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Simon Barnes, Breakfast, BBC1` (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter florall
- Start date
Gill Osborne
Well-known member
Oh no! Wish I'd seen that...was out on a driving lesson!
The book is on my List for Christmas which Neil insists I write out for him each year as Christmas approaches and it had a good write up in the Daily Mail last week.
He also does a column in the RSPB's magazine 'Birds' which is one of my favourite sections...he just writes plain english and is not scared to tell us to just enjoy the birds for what they are, no matter how common a species, instead of only being obsessed with rarities!
I like the guy...the only thing I don't like is the fact that he's the spitting image of my ex-boss Frank who was one of the most bigoted negative folk I have ever met!!! So every time I see the pic of Simon Barnes I also see Frank LOL All doom and gloom!!! Mr Negativity I used to call him...though he used to call it being 'realistic'!
GILL
The book is on my List for Christmas which Neil insists I write out for him each year as Christmas approaches and it had a good write up in the Daily Mail last week.
He also does a column in the RSPB's magazine 'Birds' which is one of my favourite sections...he just writes plain english and is not scared to tell us to just enjoy the birds for what they are, no matter how common a species, instead of only being obsessed with rarities!
I like the guy...the only thing I don't like is the fact that he's the spitting image of my ex-boss Frank who was one of the most bigoted negative folk I have ever met!!! So every time I see the pic of Simon Barnes I also see Frank LOL All doom and gloom!!! Mr Negativity I used to call him...though he used to call it being 'realistic'!
GILL
level seven
Registered user
You didn't miss too much Gill as he wasn't on for that long. He made the good point that people shouldn't be put off taking an interest in birds because they think it's too difficult, advice I wish I'd heard and taken many years ago. And he said twitching was OK for those wanting to take that route, but it was inevitably stressful and there were other ways to enjoy birds.Gill Osborne said:
He also had to field the suggestion of magpies being examples of "bad birds".
Gill Osborne
Well-known member
Well I hope he put them straight on Magpies being ok...they've just been given an unwarranted bad reputation which is totally unjustified!!! Ok, so they do take a few eggs and nestlings but that is not enough to blame them for the fall in songbird numbers...really annoys me when folk insist that it is only down to them!!!
I've only been living in the countryside since July but am quite narked at some of the things that certain country folk around here come out with! One guy insists on shooting as many crows,magpies, rooks and jackdaws as he can because they are to blame for the lack of songbirds!!! When I put him right on this he was not amused LOL
A lot, but not all, country born & bred folk around here think that they know everything about nature and that I, as a townie and incomer, cannot possibly know anything!!! Grrrr!!!
*don't mean to upset/annoy anybody on here...just having a grouse LOL*
GILL
I've only been living in the countryside since July but am quite narked at some of the things that certain country folk around here come out with! One guy insists on shooting as many crows,magpies, rooks and jackdaws as he can because they are to blame for the lack of songbirds!!! When I put him right on this he was not amused LOL
A lot, but not all, country born & bred folk around here think that they know everything about nature and that I, as a townie and incomer, cannot possibly know anything!!! Grrrr!!!
*don't mean to upset/annoy anybody on here...just having a grouse LOL*
GILL
Stewart J.
Well-known member
A lot, but not all, country born & bred folk around here think that they know everything about nature and that I, as a townie and incomer, cannot possibly know anything!!! Grrrr!!!
Yo Gill,
Know eactly what you mean and I've lived out in the country for over 30 years down here in the far south west.
Stewart J.
P.S. Good luck with the driving, Northumberland does not lend itself easily to cyclists, to many hills and miles between good sites.
:bounce:
Yo Gill,
Know eactly what you mean and I've lived out in the country for over 30 years down here in the far south west.
Stewart J.
P.S. Good luck with the driving, Northumberland does not lend itself easily to cyclists, to many hills and miles between good sites.
:bounce:
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Yes an interesting interview.May have a trip over to Amazon,and see if they have it in stock.
Sc0tty
Well-known member
I was lucky that my wife taped the programme for me. He did put them right on Magpies, saying he admired them for their adaptability. He also pointed out that its a tough world out there and Magpies taking young birds is like lions eating zebras.Gill Osborne said:
I was surprised to here the book is tipped to be THE best seller this Christmas.
Rich.
Gill Osborne
Well-known member
Yes and Neil...whoops I mean Santa!...had better have got it for me LOL
Thanks for the support Stewart...I thought it was just me imagining it...Neil did ONCE dare to argue that perhaps Donald our neighbour (part-time gamekeeper) and the locals were right and I was wrong and just being over-sentimental about birds and wildlife...he didn't do THAT again after he had to make his own dinner LOL
It just annoys me that some of the locals around here can't seem to grasp the idea that if they are going to release hundreds of pheasants in a tiny area then it's obvious that a fox or two is going to think it's christmas come early and take a few! It's like those wonderful programmes about millions of sardines or herds of gnu...it's obvious that the dolphins and seabirds and lions/crocs are going to take advantage of this glut of food!
Oh well...at least Donald hasn't got his hands on my mole LOL He's barred from my front garden and mole must know this cos he's throwing up some mountainous molehills at the moment! Just wish I could catch a sight of him.
GILL
Thanks for the support Stewart...I thought it was just me imagining it...Neil did ONCE dare to argue that perhaps Donald our neighbour (part-time gamekeeper) and the locals were right and I was wrong and just being over-sentimental about birds and wildlife...he didn't do THAT again after he had to make his own dinner LOL
It just annoys me that some of the locals around here can't seem to grasp the idea that if they are going to release hundreds of pheasants in a tiny area then it's obvious that a fox or two is going to think it's christmas come early and take a few! It's like those wonderful programmes about millions of sardines or herds of gnu...it's obvious that the dolphins and seabirds and lions/crocs are going to take advantage of this glut of food!
Oh well...at least Donald hasn't got his hands on my mole LOL He's barred from my front garden and mole must know this cos he's throwing up some mountainous molehills at the moment! Just wish I could catch a sight of him.
GILL
Sandra (Taylor)
Well-known member
Lol
What's LOL mean please?
Sandra :eek!:
What's LOL mean please?
Sandra :eek!:
Darren Oakley-Martin
________________
Sandra...............
LOL= 'Laugh out Loud'
Simon Barnes is a BRILLIANT journalist/ writer. That his interests cover both Sport and Birding is a joy to me. Here's one of his recent and finest moments-
Shared loyalty is fantasy no manager can afford
By Simon Barnes, Chief Sports Writer
NI_MPU('middle');
THE acid test for love is hatred. That has always been the way of things in football. Your love for your club is measured by your loathing for your rivals. No other test reveals the truth of your love to quite the same extent.
Share my train journey from Cardiff after the FA Cup Final of 2003. Southampton had been roundly defeated by Arsenal. Naturally, the Southampton fans wished to demonstrate their undead affection, their unswerved loyalty. So they sang their songs of hate.
Hatred not of Arsenal, but of Portsmouth. Shoot the Pompey scum! Yes, they were real Southampton fans and their love flowed from every word of hatred. It was quite a wrench to leave them at Newport, but somehow I managed it.
So Harry Redknapp, former manager of Portsmouth, has gone to manage Southampton. He left one job when it apparently became intolerable and took another. This is a reasonable thing to do in the world of commerce, but football does not have its being in reason.
The very possibility of this move caused Terry Brady, a Portsmouth director, to go weak at the knees. “It really would be the highest form of betrayal possible.”
Dante put Judas at the lowest reach of the inferno, but Portsmouth fans would find a place still lower for Redknapp.
You can move from Barclays to Lloyds. You can move from the Abbey to the Halifax. You can move from W H Smith to Waterstone’s — and all without risking comparison with the disciple who took the pieces of silver. But to move from a certain football club to their traditional rivals is betrayal.
Alan Smith moved from Leeds United to a much better job with Manchester United. So he is Judas, too. George Graham, former Arsenal manager, moved to Tottenham Hotspur and the Spurs supporters never once chanted his name. To do so would be to betray their love. Football supporters don’t change allegiance and love themselves for their loyalty. They take pride in the miserable defeats they have witnessed, the relegations they have experienced, the dismal away-days they have travelled.
The supporter lives in a fantasy that says their loyalty is shared by the people who manage and play for the club they love. It has no basis in fact. The chasm between the fan’s loyalty and the lack of loyalty from everybody who works for his club creates one of the eternal tensions of the footballing life.
The loyal ones dwell at the bottom of the heap. Those they cheer, those they make millionaires by their support, have no equivalent loyalty, certainly not to fans or club. The fans are loyal to an institution, or rather, to an idea. Most people are loyal to human beings.
For a Portsmouth fan, wearing a Southampton shirt, walking to the ground with Southampton supporters, cheering a Southampton goal, is impossible to contemplate. But managers and players are not fans and have a totally different idea of what loyalty means.
The idea of hating the Scotland football team was not difficult for Sir Alf Ramsey. “Welcome to Scotland,” he was once told and replied in his best elocutionary tones: “You must be f****** joking.”
But such a concept is alien to Sven-Göran Eriksson. He is a mercenary, loyal to his contract and his employers, and for him, England v Scotland would be just another match. Eriksson was called a traitor when he considered other offers. He was nothing of the kind. He was a mercenary. If you want to hire a mercenary, pay the going rate and don’t get seduced by the idea that he is doing it for love. All managers, all players are mercenaries. Football is their trade and their reality. For supporters, football is their joy and their fantasy. When somebody makes a Redknapp move, a Smith move, a Graham move, that fantasy is exposed for what it is. It is a horrid moment and those who hold on to the fantasy are left mightily aggrieved. Managers are not supporters and nor are players. For a player or a manager, a fan-type loyalty would be professional suicide. Les chiens sont fidèles, mais pas au chiennes.
LOL= 'Laugh out Loud'
Simon Barnes is a BRILLIANT journalist/ writer. That his interests cover both Sport and Birding is a joy to me. Here's one of his recent and finest moments-
Shared loyalty is fantasy no manager can afford
By Simon Barnes, Chief Sports Writer
THE acid test for love is hatred. That has always been the way of things in football. Your love for your club is measured by your loathing for your rivals. No other test reveals the truth of your love to quite the same extent.
Share my train journey from Cardiff after the FA Cup Final of 2003. Southampton had been roundly defeated by Arsenal. Naturally, the Southampton fans wished to demonstrate their undead affection, their unswerved loyalty. So they sang their songs of hate.
Hatred not of Arsenal, but of Portsmouth. Shoot the Pompey scum! Yes, they were real Southampton fans and their love flowed from every word of hatred. It was quite a wrench to leave them at Newport, but somehow I managed it.
So Harry Redknapp, former manager of Portsmouth, has gone to manage Southampton. He left one job when it apparently became intolerable and took another. This is a reasonable thing to do in the world of commerce, but football does not have its being in reason.
The very possibility of this move caused Terry Brady, a Portsmouth director, to go weak at the knees. “It really would be the highest form of betrayal possible.”
Dante put Judas at the lowest reach of the inferno, but Portsmouth fans would find a place still lower for Redknapp.
You can move from Barclays to Lloyds. You can move from the Abbey to the Halifax. You can move from W H Smith to Waterstone’s — and all without risking comparison with the disciple who took the pieces of silver. But to move from a certain football club to their traditional rivals is betrayal.
Alan Smith moved from Leeds United to a much better job with Manchester United. So he is Judas, too. George Graham, former Arsenal manager, moved to Tottenham Hotspur and the Spurs supporters never once chanted his name. To do so would be to betray their love. Football supporters don’t change allegiance and love themselves for their loyalty. They take pride in the miserable defeats they have witnessed, the relegations they have experienced, the dismal away-days they have travelled.
The supporter lives in a fantasy that says their loyalty is shared by the people who manage and play for the club they love. It has no basis in fact. The chasm between the fan’s loyalty and the lack of loyalty from everybody who works for his club creates one of the eternal tensions of the footballing life.
The loyal ones dwell at the bottom of the heap. Those they cheer, those they make millionaires by their support, have no equivalent loyalty, certainly not to fans or club. The fans are loyal to an institution, or rather, to an idea. Most people are loyal to human beings.
For a Portsmouth fan, wearing a Southampton shirt, walking to the ground with Southampton supporters, cheering a Southampton goal, is impossible to contemplate. But managers and players are not fans and have a totally different idea of what loyalty means.
The idea of hating the Scotland football team was not difficult for Sir Alf Ramsey. “Welcome to Scotland,” he was once told and replied in his best elocutionary tones: “You must be f****** joking.”
But such a concept is alien to Sven-Göran Eriksson. He is a mercenary, loyal to his contract and his employers, and for him, England v Scotland would be just another match. Eriksson was called a traitor when he considered other offers. He was nothing of the kind. He was a mercenary. If you want to hire a mercenary, pay the going rate and don’t get seduced by the idea that he is doing it for love. All managers, all players are mercenaries. Football is their trade and their reality. For supporters, football is their joy and their fantasy. When somebody makes a Redknapp move, a Smith move, a Graham move, that fantasy is exposed for what it is. It is a horrid moment and those who hold on to the fantasy are left mightily aggrieved. Managers are not supporters and nor are players. For a player or a manager, a fan-type loyalty would be professional suicide. Les chiens sont fidèles, mais pas au chiennes.
Elizabeth Bigg
Addicted member
Sandra (Taylor) said:
Laugh (or laughing) out loud!
There are more here:
http://ircportal.star-fury.com/html/abbreviations.html
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