The Captains Musings

Well hopefully the title got your attention I am actually not a pervert but an Amateur photographer but it appears that the 2 are inextricably linked in Politically Correct Britain in the 21st century,this all has come about from a story in my local paper last night where a man taking photographs of his children playing on a slide during an event in a local park was ordered to stop taking the pictures because another parent complained that he might be a pervert or even a pedophile taking pictures to put on less that savoury internet sites.This is not an isolated incident and it has even got to he stage that parents are not allowed to take photographs of their kids at school sports days or Nativity plays for fear that they may end up on paedo websites.

It does make you wonder what the world is coming to when you are not allowed to record those wonderful moments during your children's s early years for fear of being accused of being some sort of pervert,thankfully my girls now 19 & 22 grew up in happier times and I have many shots of them in school and church events that my wife and I will be able to look back on in our dotage.

What is even more worrying for a keen amateur photographer like myself is that this incident like many others involved the father using a Digital SLR or "Professional " camera according to the lady who complained,now will accept that non photographers cannot tell the difference between his £300 non professional camera and a £3000 professional model but it appears that if you use a tiny silver "Non Professional" camera you are less likely to be demonized than those of us who use seemingly "Professional" kit.

I must admit that although my subjects of choice are landscapes and various forms of transport there are times when there are children around that I think twice before I point my camera at a subject just in case some PC irate parent suddenly takes me for a lower form of human life.

One can but hope that common sense will prevail and this this type of paranoia will cease but I am not holding my breath waiting for it to happen

So China and Russia along with those paragons of democracy Vietnam, Libya and South Africa vote against imposing sanctions upon Zimbabwe and the world becomes a more disgusting and sick place.

What message are we sending to the people of Zimbabwe?, we don’t care you don’t have oil you are not important and you deserve the homicidal maniac who is leading you to the brink of total collapse. We expect China which is trying to con the world into thinking it has changed but this shows it is still the arrogant dictatorship it has always been and as an aside more proof that the awarding of the Olympics to Bejing was a disgrace and you would expect Libya and Vietnam to follow their paymasters down that route.

Russia and South Africa are however a totally different case, Russia supposedly a new democracy supposedly a country now part of Europe a G8 member and a country that has experienced tyranny and will stand up against it in the future ,well sadly not it is just the same as the USSR and it is looking after its own interests and will no doubt soon invest in the Mugabe regime.
What I cannot understand though is South Africa, a country lead by Mandella peacefully from the tyranny of apartheid into a fairly stable democracy now allows black on black tyranny, murder and economic collapse on its doorstep and does nothing, one day they will have to answer to the people of Zimbabwe and it will not be easy.

And as for Mugabe he has proved that murder and terror can win and that the democratic world is toothless,todays paper says that violence has intensified since the election as rthe Zanu PF thugs take revenge on all who opposed them, I even doubt that Morgan Tsangerei will survive the year and all the time we hear weasel words from discredited leaders across the world who have let it happen

I was with a customer on Friday carrying out some table set up on their computer system for the Anti Social Behaviour module and I meant to type ASB Pets to record problems with barking dogs etc.

What I actually typed was ASB POETS and when I noticed this childlish laughter took over,tho8ughts of William Wordsworth doing a Graffitti version of Daffoldils on a wall with a spray can or TS Elliot reading The Wasteland with a backing track by Iron Maiden at 3-00 AM in the morning and 150 decibelds.

Its good to be daft occasionally

Anyone who reads my ramblings will be well aware the game of Football that used to be the love of my life has at the highest level rather let me down over the past few years,what with cheating players,negative tactics and managers spending their lives moaning about referees and the opposition the game that I once loved was losing its appeal.

I was at the point of subscribing to the Bog Snorkling channel on Sky.

And then along came the Dutch at Euro 2008 playing a style of football and in a manner that took me back to the days when the game was a joy that I watched every Saturday,The Netherlands have so far played the game with an attacking freedom that is a joy to behold with flowing attractive football and celebrations that do not involve stupid contrived dance routines.

So my love of the beautiful game has been rekindled,will it last? who knows but whilst it does I will enjoy the ride

Regular readers will know that I am not the greatest fan of the so called elite amongst the football clubs of this country especially the overpaid prima donna superstars who play in the English Premier League.

So the last week has been a very pleasant experience and I would like to add my congratulations tro the following

Portsmouth winners of the FA Cup,I know they were the favourites but they are a relatively small club in the great scheme of things and this win was tghere first major piece of silverware since 1939

Stoke City,promotion to the Premiership for the first time

Hull City winners f the Championship play off who will play in the top flight of Engklish football for the first time in their 100+ year history

Doncaster Rovers,5 years after playing in the Conference they will compete in the second tier of English football for the first in 50 years (Just make sure you do well but dont take any points off he Wolves.

The likelihood of any of these clubs tearing up any trees next season is small but its nice to see them having success.

Away from football I must also praise the dignity with which Adrian Suttil and the Force India team took their unlucky exit from yesterdays Monaco GP,I would have been tempted to tear Kimi Raikkonen's head off after his schoolboy error cost them 4th place but the calm dignity that they all showed in not laying any blame and saying that it was all part of racing was a lesson to those in Football who blame the pitch,referee etc rather than admitting that it was just one of those things that happen in sport