tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756712237625061122009-12-19T10:03:22.408+07:00Klong - A Thai canal.Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-55722187075595935512009-09-20T17:45:00.002+07:002009-09-20T17:50:20.011+07:00

Well Norwich managed an injury time equalizer to share the points with Charlton at Carrow Road. The 2-2 score line knocks us off the top of the third division table as Leeds well beat Gillingham. I managed to get the live coverage of the game on Radio London. I wonder if this was a jinx. Next week I won't listen, promise.

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-9048406549132395982009-09-13T17:24:00.003+07:002009-09-13T17:29:16.547+07:00

Well the run ended yesterday. It would have been the seventh win on the trot if they had managed to beat Southampton but instead it was a 1-1 draw. From the sounds of it Charlton didn't play well in the first half and went a goal down. In the second half they were unlucky not to win after equalizing. Oh well, it had to end sometime and we are still top of the third division.

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-39519704600529093522009-09-06T12:57:00.003+07:002009-09-06T13:01:26.781+07:00

Charlton's fantastic start to the season carried on when Brentford visited the Valley. 2-0 was the score. Next week we have Southampton at home which is very winnable. Leeds are also still on maximum points. Not going to say too much in case it puts a curse on.

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-15795789322140470492009-08-30T08:38:00.003+07:002009-08-30T08:46:21.754+07:00

Well I hope not. Maximum 15 points from 5 games with a 4-0 win at Tranmere, but with two home games coming up even more wins are a strong possibility.The only downside is Leeds United are matching Charlton's pace. Now Leeds, with apologies to the good citizens of Leeds, are not Britain's best loved team. In fact they are way up there with ManU, Chelsea and Arsenal. This maybe truer for those of a

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-43053886308747767702009-08-23T08:14:00.004+07:002009-08-23T08:20:25.139+07:00

The perfect start to the new football season. Charlton, not at their best, beat Walsall 2-0. They still managed most of the possession and were ahead in all the stats except for fouls which Walsall won by a long way. The only other team with a perfect record in Division Three is Leeds. As they say in boxing, one of them has to lose the O. Let's hope it's Leeds, who still in my mind carry all the

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-44856789415181293832009-08-21T12:34:00.004+07:002009-08-21T12:50:50.486+07:00

Last season was one to forget, ending in demotion to the old Division 3 for the first time since I was a boy, which was a long time ago. Well at least we get to play with neighbours Millwall again.This season has started with a bang. Three wins with two of those on the road. There was our usual loss and early exit from the league cup, but it was a ManU style second team playing. The first game

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-4285465950107984732009-08-21T12:12:00.006+07:002009-08-21T12:32:56.300+07:00

If you follow the small road, Lat Krabang Soi 54, from Onnut Road it becomes a much larger new dual carriageway and you will find Wat Hua Khoo on the right side at a junction of two canals. Outside the temple is a good place to park and skirting the temple walls to the south will allow you to access a walkway along one of the canals. Along this canal, and sorry as I have no names for the klongs

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-2488576375983671132009-08-21T11:46:00.003+07:002009-08-21T11:53:18.958+07:00

Over the last year I haven't posted either about my football team or walking along the Bangkok klongs. The football was because it was such a horrible season from the beginning and the walking because I did fewer and spent too much time on UK politics.Well I have still kept up walking new klongs although far from regularly but the next post will cover the last two Sundays east of the new Bangkok

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-5825557924845859972009-08-02T12:28:00.004+07:002009-08-02T12:40:21.423+07:00

There was a time not that long ago when you knew it was a Labour MP speaking on TV because he wore a red tie. Tories sometimes wore a blue one and Liberals any colour they liked, but for Labour a red tie was mandatory.This changed with New Labour. They no longer wanted to be reminded of the past, the history of the party. Red stood something. It was the colour of the worker's flag. It was the

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-6695671337449422352009-07-18T12:44:00.005+07:002009-07-18T13:06:05.352+07:00

I’m not sure when it really started. Was it Maggie bringing in Saatchi & Saatchi for the 1979 election? Certainly by the time Blair was aping Clinton with sound bites, spin doctors and the 24 hour grin we were well on our way. Even Blair’s career path of university to law to politics was the standard American one. Now I have nothing against America, I worked for US marine companies for most of my

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-76597137289453296442009-06-27T14:24:00.002+07:002009-06-27T14:27:47.311+07:00

Just put this over at Labourhome. Seems I'm blogging more there than here. Anyway this a copy of what I put up.Why has it become such a dirty word. Roy Hattersley tells of it being a non-word in the early days of New Labour after Blair had gained the leadership. One of Blair’s groupies told him off for using it. How strange, but then again how strange that Hattersley found himself ending up to

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-72716250304463615722009-06-13T15:50:00.003+07:002009-06-13T15:53:31.700+07:00

Another one I just put on www.labourhome.org. I like the crowd over there. It's stuff I've done before here but I still don't know the answer. Maybe a helpful banker will tell me one day.Show me the money!I need some expert help. OK, I know that the current financial crisis was caused by lack of regulation and allowing the markets to govern themselves. And I know that because we had to bail out

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-24002058365597268722009-06-12T09:04:00.004+07:002009-06-12T10:08:10.028+07:00

On today's BBC website there is a strange story of how Putin bullied and humiliated billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska last week. On live TV, he stood over the embarrassed oligarch and forced him to sign on the dotted line to reopen an aluminium plant he had just closed. It was almost old Joe Stalin in action which is fitting as Putin does seem to show Stalinist tendencies.Maybe another

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-70102103841070684632009-06-11T13:01:00.004+07:002009-06-12T09:04:05.455+07:00

I do like seeing where our politicians came from. Gordon Brown turned his thesis on the Scottish socialist James Maxton into a book. At the time he considered him a hero. Now I suspect he would expel him from the Labour Party if he had a chance. I posted this on http://www.labourhome.org/.I read someone accusing Tony Blair of being a new Ramsay MacDonald a few years back. I think it's more Gordon

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-54690023957240930262009-06-11T12:56:00.003+07:002009-06-11T13:25:38.000+07:00

This is a copy of the first article I posted over at http://www.labourhome.org/. I thought I had better keep a record of them here too. Like the post before this, it's me feeling that the New Labour idea has lost any momentum and we just watching it die now.Is the experiment coming to an end?In 1994 the biggest experiment in British politics since the Second World War began. 15 years down the

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-16695942646129867462009-06-04T17:23:00.003+07:002009-06-04T17:55:07.849+07:00

It's had 15 years but with the first recession they have faced while being the government New Labour is falling to pieces. Now their spin doctors are trying to remove the "New"; if anyone's to blame, let it be the whole Labour Party. The Blairites are biding their time to put the knife into the Brown. Hazel Blears who has managed to fiddle £13,000 in taxes owed, goes in such a way as to make

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-77646145707699530442009-05-24T07:53:00.008+07:002009-05-24T08:54:14.044+07:00

Again I have to admit my interest in the Labour Party going-ons in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency is because for most of the time I lived in the UK my home was there. Yesterday's Evening Standard interview with Georgia Gould must give you a chuckle. Guessing that most things she does follow Daddy and his friends advice, the Blairite spin doctors got it wrong yet again.The Standard allows

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-50541645368750639382009-05-20T15:49:00.004+07:002009-05-20T15:55:52.963+07:00

Below is a quote from Roy Hattersley, I think writing in the Guardian. Now Roy could never be accused of being a rabid lefty so it's worth reading."When I was a member of Labour's national executive, Tony Benn would make long speeches about the plot to transfer all power from party members to the parliamentary leadership. Neil Kinnock and I shook our heads in bewilderment and mumbled about the

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-51837001942230378322009-05-20T11:12:00.007+07:002009-05-20T11:43:03.282+07:00

So Gordon Brown has asked Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) to decide which MPs should be deselected. The sub-committee which will do this will chaired by Blairite Kath Speight, (see picture), the NEC's chairperson. We can expect then that those close to Brown and Blair will escape punishment by the party. I would be very surprised if the NEC went after Hazel Blears, Jacqui Smith, Tony

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-89733928658658058452009-04-30T10:24:00.003+07:002009-04-30T13:45:36.412+07:00

Brown lost the vote on new Gurkha immigration rules, quite rightly in my opinion. See my post two back. What was interesting was the numbers of the Labour MPs either voting against or abstaining. If my arithmetic is correct of the 356 MPs they have 83 didn't vote and 27 voted against.Now it might be too much to ask for that wowser Phil Woolas and his boss Jacqui Smith resign. (She has quite a few

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-41078856526341927852009-04-26T11:57:00.004+07:002009-04-26T11:57:00.706+07:00

What Brown, Darling, Cameron and Osborne have in common in this financial crisis is it was correct to save the banks and because of the cost of doing this with taxpayers money things like health and education will be cut. The differences will be in how big the cuts are. The Tories are reverting to old style Thatcherism so forget all about the hug-a-hoody PR.I read on the BBC website that

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-44711435348057886062009-04-25T10:23:00.005+07:002009-04-25T10:43:06.699+07:00

From Wikipedia - Wowser: The Australian writer C.J. Dennis defined it thus: 'Wowser: an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder'.So what is going through the mind of Immigration Minister Phil Woolas? He says that in a worse case it would mean 100,000 immigrants coming in if he allowed ex-Gurkha servicemen to settle in the UK. I just saw him on TV

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-42147704843574496912009-04-19T07:34:00.006+07:002009-05-20T11:39:55.860+07:00

If I lived in the UK it would probably be back in my old home in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency. Right now I would really be pissed off as the New Labour leadership tries to fix the selection of the next Labour candidate against the wishes of the local Labour members. First the London party takes away control of the selection from the local party and declares it an all women shortlist.

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-72787584407032763202009-03-18T10:59:00.011+07:002009-03-18T12:05:40.273+07:00

I have been getting a little too one-eyed recently and allowing my dislike of New Labour and the sleaze around them to miss some important choices coming up ahead. The Tories and New Labour are beginning to split away in how to deal with the economic crisis. Up until now Brown, and Blair before him, have been following the economic ideas of Milton Friedman who inspired Thatcher and Reagan. This

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5375671223762506112.post-40590041536414512302009-03-17T10:48:00.006+07:002009-03-18T08:10:41.959+07:00

Gordon Brown, quoted on the BBC website says the following. "Laissez-faire has had its day. People on the centre-left and the progressive agenda should be confident enough to say that the old idea that the markets were efficient and could work things out by themselves are gone."Unfortunately this statements negates the economic policy that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came in with 12 years ago

Les Abbeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17837044003424177148noreply@blogger.com0