Aaron Ramsey

(Note - these postings come from my facebook page, where they are titled "in praise of", not "what made me happy")



A couple of times in the last few months I have nearly done an "in praise of Ramsey" but something else has trumped him (horseradish sauce or peeing alfresco or something).

Whenever I've seen him I've thought how come no-one found an English grandmother for this one....he's looked the best young home-grown talent for years.

For those who don't follow such things he had his leg busted-up last night in one of those tackles that leads to the other players being physically sick on the pitch, and a few in tears (not least the similarly-aged lad who got sent off for the tackle).

We call these tackles a "Croughan" in our house, (after an identical incident at Lampeter) though pampered Premiership footballers get oxygen, stretchers, and an ambulance that comes in under five minutes as opposed to well over an hour...

Fingers-crossed for the lad.

Macon Rouge

Assuming home-made wine doesn't count (and it doesn't), here's the second in my occasional series on gluggable wines that are nice and cheap.

Marks and Spencer's Macon Rouge is a light and fruity delight, and much like Fulham the standard has remained surprisingly high for a few seasons now.. Anne seems to chug down the Macon Blanc likewise.


And M&S are currently going 25% off 6 bottles.


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Anne leaving Birmingham City Council

About bloody time. Even I've been spending sleepless nights compiling imaginary e-mails in my head to the scum-sucking pigs determined to drag everyone down to their own level of miserable incompetence. (CU boys, think of being managed by that walking miasma, that putrid contagion of cancer that was *** ****** and multiply it by a public services factor of soul-scouring despair).

As Alistair Darling's wife would have it - what a bunch of cunts.



Kids, don't work for Councils....


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Gareth Southgate

Chris Coleman's wife once said in a Fulham match programme that Southgate was the funniest man she had ever met, which seems hard to believe. He's not going to win the Peter Ustinov award for resonance and eloquence either.

On the other hand, as co-commentator on the Chelsea match last night, he was very illuminating on the art of central defending. Which you don't expect to hear from co-commentators, so obsessed are they by describing in slow motion exactly what you can see for yourself.

My personal co-commentary consisted of shouting "big goal...big goal..." when Chelsea equalised, which was mainly due to the money it had just won me, but I had to laugh when my new favourite failed penalty-taker/manager/pizza hut actor picked up the baton effortlessly with his own summation of the situation - "big goal...big goal.."


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Sally Sparrow

Congratulations on the Bafta. Such a shame Doctor Who didn't snaffle you up to be an assistant before fame came a-calling.

Still, it's always fun to spot the talent of the future. My two greatest successes are Tim Roth from "King of the Ghetto" and Gina McKee from a Carlsberg ad.



Talking of the Baftas, did anyone else catch the speech from winner of (I think) Best Costume Designer? It wasn't intentional but through her nerves her speech came out something like:

"And of course this is also for Millie who died. She was the designer - no, I was the designer - she cut the dresses - and as such was totally replaceable....


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Lionel Jeffries

Who made my favourite children's film.

Not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, nor even Jenny Agutter waving her knickers around.

The Amazing Mr Blunden.

Thank you Lionel.



And talking of films, my favourite film of all time is on Film 4 tonight 9pm.

The Big Chill. Just in case you don't know...


...of course I'll be watching Survivors personally....


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Ski Cross

When I was a kid, whenever I watched Ski Sunday I'd moan "This would be so much better if they actually raced against each other."

And now they do. And it is.


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