Is Ted Baker A Scouser?

Was Probe - Now Ted Baker

Ted Baker Customers aren't that bright

Just visited Liverpool for the first time in 30 years and was a little surprised to see the old Probe Records site was now a Ted Baker shop. This was on top of Littlewoods metamorphosing into Primark!! On further wanderings Ted Baker seemed to be everywhere , shops , concessions , advertising you name it , which begs the question is Ted Baker a scouser.

Obviously the clothes are de riguer for you average charver or scally,

The new Probe

Happily I found Probe were still thriving at a site next to the Bluecoat Chambers , so all was not lost.

Survival Sunday - Quite Incredible

An amazing last day in the Premiership, West Ham were deservedly relegated , nothing that Trevor Brooking could do this season , also Birmingham have gone down another club with dodgy overseas owner though I feel for Alex McLeish. Blackpool went as well , they've been a breath of fresh air but the Premiership doesnt deserve such an entertaining side.

Manchester City got third place after Arsenal self destructed.

Manchester United took their 19th Title as a precursor to next Saturday's Champions League final at Wembley against Barcelona. Roll on next season.....

Eurovision - Youre A Kidding

Suddenly it's Eurovision night again. In recent years we've lost Terry Wogan , due to the continued block voting of the Eastern Bloc countries , so have gained Graham Norton , which will be entertaining. Apparently voting has been changed to make results a little less predicatable , with France in with a good chance , and the UK represented by Blue.

The other thing that has made it less entertaining is the insistence of artists singing in English. What we want is singing in the native language , so we can laugh at the dodgy translations on teletext or whatever the new digital equivalent is!!

I somehow doubt we'll see a new Abba , but , hopefully it should be fun. Oh aye and Ireland have Jedward . I'd still rather have "My Lovely Horse"!!

Modern Music Is Rubbish

Or is it? I buy and listen to a lot of music and people tend to regard the stuff they get into between the ages of 14-18 as the classics. I've for the opinion that 95% is rubbish whenever you listen to music , and the 95% is usually the staple of local / commercial radio . However I was sort of surprised to see there's currently five albums released which I have to buy. Two of these are compilations , so I don't know whether they count , but what the hell.

Having said that we've already had "Let England Shake" by Polly Jean Harvey , and awesome album musing on war and it's consequences , then Noah and The Whale's "Last Night On Earth" a superlative album about coming out of the heartbreak of a break up , Wire's "Red Barked Tree" whic is , well classic Wire , purchased from the amazing Folk Devils in Whitby .I can't comment on the new albums but think that everyon in this list is worthy of your attention , all on the carousel at the top of this post. Listen and enjoy , and I reckon that music is still as vibrant as ever:

• Let England Shake - PJ Harvey
• Red Barked Tree - Wire
• Last Night On Earth - Noah and The Whale
• Catching A Tiger - Lissie (2010 but just found it )
• Rome - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
• Let Them Talk - Hugh Laurie
• Essential - Martin Carthy
• The Good The Bad and The Dread - Dreadzone

Money - that's What I Want

"If you want to know what God thinks of Money , look at the sort of people he gave it to" - Dorothy Parker




Another short post after just reading about money in general and how important it is to our society.
Also how the top money people are seemingly bulletproof against any outside organisation.
If you average man in the street ends up owing more than he can afford to pay , whether though outside forces or his own mismanagement - banks can take his house, goods whatever and he can even lose his job , which is his way of generating money.

A recent court case jailed a guy for insider trading , can't say I have a problem with that.

Yet with the banks through own , greed and mismanagement (selling mortgages to people who couldnt pay back the loans etc), effectively go bankrupt they are bailed out governments , as the financial system cant be jeopardised.

Then they have the gall to to award themselves bonusses and in the case of RBS / Halifax spend YOUR money on those atrocious adverts.

I don't know what I would have done , but if we own the banks cant we do something about it?

"Wealth is more desireable than poverty, if only for financial reasons"
- Woody Allen

The Times Rich List

What is it with lists and the obsession with peoples money. Most rich people have had the money given to them on a plate in one way or another , politicians, wide boy bankers , some royals and eastern bloc bankers spring to mind. There are a few multi millionaires I do respect though , who have got their riches by hard work and a big slice of luck . Luck does play a huge part in success, but hard work , planning , acumen have to be in there.

So the people I do have time for are Richard Branson and Chris Blackwell who started importing specialist records and kicked onwards and upward with their Virgin and Island imprints. Alan Sugar who made his fortune with Amstrad and is now a media personality , though I don't think the Apprentice represent the real Mr Sugar. The there's Felix Dennis , publisher and poet and finally George Soros who knows markets inside out and makes his money exploiting flaws in the system.

The Football Season Draws To A Close

Yesterday The Championship , Leagues One and Two and the rest completed their programmes. Preston were reelgated two weeks ago by a combination of bad luck , bad refereeing  in their last games on Phil Brown and bad management under Darren Ferguson . To be fair Darren cleared out the dross , gave youth a chance , brought in some good players and presided over one of the greatest nights in North End's history in the magnificent 6-4 defeat of Leeds . Would I give away that to stay up? My answer is no because that night will be etched in every North End fan's memory forever.

The other thing is , given who is coming down from the Premiership , West Ham and possibly Wolves , Wigan , Birmingham or Blackburn , the Championship will be even more difficult next season , so League One football give's Preston a chance to regroup , get back to winning ways and maybe even win League One.

The Premiership kicks off with Wolves against Adrian Chiles' beloved West Brom who are effectively though not mathematically safe from relegaton . That should be a hell of a black country derby!!  Arsenal then visit Stoke , with Aaron Ramsey set to play on the ground where his leg was broken. Arsenal could mathematically still be champions if Manchester United and Chelsea manage to screw up their run ins , and they meet  in the final match of the day , awin for United all but sealing their hold on the title , while a win for the Chelsea blows it wide open and will put them top. Arsene Wenger would probably prefer a draw , but he still has the menace of the visit to the britannia Stadium to contend with.....