Sunday has been on the stocks for some time and an announcement is imminent.

Is it really possible that News International has cynically used this crisis to close down the NotW and replace it with a cheaper Sun-branded alternative that will concentrate on sport and celebrity without all the overheads of a separate title?

And why are the Murdoch's so determined to hang on to Rebekah Brooks?

There are stories circulating that the name www.sunonsunday.co.uk was registered earlier this week. It would not surprise me if that rose.

A leading NotW journalist has pointed out that there are only three staff working at the paper now who were there during the phone-hacking days. The whole situation seems bizarre.

I can't help feeling the decent journalists at the NotW deserve to keep their jobs. From that point of view there should be a new title emerging from the ashes.

But so long as the management of the newspaper who were in place at the time of the scandal remain at the company (and by that I mean Rebekah Brooks) then any new title will be tainted.

Mrs Brooks is in charge of the whole News International operation, her responsibility includes The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun. All these titles risk being tainted while she remains in post.

In the meantime those of us in a completely different type of journalism are left shaking our heads at the latest revelations. I hope the message is getting across that the actions of the NotW journalists in years gone by is not representative of the profession as a whole. I'm sure most of our readers know us better than that!

Glastonbury a triumph for the BBC - whatever the tabloids say!

2011-07-03T10:17:56Z

I'M sure the BBC don't need me to defend them, but after some of the bilge I've seen in some national tabloids over the last few days (you know who you are) I'm afraid I could not shut up for any longer after some of the ludicrous attacks we've seen and heard.

Apparently the BBC spent £1.7 million of licence payers' money on covering the Glastonbury Festival. Good. I'm a licence fee payer and I'm glad they spent some of my money during the summer on bringing me a live event I actually wanted to see!

I don't know what they pay to bring us Wimbledon or the Chelsea Flower Show or Royal Ascot. Frankly I'm not that bothered. I'm not interested in those programmes because I'm not interested in the subjects - but I understand that there are millions of people who are, and it is right that the national broadcaster should bring them into our homes.

Given that, why should those who clearly don't like what is on offer at Glastonbury (and given the wide range of music that was covered you'd have to be pretty narrow-minded not to find anything to enjoy!) seem to think it is such an extravagance to cover the event?

Frankly it smacks of cultural snobbery to me. And I can't really believe none of the Daily Mail's readers enjoyed the Glastonbury coverage (I find it easier to believe of the Express's much smaller readership).

One of the interesting criticisms that was in one national paper was that the festival lasted 72 hours but the BBC produced 144 hours of programming. Wasn't the writer aware of the number of stages at Glastonbury? 144 hours still only represents a fraction of the number of total performances.

And what was filmed and broadcast is still available - as I write this on Sunday morning before going to Ipswich Music Day later, I am listening to the Coldplay set that went down so well but I missed because I've never been their greatest fan. It is good but still not up there with U2 the previous evening!

As a middle-aged, middle-class music fan I loved the Glastonbury coverage. I really don't want, and can't afford, to traipse off to Somerset to join in the mudfest - but it's wonderful to have the sights and sounds beamed into my own home with no adverts.

When Glastonbury returns in 2013 (Worthy Farm is having a "rest" next year) I sincerely hope the BBC is back giving us the same great coverage - and those miseries from the Express and Mail can get out their whinging pens once again to show how out of touch they are with us music fans!

The European dream is fading

2011-07-02T14:16:36Z

I'VE been interested in politics since I was a teenager - and the first issue to really grab my attention was the European referendum in 1975.

I was a couple of years too young to vote, but followed all the arguments and I was sure what the right decision was - I was delighted when Britain voted to stay in.

At the time I regularly travelled to Germany. We had friends who were with the British Army of the Rhine and for three summers on the trot I spent three weeks with them, travelling on the night ferry from the Hook and travelling by train from the Hook to Minden.

I could see the advantages of everyone in Europe being in the same "club." I longed for the day when you could travel without having to show a passport or without having to change money at every border.

One of the frustrations was if you wanted to buy a coffee or anything else on the train you had to wait until it had crossed the German border before you could spend your Deutschmarks - unless you changed a couple of pounds into Dutch guilders on the boat at a horrendous exchange rate!

Ever since then I've been a confirmed European. As the arguments have swirled, I've always felt Britain should become more "European." I'm disappointed that we never signed the Shengen Agreement that allows people to travel around Europe without having to show their passport at every border.

I was sorry that Britain didn't enter the Euro when it was set up. And I've been depressed over the years by the anti-Europe rhetoric that has been coming out of politicians of all political colours.

But now, for the first time in my life, I am questioning whether I'm right to feel like this.

Events in Greece over the last few months have shown that the Euro is a mirage. Put bluntly it is impossible to have a common currency for a large number of countries pursuing different economic policies and with different economic goals.

If the Euro is to survive then the countries in the Euro zone are going to agree to a common economic policy. You can't have one country, like Greece, borrowing furiously to sustain its central government while other countries like Germany and the Benelux countries apply tight fiscal rules.

Without the Euro Greece would still be in trouble - but there would be a fairly simple answer to the immediate problem - devaluation.

That is not an option with a single currency like the Euro.

Which means that either Greece will have to adopt a social system like countries in northern Europe with pensions not being paid until people reach their late 60s and higher taxes to pay for government spending however unfair that seems to individual Greeks . . . or it will have to abandon the Euro.

And if it abandons the Euro Portugal won't be far behind it, and Ireland won't be far behind them. Then Spain, Italy, and many of the new countries to enter the EU. They'll all find membership unsustainable.

That could leave just France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and the mighty Luxembourg as Euro members.

And the French might change their mind if a Socialist government is elected next time!

I still don't have much time for those who are calling for Britain to pull out of the EU. We have to remain a member of the most important trading bloc in this part of the world.

But I'm having some difficulty in understanding the mentality of the EU commission which is talking about looking for a five per cent increase in spending while governments across the world are trying to cut back - they don't make it easy for those of us who support the European ideal!

Europe, and European trade, is vital for us in Suffolk particularly when you consider the value of the ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich to the local economy.

Wouldn't it be good if the EU made it easier to put in argument in favour of its existence!

Major challenge for Ipswich Town boss Paul Jewell

2011-06-20T14:46:35Z

IPSWICH Town manager Paul Jewell probably already has a number of targets set down by club owner Marcus Evans - but I have a new one for him today.

Get me into Portman Road to watch a Town match for the first time since Roy Keane's first home match in May 2009!

It is 40 years ago in August since I first went to a Town match. I can still remember it vividly. We played Everton and drew 0-0. But I was still hooked. I can still remember the Town team that day: Best, Hammond, Jefferson, Bell, Harper, Mills, Morris, Miller, Robertson, Clarke, and Hamilton.

In a way I'd love to go back - but I lost my unconditional love of professional football some time ago and I need someone to bring it back!

The main problem - as in most things - is money. The amount of money that has come into the English professional game over the last two decades has distorted it and made it incredibly expensive for "ordinary" supporters like me.

When I first went to a match as a youngster it cost me 15p. Adults had to pay 35p to stand in Churchmans. Now an adult ticket costs somewhere around £30.

I know there's been inflation, but to get an idea of how much football prices have gone up, at the time I started going to Portman Road it cost an adult about 50p to go and seen "Diamonds are Forever" at the cinema.

Today you can buy four cinema tickets for the price of one football ticket. And you're guaranteed a seat in a warm auditorium - you won't be frozen to death in mid-February!

And the fact is that if I spend £30 I want to know I'll be entertained and that there's a reasonable chance that at the end of the match I'll feel better than I went in.

I'm sorry, but that hasn't been the case at Portman Road for several years, since the year we should have gone up with Joe Royle at the helm.

I'm just not prepared to pay £30 and expect to come away feeling disappointed.

So, and here's my challenge to Mr Jewell, come up with a team that can win matches in style and make it worth paying a substantial amount of money to come and see them.

I will only return once I'm sure that the club will at least try to produce £30-worth of decent football for every supporter at every match. I will only go into the ground on matchday when I'm convinced that the team is as keen to see that as I am.

I haven't felt that for many years (I only watched a handful of matches during Jim Magilton's managership). I still like watching football. I still subscribe to Sky Sports. But Ipswich Town, my club, needs to show a lot more commitment to entertaining the supporters before I'll go back to Portman Road.

Television Olympics again

2011-06-18T14:45:24Z

I MUST confess to being more than a tad disappointed to miss out on the Olympic tickets I bid for - but then I'm in good company. Only two people I know of have got tickets and I know of far more than six who applied so Lord Coe's one third of applicants got tickets doesn't ring true in my case!

I accept that the organisers had a difficult task in managing the demand for tickets and that a ballot was always going to leave many people disappointed, but I do think there were two flaws in the way the tickets were allocated.

Firstly there was the management of expectations. By saying how many tickets there were and that most were available at low cost, there was an expectation among those who applied that they would get at least some of the tickets they wanted.

We applied for about £300 worth, expecting to get about £100 worth of the cheaper seats. As I've said we got nothing.

It does rather stick in the gullet that those who felt they could afford to bid £36,000 ended up with £11,000 worth of tickets - it does look as if the Olympic organisers were favouring the rich, or financially reckless, bidders.

I heard today that if they'd used ballot software programme that knocked out those who had already been allocated tickets from other ballots (and apparently there were several separate ballots before all the tickets were allocated) then the proportion of applicants to get tickets would have gone up from about a third to more than two thirds.

It's too late to do anything now, and I'm not sure whether we'll bother to apply for the second ballot - watching Olympic football in Coventry or paying £50 a ticket for a late-night preliminary round handball game doesn't really appeal.

I'll probably content myself with a visit to the Olympic site just before or just after the games - and might try to get to see something of the Paralympics instead.

And then when the games themselves are on, I'll watch them on the television, just like I would had Paris or Madrid been successful instead of London.

General strike talk does unions no favours

2011-06-18T07:51:29Z

I HAVE considerable sympathy for public service trades unions who are fighting to protect their members' pension rights - but talk by UNISON general secretary Dave Prentiss of the biggest dispute since the General Strike is foolish and inflamatory.

Traditionally public sector workers have not been paid as much as those in private industry - but they have better pensions and more job security.

That makes any attack on pensions very difficult but looking at the demographics as well as economics, the government has to change public sector pension arrangements.

Those of us employed in the private sector have already seen pension arrangements change. Final salary schemes are being wound up and workers are facing less generous pay outs at the end of our careers - which are being extended in any case.

That is uncomfortable but I'm afraid we have to accept that as inevitable because - and here's the good news - even with the increased pension age we are likely to have many more years of retirement than our parents.

When I started work in the 1980s the expectation was that someone would retire at 65 and have 10 years of retirement before dropping off the perch at 75.

Now we can expect to live to 80 or 85 - or more. So having to work an extra year or two is a fact of life.

What does need to sorted out, though, is a better way of paying out pensions according to need.

There will still be those, particularly who have been in physically demanding jobs, who will be burnt out at 60 and need a good pension then. Police and firefighters get early pensions - but what about others in physically-demanding jobs where fitness is an issue? What about train, bus or lorry drivers whose physical fitness is an issue of public safety?

There will be others who want to carry on working to 70 or beyond - and if they want to put off claiming their pension beyond then and get higher payouts then that should be allowed.

But if the public sector unions want to cause nationwide disruption by insisting that their members should all get their pensions at 60 then I'm sorry but they are unlikely to get much support from hard-pressed private sector workers.

Has the Daily Mail gone completely bonkers?

2011-06-15T18:23:29Z

I'VE never written anything slagging off another publication before - but there's a first time for everything, so here goes!

Having read the Daily Mail's diatribe against the government decision to abandon plans to force councils to revert to weekly rubbish collections, I'm convinced that newspaper has had a collective loss of sanity.

According to the Wail, sorry Mail, the entire country is up in arms about the mountains of festering rubbish that is polluting every road in Britain.

What are they on? I've been covering local politics (and you can't get anything more local than bin collections) for years and I've never heard of any great concern.

Sure the bins can get a bit smelly if the temperature gets more than 80F and if you don't put rubbish in bags in the summer you can occasionally get maggots - but just put some insecticide in if that happens. Get over it.

And that's what sane people do. We recognise that recylcling is vital for the environment. And most people like the convenience of having the recycled material collected from their home.

A friend of mine in a different part of the country was worried about the plans for a recycling collection in her part of the world last year. A few weeks later (in the height of summer) she was delighted about it: "I don't have to keep traipsing to the paper bank," she said.

What is most extraordinary was that the Mail's rants seemed to have caught the eye of local government secretary Eric Pickles.

He's never struck me as the sharpest tool in the box, but I was staggered at his promise to re-introduce weekly collections. No one (outside the Daily Mail newsroom) wants this - we'd much rather have a good recycling service.

Thank heavens Tory councillors from across the country have made him see sense. let's hope he now reads a more sensible newspaper. Maybe he should take out a subscription to the e-edition of the Star!