Thursday, September 03, 2009
Arsene on the Stands....
A hilarious voice-over by Gordon Strachan on the infamous Wenger sending off incident
at Old Trafford.
Labels: Arsenal, Strachan, Wenger
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Good riddance to Big 'Bore'ther..
Channel 4 is finally drawing the curtains on the reality show Big Brother. Thank God for that!
I have never really been a fan of reality shows and I guess Big Brother would top my 'Never watch TV shows' recommendation list. What perplexes me is how on earth Big Brother got the reality show tag - it is far removed from reality as reality can be. Think about it, is being cut off from rest of the world and doing some mad and moronic tasks for weeks together in a confined space the definition of reality?? I personally think that a series about the Loch Ness monster or UFO sightings and alien invasions would be much more closer to reality than Big Brother.
Channel 4 claims that the show still has an audience base of 2 million in the U.K! Why would someone want to watch this show day in and day out is something that I can never get my head around. Thankfully, axing this show would free up as much as 200 hours of TV time for Channel 4! I really really hope they don't find another 'supposed-to-be' reality show to fill up these reclaimed slots.
Labels: Big Brother, Channel 4, Reality Show
Friday, July 31, 2009
Organic food: Is it worth the money?
Invariably right next to the shelf filled with normal looking potatoes or onions are their neat and well packaged organic counterparts. Both the conventional and organic varieties are sold under the same supermarket brand name, so there is not much to chose between the brand as such (hey, its only vegetables after all!). But the prices tell a different story, the well packaged organic cousin is at least a £1 or more expensive. You wonder whether the price is worth it, but the thought of the pesticide scarred poorer cousin being somehow less nutritious wins the argument (at times) and you snap up the expensive organic variety and head towards the checkout.
Well if nutrition is the key decision factor for shelling out extra bucks for the organic variety then its perhaps time to think again. A recent study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reveals that "there are no important differences in the nutrition content, or any additional health benefits, of organic food when compared with conventionally produced food". Ouch! Among others, researchers reviewed papers published on this topic over the last 50 years before arriving at this conclusion.
As of now it appears that the global appetite for organically produced food is rising and in the U.K, the market for organic food is currently estimated to be worth £2bn. The question is whether the findings of this study and possibly others along similar lines will dent the market for organic foods in the years to come.
Proponents for organic food cite many other factors, including taste, sustainable farming, benefit to the environment etc as reasons to switch to organic food. Needless to say, in the years ahead it would be these factors and not nutrition which shapes public opinion about organic food.
On a different note, a good re-read of this blog post makes me feel like I am doing a reading comprehension/critical reasoning passage in the middle of a really long exam. The only aspect missing is a daft question on the lines of - What is the tone of the passage? or What does the passage suggest about the author's attitude towards Organic food? :-)
Labels: Food Standards Agency, FSA, Organic Food
Friday, July 17, 2009
Is the spending sustainable?
Manchester City have thrown in £50mn into the transfer market so far this summer, snapping up big name signings such as Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor. Of course, this spending pales in comparison with the money being splashed around by Real Madrid. The question really is, signing up top players might produce results, but is this extravagant spending in transfer market really sustainable?
Sir Alex for one thinks not. In a recent statement he labelled the current transfer market as 'ridiculous'. Many believe that wages and levels of debt in clubs is getting out of hand. I guess, this in part could explain the rather prudent approach taken by the top 4 premier league clubs this time with regards to spending big money. Most of them have been quite happy to offload high profile stars to bring down debt levels and the wage-to-turnover ratio. Even big spending Chelsea have had to trim their team size to bring down the ratio from 81% a couple of years ago, to the present figure of 68%. Interestingly, Chelsea have a turnover of £213mn, the fifth highest among European clubs, yet thanks to their enormous wage costs and debt, they finished the year with a net loss in the range of a staggering £65mn. Many believe that a combination of letting academy and youth squad players break into the main team, and weaning the club away from over-reliance on soft loans (i.e. 0% interest loans) from owner Roman Abramovich, is the way forward for the clubs' long term sustainability.
At the other end, Arsenal has the lowest wage-to-turnover ratio among the top 10 teams (based on last seasons standings) at 45%, which in my opinion is a clear reflection of the abysmal amount that Arsene Wenger is spending on getting big names into the club. Wonder if Wenger has lost the plot in his attempt to keep costs under control.
The table below (courtesy: The Guardian) gives a snapshot of the key figures for the top 10 clubs in EPL. The turnover figures reveal a wide chasm between the big 4 of EPL and the rest of the cohort.
| Club | Turnover (in £mn’s) | Wage (in £mn’s) | Wage/Turnover | Debt (in £mn’s) |
| Manchester United | 256.2 | 121.1 | 47% | 699 |
| Liverpool | 159 | 80 | 50% | 280 |
| Chelsea | 213.6 | 149 | 68% | 701 |
| Arsenal | 223 | 101.3 | 45% | 416 |
| Everton | 76 | 44.5 | 59% | 39 |
| Aston Villa | 75.6 | 50.4 | 66.6% | 73 |
| Fulham | 53.7 | 39.3 | 73% | 197 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 114.8 | 52.9 | 46% | 65 |
| West Ham United | 57 | 44.2 | 76% | 36 |
| Manchester City | 82.3 | 54.2 | 66% | 147 |
Labels: Debt, EPL, Turnover, wage-to-turnover ratio
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Mission Impossible?
Will Alan Shearer's second stint at Newcastle, albeit this time as a manager, end in triumph or despair? As things stand, relegation appears no longer to be a 'possibility' but a sure certainty, barring a miracle.
With just 4 games remaining, the Magpies can only hope that they go on and win them all and that either Hull or Sunderland would drop points. But to win games Newcastle needs to first score goals (ruling out the remote possibilty of winning through self goals scored by the opposition). The question is where will the goals come from? Both Owen and Viduka seem to be well past their prime and look like a shadow of their former selves.
The chances of survival look bleak, and all that Newcaste can hope for is a strong dose of inspiration from their favorite son that would bolster the spirit in the team. There is a trite remark about how good players never make good managers, Newcastle can only pray that Shearer proves it wrong.
Labels: Alan Shearer, Newcastle
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Procol Harum
Not heard of Procol Harum? Jeez, I can't believe it!! Well at least you surely would have heard of the track 'A whiter shade of pale'? Well if you haven't then ...don't despair, join the club.
According to a recent chart complied by BBC Radio 2, the most played song in public places in the last 75 years is none other than the aforementioned track by Procol Harum. You read that right - '75 years', 'most played track', not a typo.
Well, I thought that I had a fairly good idea of the Western music scene (from 40's onwards) , but I guess its time to rethink what I think of my music knowledge. Yup, a confusing line....but I truly am confounded by this fact.
I did a little bit of snooping around on the net and found the following bits of trivia about Procol Harum:
- An asteroid is named after this group (asteroid 14024) and so is an Orchid.
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - the second book in the Hitchhikers Trilogy, was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel", from Procol Harum's album Grand Hotel.
Yup, they must have been big in their hay days in late 60's, but I guess just not big enough for everyone to know about 'em (or their tracks!).
Coming back to the BBC list, here's how other 'better known' groups fared:
1. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
2. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream
4. Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around
5. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
6. Robbie Williams - Angels
7. Elvis Presley - All Shook Up
8. Abba - Dancing Queen
9. Perry Como - Magic Moments
10. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
Surprisingly, the Beatles managed to get only as high as No.11 (for 'Hello Goodbye')!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Goodwin losing Goodwill?
Sir Fred Goodwin's dogged ambition was to oversee the rise of the Royal Bank of Scotland to global prominence. However, what he managed to accomplish was bring down a successful bank to the verge of collapse. Earlier today, RBS reported a staggering loss to the tune of £24bn, a loss unprecedented in U.K's corporate history.
Sir Fred resigned (or rather was eased out of his role) as the CEO of RBS last October when the fallout from the global financial crises saw the government stepping in to bail out the beleaguered bank and take a 70% stake in it.
If the fact that footing the bank's loses did not go down well with the public, the recent revelation that under the terms of his exit, Sir Fred is to receive a compensation of nearly £650,000 a year, for the rest of his life has clearly outraged them. The man in question is aged 50 and the average life expectancy for a male in the U.K is 77. Cold as though this calculation might seem, the fact of the matter is that the taxpayer has to foot an annual bill of £650,000 for at least 27 years. The very fact that someone is being paid so much for his incompetency is simply mind boggling.
Just a thought in passing, perhaps Sir Fred could use his banking skills to securitise the future earnings from the compensation package and sell it in the market. He would certainly get a good price for it, for this one is as good as a 'AAA' since the income stream is virtually guaranteed by the government itself, much safer than the dodgy ones that RBS traded under his tenure and of course much less complicated too.
Labels: Compensation, RBS, Sir Fred Goodwin
