Real Heroes Don't Wear Capes - They Wear Dog Tags

Although I am in the middle of a blogging sabbatical, it would be somewhat obtuse of the Big Dollop if I were not to pass comment on tragic events which resulted in the death of six British soldiers who were killed after their patrol vehicle was destroyed by a huge Taliban bomb in Helmand province in Afghanistan. 

Their Memory We Cherish

 Their Loss we Mourn

The Boys who are featured in the photograph above were named as follows - Sergeant Nigel Coupe, 33, from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, Private Anthony Frampton, 20, Private Christopher Kershaw, 19, Private Daniel Wade, 20, Private Daniel Wilford, 21, all from 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment . 

Stand down boys, you have fulfilled your duty  - God Bless.

 

Glasgow Rangers - Bring On The World

Regular readers of The Big Dollop Blog will know that he has a certain affinity for the hopes and aspirations of a certain football club from the south side of Glasgow.

The financial tsunami which has engulfed the Rangers is absolutely mind-numbing as it has become self-evident that the club is now in serious danger of being washed aside with the “L” word (Liquidation) being openly touted among fans on various forums hosted by certain radio stations in Glasgow.

From a fans perspective it is simply inexcusable that the custodians of this once great club have been so negligent in the discharge of their fiscal responsibilities in respect of paying liabilities owed to HMRC, PAYE and embarrassingly - to other clubs in the Scottish Premier League (SPL) to such a degree that they have brought the institution of Rangers Football Club to its knees with the dreaded anticipation of heads rolling when the administrators axe falls tomorrow.

It is understandable that fans of our opposing teams in the SPL are somewhat gleeful at the prospect of Rangers wallowing in the grubber – I have no axe to grind with any individual in that respect – if the truth be told I can remember the sense of hilarity held between myself and my peers when the slings and arrows of misfortune affected the Glasgow Celtic in 1994, reinforcing the old idiom of what goes round comes round.

If indeed the current situation is such that the Rangers are to fall be the way side - so be it - the stark truth being that Rangers have no one to blame but themselves - they will just have to take the blue pill and bite the bullet - a club with a magnificent 140 year old history will cease to be and hopefully a new club will rise from the ashes and aspire to be the great club they once were.

Indeed there has been much speculation as to the merits of a new club being admitted into the SPL under the scenario described above with reports that the remaining clubs want to impose further punitive measures along the lines of a 16 point deduction and the forfeiture of some £7 million (Rangers share) from Sky Television being spread among other teams in the SPL .

As a Rangers fan I would rather see the new club apply to join the Scottish league in division three before giving the naysayers their pound of flesh - let’s see how the new elite in Scottish football fare without the influence of a new Rangers for a couple of years, playing in division three is just the first step on the road to renew pass glories - if Juventus can do it so can the New Gers.

Our real punishment as a club will come when the administrators wind up the club - after which  the New Gers could adopt a new motto - Bring On The World.

The Scottish Alphabet

For no other reason than today being the 29th of February I wish to share the following photograph in the hope that my American friends who regularly visit the Big Dollop blog might gain an insight the Scottish vernacular. 

The Big Dollop on The Back Burner

Those of you who have a tendency to frequent my humble blog with any degree of regularity will have noticed that The Big Dollop has been rather negligent in what could possibly pass for a consistent upkeep of  "my opinion" on current affairs in the public domain.

The reasons for this are two fold - within the last fortnight the Big Dollop has landed himself a position of employment which commands my attention between the hours of 3pm and 11pm on a daily basis Monday to Friday.

This situation is further compounded by the fact that Mrs. BD and I are in due process of taking possession of our new home and with it a set of circumstances prevails which will demand my full attention for the immediate future,  hence the reason as to why my blogging activities have been placed on the back burner.

Cheers Guys .. TBD

HMRC & The Glasgow Rangers

Anyone looking at the my profile will see that the Big Dollop has an affinity with the aspirations of a certain football club from the south side of Glasgow, in the interests of regularity I must state that it has been many a year since I last attended a game and now living in the United States I consider myself somewhat thankful that I no longer live in the goldfish bowl which fans from both sides of the old firm consider to be the epicenter of world football.

On the footballing matters The Rangers (RFC) have enjoyed a dominance over their great rivals winning the Scottish Premier League (SPL) for the last three years at a time when the club has been embroiled in matters of fiscal jurisprudence, first with their bank and lately, with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The position which The Rangers now find themselves in can be traced back to the previous administration’s tenure over the club when in an effort to keep up with the big boys in Europe, they introduced a scheme whereby the UK income tax liabilities of top players at the club were allegedly circumvented in order to persuade them to come to Scotland to ply their trade – hence the present investigation by HMRC into a possible £49 million forfeiture in  retrospective back payments.

Reading online forums, the present owner of RFC is under fire for being less than transparent with regards to his intentions concerning the long term future of the club, the news that he borrowed £24 million in future ticket sales has not been well received by supporters of the club, even if the club were to have a positive outcome with their case against HMRC, it is now burdened by a £24 million debt which is by no means guaranteed income – the club is in deep shit and the sooner the supporters realise and acknowledge  this  - the better.

Although the new owner is the man taking the flak, we should all do well to remember the responsibility for this sorry debacle lies with David Murray’s tenure as owner of The Rangers - he is the individual who should be held responsible if the club is forced into the antiquities of Scottish footballing history.

Anyone who thinks The Rangers are too big to fall is living in cloud cuckoo land, HMRC couldn’t give the preverbal two flying f**ks about the History of RFC , if they win their case they will not have a second thought about sending in the bailiffs to close The Rangers down.

If The Rangers are declared to be insolvent, then the football club that I and tens of thousands of my fellow Scots love and cherish will be liquidated, asset stripped and completely broken up, as I said above, we all know who was responsible.

Update 13/02/2012:  This morning the club  have lodged legal papers signalling their intention to go into administration.

We Are All Catholics Now - Aye Right !

During the course of this week much attention has been made in the US media to health care legislation currently being propagated by the Obama administration with particular attention being paid to religiously affiliated institutions and their objections to provide their employees with insurance benefits inclusive of contraception.

We Are All Catholics Now - Aye Right !

To say  news pundits  in the United States have over indulged themselves in a hyperbole of epic proportions would have to be the understatement of the year, the wingnuts in the Republican party have been spitting bullets on Fox News on a nightly basis, venting their spleen at the so called attacks by Mr. Obama on religious freedoms.

Being new to the country I may indeed be slightly naive to the nuances of the health care industry here in the US, that aside, the Catholic Church’s position on issues such as abortion and contraception are well and truly documented, unfortunately their stance on other contentious issues are also widely known, however this is neither the time nor the place for this subject, so let’s all move on .

Americans on the right side of the political aisle will continue to take the stance of pro-life, by enacting this legislation in an election year this issue was always going to be contentious for the Obama administration.

In the interests of regularity I have to proclaim that I have no axe to grind with anyone whatsoever who follows the teachings of the Catholic Church, each to his own and all that, however when a former presidential candidate (Mike Huckabee) espouses rhetoric along the lines of "We are all Catholics now" in reference to this issue – I have to say - Seriously ? lol .

Mr. Huckabee - It will be a cold day in hell before I ever refer to myself as being Catholic.

Half Time In America - A Political Message?

Sunday night saw the climax of the American Football season with played between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in Superbowl XXVI - a game which attracted a television audience in the region of 117 million in the USA alone.

Part of the fascination surrounding the game was the conjecture surrounding which commercial would attract the greatest attention from viewers and television pundits alike.

Half Time In America- A Political Message?

In a future post I will endevour to publish my own favorites, presently however, I would like to bring to your attention one of the commercials which has attracted a fair amount of criticism from those on the right hand side of the political spectrum here in America.

In the interests of regularity I must confess my immediate thoughts were along the lines of “The Superbowl is no place for a political advertisement” although full of political football metaphors, the advertisement which was for the Car Manufacturer Chrysler has been linked by some  right wing media pundits with efforts to re - elect President Obama.

Looking at the video – I can understand that way of thinking.

The video is full of political undertones which will resonate with the Democratic Party's message to the American electorate in the run up to the Presidential Election this coming November.

Seriously folks - all that was missing was Obama's voice at the end saying: "I'm Barack  Obama and I approve this message".

Seriously Deficient In Brain Matter

From time to time the Big Dollop has voiced his criticism of certain individuals who because of the very nature of their jobs have had a propensity to incur the wrath of Joe Public when trying to go about their daily undertakings, aka Traffic wardens.

The Yellow Peril Strike Again

The hassle of dealing with these odious individuals on a regular basis who because they feel empowered with authority have irked the sensibilities of the Big Dollop on many an occasion (see tabs) so it is with the same sense of indignation that I would like to bring to your attention a story which featured in yesterday’s edition of the Scottish Sun.

What kind of moronic disposition does an individual have to have to even think of issuing a ticket on a limo parked outside a church waiting on mourners attending the funeral of loved ones to take them the cemetery?

It is inconceivable that a brain dead cretin would do so in such a capricious manner, to their credit, Edinburgh City Council waved the penalty which should never have been issued - perhaps the  errant reprobate who issued it should be made to pay the fine – who knows, he he might just get an inkling of how reprehensible his actions were.

Gwent Police Public Relations Disaster

Back in August of 2010 I had the occasion to post my thoughts on the conduct of two traffic police officers from the Gwent constabulary who were in my opinion, slightly over zealous in the discharge of their duty in apprehending a 73 year old motorist by the name of Robert Whatley when he drove off after being pulled over for not wearing a seat belt after becoming confused due to an ongoing medical condition.

73 Year Old Robert Whatley

At the time I adopted the point of view that the professionalism of the two police constables was at the very least “questionable” - a critique which seems fully justifiable with the news today that Gwent Police have settled out of court with the elderly driver with a payment of over £20,000 in personal damages.

With costs of £9,800 for repairing the damage to the car and further payments of both parties legal fees, the total cost incurred by the Gwent Police Force was a sum approaching £100,000, an incredible amount of money paid out courtesy of the Tax Payer (which we have to remember) was due to the incompetence of two police officers who in an apparent rush of blood to the head completely lost the plot in a manner disproportionate to that necessary in apprehending a confused elderly motorist for not wearing a seat belt - incredible! 

As I said in my previous post the Gwent Police force did themselves no favours what so ever in terms of public relations – the payment of these damages to Mr Whatley in this instance does nothing to make me think any differently. 

Sound Advice Indeed

There is an old idiom which says the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, being human we sometimes err on the side of caution  in order to try to get to the greener grass and in the process, tend to end up in a little trouble.

At times like this, times when you find yourself in stuck in a situation that you can't really get out of, there is one thing you should always remember: 

Not Everyone Who Shows Up... Is There To Help You!!!!

Run Your Cursor Over The Photograph