Bobby's beat

I could eulogise about his glory years as arguably England and Ipswich Town's greatest manager (although there's someone called Ramsey whom could also lay claim to that), but my one quintessential image I have of Bobby Robson is sitting on the bench at the 1990 World Cup Semi-Final against West Germany, and the look of apoplectic regret as he witnessed his side just being edged out of the competition on penalties, and the denial of the chance for revenge against Argentina in the Final. In a very British way, that summed up the man and his no-nonsense love of football and love of life.

In one of those "remember where you were when you heard the news" moments, I sat at work today and saw the news that Sir Bobby had died after his long battle with cancer, and instinctively looked out through the window with that same expression of apoplectic acceptance of his in 1990.

We Will Remember Them

The last survivor of the First World War in Britain has died (see article). Now an entire generation of this nation's finest has truly given its life for future generations.

War is still War

It's sad but perhaps vilifying to hear that Britain has now lost more troops in the war in Afghanistan than in Iraq. If only because, in the first place, the war against terror was against the Taliban and not Saddam Hussain.

The failure of the Soviet Union to conquer the area (after nearly a decade of trying) is a telling reminder of the difficult job still in hand - it should also be noted that the Afghans received American support in that particular struggle.

Happy July 4th America

For the first time since September 11th 2001, the Statue of Liberty is fully open to the public once again.

Where engines go to die

A recent sad sight at Ipswich railway station just lately had been an old class 47 diesel engine, that was in too bad a condition to be moved away from the sidings, so it had become something of a permanent fixture.

Finally however the engineers came along to attach it to a carrier, and trundled it off to Felixstowe where it was then taken to be scrapped. Here's some pictures of it being sent on its final journey:

www.milepost91.co.uk/47370-leaves-ipswich

Has Jesus died?

No, Michael Jackson has.

I actually have a DVD of all of Jackson's smash hit videos, from the 70s onwards (the main reason was to watch John Landis's pop video Thriller.) He wrote and performed some agreeable tunes in his day, but as time went on he went increasingly out of touch with reality, and no-one seems to want to observe what a very strange man he was.

It must be something indeed for Newsnight to devote an entire programme to him.

The Empire of Cricket Strikes Back

This excellent BBC2 series (Sunday evenings) takes a long overdue look at the history of the game and the reason it has such an appeal particularly in the former colonies. England, the West Indies and Australia all have a fascinating history in the appeal of the game, and how it has helped to cross class divides or in some cases widen them.

Whilst I'm not sure that fitting in very recent cricket history to fit in with the wider historical picture is particularly suitable, it's nonetheless well worth a watch. Of those episodes coming up, the histories of Pakistan and South African cricket are bound to be interesting.