[Archived] £115,000 A Week 'not Enough'

[thenodrog]

Get real, life is good. We pay too much in taxes, and the trains are always late. Apart from that things are pretty good.....

Considering you were born about the mid/late 80's Bucky you couldn't possibly know a thing about what I am referring to. Could you?

[AggyBlue]

Why the need to touch wood Bucky?

[Claytons Left Boot]

It's horrible here now! Tinted specs or not but I can rem as far back as the early/mid 60's when a murder in any part of the country was a rarity and front page news in the nationals for the best part of a week. Now there are murders in and around Blackburn on a weekly basis and sometimes don't even make the front page of the LT......

True. There used to be a night club in Darwen called Uncle Tom's Cabin and in the mid 60's someone was murdered outside, I think a stabbing. We went down to have a look because there was staining from the pool of blood on the wall/pavement. Front page news and a real rarity at the time but now almost ten a penny.

[BuckyRover]

Why the need to touch wood Bucky?

Because even I am not immune to a constant barrage of negative media coverage.

No, sorry thenodrog I was not around the see the swinging 60's

Although with a bit of research I found that out that the "Shepherd's bush murders" took place in 1966. The worst mass murder of police officers in uk history.

But hey, at least you could leave your doors unlocked.....

[AggyBlue]

I was not around the see the swinging 60's

Although with a bit of research I found that out that the "Shepherd's bush murders" took place in 1966. The worst mass murder of police officers in uk history.

But hey, at least you could leave your doors unlocked.....

Then why try and pass comment on something you know absolutely nothing about

Or are you just another wind up merchant?

[ABBEY]

Because even I am not immune to a constant barrage of negative media coverage.

No, sorry thenodrog I was not around the see the swinging 60's

Although with a bit of research I found that out that the "Shepherd's bush murders" took place in 1966. The worst mass murder of police officers in uk history.

But hey, at least you could leave your doors unlocked.....

bet youve not walked thru the catherdral or bouly recently with the d*cks playing happy slapping

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

bet youve not walked thru the catherdral or bouly recently with the d*cks playing happy slapping

I've never seen nor heard about any happy slapping near the cathedral, and I walk past it everyday.

However, you are right, it happens everywhere.

[thecomebackid]

And yet I have a great job and have never been the victim of any serious crime (and I live in Leeds)

Yet when I hear the TV news, I half expect to meet a gang of marauding youths wanting to kill me. Yet it never happens (touch wood )

There is not more crime now, it's only now we have 24 hour news. Looking for a story in everything.

I just looked on BBC news under Lancashire (quite a big area). These were the headlines:

Cash boost for neonatal services

Ferries on schedule despite winds

Easter disruption hits passengers

Czech link confirmed in M6 crash

Chemical thrown at victim's face

Homeless services get cash boost

That's one violent headline. Where somebody threw poppers at man. Hardly downtown LA is it?

Get real, life is good. We pay too much in taxes, and the trains are always late. Apart from that things are pretty good.....

'...There is not more crime now...'

The grammar aside, I wouldn't even expect that sort of comment to come from a first year A level sociology student.

The definition is so wide as to render the point meaningless.

Let's take street murders, about as bad as it gets for the individual citizen I'd say.

Last time I checked the statistics, the figures had increased something like 15% over the last decade. This is despite the fact that the Law Lords narrowed the strict definition of murder in the same time period (thereby excluding many manslaughter offences that would previously have been included).

Murders involving 'kickings' (whereby the victim literally has his or her head kicked) have increased significantly. One just has to allude to the recent unprovoked attack in a Bacup park on poor Sophie Lancaster for daring to dress as a Goth to highlight this point.

London's streets are scenes of arbitrary and gratuitous violence on an hourly basis and this is reflected throughout the towns and cities of the UK. The breakdown in the code of parental responsibility, alco-pops and the plentiful availability of cheap skunk laced with crack - many times more powerful than the weed we were tooting (allegedly) 20 years ago has led to an escalation in the type of violent confrontations that lead to such horrific results.

To pretend otherwise my friend is to simply delude yourself.

[BuckyRover]

'...There is not more crime now...'

The grammar aside, I wouldn't even expect that sort of comment to come from a first year A level sociology student.

The definition is so wide as to render the point meaningless.

Let's take street murders, about as bad as it gets for the individual citizen I'd say.

Last time I checked the statistics, the figures had increased something like 15% over the last decade. This is despite the fact that the Law Lords narrowed the strict definition of murder in the same time period (thereby excluding many manslaughter offences that would previously have been included).

Murders involving 'kickings' (whereby the victim literally has his or her head kicked) have increased significantly. One just has to allude to the recent unprovoked attack in a Bacup park on poor Sophie Lancaster for daring to dress as a Goth to highlight this point.

London's streets are scenes of arbitrary and gratuitous violence on an hourly basis and this is reflected throughout the towns and cities of the UK. The breakdown in the code of parental responsibility, alco-pops and the plentiful availability of cheap skunk laced with crack - many times more powerful than the weed we were tooting (allegedly) 20 years ago has led to an escalation in the type of violent confrontations that lead to such horrific results.

To pretend otherwise my friend is to simply delude yourself.

Therefore I will continue to delude myself.

Cheap skunk laced with crack?

What planet are you on?

You had weed that was fine, but today everybody is smoking stuff that will send you crazy. No rose tinted spectacles there then...

I know plenty of people who smoke this skunk and I can assure you it is not laced with crack nor have they become violent murderers.

Also if population continues to increase then so will crime. I'm not sure if crime per head of population is as rampantly out of control as you claim.

Is having a grim outlook on life a pre-requisite to being a Blackburn rovers fan?

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on

frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond

words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and

respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise

[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

[thecomebackid]

Therefore I will continue to delude myself.

Cheap skunk laced with crack?

What planet are you on?

You had weed that was fine, but today everybody is smoking stuff that will send you crazy. No rose tinted spectacles there then...

I know plenty of people who smoke this skunk and I can assure you it is not laced with crack nor have they become violent murderers.

Also if population continues to increase then so will crime. I'm not sure if crime per head of population is as rampantly out of control as you claim.

Is having a grim outlook on life a pre-requisite to being a Blackburn rovers fan?

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on

frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond

words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and

respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise

[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

Indeed. Oh happy day. Finally Rovers are playing to their potential.

Regarding this thread, I'd rather avoid a prolonged debate. I'm sure you're a decent person and I fully respect your viewpoint. In some ways I agree with you, that in the UK, there is a perpetual tendency to see the downside. If we were having this debate in the pub, I expect it would end with each of us buying one another pints and signing off with an intoxicated hand-shake.

In respect of the above however, I'm simply responding to the points that you raised, in particular to re-phrase your previous assertion, that there is less crime today than there was previously.

As you will see, in respect of violent crime (most peoples' main concern) that is simply not the case. Some of the following might not make easy reading, bit it is all based on fact, rather than your intellectually lazy assertions regarding friends' habits and statistical analysis.

"Therefore I will continue to delude myself"

Poor grammar and ignorance of basic facts is understandable. Willful refusal to face reality however is not.

"Cheap skunk laced with crack?"

Perhaps if you had addressed some of the social issues I have on a professional basis and listened to the large amount of real time expert evidence in court as I have on this matter, you might not find my assertion so difficult to comprehend.

"What planet are you on?"

That's a cheap rhetorical device hardly worthy of a response. Nevertheless, cheap as I am, I will respond in kind. I suspect that I've probably seen a lot more of and directly experienced far more disparate cultures on planet Earth to assert that not all western societies are blighted by the same street corner gang culture phenomenon that now infests so many town and cities in the UK.

"…I know plenty of people who smoke this skunk and I can assure you it is not laced with crack nor have they become violent murderers…"

My next door neighbour drinks and drives, but I can assure you he's never run anybody over, least of all small children; ugh?

"Also if population continues to increase then so will crime"

The statistics are year on-year on. The population is not rising so rapidly as the murder and serious violent crime rate. Over the last 20 years the murder rate has doubled, despite it being harder to actually prove the actus reus of murder per se in the courts (see my previous post). Had the population risen in line with murder statistics, the population of the UK would have risen to 110 million at a conservative estimate.

Indeed, in many crime blighted areas the population has fallen dramatically, partly as a result of economic factors and partly as a result of (I use the next phrase loosely) 'middle-class' flight from crime ridden neighborhoods. For example look at Liverpool's dramatic post war decrease in population (possibly 40% of its population) but during the same period there was a significant increase in crime.

You do have a point however in respect of population increase leading to more crime. Given that the indigenous British population is falling, by that I understand that you must of course be referring to unchecked immigration and the subsequent increase in crime in the UK.

In respect of Kosovan/Albanian and Somali immigration many parts of London and southern England have indeed recorded increasing crime rates due to the culture of honour killings, drug dealing and people trading endemic in their respective cultures.

On the other hand, neighborhoods that have witnessed immigration from the Far East and most other parts of the world might witness little or no increase. In the latter case, natural population increase might well be a factor.

But you are quite correct; most murders in London are committed by non British nationals, so there is a correlation with population increase.

"Is having a grim outlook on life a pre-requisite to being a Blackburn rovers fan?"

Had you lived through the traumas of the eighties, the answer would be an emphatic yes. Crystal Palace in the play offs, Mark Atkin's 'foot-of-God' og against Liverpool still haunt the seasoned Rovers fan.

That's my last word on the matter. It's not the forum for 'Guardianista' style debates and despite begging to differ with what you say on this particular issue, we're still bonded hopefully by what we stand for, rather than what we stand against.

[philipl]

Thankfully there is an intolerance and shock in relation to violent crime in all parts of British society except Northern Ireland where routine paramilitary violence runs at levels way beyond anything any other part of the country would view as a total break down of law and order.

Personally I view crime statistics with a great deal of scepticism as they are so politicised.

Murder rates in London have doubled to around 250 per year. The murder rate in Washington DC has been above that figure in most years since 2000 and Washington DC has just 8% of London's population. Proportionately, Israel has a far higher murder rate than the UK. By coincidence, the Malta Independent published this article this morning which shows Valletta to be the "safest" capital in Europe.

The increase in violent crime is a trend that is very worrying in the UK but the streets are still safer than most other western countries. I suppose there is a strong statistical correlation between violent crime and the square root of footballers' wages.

[den]

Football on here chaps, please.

[ABBEY]

I've never seen nor heard about any happy slapping near the cathedral, and I walk past it everyday.

However, you are right, it happens everywhere.

It was in the telewag about 2 weeks ago ,i think it said there was 14 0r 15 incidents.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Just before I go back on topic to discuss greedy selfish footballers, I'd like to raise my hat in appreciation of 'thecomebackid' for his lucid well-made points earlier, which were spot on in my view.

Anyway, back on to footballers....

You'd like to think that a Championship player at Southampton earning £8,000 per week or £416,000 per year (about fifteen times the average British salary of £28,000) wouldn't feel the need to go through the purses of girls at a nightclub to steal cash and mobile phones. But disgracefully, Southampton player Nathan Dyer was apparently involved in such thefts last month, looting from girls handbags.

His team-mate Bradley Wright-Phillips, half-brother of Shaun, was captured on CCTV cameras grinning as he watched Dyer and three friends stealing cash, three mobile phones, student cards and cigarettes from the handbags of the girls working at the nightclub.

Bradley Wright-Phillips is the biological son of the irritating BBC pundit Ian. (Chelsea player Shaun is Ian's adopted son.) Before he became a professional player at Crystal Palace, Ian Wright had a spell at Her Majesty's Pleasure in Chelmsford Prison. It appears as if Bradley, like his father, is another odious character.

As barmaid Emma Parker, who had a phone stolen, said of Dyer and Wright-Phillips: "They are treated like heroes but this shows they are actually scumbags."

Link: Footballers earning thousands a week rifle through girls handbags

I was pleased that Southampton manager Nigel Pearson took a dim view of the conduct of Dyer and Wright-Phillips. Pearson said: "It was unacceptable behaviour and I dealt with it as strongly as I could. I take an exceptionally dim view of it."

Link: Pearson vents anger on duo

[ABBEY]

just made me chuckle thinking of george ogami(spelling) running off with his dingle ironing board....haha stella and jack

[stuwilky]

Ian Wright had a spell at Her Majesty's Pleasure in Chelmsford Prison. It appears as if Bradley, like his father, is another odious character.

Yes those 5 days for failure to pay a motoring fine.......

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Yes those 5 days for failure to pay a motoring fine.......

I think it was more than one motoring fine that he didn't pay. But Ian Wright is a very unpleasant character all the same, typified by the time when he abused a disabled linesman in 1993 while playing for Arsenal.

The linesman had thalidomide - where one of his arms is considerably shorter than the other. After being flagged for offside (the linesman used his full-length arm to raise his flag) , Wright launched into a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse, screaming "You 'effing cripple" and "You 'effing spastic".

But the BBC clearly seem to think that Wright is a suitable person to employ as a football pundit - despite the fact that he also spat at Oldham fans in 1991, punched another player in the face in 1992, spat at a female QPR steward in 1994 and spat at a Sheffield United player in 1996. (In my view Wright is just as repulsive as the spitting Dirty Diouf).

Link: Wright's role of shame

Perhaps I should print that page off from the link above and send it to the Head of Sport at the BBC to ask why they employ the services of such a vile creature.

Meanwhile Wright's biological son Bradley, together with his Southampton team-mate Nathan Dyer, have today been bailed by police following the allegations of theft at a nightclub.

If they are found guilty in court, it's incredibly selfish to steal mobile phones, cash, student cards and cigarettes from girls handbags, especially when you're earning thousands of pounds a week . (Though obviously stealing is wrong no matter how much or little you are earning.)

Link: Wright-Phillips and Dyer bailed by police

[Grabbi Graeme]

On the subject of Ian Wright, I was watching a repeat of They Think It's All Over when Wright was captain, and Rory said to Wright.

"You left Palace to go to Arsenal and got abuse from Palace fans, then you went to West Ham and you got abuse from Arsenal fans and then you went to Burnley and got abuse from Burnley fans"

Well made me laugh anyway

[blue phil]

Yes those 5 days for failure to pay a motoring fine.......

That is a redeeming part of his character IMO .

Prison for a minor motoring offence !? They'll be sending single mothers to gaol next for non payment of the TV licence .............

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Happy to kiss the badge now he's doubled his salary....

I found it quite nauseating the way that the African beanpole Emmanuel Adebayor kissed the badge of his Arsenal shirt after scoring in the Emirates Cup recently. This follows on from a period when his so-called "loyalty" to Arsenal meant spending much of this summer courting bids from AC Milan and Barcelona, flirting blatantly with them like a desperate rock star groupie, before gaining a nice salary increase at Arsenal from £40,000 a week to £80,000 a week, which has kept him happy for the time being.

(The doubling of his salary to 80 grand a week this summer is reported in the link with the Daily Telegraph here)

Adebayor made it clear through his agent in the media how unhappy he was with only getting £40,000 a week at Arsenal. Instead of thinking how damn lucky he was to be getting 40K a week and over £2m quid a year - on the type of wages that the poor sods living in poverty in their mud huts in Africa can only dream of - Adebayor obviously felt he was worth far more than just a mere 40 grand a week.

Now that he's doubled his salary, he's happy to kiss the badge in a nauseating gesture to the Arsenal fans. If Monsieur Wenger had said to him this summer: "You're staying at Arsenal on the contract you previously signed for 40K a week," one wonders whether Adebayor would have been so keen to kiss the badge. I suspect he would have thrown a big strop and would have gone into a big sulk, like many other prima donnas in the Premiership do.

At what other everyday profession are you able to demand that your wages are doubled? Could you imagine in the present economic climate, where employers are tightening their belts, that groups of workers like teachers, doctors, nurses, traffic wardens, bus drivers and policemen would demand that their wages are doubled ?

Such workers would I'm sure be told to go forth and multiply, so to speak. But these greedy footballing parasites in the Premiership are removed from the everyday world and they treat us, the supporters, with barely disguised contempt. They are shamelesss mercenaries who are pampered by the football industry, with their whims catered for, and they then go on to (metaphorically) spit in the face of the supporters who pay their wages.

Another badge kisser happy now that he's got what he wanted....

After weeks of haggling and wrangling, Frank Lampard is finally reported to have signed a five-year deal at Chelsea today worth a cool £39 million or £150,000 a week. Earlier in the summer Frank stubbornly refused to sign an earlier contract on the table - a four-year deal worth £140,000 a week. The poor little darling obviously needed a bit of extra pocket money.

I hope the extra ten grand a week and the extra year on his deal comes in handy for him. Will he be buying another Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Bentley? Perhaps he desperately needs the extra money to buy another house to go with his two current properties - a Surrey mansion and a luxury home in central London which he shares with his attractive Spanish wife.

Perhaps in these tough economic times, poor old Frank was struggling with the gas and electricity bills and he was scrimping to pay his council tax.

Now that Frank's got a nice salary increase, he can happily kiss the badge again and tell the Chelsea fans how much he "loves the club" and how it never crossed his mind to leave. Oh no, Frank would never think about leaving. He'd be happy to play for Chelsea for just five grand a week. He loves the club, so he keeps telling the fans.

The mugs that pay fifty quid for tickets at Stamford Bridge must be happy knowing that their money is going to such a good cause to help these poor downtrodden badge kissers.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Happy to kiss the badge now he's doubled his salary....

The mugs that pay fifty quid for tickets at Stamford Bridge must be happy knowing that their money is going to such a good cause to help these poor downtrodden badge kissers.

Not just at Stamford Bridge AESF - its throughout the game and us the fans are as much at fault also for paying the prices.

I have posted many a time my reluctance and avoidance if I can of paying over £20 for a ticket unless its a one-off or special game ie semi/final, ground never been to before etc.

[S15]

Has Lampard been on the sunbeds Smiffy?

[Billy Castell]

He's enough money to buy a whole Caribbean Island now, never mind a sunbed!

[T4E]

In many ways I'm pleased Lampard has signed a new deal. I've long since thought that they would be an even better side if they allowed the far superior Ballack to play the AM role, applying some balance to the rest of the midfield.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Pampered Man United players have a handyman to change the lightbulbs in their mansions....

Perhaps providing further proof that multi-millionaire so-called 'stars' in the Premier League really do live in a world of their own, far removed from everyday reality, Man United's French defender Patrice Evra has revealed this week how his United team-mates are so pampered that they call upon a special handyman to change the lightbulbs in their mansions for them.

The handyman is also available for doing other domestic chores, as well as things like fixing faults with their swimming pools.

Barry Moorhouse is Manchester United's player liaison manager. He presides over a team who are available 24 hours a day for the United players to have their cars fixed, Jacuzzis repaired and domestic chores performed.

So in the early hours of the morning at 3am if a player wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and finds a lightbulb has gone out, he just calls up the 24 hour handyman service provided to him by United and a chap will be round in a jiffy to visit the mansion and change the lightbulb.

If the loo roll holder is broken - no worries - just call on the 24 hour handyman service provided by Man United. If your shoes need to be polished, a shirt ironed, the carpets need hoovering or the fridge needs to be cleaned just phone up Mr Moorhouse and one of his handymen will come round.

The special service from United's player liaison manager is also available to the wives and girlfriends of the players too. So if the girlfriend of one of the players requires a new pair of shoes or perhaps a new handbag to go with a dress, she too can call upon the services of Mr Moorhouse and his helpful team of visiting handymen.

Link: Patrice Evra reveals the pampered life of United's players