The ODI series so far: 3-0

Although as an Aussie I am delighted at the results, it cannot be said that Australia won these three matches. Rather, they just about rescued them from defeat.

Shane Watson rescued the first; Shaun Marsh rescued the second with delightfully eccentric help from Douggie Bollinger, who temporarily forgot that he cannot bat.   Dave Hussey rescued the latest, on a moderate foundation set by Brad Haddin, and with solid support from John Hastings, the new boy.   The rest of the team, with one exception, might as well have been on holiday.

There have only been two constants on which one can rely – firstly the exemplary bowling from that ghostly hero from a bygone age, Brett Lee, who was the only bowler from either side who achieved a consistently good line and length, and secondly the abysmal performance of the passenger Pup (aka Michael Clarke and as ‘the metrosexual wanker’ in Strine, or ‘a tosser’ in Brit, and as ‘captain’, whatever that means, by CA).

Thank goodness Ricky Ponting wasn’t playing, or Australia would have lost all three matches.

England, on the other hand were remarkably consistent – bad in every respect on all three days.   Is this the team that breached the walls of Ilium?  Sorry, … that retained the Ashes?   Many of them look the same, but they must be poorly cloned copies, for their performance was naff, to say the least.

Surely the Australia Day match on Wednesday can’t be as bad as these three, can it?   I guess I know the answer – sigh!

Rational Discrimination

When I suggested recently that the level of university fees should differ according to the area of study, with science and engineering students being favoured over the arts, I was criticised as a philistine. At the risk of the accusation being repeated, I assert again the view that it makes little sense, vis-à-vis national strategy to treat all university subjects as of equal value. I find myself supported in that view in Dambisa Moyo’s latest book ‘How the West Was Lost’. She points to two features of education in the West as reasons why we are losing out economically in competition with countries such as China and India: egalitarianism and an aversion to science and engineering.

On egalitarianism she says “Indeed there is a growing concern that an ‘anti-meritocratic’ style of education may be becoming increasingly prevalent in more developed countries, places like the UK and Europe…” “This can be contrasted with the competition for places and brutal streaming in countries like India and China, where the exercise of academic culling is ongoing.”

Perhaps this explains why, in the eighties, when I was recruiting trainee managers from successful A level students, I had to include remedial education in English and maths in their training programme.

As to favouring science over the arts, she makes the point that sophistication in science and engineering is associated with economic growth, and suggests that these studies have become passé in the West. She contrasts China with America in this respect, telling us that in 2008 China had around 3.7 million engineering students while “…the US prefers lawyers over engineers by 41:1.”

As for the UK, GEC was struggling twenty years ago to find enough graduate engineers for its needs. Also, I recall meeting a British engineer in a French hotel some years ago. His machine tool company had been bought by a French rival and he was in France on a training programme. In conversation with me he expressed his astonishment at how much more advanced was the French company over his old outfit.

So, wanting to see discrimination in the educational field has nothing to do with being a philistine, but a lot to do with being an economic realist.

Ah, but what are you driving now?

Old Movie Guy’s excellent trip down memory lane,  ‘A Night at the Orchid’

https://charioteers.org/2011/01/21/a-night-at-the-orchid/

seems to have veered off like an errant Vauxhall Victor into a discussion of what we were driving back in the day.  Please have a look at OMG’s post to get the flavour and then I’d like to know a) what you were driviing then and b) what you’re driving now, as I’m wondering if the flair, style and romance has gone out of motoring, or, if as Bearsy says, nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

Continue reading “Ah, but what are you driving now?”

It’s a crying frame

There have been recent scandals in snooker concerning match-fixing. John Higgins and Stephen Maguire have been two of the individuals involved. I believe that snooker has been “bent” for a long time. While not having hard evidence to substantiate my allegation I can put forward a good argument to back-up my claim. And it’s all to do with Pot Black.

Pot Black was the colour TV marketing man’s dream; a multitude of colourful balls randomly displayed on a green baize. This successful programme was watched by millions and contributed to snooker becoming more professional and popular. Continue reading “It’s a crying frame”