Going ahead

Well, I've taken the plunge, I've set my datetime to be on Ulaanbaatar time which is currently 7 hours ahead of British Summer Time. It does mean all my posts will be retrospectively changed to this time as well, but you can't have everything on blogger.
I've been here in Mongolia now a little over four months. In Mongolia, al has a very different meaning to a harmless abbreviated name - it means vagina. So I guess you could call my posts in Mongolia as the Al Monologues. It certainly gives a new twist to the Paul Simon song "You can call me Al".
Now the rains are becoming heavier and more frequent, the city authorities are making a determined effort to clear the storm drains of rubbish (which, ironically, are some of the greenest parts of the city with vibrant swathes of grass growing on top of and around the mouldering heaps). Workers use spades and pickaxes to break the compacted waste into suitable sizes to put into wheely-bins and sometimes the detritus is so solidified that JCBs are employed to excavate with their long digger arms to help the manual workers. Their work has a purpose. Last night, the rain was for so long and so much of it that the streets turned to rivers, something I'd rarely thought I'd see in somewhere as dry as Mongolia.
15.50

World wide web war

So, Russia stands accused of clandestinely sabotaging Estonia's internet system all because the latter removed a Red Army statue from a prominent place in Tallinn to a war cemetery (like the Russians have never carted away communist-era statuary). If the Estonians are convinced it's the Russians, they should go the whole hog and melt the statue down, moulding it into bullets for their guard patrols on the border with Russia, ready to give it back if the Russians want it so badly. But Finland's continuing Finlandisation (emasculation of national interest in deference to the bear on its border) can be discounted as well. Helsingin Sanomat newspaper says it can't be Russia because Russia could do far more damage if it wanted. Well, yes, it could, but to be so overt really isn't the done thing and would create a full-blown international crisis.
The basic issue is that the Russian Federation has not come to terms that Estonia is not part of its 'near abroad' but in fact an independent country, a sovereign entity with membership, not just of the international community but the EU and NATO too. It is barmy that the Russians should get so hot under the collar about an Estonian internal issue unless they still believe they have rights there. There is a large Russian minority but that should not guarantee Russia's meddling - witness Yugoslavia's collapse - and anyway, it's the fault of Russian communist leaders that they are there in the first place, intentionally settling them to try and eradicate an Estonian sense of nationhood.
It also is true that a Red Army statue represents so much more than victory in WW II - it is indicative of Russian power and its removal is, in Russian eyes at least, a diminishing of that power, an affirmation of what they have lost since 1991.
12.07pm

The merry-go-round starts up again

So it's goodbye to another Newcastle United manager as Glenn Roeder bites the career dust. He had clearly 'lost the dressing room' and when that happens the end is in sight. That was allied during his non-caretaker reign to setting some unwelcome records that had stood for half a century or more, the latest being the longest home scoreless run for 56 years. He had always claimed that the arrival from injury of Owen and Ameobi would be some sort of silver bullet for the season of trouble, but that didn't address why the midfield and back four had frequently been dreadful. As it proved, the reappearance of Owen from the treatment room proved no magic solution and Newcastle continued to fail. I had reached the conclusion that Roeder wasn't right for the job several games before Owen made his comeback. The ex-manager claimed that there might not be European football this season, but there would next. The way Newcastle were going, there certainly wouldn't. At least he did the honest thing and fell on his professional sword, avoiding a large payout and the board ducking a decision they simply had to take, no matter how hard they had fought for him last summer. Intriguing the way the fans chanting for his head after the last game focused on his London roots as a source of attack. "Taxi for Roeder" is similar to what is chanted at Manchester United fans, namely "Taxi for London" - northerners can be just as smug and conceitedly disparaging towards the south as their southern counterparts can be concerning the north. Anyway, Roeder restored clarity to a collapsing team when he had taken over as caretaker in the middle of last season. Roeder got the basics right, but to stay at the top level you need more than that otherwise other managers get wise to you, as happened.
So who steps into his shoes? Sam Allardyce is the favourite, but Manchester City and possibly the Football Association may still have a say in where he goes. Interestingly, Roeder's last 16 league games are relegation form, but Bolton's last 16 games have accrued one point fewer. But then Newcastle often go through peaks and troughs of form, so maybe the ex-Bolton man is suited for the job. In a practice instituted in the season we finished third and repeated ever since with a permanent manager at the helm, Newcastle have a dreadful start to the season, somehow gee themselves up to get enough points to stay in the top-flight then fall away again at the end of the season. Ironically, Allardyce isn't even manager yet, but I can still see the time when his tenure ends and it will be acrimonious. But he's the best that's available right now. Sven Goran-Eriksson has made clear his interest and Gerard Houllier makes sounds from Lyon. However, the former, once a contender for the top job at Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid, ruined his reputation with his last two years with the England squad, culminating in stagnant World Cup performances. The latter made Liverpool super-boring which was tolerated by Scousers so long as it brought success but when it seemed Liverpool were going backwards, the board sacked him for getting fourth place so limply, on the back of the failure of others (including Newcastle). Moreover, these managers have come into clubs at the top end - Newcastle need a rebuilding job before they reach that status again. Felix Magath, who did the double double with Bayern Munich recently, is out of a job and probably Fabio Capello will be in the summer, but they will be awaiting developments at Chelsea than Newcastle (if Mourinho survives until August he will survive another season).

On a separate note, TV scheduling finally was sane. Last Monday, Charlton played Tottenham, two London clubs going against each other. That's far better than Newcastle playing Reading the previous Monday when the majority of the travelling Toon would have to take the afternoon or the whole day off work.
Alan Pardew couldn't quite save Charlton, but the reason they kept alive their hopes longer than Watford are down to his motivational skills (and a bit more team talent). They had been threatened since almost the start of the season and were sinking like a stone when he came in. He arrested that but it wasn't to be, as they blew the chance to pull clear in their final games, being indirectly relegated by Mr. Charlton, Alan Curbishley, who beat Bolton on the Saturday. Pardew says he sincerely hopes West Ham stay up, but it is not solely for affection for his former club. If West Ham get final day agony, then Pardew will be landed with the unwanted statistic of first manager to relegate two clubs in a single season in the Premiership and only the second in league history. Let's just hope Old Trafford is in relaxed, celebratory mood.
10/05/07 12.58pm

More than fingers burnt

So it came to pass, Labour suffered a mauling as the voters were determined to vent their anger. Not that this is illegitimate as some left-wingers claim - they may say that much of what Labour has done for good is taken for granted, but then that is as it should be, since, this was the bare minimum. The rising prosperity is harder for the average voter to gauge since it is incremental rather than one big windfall, but how does one assess how much ordinary hard work has boosted salaries as opposed to government policies - people might well assume that the Labour stewardship of the economy is successful in that they haven't screwed it up, rather than credibly enhanced it, hardly a massive endorsement, especially with rising personal and national debt. Or maybe some were just enraged that underlying inflation shot over the government target by 0.1 per cent prompting the Bank of England governor to write a letter to the chancellor.
This is different to 2004 when they suffered another heavy defeat in local elections. The SNP are the largest party in Scotland, Labour will be forced into coalition in Wales. The trend is shifting, but for Tony Blair to claim this is a good springboard for the next election is fallacy. Like so many of his decisions in the the second half of his premiership it smacks of hope over experience. For him, he may be in the land of the two-eyed, but the cock-eyed man is king.
05/05/07 12.32