The week in politics

What more can I say? Two-hundred odd (yes, some distinctly odd!) revelations down, four hundred plus to go. More than enough juicy revelations to take us up to the English local and Euro elections, and we've not even touched on second jobs, directorships or those infamous 'fact finding' trips to sunny climes yet. The Establishment is calling 'enough is enough'; the bishops and the political classes issue dire warnings of votes for those sinister minority parties - God forbid that anyone should consider voting for anything other than the mainstream; enough is enough, let's draw a line under this nasty affair, 'learn the lessons' and basically get back to business as usual. Er, no,chaps, that's not going to happen anytime soon.
We live in a democracy - maybe a very battered and bruised, discredited democracy but a democracy nonetheless. Should voters decide to put their cross against a 'minority' party, however odious their views, that's their choice. Unlike too many of our political 'leaders', I don't think that the electorate is stupid. Bogeyman stories about the BNP or UKIP won't scare them back into line; if they vote for those parties it's because they want to. They don't have to - they could just spoil their ballot papers if they chose to, or just not bother voting at all. Dangerous? No, just democracy. And if there is an increase in votes for the smaller parties, or for Independents, the establishment parties really have no-one to blame but themselves.

The more you spend, the more you save!

I really can't be allowed out shopping on my own - I have too keen an eye for a bargain (Caroline points out that something is only a bargain if you need it, but she clearly has no idea about the game at all). If I go to the shops for basics like bread or milk, I will invariably unearth a bargain - cans of dog food: buy six and get six free, for example. Too good to miss - even although I don't have a dog. Over recent months I have been trying hard to curtail this habit, and I've been fairly successful. This weekend I was really put to the test, however. I had two jobs to attend over at Craigleith Retail Park - the Marks & Spencer extension opening (complete with a PENNY BAZAAR)and Sainsbury's 140th birthday celebrations (25%, yes 25% off all clothing!)- bargains galore! I also had a job to cover at Ocean Terminal - all those shops to pass, deals aplenty. Everywhere I turned, more bargains! With an iron will, however, I turned a blind eye and walked on by. Even HMV (a CD deal frenzy) was ignored. I felt pretty good, but relapsed slightly when I went for a haircut on West Granton Road. Couldn't resist a wee look in Lidl, and left the store with around £5 worth of goodies - wild bird food (I've already got tons of the stuff) and a pepper plant (or capsicum aaruum, or somesuch). I've got to be honest, I've no real need for a pepper plant, I don't know what to do with a pepper plant, I'm not really too fussed about peppers generally but hey, at £1.49 - how could I resist? Caroline helpfully suggested what I could do with the pepper plant, but I have put it in a growbag instead ....

Garden Update

And sticking with the horticulture theme, a wee progress report on the garden. I did indeed plant my pepper in a growbag (well, Caroline did), alongside two tomato plants I also bought recently (for no good reason; but more bargains!)at a PEP Neighbourhood Group fundraiser. Soon, no doubt, I will be able to eat for free, living off the fat of the land (as long as it's a tomato and pepper salad, anyway). We also bought a load of end-of-season annuals to brighten up the garden a bit, and my dad came down this morning (pictured above, a study of horticultural concentration) to cast an expert eye over proceedings and help with planting. It's all beginning to look pretty good, although with minimal interference from me it's hard to claim any credit. My own particular specialisms (I use the term loosely) are the Yorkshire lavender (I look at it every day) and the nature/wildlife 'project' (I hung up a bird feeder and fill it up). Well wonder of wonders but the lavender is really sprouting - the threat of relegation back to bleak old Yorkshire has clearly worked the oracle.
And as for the bird feeder, it's been a delight. I received a RSPB pictorial guide to garden birds (unfortunately no sea eagles) and I have managed to tick quite a few off. All the usual suspects - sparrows, pigeons, blackbirds and magpies - but quite a few colourful wee visitors too: chaffinches, blue tits and great tits among them.
The tits are attracted by fat balls which I have hung by the seed feeder. No matter how I try to word the last sentence it just sounds worse and worse, and it just deteriorates when I introduce 'pricking out' and 'dead heading' from my list of gardening 'things to do'. Great tits indeed - fnarr, fnarr! I will leave this subject before it degenerates further - who would have thought you could pack so many double entendres into a wee garden space?

The Sporting Week

Congratulations to Falkirk for managing to avoid the drop. I saw Falkirk at Easter Road early in the season and admired the way they tried to play their football. John Hughes' insistence in continuing to try to play attractive attacking football almost cost him dear, but he's a good bloke and I'm delighted Falkirk have survived.
I do feel sorry for Dundee United, though, losing out on a European place. Craig Levein is a very talented manager and his team played some great football during this season. They say dodgy decisions even themselves out over the course of a season but I don't think that's been the case with Dundee United. They've been the victims of some shockers and it's ultimately cost them dear.
Congratulations, too, to Rangers for breaking Celtic's dominance of the League in recent years. It's hardly been a vintage season for either half of the Old Firm but that won't bother the boys in blue. A win's a win, and for both halves of Glasgow coming second is nowhere - the clamour for Strachan's head grows as we speak. Despite his past achievements at Parkhead Wee Gordon has never really fitted in with some elements of the Celtic faithful; perhaps there's an opening here for Michael Marti should he choose to pursue a new career outside politics?
And it's farewell, too, to Jimmy Calderwood of Aberdeen. The betanned Bernie Winters lookalike is moving out; another very likable bloke, but being a good guy sometimes just isn't enough. I finished the Radio Scotland SPL Predictor competition in 1567th place; I don't think I qualify for a European spot but I believe I've avoided relegation (scared to check how many people actually took part, though!)

The sporting highlight of this week for me though was a Channel Four documentary repeated last night on one of the satellite stations. It told the story of Mohammed Ali and 'Smokin' Joe' Frazier and the build up and background to their epic 'Thriller in Manila'. It was painful to watch - not just the physical pain of two giants hammering each other to within inches of their lives,but the mental aftermath. Smokin' Joe is a shadow of his former self, shuffling around a run-down gym in Philadelphia's badlands. Joe is a bitter man - he'll never forgive Ali for the taunts of 'Uncle Tom' and the gorilla quips. Ali has apologised to Frazier's family and he also apologised in the New York Times, but he never apologised to Joe himself - and, ravaged by Parkinsons disease, he's never likely to now. Frazier was asked to comment when Ali was asked to light the Olympic flame: his response - "If I was stood behind him I'd a pushed him in". The fire's gone out of 'Smokin Joe's eyes but the embers of rage still smoulder away deep inside. That heavyweight contest was acknowledged to be one of the greatest fights of all time - fourteen gruelling, punishing rounds in a cauldron of heat where neither man would flinch or give an inch. Raw brutality and almost unbearable punishment - round after round after round of bludgeoning couldn't separate the titans. During the final break, despite his appeals to go on Frazier's corner refused to let him out for the final round. Joe was almost blind; he couldn't defend himself but he wanted to get in there again one last time, banging and slashing away in the only style he knew. In the other corner Ali was physically exhausted, his battered and bruised body in spasms of agony. He'd had enough, begging his seconds to cut his gloves off. They didn't, Ali got his Pyrrhic victory, but so his torso had been so hammered that his urine ran blood red for days afterwards. Neither man was ever the same after that titanic struggle - they left part of their souls in that ring in Manila - but it seems that Joe will fight it over and over until he dies. It's a desperately tragic story, but it was a riveting documentary.

The Week Ahead

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership meets on Monday evening and our Community Council annual general meeting is on Wednesday night. I've said before that I'm going to rein back on some of my community commitments, so I'll be standing down as Secretary after umpteen years of taking minutes (although I'll carry on doing the job until the community council elections in October). It's only fair that someone else is given the opportunity to enjoy the many pleasures that being a secretary brings!
The most important meeting of the week though is likely to be the meeting of NEN Board members with individual members of staff, taking place tomorrow. Following these meetings we'll all have a clearer idea of where the NEN is going, and what our roles (if any) will be in the future direction of the community newspaper. It's been a very long and sometimes anxious wait, causing a lot of stresses and strains and dragging everyone down. The Board has some tough decisions to make and I don't envy them one little bit - I've been on that side of the table in the past and it's a rotten experience. It's a relief that the waiting's almost over, though - whatever decisions are made. It may just be that I'll be spending more time with my fat balls and tits ... geddit? Fnarr, fnarr!

I'll keep you posted ...