I'm no football fan, nor a Mancunian (technically, I'm from one of it's satellite towns in the conurbation) but I do have a degree of admiration for how the council and GMP handle the disturbances when the Glaswegians kicked off.

"The Police were heavy handed." I'm a liberal, and I thought that they did a good job with a great degree of restraint. It would have been so easy for them to re-group and scatter the crowd whilst knocking a few heads on the way.

"It wasn't a good advert for the city." On the contrary, it showed the expertise and professionalism of both the police and local authority to deal with a less than ideal situation. It would have been easy for the city to have been overrun and left like a wasteland for weeks (which many cities would have managed) but when things got tough, they got on with sorting it.

Basically, they got more Scots than they were expecting to see (by more I mean on the scale of tens of thousands!) and sure enough something went wrong, doesn't it always?!? The Police dealt with it without too much grumbling and the local council tidied up the mess, again without too much grumbling other than about the cost.

But, it showed to many sporting and other bodies that not only can Manchester host a high-profile event, it can also properly deal with the fall-out if anything goes wrong (and believe me a few thousand rioting Scots is a good test of that resolve!!!!!)

And too the local business that whinged about the mess: events like this have always increased the visbility and profile of the city in a good way, which in turn creates extra business. You need to take the rough with the smooth!!!!

The one disappointment is that Utd fans may not be able to have their parade now as GMP are pissed off. Come on, they have just won two massive championships, these people are in their home city, they want a party not a fight. Don't piss on that parade!

So, ITV is in trouble with the regulator again. As a broadcaster they seem to be making more trips to the headmaster's office then I ever had too at school.

This time it was for not spending enough of their production budget outside of London. Seems reasonable.

They had spent 44% of their budget making programmes outside the capital, with Ofcom describing that as significantly below their budget.

I should friggin hope so too....... 44% that's a bloody disgrace!!!!!!!!!

What makes it even worse is that Ofcom's target is 50%. Why, does half the population live in London? Is have the landmass of the British Isles within the M25?

So not only do ITV Productions not seem to realise that there is more outside of London than Emeerdale Farm and Coronation Street, but Ofcom don't seem to realise that more than 80% of the population also live outside the M25.

Sort it!

Decided that I really need a wish list on Amazon. Nothing vain, just time I organised and prioritised my purchases. After the last parcel fell through the door, and I realised that there were more important things to buy I started it.

Funny how it ties in with the "Your store" page.

I put one bloody Cary Grant film in my wish list and that's it: all of a sudden I'm being offered everything in his back catalogue, a lot of musical theatre items and Barbara Streisand albums.

My god, Amazon thinks I'm gay!!!!!!

So, missed me?

Thought not.

Still, that's bound to be the first thing that you ask if you are as egotistical as me!!!!!!

Normal service shall be resumed soon

Over a few posts I have sung the praises of some and completely slagged off others.

My key ones were the Co-op for having fantastic banking services, 96.2 The Revolution for being the greatest EVER radio station and BT for being a completely useless shower of shite.

Well, perhaps these wer opinions that I should have kept to myself.

The Co-op are slipping rapidly into a fully automated system that couldn't give a bollocks about any customer that isn't signed up to their premium account, and the Revolution are selling out in a  BIG way (basically they cocked up a schedule change a year ago and haven't recovered!)

In the meantime, I have had a big shock from the cretins at BT. When the finally get round to giving you a service and you don't need to chase them up anymore, they are actually very apt at what they do. My phone always works, the internet is always fast and the telly isn't that bad.

On top of that I've just been informed that my store is being franchised off!

I'd rather it was all the other way round to be honest.

8th January and I'm already suicidal!

Is it just me or does the goverment actually want to have their cake, and eat it?

This time, with the potential second electro-magnetic spectrum auction and how we are lagging behind in broadband speeds.

The analog TV network is slowly being shutdown, this we already know; and the result will be to open up a whole band of frequencies. So the government, in true form, are trying to capitalise on this by selling these frequencies off.

True, they had a bit of a coup a few years ago when they sold off mobile frquencies for £22bn, and this generated a substantial amount of cash for the treasury (and, allegedly, the taxpayer) but since then the taxpayer has been paying back this amount in our phone bills. So, mobile owners have paid an extra £22bn to the treasury - fantastic!

Following he UK's trick of selling air, other countries tried to follow suit with similar auctions, and sure enough they fell flat on their arse. All the money had already been spent on the UK auction.

Now, OFCOM is sugesting that we auction this other airspace that will become free.

No, just no!!!!!!

We are widely criticised as a nation for fairly appalling broadband speeds. One option for this freed up space is WIMAX, a wireless form of broadband which is potentially faster than the proposed ADSL2 (up to 24Mbits / second)

By auctioning this airspace off it will make this new service prohibitively expensive for many ordinary people for years to come whilst the companies recoup their investments. It also seems a little bizarre that a company can own a section of the radio spectrum when Consumer Radio Stations still have to pay for very expensive broadcast licences with no guarantees that extend no further than a few years.

In 1984(ish) the 2G mobile licences were dealt out after a "Beauty Contest" that judged on merit rather than level the companies were willing to throw at the government in return for their licences, nearly all (with the exception of the BBC) radio stations have to compete for their licences every few years, the ITV franchises could still have their licences taken away (though unlikely following the cockup that was the 1990 Communications Act). What was so wrong with that system of operating?

Seems logical: provide a service; fail to do so adequately and get opportunity taken away. It is the system that has made the UK's media and communications, in some respects, the best in the world.

But, the Labour Government (and I say which party, as it was the same one that put the 3G spectrum up for sale, whereas a Tory goverment ruined ITV) have sensed a way of making a profit out of it, and either haven't realised (unlikely) or are hoping that the average person doesn't realise (likely) that it is simply a way of getting money out of us quickly that we then pay to the media companies.

This is nothing more than a stealth tax and will hinder any attempt to make our communications systems world class.

Writing - I say writing, but it was more STAMPING - an entry over on Golden Arches, I suddenly realised something.

I have spent years demonstrating that I am a very open minded person with the ability to see many points of view. After all I like the bigger picture!

But I harbour a dark secret. I'm a bigot.

It's true, I feel that I must confess, I am prejudiced and cannot hide it any longer!!!!

I hate.......................................... stupid people.

I do, I really hate them.

They provide some limited entertainment, but the novelty quickly wears off and then you are stuck with a twat who you spend more than a reasonable spell of time explaining minute details to whilst your knuckles go white and face red.

I tend to refer to many of them as customers.

Read in the paper today that we are the only country in the Western World where the number of new HIV cases is continuing to rise; makes you kinda proud dunnit?

Did leave me wondering why though - because we are a more promiscuous society or because we are more likely to get tested one way or another, be it a GUM Clinic visit or giving blood.

Either way, it got me thinking of something all the more marcabre, the issue of the hunt for a vaccine.

You see, I don't expect one to appear on the market for decades, if at all. And not because it simply can't be done.

I work for a business, my job is to generate money for it: fairly simple premise, I generate the cash and get a miniscule cut of it. Gives the shareholders their dividend and pays my mortgage all in one go.

But just how seriously do pharmaceutical companies take the search for a HIV Vaccine? I tell you, if I was devoid of ethics I wouldn't, and here's why:

Your job is to generate money for the shareholders, do you:

A: Discover the vaccine, make a short term fortune and then begin another costly hunt for something else to keep the company going or:

B: Discover the vaccine, surpress knowledge of it and continue to make Billions from palliative care remedies that could last a patient decades (or until your patent expires.)

Scary thought eh?

Just had another thought, I need to stop thinking

How do you calibrate calibration equipment?

Official, it's true it's evil propoganda.

Ok, so I'm getting carried away, but there's something not right about it.

I mean, look at the packets with the very good looking boy with the flawless complexion, bright white perfect teeth and blue eyes.

And we thought that the master race was dead.