England football team

Back around December 2007-January 2008, thinking about the state of the England football team, I came to the conclusion that the way forward was as follows, which is definitely not a quick-fix.

1. Current premiership players to be banned from selection to England team. They are not and will never be sufficiently committed to the national team, as their ambitions are focused elsewhere, to the international arena of premiership clubs and all the associated sponsorship opportunities and celebrity culture.
2. Establish a pool of central contracts, very much like rugby union and cricket, to encourage and stabilise promising talent and form the core of the team.
3. Whilst this no doubt would be hugely disruptive for the team at first, once Division 1 & 2 players get used to the new situation, they will see there are two equally valid career paths : national team or Premiership.
4. There must be significant periods of whole-team training. Again this is something rugby and cricket have resolved. The Division 1 and 2 clubs need to see that a successful national side is essential to their well-being. It took rugby and cricket clubs years to 'get' this and it's unlikely that Premiership clubs would ever accept such a sacrifice.
5. Premiership managers to be banned from selection as England manager, since they inevitably have similar issues to the players. Ideally only former England players should be eligible but EU employment laws may hamper this. This is an important part of building a proper career structure and motiviation around the national team.

On joining the knife crime stats, 3-Jul-2010

Man with knife on train arrested:

Source: Press Association. Published Date: 03 July 2010

A man has been arrested after he was seen with a knife on a train, police said. Officers were called to the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) train shortly after 7am between Shadwell and Limehouse, east London.

A British Transport Police (BTP) spokesman said: "At 0707, the BTP were made aware of reports of a disorderly male seen with a knife on board a DLR train between Shadwell and Limehouse.

"Officers from the BTP and Metropolitan Police attended and at 0822 the male was detained by police.

"A member of the public was injured during this process but these injuries are believed to be minor.

"While this incident was taking place DLR and C2C services were suspended."

Copyright © Press Association Ltd. 2010, All Rights Reserved.

I'd had an uneventful journey so far, 05:45 train to Kings Cross, Tube to Bank, and at 06:58 onto the middle car of the DLR to Woolwich. About 150 yards past Shadwell station the emergency stop button was pressed and we halted. The train guard came through from the front of the train to the rear.

Nothing happened for about 15 minutes - trains continued to pass - but looking back to the rear car it was clear the guard and a young man were 'in a situation' - the man had a long kitchen knife. The guard moved forward steadily, with the man following.

In the middle car the guard continued to do a great job of keeping the bloke (20ish) talking whilst moving gradually forward. The man was clear about staying 'within stabbing distance' though generally he rambled and was clearly under the influence of something. I was studiously avaiding the possibility of eye contact and I think all the passengers instinctively did something of the sort. The pair moved through to the front car.

About 07:35 the rear passenger doors opened and we started to de-train. There was a large group of DLR staff and police just behind the rear of the train and lots more on Shadwell station, where our names and addresses were taken.

The police suddenly decided that we should now leave the station and escorted us out, through sets of 'Police' tapes. As we left, a heavily tooled-up armed response unit arrived (machine guns, tear gas mortar...). There were 10 or so police vehicles in the street, the police helicopter was circling and even at that time in the morning a curious crowd beyond the tape barriers.

London trip Fri 4 – Sun 6 Jun 2010

a mix of exhibitions and theatre...

National Portrait Gallery: Bridget Riley Portraits - early drawings; Irving Penn Portraits (2nd visit); Alex Katz portraits - very striking pics so bought the book

Leighton House refurbed plus Closer To Home: Leighton's Collection Returned - a very unusual place, beautifully designed and now restored

White Cube Masons Yard: Antony Gormley – Test Sites [review] Generally I like his stuff but Test Sites (the grid of lights) was a yawn. Upstairs was his latest reworking of his body cast theme: imagine his usual metal body casts, in the usual array of poses, but each rendered in a set of metal cuboids to represent his body.

NLA gallery: Strata SE1 tower - stunning new landmark in Elephant & Castle; formal opening is on 1-jul; 1st building with own set of wind turbines - 3 at the top

BL: Magnificent Maps

Museum of London, at last fully reopened afer 2-3yr refurb of the Modern London galleries, which are stunning - must go back when gallery is quiet

Duke of York's Theatre: Bedroom Farce [review]- there were some cast changes for the transfer to West End [more]

Tate Modern: Exposed - the high-profile exhib was a disappointment though I'll go again when it's quiet to get a better view

National Theatre: exhibition of history of West End theatres and a Sunday performance of Thomas Middleton's excellent Women Beware Women - so much more entertaining than his contemporary Will Shakespeare (who's "dull & worthy" in my view) [review]

I should want to see these current high-profile productions: All My Sons, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue, The Late Middle Classes, After the Dance - superb writers and/or casts but I can't summon enthusiasm for 'em