Decent Journalism

Rudi · February 7, 2013, 6:41pm

gola" data-cid="735600" data-time="1360249762:

<p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]Article from Times about Gazza - George Caulkin <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;] <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]Pink, pudgy and dipped in chip-fat – I remember Paul Gascoigne. Hair shorn above the ears, gurning grin where teeth should be, shorts too tight – I remember him. As ugly as sin and as sexy as it, too, because with a ball at his boot-tips and running at full tilt, I’ve never seen football so muscular or beautiful. I remember Paul Gascoigne and, by God, I love him. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]Close to the touchline, an off day at St James’ Park, I remember a shout of exasperation from nearby: “Pull your finger out Gazza, man, you fat bastard.” And he did, first one finger and then another, holding them aloft in a rigid V, with a “f*** off” and a wink thrown in. I don’t recall complaints to stewards, demands for an arrest, front-page exposés or questions in the House. I remember laughter. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I remember seeing him sprint forward from the centre circle. He looked too big for the pitch, let alone his strip, but when he moved, the ungainly became poetic, although it was a violent sort of artistry – elbows and sharp edges – that took him around, past and occasionally through defenders. It looked like human bagatelle, the ball clacking between his feet, and yet somehow under control, the only aspect of his life that was. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]The North East could not contain him, but talent drained away frequently back then and when he moved from Newcastle United to Tottenham Hotspur, an axis shifted with him. He was such a draw, such a force. When he burst into Sir Bobby Robson’s England squad and refused to be ignored, I remember feeling differently about my country; it wasn’t just Thatcher’s country, it was Gazza’s. And he was ours. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]That era of Robson’s; Gascoigne, Beardsley, Waddle, Robson, men from a region of coal, steel and shipbuilding. That felt like some sort of affirmation. I remember those tears – “the tears that watered the Turin pitch” as Sir Bobby would refer to them – because for people who adored football it brought a wider acceptance that our sport could bring emotion of a warming kind, even if the source was sadness. He brought change. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I remember a kind of role-reversal, Sir Bobby wiping moisture from his face when, in his last, ailing months, he spoke of Gascoigne’s mountainous heart, of how he’d tried to buy his former manager a disability scooter, an absurd act of generosity that he could ill afford. “Paul cried in the service of his country, but it’s far too soon for us to be shedding tears for him,” Robson said then. It still is. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]“Newcastle saw the start of him, red-faced and chubby though he was back them,” Sir Bobby once wrote. “He could head the ball, pass it, dribble with it, shoot and he’d train all day. He drove his managers mad, of course, because he never lost that precociousness, his cocky stupidity, his willingness to do anything in search of a quick laugh. But he remained so popular because he was such an innocent.” <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I’ve read about the daft stories. The sweet and heart-melting ones, like when he reported for training at Newcastle as a kid, found nobody there because the session had been cancelled and went carol singing to earn his bus fare home. The daftness that became a mania, a compulsion, the addictions which left his body wracked and mind addled. But I do not know if they are fact or legend and do not remember them, because I was not there. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I do not condone the lapses, the appalling behaviour, but do my best not to offer judgments on the private lives of others, for the simple reason that I wouldn’t want judgment on mine. There are exceptions to that, because I’m a hypocrite – Nile Ranger makes my every pore ache – but I try to disassociate Paul Gascoigne the player from whatever “Gazza” now represents. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I’ve written before about the temptations Tyneside offers. I grew up with footballers and flirted on the fringes of that extraordinary life and can remember how it felt to have a drink in your hand with faces turned in your direction, how money and alcohol and testosterone and danger can provide a headlong rush. How being close to home can also feel like Hollywood. It was a blast; less so, when I woke up in a hospital, scabbed and reeking <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I’ve been thinking about Gascoigne this week, and it is only partially because of the latest series of photographs and tales, the drinking, and the slurring and another last chance. I thought of him because of Danny Graham, the centre forward who joined Sunderland from Swansea City last month and has been newsworthy because of his boyhood allegiance to Newcastle and the careless way he once expressed it. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]I thought of how a career, a life, can be shaped by one action, one comment, one sip, one grave error or, in Gascoigne’s case, one horrendous tackle which led to a compendium of grief. “God knows what he would have gone on to achieve if he hadn’t flung himself so recklessly at Gary Charles, but I think people would have talked about him in the same breath as George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish,” Robson said. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]The connection with Gascoigne is tenuous, at best, but you don’t always know what sets something off and I like the fact that Graham wanted to come home, that he pushed for it to happen in the knowledge that it might cause himself a ripple of difficulty. A story does not have to be set in stone, not yet, and an indiscretion about Sunderland in a Watford fanzine does not have to be his; I wish him a bucketload of goals. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]It is difficult not to think about Gascoigne, because he still forms a frame of reference. As Ian Botham’s absence hung over England’s cricket team until the Ashes were claimed and a different standard set, Gascoigne is still the comparison we make; his potential and personality linger. When Jack Wilshere’s performance against Brazil is examined, it is for echoes of his predecessor. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]Sir Bobby was a mentor and became a friend, but I’ve never met Gascoigne. I came close to it last May when the statue of Sir Bobby outside St James’, looking out towards the city and Co Durham, was unveiled. He was being interviewed there and I wanted to say something, about the memories he had given, but shied away. He looked shaky and wizened and I doubted he craved saccharine from a journalist. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]As Gascoigne has diminished, he has continued to nourish my profession and I do not like that. This is not much of a blog and I apologise for it, because I have nothing to add about alcohol or refueling or treatment centres. I hope he gets well, but cannot begin to understand what responsibility lies with him or where others might have intervened. I’m not interested in casting blame. As I’ve made plain, tediously, I just remember him. <p style="font-size:15px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;]Gascoigne’s narrative is there, in black and white, and it cannot be altered, but I remember him from before then, shirt streaked in the same shades, sun-lamp tanned and shiny, barging across the grass, boisterous and bossy and delicate. I would give a lot to stop the clocks and plot a course back in time for one more of those moments when he hinted at unshackled possibility, but less for his sake. Him doing his job made me want to do mine. </blockquote> </aside> <p>FFS.</p> <p>I suppose you are the type of person was telling all his work colleagues today that Wilshere is the best midfielder in the world now.</p>

Thrawneen · February 13, 2013, 6:48pm

Read an obituary of Jonathan Rendell at the weekend. Used to love his writing in the Observer. He also did a 3-part series for Channel 4 called The Gambler where he had a grand a month for a year to bet with. Anyone seen it or even have it or a link to it? Can’t seem to find it anywhere and I’d love to watch it for the week that’s in it.

mickee321 · February 13, 2013, 7:13pm

thats a fucking excellent shout right there, ill have a look

fistoffury · February 13, 2013, 9:05pm

[SIZE=26px]Daring to Ask the PED Question[/SIZE]

just spotted Gola posted this earlier …

fistoffury · February 13, 2013, 9:05pm

[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]So when Lewis’s name landed in this week’s PED scandal, nobody tumbled over in shock. We wasted the rest of Super Bowl week talking about him, wondering whether he cheated, watching his denial for signs that he was lying, Googling “deer antler spray” and talking about everything other than the game. Eventually, the moment will pass, like it always does. Nothing will change. Sadly, the collective irresponsibility of some sports media members — call it “cornballbrotheritis” — ruined any rational media member’s chances to question the current environment. You don’t trust our ability to handle such a loaded subject, nor should you. We’ve ruined your trust too many times.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I just know that athletes shouldn’t be able to have it both ways. Don’t hide behind your players unions and allow your player reps to fight [SIZE=15px]against[/SIZE] better drug testing, then flip out if Jalen Rose and I decide to have an impromptu “Who’s On Your ‘I Need To See You Pee In A Cup’ Team This Year?” podcast. Again, [SIZE=15px]we have the technology now.[/SIZE] We can protect clean players from competing against dirty ones. Why aren’t we using it? Henry Abbott’sexhaustive piece on the NBA and PEDs[/URL] made a fantastic point: Why did FIFA [URL=‘http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/bodies/congress/news/newsid=1637668/index.html’]make biological passports (the single best way to catch cheaters right now) mandatory for the 2014 World Cup, but the NBA can’t even convince its players to allow blood testing?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]Really? You’re that fearful of what we’d find in your blood, NBA players? If you’re not fearful, why allow your representatives to make it seem like you’re that fearful? How can you expect me NOT to wonder if you’re cheating? Especially when so many other world-class athletes are cheating? Are you really expecting me to believe that Don MacLean, Matt Geiger, Soumaila Samake, Lindsey Hunter, Darius Miles, Rashard Lewis and O.J. Mayo — seven guys with a combined two All-Star appearances — were the only NBA players who ever used banned performance enhancers?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]Let’s see what’s in everyone’s body, once and for all. I think you’d be surprised. You’d wonder if some were glorified junkies. You’d be confused about why we placed such a belated priority on concussion awareness while continuing to ignore HGH and steroids and painkillers. Why wasn’t the recent story about the NFL’s Toradol waiver a bigger deal? What’s the difference between taking HGH and Toradol, anyway? What does the word “performance enhancer” really mean? It’s OK to borrow a dead person’s ligament to regain your 95-mph fastball, but it’s not OK to boost your testosterone for those same results? It’s OK to travel to Germany to inject stem cells into your damaged knee to stimulate recovery and regeneration, but it’s not OK to replace your blood with better blood to increase your stamina?[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]How did we decide what’s right and wrong? Did we just arbitrarily make up a bunch of rules with no correlation to one another? Why won’t our favorite athletes help us out by pushing for more accountability within their sports? The goal should be simple: total transparency. Every American professional league should have the best possible testing. Period. And if athletes don’t think it’s fair … well, I don’t think it’s fair that some of them cheat. So there.[/SIZE][/FONT]
CONTD…

[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I believe that Ray Lewis cheated. I believe that to be true based on circumstantial evidence, his age, his overcompetitiveness, the history of that specific injury, and the fact that his “recovery” made my shit detector start vibrating like a chainsaw.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I believe in my right to write the previous paragraph because athletes pushed us to this point. We need better drug testing. We need blood testing. We need biological passports. We need that stuff now. Not in three years. Not in two years. Now. I don’t even know what I am watching anymore.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I believe we need to fix this disconnect between our private conversations and our public ones. Cheating in professional sports is an epidemic. Wondering about the reasons behind a dramatically improved performance, or a dramatically fast recovery time, shouldn’t be considered off-limits for media members. We shouldn’t feel like scumbags bringing this stuff up. It’s part of sports.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I believe that, if I played sports for a living, I would steer clear of performance enhancers no matter how many millions were at stake, no matter how famous they might make me, no matter how many titles I might win. I like to believe that, anyway. The truth is … I don’t really know what I would do. And neither do you.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=15px]I believe Adrian Peterson came back naturally. I don’t need to see All Day pee in a cup at the Super Bowl. Sports Fan Me and ESPN Me agree on this one. Of course, if you gave us a halftime choice between Beyoncé performing or Ray Lewis peeing in a cup, we’re going with the peeing. Welcome to sports in the 21st century.[/SIZE][/FONT]

Chavez · February 14, 2013, 8:37pm

Tycoon Denis O’Brien has won his defamation action against the Irish Daily Mail and has been awarded €150,000 in damages.

The newspaper has indicated that it will appeal the decisions.

Julio_Geordio · February 14, 2013, 9:08pm

That’ll teach them to question their overlords.
Owns half the media and has silenced the other half all hail Denis O’Brien, a man without reproach

Thrawneen · April 13, 2013, 10:31am

FAO carryharry

Good piece from Mr. Nice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2013/apr/12/taiwan-howard-marks-returns-taipei

carryharry · April 13, 2013, 12:21pm

[quote=“Thrawneen, post: 758616, member: 129”]FAO carryharry

Good piece from Mr. Nice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2013/apr/12/taiwan-howard-marks-returns-taipei[/quote]
Thanks pal.

Good old Howard ‘’ Chinese have special name for feeling of being surrounded by seduction, to be lost in company of beautiful women – mi huen zhen.’’

Fitzy · May 3, 2013, 4:32am

The New Statesman is 100 years old this year. They’ve dug up some excellent writing from their history:

http://www.newstatesman.com/old-statesman

Thrawneen · September 5, 2013, 11:27am

Quality story of a West Ham fan plucked from the crowd during a pre-season game and given a half by 'arry.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/sep/05/harry-redknapp-played-fan-west-ham

Thrawneen · October 25, 2013, 4:08pm

I love Russell Brand and I’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution

I heard recently Oliver Cromwell’s address to the rump parliament in 1653 (online, I’m not a Time Lord) where he bawls out the whole of the House of Commons as “whores, virtueless horses and money-grabbing dicklickers”. I added the last one but, honestly, that is the vibe. I was getting close to admiring old Oliver for his “calls it as he sees it, balls-out” rhetoric till I read about him on Wikipedia and learned that beyond this brilliant 8 Mile-style takedown of corrupt politicians he was a right arsehole; starving and murdering the Irish and generally (and surprisingly for a Roundhead) being a total square. The fact remains that if you were to recite his speech in parliament today you’d be hard pushed to find someone who could be legitimately offended.

TheUlteriorMotive · October 25, 2013, 4:35pm

[quote=“Thrawneen, post: 851595, member: 129”]I love Russell Brand and I’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution[/quote]
he is wonderfully articulate

glasagusban · October 25, 2013, 4:37pm

[quote=“Thrawneen, post: 851595, member: 129”]I love Russell Brand and I’d follow him to the ends of the earth.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution[/quote]
Fucking brilliant

Watch_The_Break · October 30, 2013, 10:54am

Donald Clarke on Russell Brand’s Paxman interview in the times:

There’s something of the contemporary art gallery catalogue about his delivery: very simple, almost childlike ideas are expressed in the most convoluted language imaginable.

If the folk at Newsnight had invited a 17-year-old cider enthusiast onto the show they might have got fewer polysyllables, but they could hardly have encountered any less coherent political waffle

Bisto · October 30, 2013, 11:21am

brand actually talks a lot of sense if people listened…I hate that shit that Paxman said about Brand not having a right to an opinion on politics because he never voted…should someone vote if they don’t believe in any of the politcans?..that to me is ridiculous because effectively you could eb voting someone into power who you don’t believe in but don’t hate as much as the other candidates…

Watch_The_Break · October 30, 2013, 11:36am

I think Brand’s heart is in the right place but it’s hard to argue with the criticism that it’s all a bit adolescent and self-indulgent. Nothing he said would resonate with anyone outside of the constituency that already agrees with him. Just look at the language he uses.

The difficulty with people like Brand, the somewhat vague radicals, is that they seem to totally disregard the value of communicating with people in terms that connect to their lives. Brand’s ‘revolution of consciousness’ is not particularly motivating to a people trying to pay mortgages, school fees, medical bills etc. It all just sounds remote and abstract and unconnected to their reality. That’s not to disagree with anything he said. But you have to wonder about what he’s really doing it for when there’s so little effort to communicate with the people he supposedly wants to reach. Again, it just seems self-indulgent.

Thrawneen · October 30, 2013, 12:17pm

It is a bit adolescent but I don’t agree that it’s self-indulgent. Brand, if you read his book, watch his documentaries and read his articles is really quite passionate about politics and social change. I know he’s a David Icke fan and some of the Paxman stuff veered into Icke territory, and I also don’t believe that he’s the man to lead us to glory in some kind of global revolution, but no one can deny that about 20m people have watched that interview and it struck a chord with the vast majority of people.

Whether anything will ever come from it, fuck knows.

As Dave Moss says in Glengarry Glen Ross: “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that’s the law of the land”.

Tabby · October 30, 2013, 1:01pm

[quote=“Thrawneen, post: 853511, member: 129”]It is a bit adolescent but I don’t agree that it’s self-indulgent. Brand, if you read his book, watch his documentaries and read his articles is really quite passionate about politics and social change. I know he’s a David Icke fan and some of the Paxman stuff veered into Icke territory, and I also don’t believe that he’s the man to lead us to glory in some kind of global revolution, but no one can deny that about 20m people have watched that interview and it struck a chord with the vast majority of people.

Whether anything will ever come from it, fuck knows.

As Dave Moss says in Glengarry Glen Ross: “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that’s the law of the land”.[/quote]

playing devils advocate here but do they? Is the overall standard of living of poor people not higher now than it was 30/40 not to mind 100 years ago? I know my nephews have a better life in almost every tangible and intangible way than me and my brother ( their father) had as kids. And this would be with my brother doing more or less the exact same (relatively unskilled) job as our father did.

stones_off · October 30, 2013, 1:22pm

I doubt it. My father certainly had a better “standard of living” than me. My father had a relatively skilled manual job and could support a family of 6 kids, we would have grown up in what would have been considered a lower middle class family. 1 income could support a family in the 70s and 80s (if you could get a job).

Myself and wife both have professional jobs, but certainly don’t have the same buying power. Sure we have the crap you don’t need like smart phones, laptop, etc. Both that is probably down to our mindset now a days, less content with what we have and always wanting more.