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Australian GP 2011 on BBC

By fifthdecade 29 March, 2011 Leave a comment

After a disastrous time with Jonathan Legard as main commentator, this year the BBC have gone for an all-driver commentary team, sticking with the excellent Martin Brundle and adding David Coulthard as the newbie. How did they do as a team, and how was the race as entertainment?

Why Hung Parliaments are better than scare stories

By fifthdecade 5 May, 2010 Leave a comment

There’s a lot of lies out there at the moment about a hung Parliament. Let’s be clear about this, the lie-mongers have one aim only: to scare British voters silly with the worst kind of falsehoods about how bad a “hung” Parliament would be. From the Tory Tabloids to Tory Central Office, from Cameron to […]

BBC F1 TV coverage – Australia

By fifthdecade 29 March, 2009 3 Comments

How do the BBC compare to the job ITV did last year? ITV weren’t perfect, but the BBC weren’t that much different. So much for their “huge coverage” they promised. So what was it like?

The Path to Peace in Gaza?

By fifthdecade 9 January, 2009 Leave a comment

Here are some excerpts of what I wrote during the last few days of the 13 day attack by Israel on Gaza. It’s a basic summary of news reports, official figures, analysis, and my own opinions. I support both the State of Israel and Palestinian Statehood, but this recent conflict shows up one side to […]

Bad Timing at the Bank of England

By fifthdecade 7 November, 2008 Leave a comment

Today the Bank of England reduced interest rates by 1.5%. I have no problem with that – I said to friends a month ago that October’s 0.5% cut should have been 2%, and I know I wasn’t the only finance professional saying that.

Ping Pong Olympics

By fifthdecade 7 August, 2008 Leave a comment

The 2008 Olympics are tainted, and Jacques Rogge, the IOC boss seems to be blinded by the fog of stupidity (or institional greed)  to see it. Never mind the many political protests that others have so eloquently voiced elsewhere, here I just want to point the finger at how the IOC’s own statements seem to […]

FIA “to launch global campaign in support of motorists prosecuted for kerb crawling”?

By fifthdecade 3 June, 2008 2 Comments

Rumours are that now the FIA have re-elected a President whose primary public image is one of messing about with prostitutes, that the next move is to begin a global campaign to allow kerb crawling motorists to reclaim their fines for engaging the services of prostitutes. Max Mosley, the sad FIA President, has publicly said […]

Mega Massa makes mincemeat of opposition as ham-fisted Hamilton has a horror

By fifthdecade 7 April, 2008 3 Comments

The nice thing about Formula 1 is its unpredictability. Well, this weekend, anyway. Never mind the unusual shenanigans happening off the track in Chelsea dungeons, on the track we are having quite a year. Quite rightly the Crown Prince of Bahrain insisted nothing would be allowed to distract us from the racing, despite all the […]

Obama, the shady moneymen, press politics and Corporate America

By fifthdecade 4 March, 2008 2 Comments

Apparently, some of Barack Obama’s long standing financial backers have some rather strange connections with a Middle East businessman. Now, it may all be nothing to do with Mr Obama himself, but he has reportedly written letters on behalf of one of these people to gain favour with officialdom and been in receipt of land, […]

This Week: Now I’ve seen it all…

By fifthdecade 30 November, 2007 Leave a comment

It isn’t often I’m surprised these days. But just occasionally, every now and then, it suddenly hits me. This evening I was watching as I often do “This Week” hosted by Andrew Neil, ex-editor of the Sunday Times, with regular participants ex-MP Michael Portillo and current MP Diane Abbott. The guest I found most interesting […]