To the people of France, on behalf of the the nation of Ireland:
Glad you made the most of your time in South Africa. Hope the flight back home isn’t too long. Or awkward, what with the ill-advised strike and all. I’m sure you’ll live it down one day.
Shamelessly stolen from The Guardian’s coverage of the France v Mexico match.
So, does this splash now look like such a good idea?
Admittedly, I enjoyed France’s abysmal performance far more than I did England’s (schadenfreude) but the English national media do have a tendency to big up the football team’s ability, before overreacting to ordinary performances painting them as the coming of the apocalypse.
And it is for reasons like this gem from The Sun that last night’s draw with Algeria raises a wry smile.
Rooney’s reaction is either being described as petulant or indicative of a frustrated warrior, depending on your point of view (seemingly fans think the former, pundits the latter) but what does seem universal is how Capello, in the space of 180 minutes, has gone from the man who could guide England to World Cup glory (which to my mind, was always optimistic in the extreme) to a cold, ruthless dictator whose methods are sapping the confidence from his players (again, a bit unlikely).
I think England will still make it through to the second round – although I disagree that results between sides comes before goal difference and goals scored as a tie breaker.
The reality is that England are a good side. Not a bad one, but most certainly not a great one. That has long been the case, but as long as jingoistic hyperbole continues, most patriotic football fans will be swept up in the bipolar condition that sweeps the nation.
Hell, we battered Algeria 3-0 a few weeks ago!
An Apple iPad from Wikipedia
The day after it came out, I had a play around with it in the new Best Buy store in Southampton. As an iPhone owner – after quite some time of resisting – it was nice and easy to get to grips witht the tablet offering from Apple. I could quite easily see myself sitting on the couch with one browsing various sites while not really paying attention to the TV. In essence, I could see it filling the gap that never really existed between my (Windows) laptop and my mobile.
But, what I don’t get is how you can possibly justify the price tag, bearing in mind what it does – or rather, what little it does, pound for pound. I can have a quick gander at news websites on my iPhone. If I want to watch video, I’ll do it on my laptop or Playstation 3. If I want to quickly check my email, my phone will let me quickly do so, while I can clean out my inbox using the computer.
The few brief minutes I had messing around with the Apple iPad proved that it is very good at what it does. Very good. Did it convince me it was worth it? Erm, no. Far from it. I’m sure if I would one I would love and cherish it – the sort of reaction all Apple products seem to provoke for some reason or another (although I think my 3GS is far from perfect, by any stretch of the imagination). The basic iPad, at £430 can only do a fraction of what my three-and-a-half year old, £500 Compaq laptop can.
I’m interested what the incoming tablets from other manufacturers bring. The apparent cancellation of the Microsoft Courier is a blow, as that genuinely looked like something new and different. HP’s Slate looks like it may also be around the £500 point, which will more than likely put me off. So I guess we wait and see what the Android family comes up with.
