Where Do We Go From Here?

I don’t know what to make of Sir Bobby’s dismissal. I feel sorry for the old man definitely. He came to the rescue of his beloved Newcastle five years ago, built up a talented squad and took the club into the Champions League. It’s a shame it had to end this way. But as is often the case these days, you’re only as good as your last result. And, this season, the results have been alarmingly poor.

But having said that, it’s still barely a month into the new season. Surely, a manager of Sir Bobby’s standing deserves more time than a month to get things right. It’s true that some of his recruits haven’t impressed but he’s been nowhere near as extravagant as Houllier in buying flops.

On the pitch, while performances haven’t been great, the blame shouldn’t rest solely on Sir Bobby’s shoulders. The players have lacked commitment in every game I’ve watched so far. There’s no hard running other than from Bellamy, no cohesion in midfield or defence and even the usually dependable Shay Given gave away a goal to Norwich.

Besides, there couldn’t be a worse time to sack a manager. The club is sitting close to the bottom of the table and desperately needs a few new players, especially in defence and midfield. And with the transfer window closing just about now, I don’t see any new blood coming in till January, which is a scary prospect. We just aren’t good enough to compete. Come January, new manager or not, we might not even be in the running for Europe.

One of the suggested reasons for the dismal performances of late has been the age gap between the players and the manager. I have no idea if it’s true but, frankly, it seems to me that Sir Bobby has just been unfortunate to take charge of a bunch of brats, the key example being Kieron Dyer, who should take a good look at himself despite his public apology. Refusing to play where the manager puts you is simply unacceptable. It’s disrespectful to the manager, to the club and to the fans. I was delighted to read that Dyer might have been moving on, but sadly, other clubs were astute enough not to take him.

As I mentioned, I don’t know if Sir Bobby’s departure is for the better or worse. Perhaps the club needs a disciplinarian more than a father figure. Someone like Peter Reid or Sam Allardyce who won’t hesitate to put players in their places. But then again, very few managers boast the wealth of experience or tactical knowledge that Sir Bobby possesses. It’s gonna be hard to find a replacement.

But that’s what the club must do now. I wouldn’t want to see the likes of Hoddle or Houllier associated with the role. Both have woeful track records. Hoddle is a horrible man-manager while Houllier’s time at Liverpool speaks for itself. Maybe a continental manager could be the answer. Someone like Deschamps or Koeman who encourages fluid, attacking football. Maybe Martin O’Neill could do a job here too. He’s an excellent motivator and knows the English game inside out. Of course, it’ll be extremely difficult to lure him from Celtic but it’s worth a try.

What’s for sure is that the board must take their time to decide. No more Dalglishes or Gullits thank you very much. The new manager has got to be able to take control of the players, to show them who’s boss and to whip them into action. And I mean whip cos that’s the only way this bunch is ever gonna wake up.

Dummy-text (lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…) What the hell does it mean?

Trust good old Cecil to enlighten us.

This other guy does a pretty good job as well.

Finally finished "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Ga…

Finally finished “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which is kinda sad. I was beginning to enjoy slugging that block of paper around, especially to the toilet. Bumping into the lawyers next door on the way was particularly enjoyable. They, inevitably, carting their official looking files, only to look down, stone-faced, from the corners of their eyes to see me and my green dot grinning back.

It occurs to me that there may be slightly too many commas in that last sentence. To correct that, I will now start on “Eats, Shoots & Leaves – The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”.

Signs like this, at the Heeren, right in the heart…

Signs like this, at the Heeren, right in the heart of touristy Orchard Road, show that the Speak Good English (ok… it’s written. Point noted.) campaign is an utter waste of time.

It also drove me absolutely mad which explains why I went on, almost immediately, to spend $25 on a pair of flip-flops. Just to ease the pain, you understand.

The Force is with Singapore

PM Lee delivered his national day rally speech last night and, for those of us who think him stiff, stolid and stern, showed a much friendlier side. His pace was good, his language impeccable, his tone warm and lively. Much in contrast to his father who tended to dictate rather than deliver speeches and much more entertaining than former PM Goh whom I felt always spoke half a beat too slowly.

But, public speaking skills aside, PM Lee showed a genuine desire to change the way this country is run.

The lifting of licensing requirements on indoor talks is a move which signals an important, if small, change in mindset. Freedom of speech has always been a sticky issue here. Some want it, others don’t and yet some others are taking their time to make their minds up about it. We all know what the foreign press thinks. All there is to do now is to wait and see what comes out of this extra bit of freedom.

He would have done well to address the concerns of the gay and lesbian community as well. While the government has allowed openly gay people to join the civil service and permitted a few gay events this year, many view this as merely window dressing. People Like Us, for example, still hasn’t been allowed to be registered as a society. The reason? It is “contrary to the national interest”.

It will be interesting to see if PM Lee continues this liberalisation process beyond these first tentative steps. Conservatism has always been part of the PAP’s style and PM Lee, while showing an understanding of the need to open up, is still ultimately a product of this system. As he told parliament in April, “If you are absolutely up at the leading edge in matters of social change, you are never quite sure whether the leading edge has taken a wrong turn, needs to back-track and make a U-turn.” I suppose we’re in for a little bit more nanny-ing for just awhile yet.

His views on education, however, are encouragingly progressive:

“We’ve got to teach less to our students so that they will learn more. Grades are important, don’t forget to pass your exams but grades are not the only thing in life and there are other things in life which we want to learn in school.Parents are part of this and they’ve got to support the efforts of the schools. When the schools are trying new teaching methods or when they are trying to build character or just toughening them up a little. I know some parents have gone to schools to complain, to say, ‘The other school has more worksheets.’

Even some kindergarten parents are complaining that their children are not getting worksheets, and kindergarten students are attending remedial classes. No need. Let them grow up in their own time.

It’s okay for children to get hurt. They fall down, bruise their knee, knock themselves, a few scrapes, can’t be helped, that’s part of growing up. If you grow up with no scars anywhere, you’ve never fallen off a bicycle, I think you are a different sort of person.”Less emphasis on learning from the book and more on learning from life is the message. I doubt he’ll be able to convince parents to lighten up any time soon but it’s good that the government acknowledges that our papers based system does have its drawbacks.

A whole bunch of goodies were also unveiled. All family-centric but well received nonetheless. An extra 4 weeks paid maternity leave, 2 days childcare leave for parents with children under 7 years old, medical benefits extended to women and, drawing the loudest cheers of all, a 5-day week for the civil service (for a more balanced life i.e. more time for procreation).

With the economy forecasted to grow by up to 9% this year, PM Lee could afford to be cheerful and candid in his first national day rally speech. The chance was taken to give Singaporeans a reassuring pat on the back and hand out some carrots. The usual reminders that we need to constantly improve and not take things for granted were also there but the overall mood was one of celebration and progression. As the Straits Times reported, many sacred cows were slaughtered last night. Whether this is a one-off or if PM Lee will continue to ring the changes, only time will tell. But for now, it’s looking good. As he put it (tongue-in-cheek, I hope), “I think the force is with Singapore.”

Been Turd-ed

The best part about turd water messes, is that eventually someone gets angry enough to do something about it. One of the sergearnts called for a “stand-by toilet” (which did not include me) thereby activating the men of the unit to clean all the toilets in the building, bringing some respite to the 24 hour stench and eye-sore. For about 2 hours.

Apparently, this turd water leakage had sparked off many angry fits in the past. This intimately links the people who actually tried to do something about it, whether they had simply used a mop to wipe the precarious turd drip, or called in someone to fix the pipes.

Both had been done, and everything in between as well. All failed.

I’ve been turded, and it isn’t a pleasant experience. It’s not stopping either. In fact, the drip patterns are no longer predictable. It is spreading at an alarming rate, and now it threatens to turn the corridor into a turd-waterfall.

They should condemn this building.

Since we were on the topic of love and money (or l…

Since we were on the topic of love and money (or love of money or money for love) before being interrupted by turd water, Whorfism and bad singing, I decided to post this.

It must be noted that this was found in a women’s magazine and thus must be considered clinching evidence that money is more important than love to the average female.

Also, why and how I came to browse a women’s magazine does not matter the slightest bit.

Apparently, these are also related to love in some…

Apparently, these are also related to love in some bizarre way.

Singapore Idol is the type of programme that you s…

Singapore Idol is the type of programme that you should not watch while having dinner. This is especially true if your dinner involves chicken wings. Asphyxiation notwithstanding, you may inadvertently impale your cat with flying chicken bones shot out of your mouth as contestant so-and-so mutilates song such-and-such.

In fact, I strictly recommend that this hour of mental torment be viewed only with a thick and very hardy towel wedged in your mouth. This is to ensure you do not bite your tongue off in the ensuing gnashing of teeth.

The pain of this experience is something words cannot describe. Yet, despite the sheer torture of it all, people constantly put their tongues (and cats) on the line, week after week, contestant after woeful contestant. That includes me, by the way. Where is the sense in all this? I don’t know and I don’t care. But I’ll be back next week… chewing on a towel.

Can a concept exist without words to describe it?

An interesting article that explores the extent to which language influences our thoughts.

Reminds me also of all the time I spent laughing at the word “Whorfism”.