The Rise Of Russia...

This weekend are the Russian Presidential elections. Vladimir Putin
surrenders power to his successor, but it is someone who Putin hand-
picked to be the next president.

Why was that?

You would think that having been President for the best part of eight
years that he wouldn't mind relinquishing some power and retire on the
billions of Roubles that he has stored in Switzerland.

Surely?

Well you would be wrong. Putin wants his successor to be nothing less
of a sop. To him. According to analysts based in St Petersburg, where
Putin ran the FSB (KGB) previously, Putin has no intention of leaving
the Political arena just yet.

The position of Prime Minister would allow Putin to have de factor
command of the military. Fears are rising that Putin might want to
escalate the fighting in Cheneya, as he did in his first few months as
President in 2000.

That can only be bad for stabilty in the Caucasus, and the wider world.
Rob :)

The Weekend's Activities...

Evening,

We've got a bit of a busy weekend ahead of ourselves. After the usual session down the pub with the gang after work tomorrow, Saturday is the day when we go on a all-nighter. Should be a great night, got some shit-hot DJs performing into the small hours.

The weekend ends with LFC having to go to that well known appliant of attacking football. Bolton and their all-conquering team of journeymen and nearly-men, with the news that the Monster Masch is close to signing a permanent deal with the Reds.

Only need the incompetent bastards running the club out, and it would be a fucking cracking weekend.

Let's get this on!!!!

The State Of Liverpool FC - And the consequences for Football,

The trials and tribulations of Britain's most successful club has been the cause of much ridicule and hilarity amongst our enemies in the media and amongst lesser clubs supporters.

However - should those fans be laughing across their floor as they are at the moment.

If the shenanigans at play at this time can come about at a institution such as LFC, then surely it is only a matter of time before a club without the enormous fanbase of LFC, gets sucked in by the lure of big money from abroad.

Realistically, there are four clubs; in the premiership, who have massive support across the country, and probably two or three of them have substantial global support, as seen recently with LFC being Hong Kong for the Asia Trophy - nigh on 40,000 Reds were at both games involving them - games that involving any two of the big four get global audiences of between 500million and a billion.

At the same time though, there are clubs; in the premiership who need the big four to compete. The better they do in Europe, the likelihood of further contracts being given out to the fat cats in charge.

This is a vicious circle as clubs' who cannot afford to spend stupid money on players will do, inevitably leading to a Leeds scenario where too much money has been spent and the fortunes of said club take a dramatic and in the case of Leeds, an almost unreversable situation.

I predict that within five years, 10 years max, you will see at least one major club within the top flight of English Football go to the wall. And it will need to take something like that to wake everyone up.

And the fans will be the loser, AGAIN.


Rob :)

The Death Penalty...The Flaws and why I cannot support it

We are living through quite surreal times.

On Monday, one supposed newspaper, known as the Scum
announced that 99% of its readership thought that the ultimate
deterrent should be brought back onto the statute books.

A waste of time obviously as the likelihood of such a restoration is
as likely as Arsenal or Chelsea winning the European Cup.

Not going to happen any time soon.

And nor should it.

People and politicians should remember what year
it is.

We're better than that.

The two nations who carry out the most executions in the world are also two of the most violent society.

They are also the most capitalist in the world, in economic terms as
well as fiscal.

But underneath both nations on an underbelly which shames both nations.

They are the U.S and China, and anything they do - we should
do everything in our power to prevent the same actions happening in
the UK

Rob :)

Introduction and (In)formalities

Evening,

I've recently bought myself the iPod touch to listen to music and all
that .

When the software extension came out to include things such as e-mail and all that the thought of setting up our blog appealed to me.

Anyway, here we are doing just that.

The voice of young people has become diluted, particularly those of us
in the 18-27 age range.

Reason I use those demographics are that we are too old to be told what to think by authority however at the same time we are too young to be taken seriously as architects of our future on this planet.

In the last decade for the first time in history, the youth vote has been taken seriously by the establishment, but it is the wrong young people that the establishment have started to listen to.

It's all fine to listen to Philomena from Islington or Timothy from
Esher, the sort who go to University because their Mum and Dad have got the finances to back that up.

What about those who live on the council estates, those who don't have a choice over what they did after they left school, even if they wanted to get a further education, but cannot because they cannot afford not to get a full-time job.

The most under-represented people on society are those young adults
who live on sink estates, who in some extreme cases can't get work
because of where they live.

Class War is alive and well in New Labour's 21st century labyrinth.

There is a UK youth parliament, for young people up to the age of 18 -
and then what? Do you really expect blue-rinsed ladies and men in
fucking tweed jackets going to vote for an 18 year old goody?

Personally, I wouldn't be bothered as long as they serve the constituency, that is the most important aspect of all.

Is it time that we have an parliament that actually reflects this country, not just in gender, religion and race - but in age.

The legal age to start work is 16, but to vote you have to be over 18. That
would be the start of it, that anomaly has stumped me for years.

From there we should incorporate a form of proportional representation (PR) into the political system, in the same way that the Labour Party has introduced all-women short-lists.

The authorities need to connect with the poorer youth of this country as it is them, and not those in their Ivory Towers at Oxford and Cambridge who hold the destiny of the country.

Rob :)