STAR KEEPS RISING AS PAPERS PLUMMET

The latest ABC newspaper circulation figures have been released and decreases are slowing up, which is good news. Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday continue to be the only papers showing a year-on-year increase. They are up 20% and 3%, which shows that Jordan is still a British treasure. Or, at least, people just like reading about her latest exploits with that cage-fighter chap. But aside from the Star titles, everything is still falling. Worryingly for Guardian Media Group, The Observer is down 19% and The Guardian down 12%. But elsewhere the Telegraph is doing very well on the subscription front, with over 320,000 copies being sent out, and this is providing a solid funding base on which they can better predict their medium-term income.

I am not subscribing to one paper at the moment as I enjoy reading a different one everyday, but I can see this being a key business model as we come out of the recession and people start to get larger disposable incomes. Meanwhile, the London Evening Standard have had a 469% circulation increase, but of course the paper is now free. I doubt it will have too much impact on the nationals as they are all morning papers, and the Standard continues to set the evening agenda with little competition in print now thelondonpaper and London Lite have disappeared.
PICTURE: Taradel

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The government’s plans to give power to the Financial Services Authority for cancelling any pay deals which reward undue risk-taking are a dangerous idea. Former chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland Sir George Mathewson is right that it interferes with contracts “between willing participants”. Bankers are still about as popular as MPs at the moment - just try being a journalist or traffic warden, I tell them - but that is no excuse for such a draconian measure as this. If this is a sign of things to come in the shake-up of the FSA, then I am concerned.

Everyone needs to take the blame for the recession - consumers, producers, bankers and regulators - and telling banks how to pay their staff is not the best way out of this. If a banker takes a big risk and makes a big profit then he should be rewarded for it. The decisions of stockbrokers can make millions of pounds for corporations quite easily, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with them getting a share of this profit. Banks need to work with the FSA to ensure they don’t come up with any more ideas like this.

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Regular readers of my blog will know that I think the train fares system in this country needs a big shake-up. It’s too expensive and too difficult to find the cheapest ticket. Today, the two main lines going through Sheffield - East Midlands and Crosscountry - announced increases of around 2 per cent. But there was good news on the Southend to London lines - National Express East Anglia and c2c - that fares will be frozen or reduced next year.

This is in contrast to some lines around the country where unregulated fares are increasing by up to 16 per cent. But as Peter Slattery, of the Southend Rail Travellers’ Association, pointed out, we should not be surprised by a price freeze, because inflation has fallen. In fact, a reduction would have been nice. But it’s good to know National Express are avoiding last year’s mistake of putting fares up significantly. Everyone can do with the extra change at the moment.
PICTURE: The London Daily

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The weather can always make for an interesting game of football. Arguably the best moment of the season so far happened at Gigg Lane on Saturday when Danny Nardiello's shot for Bury beat Notts County goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel but stuck on the goal-line as it was so wet and muddy. Schmeichel raced back to his line and picked up the ball from the puddle with the grin of a Cheshire cat. The video is well worth a watch on BBC Sport: http://tinyurl.com/yjavct6.

It reminded me of when Southend played Barnsley in The FA Cup third-round almost three years ago. The game had started off normally, but by the second-half it was getting ridiculously wet. However as Southend were 1-0 up, all of the home fans wanted the game to carry on. I don’t think Barnsley fans particularly wanted to come back to Essex again for another try either. The ball was splashing about, managers were checking which players had taken their Pool Frog 2 swimming badge and it was very funny indeed. But in the last minute, a free-kick bounced into the Shrimpers area and was handballed into the net by a Tyke. Replay on a Tuesday night in Yorkshire. Oh dear. At least we won the second game 2-0!
PICTURE: Sky Sports

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND £45m?

We’ll find out tomorrow what the winners of Friday's £90m Euromillions jackpot are going to do with their money. What on earth would you do with £45m? A couple in South Wales and a group of office workers from Liverpool have got that wonderful decision ahead of them. As has been widely reported in the media, £45m is a similar fortune to that of footballer Michael Owen or DJ Chris Evans - both of whom have worked very hard to achieve that wealth. I would feel a little bit guilty if someone handed me a cheque for £45m after I’d bought a £1 ticket and so many others had lost, but I’m sure I wouldn’t mind that much. ‘If you don’t buy a ticket’, as they say...

So would £45m bring me happiness? I might give £5m to Southend United - they need it more than most, despite thankfully avoiding administration today - and probably £5m to my church. Maybe a nice pad in central London and Ferrari will set me back another £5m. I’m dreaming now, but there’s still £30m left. I might give mum and dad a few quid too! But although I would never have to work again, I don’t think I’d want to sit around all day doing nothing. Journalism and the media is where I want to be - whatever happens. And I don’t even play the lottery.

You often hear stories about lottery winners who want to carry on working, and it’s that sense of career fulfilment and a wish to make the most of life that would keep me going. Angela Kelly, who won £35m in August said: “My win has enabled me to bring a great deal of happiness to my friends and family, which has in turn made me very happy.” She’s probably right. By giving your money to other people - and spending a bit on yourself whilst trying to continue your normal life - you will get the most satisfaction from a lottery win. An interesting thought for the day indeed...

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It’s usually the little things that get blown out of proportion which make the headlines in politics. The Sun has recently been a watchdog for the government - even more so since it switched allegiance from Labour to Tory - and today’s revelation that Gordon Brown misspelled the name of a soldier killed in Afghanistan is a good story for the paper. Jamie Janes [pictured, MOD] - not ‘James’ as the PM referred to him both in Parliament last month and in the letter to his mother - was killed in October. His mother, Jacqui, claims the letter was a ‘hastily scrawled insult’, which doesn’t consider that the PM’s eyesight is poor and he writes with a black felt-tip pen to help him see. But he should not be making spelling mistakes - especially on the lad’s name.

The mother has said it was "disrespectful" and an "insult" to her son, but as Business Secretary Lord Mandelson pointed out today, it’s ridiculous to suggest Mr Brown intended to show any disrespect to the boy or his family. It was simply a mistake and I agree with Lord Mandelson. The PM has lots of important things to do with his time, and whilst it’s good that he writes to bereaved families, he does have a country to run too. This should not be blown out of proportion - yes, a soldier has died, and everyone is grateful for the sacrifice he has made for us, but Mr Brown made a few spelling mistakes and suddenly there seems to be a witch-hunt against him. The BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, put it perfectly: “The reason this is a story is because of the widespread sense of doubt about the continued value of British forces fighting and dying in Afghanistan.” It’s nothing to do with Gordon Brown’s spelling and handwriting at all.

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On the subject of war remembrance, I was at Hillsborough on Saturday to watch Sheffield Wednesday v Queens Park Rangers, where a one-minute silence was immaculately observed. It’s quite surreal to be high-up in such a massive stadium when everything falls silent [see Anfield, pictured]. This is why I think we should have silences for all remembrance - whether it be for a former player or club director, or anyone else significant. I have a bit of an issue with ‘a minute’s applause’ because I don’t think it’s as powerful as silence.

Football grounds are noisy places during games at the quietest of times, so it’s much more poignant to absorb a lack of noise before a game. The recent Bobby Robson tributes were comprised of a minute’s applause - and some fans even chanted ‘There’s only one Bobby Robson’. Whilst this was obviously not meant to be disrespectful to the legendary man, I just feel the recent obsession with applause and chanting for one minute is not the right way to remember people. An observed silence is the best tribute.

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What on earth is Nottingham Forest's safety officer Alan Bexon thinking? His idea is that home and away fans can sit together in the family stand at their home game with Doncaster Rovers on November 28 at the City Ground [pictured]. Mr Bexon said: “We sincerely hope the idea will catch on and lead to us eventually getting back to a situation where there is no need to segregate fans. Football has evolved since the days when hooliganism was at a peak and we believe the initiative could be a step in a very positive direction.”

Now it’s certainly true that football has moved on since the troubled days of the 1970s and 1980s, but putting home and away fans in different areas is surely a no-brainer. I love going to away matches with Southend and Newcastle because you get some great banter - as I mentioned on the blog last week - and it’s what helps make football special. The idea that one day we would never have segregation is unbelievable - not because it will never be safe enough, but because fans value being amongst their own. It’s their community and family - and they don’t always like the neighbours.

DRUGS PANEL: CONTAINS TRACES OF NUTT

I remember waking up one morning last week to the radio, as you do, and finding it rather strange to hear that an expert would claim ecstasy and LSD are less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. I thought common sense would say otherwise. But I never imagined the furore that has come out of the episode, which has seen the chairman and two members of the government’s drug advisory body leave over the last few days. More could follow shortly.

The question now is whether this is another issue of freedom of speech - following the recent mass hysteria around the Trafigura super-injunction - or if Professor David Nutt should have known better than to say such a thing. Home secretary Alan Johnston has clearly stated why Professor Nutt had to go - “not for his views” but “because he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy”. This is an interesting concept. Should the government hire somebody to advise but then fire them when they question their policy?

Let’s look at Sir Alan Sugar. If he was to state that the government should think again on some of their employment and training policies, I doubt he would suddenly be kicked out as their business adviser. It’s important that people with opinions are allowed space to give those opinions, as freedom of speech is a staple part of our society. If the government don’t like those opinions, then they should sit down with advisers to find out more about why they think such things. The answer is most certainly not just to get rid of them, even if they do disagree with government policy.

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I love radio. I wake up and work to Classic FM, I listen to BBC 1Xtra, BBC Radio One and Kiss 100 when I’m out and about, I tune into BBC Radio Five Live or BBC Essex for football commentary and I download a variety of podcasts from BBC Radio Four. Radio is such a fantastic addition to daily life as it’s entertaining and it's the only media where you can do something else whilst consuming it. Newspapers, magazines, television and websites require your time but radio doesn’t.

I’m a big champion of DAB Digital Radio, and have watched its development (or lack of) with great interest over the last few years. I own a personal and portable DAB radio - which cost around £150 combined around 3/4 years ago - and they were superb investments. It means I can listen to London stations in Sheffield, access extra BBC content not available on analogue and get fantastic music quality down my eardrums. I rarely look at the scrolling text function, but have occasionally used it for song titles. But, similar to when you go back to analogue TV after trying Sky HD, there is a huge difference in output.

The concern now is that although millions of people are still tuning into radio, last week’s Rajar figures suggest only 21 per cent of us use digital - less than a third of the 66 per cent who listen to AM or FM. I still think the major problem with DAB is that it is not yet widespread in cars - a location where much radio listening takes place. Additionally, the signal is pretty poor in some areas - for example, I never use my DAB radio on the train because the signal is always going in and out, and it’s not worth the hassle. So that’s two things for Ofcom to address - getting it into cars and increasing coverage. Oh, and while you’re at it, why can I only get two bars of mobile phone signal in my room in Sheffield but perfect DAB? I suppose both would just be greedy.

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When is a chant not allowed in a football ground? Alex Ferguson is appealing to Manchester United fans in an open letter for them to stop singing “sit down you p*****phile” to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. A few weeks ago we had the latter say Birmingham City fans who chanted “There’s only one Martin Taylor” (in reference to the defender who broke the leg and ankle of Arsenal’s Eduardo) were “stupid”. So where do you draw the line? I go to many football matches every season - it’ll be 20 already for 2009/2010 after Sheffield United v Newcastle United this evening - and often get involved in chants against the opposition or their fans.

I think it’s part and parcel of the game that you’re going to get some friendly abuse between fans. It's in the nature of football, from my experience. Whether it’s fans waving £20 notes at Southend, singing “you’re not famous anymore” to Newcastle or “where’s your Beattie gone?” to Sheffield United - you’ve got expect a bit of banter. But calling someone a “p*****phile” without any evidence or laughing about a player whose ankle fell out of their leg a year ago isn’t so funny. I’ve been in crowds before where I haven’t joined in with one of two chants as they’ve been a bit near the mark. But the majority of it is all right. I just hope that Manchester United can set down a precedent here that the majority of chanting is OK - but a small percentage is most certainly not.

P.S. By the way, Sheffield United v Newcastle United tonight will be the first time I’ve ever see two of the teams I support playing each other. However, I will be in the away end as I’m a bigger fan of the Magpies!

A STRIKE TOO MANY?

The amount of strikes on recently makes me think we’re either living in a the Thatcher era or, indeed, France. Please may I send a letter home? No you’ll have to wait because some people aren’t happy with their pay, conditions and modernisation. Please may I take the London Underground? No, you’ll have to walk because some workers aren’t happy with job losses, pay and disciplinary issues. Please may I fly with British Airways? No, there’s some cost-cutting measures that cabin crews have to sort out, so there might be a strike on there soon as well.

I’d like to point out that I am in a trade union - the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) - and regularly attend meetings so have a good idea of how unions operate and how strike action is considered. I don’t doubt that it’s a last resort for most workers, but my problem is that the consequences are often not properly thought through. If the post doesn’t operate, millions of people and businesses are affected despite having done nothing wrong. If the trains don’t run, millions of commuters and their companies are affected despite having done nothing wrong. Of course, this means unions are in a good position because they can impact more people than just themselves and their own company. But that doesn’t necessarily make it right.

I mentioned the NUJ, and there are often strikes at newspapers - I regularly read about them. If a local paper doesn’t run for one day - or operates at a lower capacity - it might mean people can’t read it. But whilst this might affect advertisers and be considered a disservice to the public good, it isn’t going to cause the same sort of problems that mail or transport workers will. From this viewpoint, newspapers are luxury goods whereas mail or transport are essentials. I’m not saying that therefore journalists have more of a right to strike, I’m simply pointing out that they cause less havoc to third parties.

I have no doubt that there are people in this country who do not get paid the right amount for what they do, but do hope this recent rise in strike action is temporary and we might get back to some sense of normality soon. The worst time to strike is during a recession, and the workers know that, but it’s a sure-fire way to seriously annoy your customers. Hopefully unions and companies can work together to get agreements laid down without the need to stop working.

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When the very existence of your club is in danger, you start to be grateful that it simply exists. Accrington Stanley, Oldham Athletic and Bournemouth have all been there - but to name a few. This week it seems to be the turn of my beloved Southend United. Rumours have been flying around recently that a transfer embargo has been placed on the club since they owe the taxman a big sum of money. It was finally confirmed yesterday and this Wednesday will see the Shrimpers face a winding-up order in the High Court. This could result in administration, and the resulting 10-point deduction would put us bottom of League One, meaning a huge effort would be required just to stay up.

But the £660,000 owed to HM Revenue and Customs is the least of the club’s concerns, with just 12 fit professionals available for this Friday’s game against Gillingham. I was in Carlisle on Saturday with 170 other die-hard Shrimpers to watch us go down 2-1. The lack of substitutes was embarrassing - at half-time there were three players warming-up and two of them were unknown youth-teamers. I’ve been worried about Southend before. In fact, I’ve spent many moments of my life worrying about Southend. But this is different - as I could be without a local football team to support soon. I hope it won’t get to that stage, but the club is clearly in a crisis. Surely there’s an Essex businessman with a bit of spare cash? Ah well, if not, there’s always Newcastle and Sheffield United to follow...

THE LONDON-BOUND GRADUATE TRAIN

It’s quite a crazy thought that I graduate in eight months time and university will be over forever. Hopefully I will find a job though. Anyway, an interesting report was released today by lecturers’ union UCU which shows a “mass migration of graduates to London” who are moving in order to find work. This means that certain areas of the country are lacking in a working age population with a degree because many locals are moving south or towards the capital in search of a better life.

I find this hardly surprising. Almost all of the work experience I’ve ever done has been based in London - and in Leigh-on-Sea, I live a 45-minute train journey from east London, let alone west London. I very much expect that my first job will be in the capital city, and will probably end up living there at some point too. It’s the place to be as a young person - I spent six days out of seven most weeks this summer in London (mostly working in Westminster or going to church in the West End), and love it.

I feel I can only make it big in the media if I work in London, as that is where the headquarters of pretty much all the national newspapers, radio stations and TV channels are located. If I was to live in Sheffield after graduation - which around two-thirds of undergraduate students do - there would be jobs to aim for at a few places such as the Yorkshire Post or BBC Radio Sheffield, but nowhere near the amount of opportunities given to me by London. So this UCU report is spot on, but it does highlight a need for universities in poorer areas to try and hold onto their graduates, as that is one of the only ways in which some regions can improve their proportion of citizens with a degree - by effectively importing them from elsewhere.

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At 32 years of age, Mark Kleinman is a breath of fresh air. The new City editor of Sky News was interviewed in today’s The Guardian and made exceptionally clear what makes a good business reporter. Contacts, contacts and more contacts. Never was a truer word (or phrase) spoken. I’m sure Robert Peston would say the same - and although the BBC’s ‘face of the recession’ is not everyone’s cup of tea, there is no doubt he also has an awesome book of contacts that can give him fantastic exclusive stories - such as the scoop on emergency funding for Northern Rock. You just don’t get that kind of thing from looking through press releases.

Kleinman studied at York University and has worked his way up the ranks at an incredible speed - from Leisure Week to Marketing magazine, the Express to the Times, and now the Telegraph to Sky. He is only 12 years older than me and has already got an editorial position on one of Europe’s biggest news channels. Now that’s impressive. As one former colleague put it: “He’s done so well that you have to be careful of sour grapes.” I think Kleinman is an inspiration to all young and student journalists that by working hard and building up contacts along the way - you can still make it up the ladder. Good on him.

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A beach ball became the first static object since Michael Ricketts to score a goal in a professional football match on Saturday (no offence Michael, but Southend sacked you after a few months for not putting in enough effort). I’ve seen some super goals over the years; for example, the Darlington v Bury own-goal (where a defender tried to clear by an overhead kick but it rebounded off him and into the net) and the various attempts by Liverpool midfielders to chip the goalkeeper from their own half, but the beach ball has to get the nod. It wasn’t even a legal goal, according to quotes for former referees today, but I don’t think that will bother Sunderland or Darren Bent as it gave them a 1-0 win over the Scousers. Make sure you check it out on BBC Sport Online.

Football is indeed a funny old game - and there have been countless moments over the years when I’ve laughed out loud whilst at a game or watching it on TV. Who could ever forget Tes Bramble (brother of Wigan’s Titus) trying out in goal for Southend or Steven Taylor’s fake ‘death’ to stop Aston Villa scoring. It’s moments like that which make football more than 22 men kicking a ball around a pitch. It can often be pure comedy genius.

THE LUXURIES OF STUDENT LIFE?

Before I start properly I must say that I’ve never lived in “digs decked out with flat screen televisions” or enjoyed “lunches of smoked salmon sandwiches” whilst at university. But it seems that Kevin Sharpe, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of London (Queen Mary), thinks this is the norm for students and believes an upper-class lifestyle is the reason behind students graduating with £20,000 of debt on average. He says that most students have “the latest iPods” and spend much time on “mobile calls at peak times”. Well this is hardly unique to a student population, is it? The majority of people I know (although not me) have got an iPod and contract phone - students and professionals - and this is not an indication of “upper-class living” at all in the UK. But maybe this factor isn’t the thing that was most thought-provoking about Professor Sharpe’s research.

I have come to university to get a degree and enjoy myself - hopefully in equal measure! There will only be three few years of my life when I am a student (this will be the last one as far as I know), and I’m determined to have a good time. Whilst this does not mean reckless spending on gadgets and items that I don’t need, it does mean that I will go out for a drink or meal with friends and not worry too much about the cost. This concept of a “luxurious lifestyle” lived by students - according to Professor Sharpe - simply doesn’t exist, and the majority of people I know at university are very careful with their money.

The bottom line is that getting a degree will cost you money and the living & entertainment costs on top of that are not going to be cheap. However, university is such a wonderful experience - and you can get so much financial support anyway from the government and your institution nowadays - that money should not be a concern, as much as you should watch your spending. Very few students do go out and buy M&S sandwiches and live a “luxurious lifestyle” from my experience, so it seems Professor Sharpe needs to go and research a wider sample on my evidence. However it’s certainly interesting research that’s worthy of further study.

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Sky are launching a rival subscription download service to iTunes, where they will get users to pay £7.99 for the download of one album (or 10 songs) per month then unlimited streaming. However there seems to be a better alternative for the consumer. On Spotify, you have a free streaming service with a few adverts inserted here and there - although there are fewer than on the radio. On iTunes you can download an album or 10 songs for a similar price. So far, an equal service when comparing Sky Songs to iTunes and Spotify. But - and here’s the important bit - iTunes is not subscription based so you can buy as little or as much as you like. This makes it a better alternative as you get more choice and purchasing power than with Sky.

I don’t quite know what it is about downloaded music, but I’ve rarely paid money for songs online. I’ve also never downloaded any tunes on sites like Limewire or Kazaa, but do stream them on Spotify and YouTube occasionally. In fact, I have only ever bought one album to download - Insides by Jon Hopkins - and a couple of singles here and there. I hope that I’m not being too old skool by mostly purchasing CDs from HMV, Play, CD Wow and Amazon.

Last week I wanted to buy The Cut-Up Boys’ latest mix album, and although it was cheaper to download I popped down to HMV to pick up a hard copy and then put it into my mp3 player. The experts among you will point out that it would have been easier - and cheaper - to download it straight onto my mp3 player from online, rather than gone out to buy the CD, rip it onto the computer and then download. But there’s something about CDs that makes me still enjoy buying one in a shop, looking at the artwork and putting it on the shelf. I suppose it’s somewhat like buying a hard copy of a newspaper rather than reading it online - I’ve grown up with news and music in tangible forms, and that’s how I most enjoy to consume them both.

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Every true football fan pays good money to see a good game and it’s such a shame when the referee spoils it. There are often matches when some decisions made are so blatantly wrong that everyone in the ground knows it - such as the phantom goal at Watford last season, or the goal that wasn’t at Bristol City recently. It couldn’t have happened to a funnier person than Crystal Palace’s Neil Warnock - what a legend. Anyway, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has landed himself in hot water over the last seven days for suggesting referee Alan Wiley was unfit and “needed a rest” in their 2-2 draw with Sunderland. This personally upset Wiley to the extent where he considered quitting the game, according to The Independent today.

I feel managers should have the right to criticise the referee for their performance - although not personally - as long as they get a right of reply. Exactly this situation happened after Swindon Town v Southend United two months ago: Blues manager Steve Tilson said the referee had made a mistake, and he then apologised to the football club for a bad performance after realising that he had indeed made a mistake. This is good professionalism and should be encouraged. It might not change the score but at least the referee was honest - he certainly earned my respect for this. Referees always try their best in football matches, I’ve no doubt about this, but they will make mistakes - and hopefully these even out over a season. Debate between managers and referees should be encouraged after a game, so maybe we could have a few more interviews with officials. I bet it would make post-match reports a lot more fun...

IT'S THE SUN WOT WON IT - AGAIN?

‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It’. So said Britain’s biggest-selling daily newspaper on 11 April 1992 when the Tories unexpectedly won the General Election. For 1997, they changed their traditional right-wing allegiance to support Tony Blair, at a time when the Conservative Party was in disarray. But in a game-changing moment last week following Gordon Brown’s speech at the Labour Party Conference, The Sun backed the Conservatives once again. The headline ‘Labour’s Lost It’ may well sum up the next election when it’s referred to in history books of the future.

The importance of a newspaper, with a reading circulation that compromises of one in every six people in the UK, backing a political party cannot be underestimated, and David Cameron must be absolutely delighted. Foreign secretary David Milliband reminded his party last week: “The earth does revolve around the sun - just not the one that’s printed in Wapping”, but it’s a hammer-blow to Gordon Brown’s chances of remaining as Prime Minister.

* * *

It’s been an exceptionally interesting time for London’s newspaper market recently. The London Evening Standard last week announced it was reducing its 50p price - in fact, that it was dropping its price altogether - and will be circulated for free around the capital. The paper has seen off 14 rivals in its long history - the latest being thelondonpaper which closed 17 days ago - and the London Lite is also likely to close in the near future. It’s another incredible marker of how badly newspapers have been hit by the recession, but the circulation has fallen from almost 450,000 in 2000 to under 130,000 three months ago, so it’s hardly surprising that drastic action was needed.

The proprietor, Alexander Lebedev - who bought a majority stake in the paper in February from Associated Newspapers - has probably had a switch to free in his mind for some time. Emily Bell of The Guardian suggests this is a “last throw of the dice” for the paper, and it’s true that this will only work really well or end in catastrophe. The fact is that when I’ve bought the Standard to read on the way home from work in London, it’s always represented value for money. It used to take me ten minutes on the Tube to read the London Lite and thelondonpaper cover-to-cover, which I was hardly surprised at seeing as I paid nothing for either. My hope is that the quality of journalism produced by the Standard will not be reduced - and that staffing levels will be maintained - but I’m worried for both. I just hope that Russian knows what he’s doing with a piece of London heritage...

* * *

I almost stopped in shock this morning at the newsagent when I saw the banner headline on The Independent, saying: “Was Monty Python actually funny?” I then read John Walsh’s article and was even more infuriated! He suggests: “Goodness, how tired it looks - the pacing is all wrong” and also points out that he was confused when the ‘Funniest Joke in the World’ sketch was never translated from German. Well, Mr Walsh, if you remember, the joke is supposed to kill anyone who hears it which is why it is never translated into English for the viewer! What he criticises as being “comedy of the schoolroom” and “playing foolish japes of figures of authority” is what much comedy programming is all about.

Monty Python celebrates its 40th anniversary today, and although I might not have been around when it first launched, I absolutely love the films and television series. My brother and I are often quoting the best bits word-for-word to each other! You may have seen the BBC documentary ‘Monty Python - Almost the Truth’ on Saturday (if not, check it out on the iPlayer). It was a fantastic hour-long programme that looked at how the Python idea came out and how it was received by the public. However, they neglected to mention the most famous programme proposal that was never aired - a 30-minute show on which the volume would slowly decrease throughout, forcing viewers to turn up the TV sets, and then a big loud noise at the end causing shock around the country. The BBC didn’t like it and it never happened, but this was just another great comedy idea by a bunch of great comedy geniuses. Long live Monty Python.

* * *

I will be very interested to see how many people pay £4.99 in advance to watch Ukraine v England this Saturday (rising to £11.99 on the day). It’s going to be the first-ever England international game to be screened online-only, and provides a very interesting experiment for online viewing. We know that Channel 4 can attract large online audiences of young people for series such as Skins and The Inbetweeners, and we are known as the ‘YouTube’ generation, but this is a live football match we’re talking about here.

Who wants to sit in their room in-front of a PC for 90 minutes watching a webcast which could crash at any time - when you could be down the pub with your mates and a pint of Carling, watching it on a big screen? I certainly won’t be paying to watch it myself. I know that there was no other option after every terrestrial TV channel backed out at the asking price, but I hope this is a one-off. Fortunately it’s a ‘nothing’ game as England are already qualified for World Cup 2010, so I won’t be missing much. All the same, Come On England!