Aberdeen City Centre Update and a lot of Digression

Happy St Andrew's day.  Isn't it a disgrace that we seem to celebrate the patron Saint of Ireland more than our own?  They've tried to steal our national sport and pass it off as their own (golf) and aided and abetted by the drinks trade have tried to brainwash a generation into thinking St Patrick is our Saint.  But I digress.

Sorry I've not blogged a great deal lately, was under the weather last week and now the boys aren't great (heavy cold and tonsillitis respectively).  But again this is not the thrust of this evening's blog.

Aberdeen City Centre is in the news a lot.  If you believe the local media and the Police it's like Tombstone on Union Street of a weekend.  Wasn't Val Kilmer superb in that film his finest hour I'd say - what happened to him?

Anyway when 5 people who read this blog and would not be too upset if I called them middle aged ventured into the Wild West this weekend I thought it was a good chance to judge for myself and I have to say I've come back with a confused picture.

The Police have been bigging up in the local radio today a build up of SS Stormtrooper proportions of Officers to Police the City Centre from the weekend just past until after the Festive Period (or should I call it Winterval so as not to upset my diverse, multi-cultural readership) to combat this anti-social behaviour.  This instantly confuses me as this is the time of year when people who are not normally in Aberdeen go out for Christmas Parties, so it's not the usual "ned" element who are the main pub goers.  Maybe the Police are very worried about gangs of middle aged Administration Assistants seducing said neds in Chicago Rock (if it's still open!?). 

Anyway back to our night out in the Bronx.  After a lovely tapas meal in Eljos (highly recommended) we went for a quick drink before we retired for the evening and sure enough outside the pub a young lad was cornered by 5 cops.  Now we couldn't hear what was going on, but he didn't seem to have caused too much of a rumpus and it certainly appeared that being surrounded by so many Police wound him up a damed sight more than he had been before they arrived mob handed.  A Police van then turned up and this made him struggle with them as he obviously knew the inevitable trip to Queen Street was about to happen - it all seemed very heavy handed. 

We then walked half the length of Union Street passing various drunks and one loud and aggressive female who was certainly committing a breach of the peace, with no Police to be seen whatsoever - I guess they were all in the Maria with the solitary guy they'd picked up half an hour before.

I appreciate they cannot be everywhere, but for it to take 5 of them to lift one guy for a seemingly minor Breach of the Peace, whilst the rest of the main thoroughfare was bereft of uniforms seems madness.

I have to say though in certain pubs there is an undercurrent of menace.  The place in which we were having "one for the road" was full of real undesirables.  A large contingent of them had plunked themselves right in the centre of the pub and were not moving for anyone who tried to get past.  You got the feeling this was deliberate and they were dying for someone to make an issue of it so they could turn nasty.  Complete bell-ends.

Can't finish my first blog of this week without commenting on the big news of the weekend - Aberdeen 1 Rangers 0.  Well done Dons you did us proud!

After this blog only one song recommendationcan be appropriate - Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

Recession is Almost Over - Who are they Kidding?

I see the BBC and our wretched Government are still peddling the myth that the recession is just about over.  They were gutted when the economy contracted again last quarter, after constantly blowing smoke up our arse for weeks beforehand that it would grow.

So much for that bastard Brown's "best placed country to beat the recession" bullshit.  We're now the only major Global Economy still in recession and yet the State Broadcaster hardly raises a peep in protest.  Of course, the recession only hits one part of the population - the wealth creating, heavy tax paying private sector. 

No wonder the BBC, Government and Public Sector think it hasn't been too bad out there.  But you watch them squeal like piggies at the abattoir when they don't get their usual inflation busting pay rises next year.  We'll have the power mad Union Barrons all over the airwaves demanding a 1970s "everyone out" scotched earth policy.  I'm sure the rest of us will get by if the Romany Travellers Equality Diversity Yoghurt Knitting Breast Feeding Street Football Co-Ordinators go off on strike for a couple of days.

Back in the real world and working in recruitment I think I'm well positioned to judge, let me tell you the bad news.  It's not getting any better.  There's still a lot of people being made redundant.  Every day we have desperate people phoning and emailing looking for work, applying for jobs they don't have any experience for, but I can understand why they do it.  It's because they are desperate to work.  Fancy that eh - people in this country with the ethics and dignity to want to work.  They are becoming a minority that's for sure. 

Just to keep the downbeat mood going, I can't see an improvement in the first half of next year.  With a General Election on its way and up here the oil price still all over the shop, nothing will settle down till Q3 2010 at the earliest.  If they don't get their own way Unison and their ilk will be out on the streets by then, especially if we have a Tory Government.  What fun.  By the way, anyone know when a Recession becomes a Depression?

Music tonight is from Indie Icons James - "Laid".  Requested by an avid reader of the blog because of the "awesome drums".  And I have to say I agree.

Local "Journalism" - Monkeys with Typewriters

Now this post may end up seeming extremely hypocritical, because if you think my purple prose tonight (and every other night for that matter) is utter pants, then it'll feel like the pot calling the kettle black.

But the fact of the matter is that the quality of "journalism" in the Press & Journal (Depressing Journal) and Evening Express (Evening Depress), the local Aberdeen papers is appalling.  This essentially dates back to a vicious industrial dispute many years ago when many top notch journos left and were replaced by anyone with a word processor.

The Evening Express relies on the latest gypsy encampment, oops I mean ethnic traveling fraternity base camp to be set up so they can stir up the locals, the breathtaking incompetence of the City Council and the Trump Resort pantomime to fill their pages.

The Press and Journal is obsessed with anything Sir Ian Wood does, even if it is concreting the only green space in the city centre to sate his ego, erm I mean create a lasting legacy.

Both have a complete and utter determination to run down the City's football club and in particular it's supporters.  I can't think of any other local papers who would continuously criticise their captive audience the way this shower do.  It was the AGM of Aberdeen Football Club last night and the rag took the opportunity to have a go at the fans who turned up because they didn't have a go at the board, alluding to an old myth about Don's fans being so quiet you can hear sweet papers being rustled.   Hilarious.

Aberdeen fans are targeted from all sides.  The Central Belt "newspapers" (the Sun and Record) attack us at every opportunity, printing complete lies about "vile" songs we've never sung, missiles we've never thrown and attacks on ex-Rangers players that never happened.  In a normal City the local paper would be the organ in which you could depend to fight back on these issues.  Up here, they fall in line with their backward, retarded cousins from the West Coast, who are only interested in deflecting any potential problems the Old Firm get themselves into with their obsession with a battle in Ireland over 300 years ago.

Most of these fuckwits who call themselves journalists can barely string a sentence together.  Thank god for the interweb, where various blogs and chat rooms, stir lively debate.  Of course there are still plenty zoomers about, but sifting through you can find intelligent individuals asking the pertinent questions without any agenda.

A quick shout out at this point to one of my loyal readers who has a weekly column in a local Aberdeenshire town paper, whose prose is positively Burns like compared to the kind of drivel you'll find in the sports pages of the City papers.

Music tonight, back to the 80s again with a cracking one hit wonder for you - "Let My People Go" by the Rainmakers.  Vocals are an acquired taste, infectious shouty chorus.

More Problems with Pensioners

Evening All!  Apologies for a lack of blogging over the weekend, was feeling under the weather was a vicious headache and sore throat.  Thought it was the old Swine Flu, but plenty of sleep and some industrial strength ibuprofen seems to have done the trick.

Anyway, thought I'd regale you with another run in with a Senior Citizen.  As you know the oldest of the Macbeth children seems to have caught the thespian bug and his theatre group meet on a Saturday Morning at the impressive Ferryhill Church.  They have a coffee shop there and I while away the 90 minutes by sitting catching up on my emails on my Crackberry and having a coffee and a bacon roll.

Smallest Macbeth was with me this Saturday and he is a energetic wee soul who didn't want to sit on his backside so we had a walk to Duthie Park, and had a look round the Winter Gardens.  We then went back to get his big brother.  There's a side entrance to the church, we went there, rang the bell, but there was no answer.  So I went round to the main entrance and entered the church via the coffee shop.

I'm struggling with the doors to get wee Macbeth's buggy through them and I'm instantly confronted by an old curmudgeon.  He is not one of the usual helpers at the coffee shop, who are all pensioners and very friendly.

This arsehole screams at me "are you here for the theatre group", I said yes and he went ballistic.  "Should use the side door"; "can't come in this way".  I protested that I had tried but I couldn't get an answer, to which he waved his hand at me in a "don't care" manner.  All this in front of a mesmerised full coffee shop and a little lad in his buggy confused as to why his dad is being shouted at by a pish stained, foaming at the mouth madman. 

I wasn't feeling that well and after my last run in I just walked away.  I couldn't believe it.  What the hell is it with me and mentalist old fogeys?  I bet the old bastard was at Church yesterday giving it the whole pious Christian thing too.  Hypocrite.

Needless to say they will not be getting my custom again. I'll head to the coffee shop at the Duthie Park instead.  I probably spend a couple of hundred quid a year in there, but no more. 

My faith in anyone in this country is beginning to dive towards zero.  What has happened to this once great country?

So I need a tonic.  A good tune perhaps?  Why not.  May I guide you towards the new single from the Stereophonics - "Innocent".  Mrs Macbeth has always been a fan of these Welsh rockers and this song has converted me.

The Lottery turns 15 - Who Cares?

So it's happy birthday to the National Lottery which is 15 years old today. Millions of pounds have been passed on to good (and not so good) causes in this time and lots of millionaires have been created. And I can't stand the whole concept.

The Lottery is tacky beyond belief. I have hardly ever done it and there's so many games now I've no bloody idea what's what. There's midweek as well as weekend games, and now also Euromillions, where the whole of Europe can get caught up in it - Brits won about £90 million recently.

The whole thing has turned the UK into one big glorified bingo hall, with thousands of people who can't really afford to be spending their dosh on the likes of the lottery sitting at home waiting to call "house".

Is it only me who gets wound up and finds it distasteful standing in the local shop of a Saturday night behind somebody buying copious amounts of "lines" and a scratchcard or seven thrown in for good measure? Normally he's got some cans of Special Brew and a 20 of fags to buy at the same time.

Minority sports like cycling have undoubtedly benefited from the cash, but shouldn't the Government or the various sporting associations be granting this money or raising it by themselves? Even ultra-capitalist Thatcher couldn't bring herself to allow a Lottery when she was in power. If you want to give to 'good causes', set up a direct debit to one of your choice and use the money you piss down the drain every week for the lottery to fund it.

All in all I'd say the bloody thing is yet another tax - however this one is targeted at the thick, poor and hopelessly optimistic. I can assure you this post is in no-way spiteful or jealousy fuelled at the thought of individuals sitting £40 million+ better off this week.

More 80s music for you tonight and let's head to one of the iconic Albums of the Decade - the Lexicon of Love by ABC and the sublime single "The Look of Love".

Could it Happen?

I can't believe I'm about to write this but here goes -I'm beginning to think Labour might win the General Election, or at least hang on for a hung parliament. Brown has had his best couple of weeks in a long time, with Glasgow North East being held comfortably and the Sun's attack on him with regards his letter to the soldier's mother actually backfiring.

Now you can dismiss these two things as the ridiculous habit of the public for feeling sorry for a character who reaps what he sows and that in areas like Glasgow NE you could shave a chimp, stick a red rosette on its arse and they'd still vote for it, but I'm getting a little 1992 feeling here, when John Major upset the odds and beat Kinnock (who probably lost it with his excruciating rally in Birmingham - do you remember "well all right" - Jesus. And of course the Sun's front page "will the last person leaving Britain put the lights out if this man becomes Prime Minister).

It's bizarre, but Brown, who has no mandate from the people to be in the position he holds and who has systematically destroyed the financial structure of this country, is hanging on between 10 and 14 per cent behind in the polls. That's manageable and the party of government always has a late rally. With the constituency boundaries/first past the post system very much now in Labour's favour, for an outright win Call Me Dave needs about 15% more of the vote than Mr "I saved the world, it started in America". He's not there yet and outwith the South East of England he's struggling.

It defies belief. A big problem is people who have no clue about politics voting. A perfect example is at the last General Election a work colleague of mine was asked who she voted for. "Labour of course" she said. "Oh why?"

"Because I like Tony Blair's smile."

When you go to the polling station you should be handed a questionnaire. 5 questions, nothing too strenuous - who's the Chancellor, the Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the Lib Dems, that sort of thing. If you get 3 or more right, you know enough to make an informed decision in the voting booth. If not, you can't come in, because you'll vote for the shaved chimp or the nice smiley man or the nice man with the duck house and moat.

The fuckwits will know who's in "I'm a Celebrity" though.................

Back to the 80s tonight for the music slot and the teen idols who were Wham! "Freedom" may not have been their most famous track, but it actually sold more than the likes of "Wake me up before you go-go", was a huge number one and a fantastic pop song.

Burley Out, Who's In

So the inevitable has happened and Gorgeous George Burley has been given the boot by Scotland. 3 wins in 14 games is a dismal record and his failure to get us to even the play offs in a relatively easy group was risible. Yes he had problems with the Rangers element (who doesn't), but he should still have managed to cobble together a team who could get the runners up spot in our group. His obsession with low standard Championship players and Celtic cloggers (McManus, Caldwell and the fantastic Mr Fox for goodness sake) ultimately did for him.

As an ex-Hearts Manager you would think he would have had his finger on the pulse of the Scottish game but his omission of the likes of Wallace, Mulgrew, Conway, Stevenson and O'Brien, good young players surely worth a chance, is baffling. There are murmurs that he was biased against his old charges, hence Wallace's omission, along with Berra not getting a game ahead of Celtic's gruesome twosome. The thought his wee run at Hearts was a flash in the pan crosses my mind, maybe Romanov really was picking the team! He did get Ipswich promoted and into the UEFA cup, but that went pear-shaped pretty quickly too.

The two blazers at the SFA Smith and Peat, should take a long hard look at themselves too. Smith was very critical of the regime as a pundit but as soon as he put the blazer on he went native. Peat is a poor man's Jim Farry or Ernie Walker. Not a compliment.

So who to replace him. It's a bit of a poisoned chalice really. You need someone who will bore us to death but will get results - probably playing 4-5-1 and matching up to the bigger teams and scratching a 1-0 win against the likes of the Faroes. Craig Brown, Walter Smith and to a lesser extent Alex McLeish managed this.

Smith has been mentioned again, but I think he's burned his bridges following his defection back to the Govan horrors. Craig Levein is as usual mentioned. This guy is a media darling (as is the team he manages, the second most successful team from Dundee) and I can't fathom the attraction. Long ball anti-football with 9 physical players, one tricky winger and a diving midget as his usual first 11, he's won nothing wherever he's managed.

So back to my original point about the qualities for Scotch manager. Bore fans to death with a 4-5-1 formation. Match up to teams regardless of who they are. Be able to raise the team for one off games. Be a media darling in spite of doing nothing of much note. Add in unemployed meantime, hence cheap.

Only one candidate - Sir James of Calderwood, the cuprinol coated buffoon recently released from his duties at Aberdeen. I've already got £10 on him at 14/1 - and the odds are tumbling fast. You heard it here first folks.

Music tonight, my 80s theme has been hijacked by this breaking football news, so two for the price of one tonight, choose from "Ally's Tartan Army" by Andy Cameron or "I have a dream" by BA Robertson.

My Faith in Human Nature was Coming Back Then..........

Well it's been a busy week here at MacBeth Towers. The first half of the week was taken up with Senior Son's stage debut in his Theatre Group's Panto at the Arts Centre in Aberdeen. The wee man did brilliantly. Being the youngest and smallest cast member by some distance everyone was a little concerned he'd freeze when the curtain opened and he was confronted by an audience of about 300. But he rose to the occasion. The cast of 20 kids aged from 7 to 15 staged a brilliant show, with two teenagers in particular giving amazing performances as Ugly Sisters. The amount of work put into this show (the two women who run the Theatre Group wrote and directed the show) was incredible and no-one fluffed a cue or line all night. I was there for the performance the night after as a chaperone for the kids and again the show went down incredibly well.

A couple of weeks previous, I went with my dad, sister and brother in law to see my nephew play football. He is captain of his team and plays sweeper. They expected a tough game against a side who are signing up talent from all over the North East. It didn't help them - they were destroyed 8-1. My nephew has a real chance to play at a higher level, he strolled through the game and has excellent timing of a tackle. The tall centre forward for this side scored 6 goals and I was struck by the teamwork and togetherness of their team, whilst the other mob, thrown together as individuals and with no camaraderie, simply fell apart when the going got tough.

These occasions have really shown me for every "hoody hooligans terrorise neighbourhood" story, there are kids out there with genuine interests doing great things and making their communities proud.

And that was going to be the end of an upbeat blog tonight. But I have to give special mention to the boys in blue who decided to park up in the car park in our village centre tonight in order to stare menacingly at any passing motorists/pedestrians. Is our village viewed by Grampian Police as a notorious 'hood' which requires this kind of policing? Or maybe it's a nice cushy place to sit and while a couple of hours away waiting for the end of your shift.

It's a real shame their car is obviously soundproofed as this is the only reason I can think of for them missing the maniac in a Subaru driving down the main road of the village at around 50 miles per hour with the obligatory huge exhaust howling as he went.

Surely our wonderful Police service wouldn't take the easy option and turn a blind eye to this prat and instead wait patiently for the first poor sod to drive past with a rear light out.....would they............

It's 1980s pop week here on Tragic Kingdom and let's kick off with Duran Duran and Rio. Over the top video, expensive clothes, great chorus, oh it's all so vulgar and all the more wonderful for it.

(Glasgow) Kiss Glencraft, Kate

So 160 years of Glencraft in Aberdeen are over. Designing and manufacturing mattresses and beds, this noble institution has been a employment lifeline for the blind and disabled. So many people have been put out of work in the "best placed country to beat the recession", but even in the avalanche of job losses this one stands out. The people who have been made redundant at Glencraft will struggle more than most to find alternative employment. Many have worked there all their working lives. Their jobs gave them independence and a source of pride and respect. These people are the real vulnerable in society and deserve as much assistance as possible to help them through this difficult time.

I see Salmond turned up with a "Task Force" for the media's consumption this week. How much that will help remains to be seen, but hey our esteemed First Minister got a photo opportunity and that's all that matters...............

Hearing the interviews with trustees of the firm and employees alike, you can feel the passion and loyalty this organisation instills in its workforce. They were genuinely devastated. Of course there has been mistakes made. The outside consultant who came with a six figure salary apparently, was obviously gutted in his interview with the media, but I wonder how good a job he did. Did you ever see or hear any advertisements for the company? Any incentives to go up to their factory for a look at their stock, any discounts which would make you choose them over the Bed Shed? No, me neither. Thanks to Mrs M for pointing this out by the way, credit where it's due!

But as is the norm nowadays, Aberdeen City Council need to take a long, hard look at themselves. They piss money up the wall giving themselves a shiny new headquarters but can't give an employer of blind and disabled people one last chance.

The interview with Kate Dean on the radio sickened me. This woman, binned from her job as Leader of the City Council because she'd overseen a financial meltdown which made it the laughing stock basket case of Scotland, was arrogant, dismissive and insensitive. "We've done all we can" was the line she spewed. No sympathy for the workers was forthcoming. It must be great to be useless at your job, get thrown out of it and land up in another cushy number (planning I believe). And of course there's that lovely gold plated pension to look forward to as well. This despicable smug PUBLIC SERVANT is the epitome of the Public Service's "I'm all right jack" attitude.

So good luck to the employees of Glencraft and here's hoping they get new jobs soon.

Music recommendation tonight is again bang up to date - the Noisettes, Every Now and Then. Lavish strings and a key change - you'll know by now I'm a sucker for both!

Slaughtering a Sacred Cow

Hi all. Apologies for the lack of posts this week, I've been very busy with oldest son and his first foray into the thespian world. I shall blog about that and other heartwarming stuff at the weekend, but tonight after a week of dress rehearsals, performances and chaperoning, I am tired and grumpy, so am taking the opportunity to get wired into a sacred cow.

The NHS cannot be criticised by any politician or media outlet. If anyone throws a modicum of criticism in its direction, the flak they take is incredible.

Over the years I've thankfully not had much interaction with the largest public sector employee in Europe. However I am in the system at the moment. I buggered my knee playing football (I know at my age I should have known better) and had to admit defeat and go and see my GP.

He reckons the cartilage has gone in my right knee and referred me to a specialist. After about a month I received a letter to say I was on the waiting list and they would contact me again within 16 weeks............

So imagine my excitement today when another letter dropped through the letter box informing me that.............I was now off that waiting list and had to call them to arrange an appointment, which will be goodness knows when.

The 16 weeks was actually the waiting list to get to the point of phoning to get an appointment, not the timeframe to get an actual appointment. So I will call them tomorrow to see when I will actually be seen. If it is soon, I will gladly update this blog with an apology. I won't hold my breath. This reeks of a scam to allow the Nationalist "government" to cut their waiting times/lists.

As ever, you end up running around after these people trying to organise things, usually in work time, wasting your day trying to get someone to actually answer a damned phone.

They even have the cheek on the letter to tell you that they're extremely busy between 0900 and 1100 so best not to call then. I think I might append a similar note on my emails and voicemail, I'm sure my clients will understand................

Go Private you shout. And I would. But my Health Insurance through work has just come through and this is classed as a 'historical injury' so is not covered.

I'm pretty sick of paying through the nose and not getting anything like the service we deserve. The NHS is full of Managers and non-job 9 to 5ers, whilst the front line is cut to the bone. The waste in our hospitals is frightening and it needs people of substance and backbone to clear the decks. It will never happen as it's always turned into a political football and we'll go on pissing money down this black hole for evermore.

Tonight's music is from REM. From back in the days when they were a cult indie rock band from backwater USA listen to "Don't go back to Rockville". A country tinged gem, totally out of kilter with most of their early work, a little like the wonderful Pixies "Here comes you man" is so out of place of "Doolittle". Two for the price of one for you tonight, enjoy.

Rememberance Sunday

Health and Safety tubes have ensured that it's difficult to keep your poppy on your jacket nowadays, the plastic stems just bend and the stick on ones lose the stickiness very quickly.

The anti-war sentiment in this country is running high at the moment and I have to admit to a real unease at our troops being out in Afghanistan. But Remembrance Sunday is sacrosanct. Surely not even the most rabid white poppy wearing pacifist begrudges a minute of silent respect for the millions who have fallen to allow us to air our views in peace.

I see Manchester United (and Liverpool apparently) are not wearing poppies on their strips. Manchester United have given a weasel excuse of "never done it before". A more feasible reason is not to offend supporters of their 'global brand' in areas of the world where war remembrance may not go down well. What an absolute disgrace. As they applaud the Chelsea Pensioners onto the pitch this afternoon they should be ashamed of themselves.

You would think Liverpool and Manchester United, who have histories of disasters and are rightly extremely vocal if these memories are desecrated in any way, would have a little more respect.

Speaking of respect, I see those despicable elements in the Celtic support decided to sing Irish Republican songs through the silence before the game against Falkirk today. Celtic always seem to get off lightly with their bigoted behaviour, but this confirms what most Scottish football fans already knew - they are as disgusting as their partners in crime.

As with Rangers, the media in this country will throw the deflectors up and back them (already they are claiming it was only people outside the ground who were singing and it's been mentioned on Aberdeen fan's chat sites that Sky may have cut the volume during the silence to block out their disrespect). These low life vermin make me sick.

Song recommendation today is that familiar lament to fallen heroes, "Flowers of the Forest". Check out the version by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and feel the tingle run down your spine.

Only Tax Paying Mugs Require AA Membership

So I'm sitting in the office tonight at 5pm. Been there since the back of 7am and could stay another 3 hours and still not have caught up. So I decide I'll head home to see the family instead and get back in early tomorrow and get into it again.

Go out and the car has a puncture. Being an impractical sod, this causes issues. So I phone Mrs MacBeth and shout at her for a while. Then try and change it. Get it jacked up. And can't get the bloody wheel off. Put on by one of those air machine things (told you I was an expert at this), I can't budge it. So I give up, swallow my pride and phone the AA. We spend enough cash on membership.

They'll be with you in 45 minutes says the nice lady. An hour later they haven't turned up so I phone again. To be told they're busy. And it won't be the AA, but someone else who they've contracted my problem out to. And it'll be another half an hour. The dude who does turn up is a good lad, his big rigger boots and an industrial sized wrench and we're sorted. And unlike many of these kind of guys, he doesn't make me feel like a prick for requiring assistance.

On my way home the original AA call centre galoot calls to say the alternative to the AA will be with me shortly. You really just can't make this shit up can you. Why are these large organisations so bloody incompetent?

So the old motor is patched up for the third time in a month. With both me and Mrs MacBeth working just to keep our heads above water, we cannot afford a new car for me at the moment, so here's hoping the old Fiat Punto can last through the winter.

The amount of tax we pay is crippling. No doubt these bloody politicians will start about 'hard working families' again soon, it's only 6 months till an election. New cars, kitchens and bathrooms will have to wait for this hard working family. Probably for two generations as we pay off Gorgon McDoom's astronomical debt for him.

Oh how I wish I was like a female in our street. She drives a nice shiny red Audi A3. I like them, would love one. Won't be seeing one outside our door in a hurry.

Miss Audi A3 doesn't work.

Sometimes at 6am when I'm looking at myself in the mirror contemplating another 12 hour day away from home I think, "you fecking mug".

Music tonight The Carpenters "Top of the World". My sister loved this song when she was a kid. Very easy listening, middle of the road stuff, but Karen's voice is incredible, a life cut too short.

Football But Not as We Know It

Watching the Champion's League at the moment, flicking between three of my least favourite football teams on the planet, Liverpool, Arsenal and Rangers. Unfortunately all are winning.

I hate the Champion's League. Along with the Premier League in England, it stands for all that's wrong with the game. It has whored itself out to the highest bidders on the corporate side and the so-called big clubs have turned it into a cartel where the chances of a club like Aberdeen ever winning a European Trophy again are zero. They hoard the money for themselves, excluding everyone else in the process.

The Leagues I mentioned have, along with Sky, attracted the most insufferable of supporters, who have no feeling for the history of the game, glory hunt around the most successful clubs and call football "footy". These fans, or bastards as I prefer to call them, know nothing about the game outwith the EPL and Champion's League. Ask them who the oldest club in the world are, or who are the only Scottish Club to win two European trophies they won't have a clue.

Look at the adverts in between the Champion's League games or Sky's "Super Sunday". Smiling goons kicking footballs around car parks loving "the beautiful game." It's crass, vacuous stuff that drives me up the wall.

Of course I am a complete hypocrite and have Sky and watch the matches. But unlike the johnny come lately's I do not think football was invented in 1992.

Football is a game you need to feel in your soul. To me that involves the tribal instincts of supporting your local club. Not driving from Buckie to Celtic Park every week, putting on a Glaswegian accent as you pass Cumbernauld and pretending you've "always been a Celticmanbyrawaybut".

Anyone for a prawn sandwich?

Tonight's music. The European Song by the Aberdeen Football Club 1983 European Cup Winner's Cup winning team. From the days when teams won trophies on talent and merit, not on who has the most money.

PS Answers to the football matches are either Notts County or Sheffield FC for the oldest club in world depending on how you define it and no doubt about the answer to the 2nd question - the mighty Aberdeen!

Where Did They Come From?

So, Aberdeen's new temple to retail therapy opened last Thursday. Union Square boasts over 60 shops and restaurants, a multiscreen cinema and a hotel and at least spruces up the previously horrific bus station and grubby train station.

Reading through the names of the shops that are there, a vast majority of them were in Aberdeen anyway, so the guess is that they are moving from the other centres or from Union Street.

I would think this will kill Union Street off altogether. It's already become a dingy place, full of boarded up buildings with To Let signs on every 2nd window. The granite, beautiful when cleaned (as you'll see in the buildings up on Queen's Road, Rubislaw and Albyn) look terrible when dirty as most of Union Street is. The jewel in the crown has been abandoned on the altar of vast shopping centres, left to it's own devices with only a few pubs keeping it alive. With the Scottish County Council, erm I mean Government determined to stop people having a drink, how long before the pubs start to close too?

The other shopping centres, The Bon Accord, St Nicholas and Trinity will undoubtedly suffer too. How long before they are half empty?

Is it really a wise time to be opening such a place? We are in the pits of a recession/depression (we were best placed to fight the recession of any country were we Gordon? What a prat).

I guess many people like me do all their shopping on the internet nowadays. However almost 60,000 people flowed through the place on it's first day. So I guess there must still be a pressing requirement in Aberdeen for another Starbucks.

But the biggest question I have about all this is - how did around 25% of the population of Aberdeen manage to be in a shopping centre on a bog standard Thursday afternoon when it was not in the school holidays or a public holiday of any sort.

As someone who was working and who has no interest in going to a bloody shopping centre, I guess I'm in a minority on both fronts.

I hope tonight's music is to your taste. An avid reader of the blog has insisted I have the musical taste of Peter Powell from early 80's Radio 1. So from that era an absolute classic, Atomic by Blondie. As fresh today as it was when Peter, Mike, the Hairy Cornflake and Noel were spinning the decks - let's rock!!!