Can it be true, am I really on the edge of something exciting and potentially life changing or will it turn into a damp squib.
Starting a new business in an age of doom might be an act of madness-but a lot of people think I'm a little strange anyway.
Cherished-will people know this name in 2 years time-will it be synonomous with a great web site where people flog their stuff for a decent price.
Antique Furniture-to many not a very sexy area of interest-well I love quality and over the coming few weeks I will reveal all about our launch of the portal that will change the way the public and trade interact.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
On a lighter note
you might think from my blog that I'am in some xenophobic or anti European-well sorry to dissapoint.
One of my other major interests in life is football and detailed below is an incredible story of hands across the water.
Fans supporting each other-shock
In this cynical world I thought it only right to share a good news story concerning the beautiful game, affordable football and Italian fans singing a Beach Boys song in tribute to a bunch of Mancunian Rebels.
How did this crazy event come about –well around a year or 18 months ago for reasons varied, fans of FC United started singing Sloop John B at the their games and it has grown into perhaps the favourite amongst our popular reportoire of twenty odd songs.
One of our number under the pseudonym of fcumpassion posted us singing this at a highly charged cup game on youtube-now seen by nearly 42,000 people-amongst them late last season a particularly off the wall and frankly bonkers group of Torino fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j941psnNiAI
So next thing –the Torino fans find the FC United fans website and open up a dialogue with us, apart from a couple of negative comments the vibe between the 2 sets of fans is brilliant, they really get where we are coming from and back fully our uncompromising alternative to mainstream football.
http://fcumforum.org.uk/mainforum/viewtopic.php?t=87568&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=torino&start=0
We have now organised a large flag to present to the Torino fans when we get together to help further cement our relationship.
http://fcumforum.org.uk/mainforum/viewtopic.php?t=88017&highlight=torino+flag
And finally the most impressive part of this whole story for me is a video put together by the pazzo bus crew in Italy in tribute to our club-be sure to watch it all the way through and you will see how the whole end at one of their last games of the season joined in. The little rubber dinghy is a reference to our first ever game against Leigh RMI in 2005 when for no good reason we had a similar rubber dinghy bouncing around our end. Watch and enjoy and please use the unique power you hold to spread a genuine good news story in a scary and cynical world-yours Rick/politico—
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqnQmty7Jg4&feature=related
Affordable Football Alliance
www.mapfm.co.uk/afa
One of my other major interests in life is football and detailed below is an incredible story of hands across the water.
Fans supporting each other-shock
In this cynical world I thought it only right to share a good news story concerning the beautiful game, affordable football and Italian fans singing a Beach Boys song in tribute to a bunch of Mancunian Rebels.
How did this crazy event come about –well around a year or 18 months ago for reasons varied, fans of FC United started singing Sloop John B at the their games and it has grown into perhaps the favourite amongst our popular reportoire of twenty odd songs.
One of our number under the pseudonym of fcumpassion posted us singing this at a highly charged cup game on youtube-now seen by nearly 42,000 people-amongst them late last season a particularly off the wall and frankly bonkers group of Torino fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j941psnNiAI
So next thing –the Torino fans find the FC United fans website and open up a dialogue with us, apart from a couple of negative comments the vibe between the 2 sets of fans is brilliant, they really get where we are coming from and back fully our uncompromising alternative to mainstream football.
http://fcumforum.org.uk/mainforum/viewtopic.php?t=87568&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=torino&start=0
We have now organised a large flag to present to the Torino fans when we get together to help further cement our relationship.
http://fcumforum.org.uk/mainforum/viewtopic.php?t=88017&highlight=torino+flag
And finally the most impressive part of this whole story for me is a video put together by the pazzo bus crew in Italy in tribute to our club-be sure to watch it all the way through and you will see how the whole end at one of their last games of the season joined in. The little rubber dinghy is a reference to our first ever game against Leigh RMI in 2005 when for no good reason we had a similar rubber dinghy bouncing around our end. Watch and enjoy and please use the unique power you hold to spread a genuine good news story in a scary and cynical world-yours Rick/politico—
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqnQmty7Jg4&feature=related
Affordable Football Alliance
www.mapfm.co.uk/afa
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
My Poiltical Beliefs.
As the political aspect of this blog is the cornerstone I think it only fair for me to tell you exactly where I,am coming from.
O' Level History 1976 studying Communist China-that is my first memory of politics-problem was it was all out of a book or related to me by my gently humourous teacher Mr Harbour.
My actual experience was similar to many other 40 somethings out there, the Government bouncing regularly between Conservative and Labour but the word STRIKE seemed to loom large even to disinterested teenager.
There was daft headlines about British Lleyland going out on strike over the most mundane of reasons-regular power cuts etc etc.
Then in 1979 the unthinkable happened and MAGGIE CAME TO STAY.
To some a breath of fresh air but to others she is still mentioned in the same breath as satan!
My view-well she did what had to be done at the time and took on the unions-it was'nt pretty and Britain of the early eighties was for a short period at war with itself. But things did settle down and gradually became both more prosperous and confident. People from working class areas had the opportunity to buy their own home something unthinkable a decade earlier.
With hindsight though it is difficult not to get the impression that in order to fuel this economic boom the family jewellerey was sold in terms of our nationalised service-yes many first time shareholders were created-but with the new private ownership of utilities the price to the customer was only ever going to go one way.
Meanwhile very quietly and carefully what Britain had joined and voted to stay in 1975 the "Common Market" started to evolve. By the mid eighties it had morphed into the European Economic Community and once the immediate domestic problems of the Falklands War and Miners Strikes had been resolved Margaret Thatcher began to realise that many across the Channel and some at home even in her own party had much greater ambitions for the EEC than simply being the trading Block sold to an unsuspecting British public a decade earlier.
So I suppose this is where I started to wake up politically-I had been too busy working and living in London as a chef to have much time for anything else-but one aspect of my job the hours and conditions made me wander if the pendulum had swung too much away from the employees.
I was used to working reasonably hard but some bosses were ruthless in their attitude it was --you will work from 8am to11pm with half an hours break or your a wimp and out of there. And there was no protection as there was virtually no unions in Catering as it was such a fragmented industry-besides I did,nt really want or need someone to speak up for and the only action open was to fire the boss-ie change my job.
Interesting point was that by the time Labour had become New Labour and jumped into nearly all the Tories political clothing they did absolutlely nothing to limit the powers of unscrupulpos employers.
As the nineties progressed the creeping cancer of a European Superstate in the making was there for all to see-but the vast majority of mainstream media and as a result the electorate never got the chance to question where this was all leading. No the media were in a feeding frenzy of Tories sleaze and things only getting better with that nice Tony chap with the homely smile.
Even phrases such as "An ever Closer Union" put out by the leaders of what was now the European Union hardly registered on the Richter scale of media coverage-while those in the know realised that Thatcher had been mercilessly axed as she was'nt a willing participant in the Master Plan. Of course just to muddy the waters even more John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty giving a whole tranche of new power to Brussels, Labour and the Lib Dems would forever be able to hold this alongside Edward Heaths signature in 1973 as proof that the whole of mainstream Brithish politics were broadly in favour of the European Union and anyone with an opposing view was denying the inevitable-including Britain joining the Euro.
With the dawn of a new Millenium I decided with the somewhat forcefull backing of Cheryl my wife that I should stop "Shouting at the telly" as she most eloquently put it and if I cared that much then I should get involved-so I did.
I took a pragmatic approach initially and decided that of the 3 main parties the Conservatives were the most Euro sceptic and as this was my main bug bear it was logical to join them.
Well this is where the good and bad of our democracy started to reveal itself-as I live in Poynton a normal working man with a wife and two kids close to grandparents for support I,am in a Consevative controlled council and the local party were delighted to have an enthusiatic new member. So delighted that a few weeks after joining I was asked if I wished to stand in the local elections and more out of curiousity than anything else I did-and got in. Not because I had earned the right just because I was in the right area-same principle for many New Labour MP's in 1997- no talent just the right party at the right time.
Local politics was not and is not my main concern in life and couple of years into my 4 year tenure I realised just how little power actually permeated down to some very passionate and public spirited individuals most of whom gave up a great deal of their time for free. In short it was frustrating and my new Party was merely paying lip service to seriously questioning the massive shift of powers from these shores.
Legislation and the political agenda was being manipulated by faceless people with dubious motives from afar and if I stayed in the Conservative Party then I was merely a part of the problem.
So I joined UKIP not because I agree with every word of their manifesto-who can honestly say that- be they voter or Party member but I joined because the main libertarian anti European thrust of the party which puts the individual before the state most closely reflected my views.
So this is where I'am.
O' Level History 1976 studying Communist China-that is my first memory of politics-problem was it was all out of a book or related to me by my gently humourous teacher Mr Harbour.
My actual experience was similar to many other 40 somethings out there, the Government bouncing regularly between Conservative and Labour but the word STRIKE seemed to loom large even to disinterested teenager.
There was daft headlines about British Lleyland going out on strike over the most mundane of reasons-regular power cuts etc etc.
Then in 1979 the unthinkable happened and MAGGIE CAME TO STAY.
To some a breath of fresh air but to others she is still mentioned in the same breath as satan!
My view-well she did what had to be done at the time and took on the unions-it was'nt pretty and Britain of the early eighties was for a short period at war with itself. But things did settle down and gradually became both more prosperous and confident. People from working class areas had the opportunity to buy their own home something unthinkable a decade earlier.
With hindsight though it is difficult not to get the impression that in order to fuel this economic boom the family jewellerey was sold in terms of our nationalised service-yes many first time shareholders were created-but with the new private ownership of utilities the price to the customer was only ever going to go one way.
Meanwhile very quietly and carefully what Britain had joined and voted to stay in 1975 the "Common Market" started to evolve. By the mid eighties it had morphed into the European Economic Community and once the immediate domestic problems of the Falklands War and Miners Strikes had been resolved Margaret Thatcher began to realise that many across the Channel and some at home even in her own party had much greater ambitions for the EEC than simply being the trading Block sold to an unsuspecting British public a decade earlier.
So I suppose this is where I started to wake up politically-I had been too busy working and living in London as a chef to have much time for anything else-but one aspect of my job the hours and conditions made me wander if the pendulum had swung too much away from the employees.
I was used to working reasonably hard but some bosses were ruthless in their attitude it was --you will work from 8am to11pm with half an hours break or your a wimp and out of there. And there was no protection as there was virtually no unions in Catering as it was such a fragmented industry-besides I did,nt really want or need someone to speak up for and the only action open was to fire the boss-ie change my job.
Interesting point was that by the time Labour had become New Labour and jumped into nearly all the Tories political clothing they did absolutlely nothing to limit the powers of unscrupulpos employers.
As the nineties progressed the creeping cancer of a European Superstate in the making was there for all to see-but the vast majority of mainstream media and as a result the electorate never got the chance to question where this was all leading. No the media were in a feeding frenzy of Tories sleaze and things only getting better with that nice Tony chap with the homely smile.
Even phrases such as "An ever Closer Union" put out by the leaders of what was now the European Union hardly registered on the Richter scale of media coverage-while those in the know realised that Thatcher had been mercilessly axed as she was'nt a willing participant in the Master Plan. Of course just to muddy the waters even more John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty giving a whole tranche of new power to Brussels, Labour and the Lib Dems would forever be able to hold this alongside Edward Heaths signature in 1973 as proof that the whole of mainstream Brithish politics were broadly in favour of the European Union and anyone with an opposing view was denying the inevitable-including Britain joining the Euro.
With the dawn of a new Millenium I decided with the somewhat forcefull backing of Cheryl my wife that I should stop "Shouting at the telly" as she most eloquently put it and if I cared that much then I should get involved-so I did.
I took a pragmatic approach initially and decided that of the 3 main parties the Conservatives were the most Euro sceptic and as this was my main bug bear it was logical to join them.
Well this is where the good and bad of our democracy started to reveal itself-as I live in Poynton a normal working man with a wife and two kids close to grandparents for support I,am in a Consevative controlled council and the local party were delighted to have an enthusiatic new member. So delighted that a few weeks after joining I was asked if I wished to stand in the local elections and more out of curiousity than anything else I did-and got in. Not because I had earned the right just because I was in the right area-same principle for many New Labour MP's in 1997- no talent just the right party at the right time.
Local politics was not and is not my main concern in life and couple of years into my 4 year tenure I realised just how little power actually permeated down to some very passionate and public spirited individuals most of whom gave up a great deal of their time for free. In short it was frustrating and my new Party was merely paying lip service to seriously questioning the massive shift of powers from these shores.
Legislation and the political agenda was being manipulated by faceless people with dubious motives from afar and if I stayed in the Conservative Party then I was merely a part of the problem.
So I joined UKIP not because I agree with every word of their manifesto-who can honestly say that- be they voter or Party member but I joined because the main libertarian anti European thrust of the party which puts the individual before the state most closely reflected my views.
So this is where I'am.
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