Portsmouth to Hull and Back

So the liquidation threat was just the administrator positioning things! Portsmouth now come out of administration and beat Hull away at the weekend 2-1!

Of course the best that can happen is they become a well run Championship club - never again to play in the Premier league, which might not be a bad thing.

Book Re-Read: Space Race by Deborah Cadbury

A book I read a few years ago after it had been dramatised as a BBC series. A really detailed and well researched account of the space race from both the US and USSR sides. The story also focuses on the two figure heads Wernher Von Braun and Sergei Korolev.

The book also tracks the break up of the German V2 rocket scientists and the race by the allies and the Russians to get hold of them and their precious knowledge. The time America had invested in the atom bomb had been time spent on rocket technology in Germany. It was reckoned that they were 25 years ahead of anyone else at the end of World War II.

The book really describes the risk that were taken and the near and actual disasters that occurred. Even today space travel is a risky business. The simple fact of escaping the gravity well and the dangers of re-entry in the atmosphere see to that.

A theme throughout is how much was Von Braun involved with the slave labour camp that was producing the V2 rocket. It is likely a little too much to be acceptable but somehow this remained quiet until the 1970s. I think at best the book tries to portray his idealism for space travel allowed him to turn a blind eye to the slave camp conditions he must have known about.

Well worth a second read, an impressive account.

Saturn V model

This classic kit was re-released for the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, and I could resist it no longer. Not much of a model maker, but I was really interested in making this one. In truth it should be easier than most airfix kits, although will take some painting at 2.5 feet tall!

Portsmouth liquidation threat

A statement from the administrator yesterday said that unless one of the creditors changed his payment demands the club would be liquidated as the proposed sale would fall through.

This is probably a fair amount of positioning to get a better deal with the threat of the worst outcome if demands are not agreed to. But a serious threat it is, and today's game at Hull could be the last for the club.

A sad end - but I do not think anyone should be overly surprised.

Film: Ferris Bueller's Day Off Directed by John Hughes

Having recently seen a much older Matthew Broderick in the US version of "Who do you think you are?" I re-watched one of his career 1980s high points.

A fairly funny film and now nostalgia trip back to the 1980s, Bueller fakes an illness to take a day off from school. Nothing deep and meaningful, but fun to watch none the less.

I never saw this film first time round, I only had seen the darker War Games from 1983.

10/10/10

A landmark date! Reminds me of 1234567890 or more simply 12:34:56 seconds 07/08/1990.

When one happens you are left thinking "we'll never see it again", but of course we do.

A record day for marriages apparently because of the date?

Book read: Journey of a Lifetime by Alan Whicker

This is a book that is not a typical auto biography, but each chapter captures part of his TV life and the people he met. So it feels a little disjoint because of this fact.

Some chapters make you feel nostalgic for bygone ages, some sad for the people whose fame and fortune still saw them seeing out their decline in diminished circumstances.

The best chapter is toward the end describing him arriving in Milan as a officer in the second world war and having the SS surrender to him rather then be lynched by Italians. Also the history of the chest of currency that the SS handed over to him, mysteriously to go missing is interesting.

Khyber Pass cut off

This got a low billing on the news which is typical of the media coverage of this way. The Taliban have scored quite a victory by destroying a fuel convoy resupplying the allies that was travelling from Pakistan.

The Khyber Pass was mentioned, the name from the book the Great Game I read a while ago.

Alan Sugar interviewed by Piers Morgan

The normally banal interview programmes turned up a rare good one. Alan Sugar was interviewed and taken through the various stages of his life.

I'm by no means a Sugar fan, but he came across quite well and the latter stages of the programme showed his somewhat humble beginnings. From the window of his school the city and square mile buildings could be seen. Sugar said "those guys have made enough out of me over the years, and tell me what they do in return". Referring to the floating of his business in the 1980s, and Tottenham Hotspur dealings. This is one point I think he was totally justified in saying.

I was also quite impressed he valued his integrity, and fairness in his business dealings - although that is slightly at odds with previous stories I read over the years.

Still an interesting self made man, he has to answer to no one and he did tolerate the interviewing style of Morgan pretty well.

Child Benefit

The once universal benefit is no more, higher rate tax payers will see their benefit dropped.

This amounts £20 a week lost, so around £1000 a year of lost income.

In some ways it is hard to argue that this should be a universal benefit, and it is surprising it has lasted this long in this form.

More worryingly is the thin end of the wedge, where over time this benefit will get increasingly squeezed and less and less people receive it.

In terms of government cut backs though, this is only the start...

Microsoft Cloud

Coming our way it seems, as the tech giant attempts to keep itself relevant and move away from dependence on shrink wrap, and OEM sales on the back of new hardware purchases.

The analysis I read was indicating that maybe Microsoft is having to do this rather then being whole heartedly behind it. They need to be in the space to get a slice of the action. Problem is the space might not be that lucrative, Cloud is all about minimising resources and only using what you need, and being able to turn on extra resource like a tap.

Film: Behind Enemy Lines directed by John Moore

A quite surprisingly good film this, about an American navigator/pilot who get shot down over Bosnia during the Yugoslavia conflict in the 1990s. The navigator played by Owen Wilson has the length of the film to try and evade capture, before rescue attempts are made organised by the captain played by Gene Hackman.

Does not try to do too much, some good action sequences and an engaging film 6/10.

Benefit Reform

Something Labour continually promised, but ended up increasing complex benefits and tax credits. Tax credits became difficult to manage, too complex to understand, and were a classic Brown piece of micro managing.

So how refreshing to hear that all these things could be merged into a single benefit that would still be claimable as people take jobs to avoid the trap of being worse off once you return to work - itself creating a dependency culture in the UK.

Also good to see Labour MP Frank Field generally supporting, his previous similar ideas were never taken up by the Labour. Let's hope it works!