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Super Cuts
by doubletake Never go to Supercuts in Sunderland unless you are not too fussy and have hours of time to spare. I have been twice - the first visit I had a not too bad cut only after waiting over an hour while the two hairdressers were both doing full head colours - I thought the idea was to get a super cut without appointment as a fast track ... service!! Anyhow one of the clients suddenly upped and went to visit a nearby supermarket with half her head in foils and kept the stylist waiting before she returned to have them completed. I know it was not the salons fault but they seemed to think it was a huge joke! There was also an altercation over a bill when a widely advertised special offer was not accepted cos they apparently did not know about it. I then returned for a second visit mores the pity cos I ended up with a cut by a seriously inexperienced girl who after three attempts left me with a wonky fringe several inches above the eyebrows - gross! Apparently it was down to me cos I have a fringe that goes up - huh? I was then informed I could have waited for another stylist of choice - so much for the first come first served basis. At the end of the day perhaps the concept is not as good as a salon with regular appointments with stylist of choice as at least you know what you are getting. Also the prices are misleading as you always end up paying extra. Read the complete review |
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by thedevilinme So, England can't play cricket in the Sub-Continent, still only one test series win in Sri-Lanka in their history. After a string of bent arm mystery spinners and seam picking Pakistani bowlers and bat all day Indians to face over the decades England have all but given up winning there, a 1-1 draw retaining their world number one spot ... but only just. They have not only lost confidence in playing spin (and for the ICC to do anything about the bent arm cheaters) but in themselves as the punishing heat and a dose or two of the trots have sent them into a downward spiral. The summer series against the disinterested West Indies cant come soon enough. For me part of the problem this winter has been Graeme Swanns book that openly criticized current members of the team, calling KP 'not suitable captain material' and Nott's and England teammate Samit Patel all but a 'fat ba**ard'. I spoke to Samit's younger brother at a domestic preseason game about this and he said that it is an issue with his brother. When Swann was at Northant's he sided with a player who was bonking the other wicketkeeper's fiancé in the team and he was ostracized there too, he and Russell Warren on one side of the dressing room and the rest of the team on the other. This guy needs to control his trap. The Tour... Ticket prices were ramped up in Sri Lanka to help fill the empty coffers as Sri-Lankan cricket begins to fall apart. Five pound tickets went up to twenty-five pounds and they even charged England fans fro watching on from the old fort that offers a great view of the match. Some of the players went unpaid by their board for nearly four months and hardly anyone has been paid this year. This only brings back the specter of match-fixing and so one presumes a loan was made by the ICC to them to help them to get through the year. It was a good time to play Sri Lanka as there is no more Mulitheran and Malinga and the scars still run deep from a civil war with the Tamils that ripped the country in half in 2010, a disgusting war that seems to have been forgotten about by the rest of the world, far worse than Syria and Palestine by all accounts. Needless to say Boycott and Agnew were on strict orders not to mention it. Sri Lanka's strength is home pitches and their batting, three of their first five averaging 50 and owning over 70 Test centuries between them. Sri Lanka holds the world record for the highest team score, 952-6' which was established against India in 1997.The highest partnership in Test cricket was also established by two Sri Lankan batsmen; Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara with 624 runs. Sri Lankan players also hold the highest partnership scores for the second (576), third (624), fourth (437), and sixth (351) wickets. Clearly the wickets are flat out there and Columbo, where nearly all of those records were set, the flat earth society headquarters, and shamelessly so. Sri Lankan cricket's mission is to hold all ten partnership records. Bowling wise the all time test wicket taker with 800, Muralitheran, has retired and so their bowling is very light. Murali also owns the most 5 and 10 test wicket haul records. He also has the 5th best match figures for single and combined innings With Chaminda Vaas (355 wickets) retired to my beloved Northampton they have the weakest top tear test attack for me. The First test @ Galle..... -March 25th -29th- England decided to go in with three spinners and two seamers on the beautiful Galle ground on a slow dry turner with Patel in for Finn and Monty in for Morgan. After Sri-Lanka wobbled on 15- 3 after deciding to bat the home town hero set about the bowlers, Mahela Jayawardene gliding and driving a big hundred on day one to save the day. This was his 30th test hundred and he now averages 75 on the Galle ground and sits 9th in the all time list of century makers, the highest ever Sri Lankan. Jamie Andersen was the best English bowler on day one with three more wickets as he sets his sights on Ian Botham's English test wicket haul of 383. Captain Andrew Strauss reached a top five record, pouching his 110th test out-field (non wicket-keeper) catch to go fourth in the England all-time list. Most catches by England outfielder.... Ian Botham - 120 catches (102 Tests) Colin Cowdrey - 120 catches (114) Walter Hammond - 110 catches (85) Andrew Strauss - 110 catches (93) Day two and Sri Lanka were 318 all-out with Anderson claiming 5-72 and Patel taking 2-27 on his debut. Andersen moved to fifth in the all-time England wicket-taker list with 264. England's response with the bat was the same inept level as the Pakistan tour, 193 all-out. Pietersen again failed against spin and a rare duck for Cook, being 92-6 on a track like this rather pathetic, Herath 6-74. KP should have been dropped a long time ago and made to play the first three months for Surrey this season to get his mojo back. Now he is not the big star in English cricket his ego isn't prepared to work hard to get back his status. I suppose we can blame Swann for that too. Bells 52 (his 29th test half-century for England) was pleasing and that one innings adding up to more than he got in the whole of the United Arab Emirates tour against the Pakistani's. There were no bent arms or mystery spin or hotspot to deal with either and England now look scared of basic spin. Sri Lanka set about consolidating their 125 run lead on an increasingly spinning pitch but soon 72-5 as Swann got the ball ripping, closing the day on 85-5 with a 210 lead. Top England wicket takers... I T Botham 383 R G Willis 325 F S Trueman 307 D R Underwood 297 J A Andersen 264 Day Three... England ground themselves back into the game taking regular wickets but a last wicket partnership of 47 the killer, a record for the ground for Sri Lanka, seeing the game move away from England and their fourth straight test defeat looking certain. 127-8 to 214 all-out wasn't great, P Jayewardene 61* guiding them to safety. Swann 6-82 was his best numbers for a while but England required a record 340 to win. England did retaliate before the close at 112-2 with Trott and Pietersen looking set to turn the game back England's way but that record is tough for a reason. Strauss continues to fail with the bat and now just one hundred in 48 innings. Pressure will be put on the 35-year-old to step down for Cook this summer. Day Four... It started well with Trott dropping anchor as England arrived at tea at 233-4 and the victory looked on. But this is England in the Sub-Continent and once the Prior -Trott partnership of 81 was broken after an unlucky dismissal for Prior it was game over. Trott's 112 impressed but Herath cleaned them up with 6-97 (12- 171) for 264 all-out and a 75 run victory. This was good stuff by the home team and bad by the away side, poor shots and the batting all over the place, changes inevitable. England first innings was again the key and if they don't beef up that first five then they will never beat India to get back that world number one ratting. Second Test @ Columbo -April 4th-8th - Bresnan in and Monty out, Strauss and Flower scapegoating for the now fragile Panesar for recent defeats. My sources say Monty was distraught and asked to return home to Sussex immediately. The first five English batsmen that have caused all the problems remained unchanged for the winter. Sri Lanka bought in all-rounder Mathews and batted first, but soon rocking at 30-3 as Andersen set about them. I thought it was brainless by Flower to play three spinners and just two seamers in the punishing heat last test and so proved the case here. These guys don't like tall bouncy bowlers. But that man M Jayawardene (105) launched the fight back with his 31st century with a partnership of 124 with Samaraweera (54) and 62 with Mathews (54) to take them to 216-4 on a wicket that averages 370 in tests. Samaraweera scored the two millionth Test run in the process. Alan Border hit the one millionth run in 1986 against India. But Swann battled back and got some turn with 4-75 and Sri Lanka restricted to 275 all out, a great effort by England in the conditions, Swann becoming the third highest wicket taking spinner for England behind Jim Laker (194) and Underwood (297). Strauss and Cook had to fire now with a partnership and they did, 122 to be precise, fifties for both, Strauss's 61 taking some of the pressure of the captaincy talk. He does look past it now and at 35 it's about the right age to start thinking about handing over the reigns to Cook, who, no doubt, will also lose form with his new responsibility stripes. Trott (64) added 91 with Cook (94) as England took control, setting up Pietersen to finally return to form with an aggressive ton to bring up the 400, tunning up for the IPL, 151 the highest score by an 'Englishman' in Sri Lanka, beating fellow Saffer Robin Smiths 128. It also put him third in the all-time list of century scorers for England with 20, level with Cowdrey and Ken Barrington and two behind Wally Hammond and Geoffrey Boycott who have 22. Alistair Cook has 19. KP now has 29 international hundreds, passing Gouches 28 and so top spot for England. Kevins six sixes in the innings moves him right up in the clear the ropes table, now just four behind Botham and Tendulker, level top. England decided to try and slog to 500 but tumbled away from 380-4 to 460 all out, Herath taking his third straight six wicket haul (6-133). A late in the day but bold declaration may have been wiser to nibble a couple out before the punishing sun went down, perhaps another sign of Strauss not being himself. That man Jayewardene continued his impressive scoring to keep the Sri Lanka 2nd innings in tact and earned a lead of 33 at the close of day three. At 215-4 draw was coming into the equation but Swann nicked two out late on and England regained control. The three seamer and two spinner switch enables them to deal with the heat better. Monty would have done more damage than Patel though. Day four proved to be the final one of this curtailed series as Swann cleaned them up for 278 with 6-106 and 10 in the match (10-181), Jayewardene out in the first over of the day to a ball that turned square. England didn't panic and smacked the 94 to win with Cook 49* and Pietersen 42* for the 8 wicket win. Its just shame there wasn't a third test in what was a fun ser4ies in the blistering heat. Conclusion.... England went into the series looking to keep their top spot and achieved that but the sporadic nature of the batting suggest problems to come. The cliques in the dressing room are showing and KP only does it when he is in the mood. Bell looks poor unless he has cricket under his belt and Strauss heading for the big handover of the captaincy to Cook in preparation for the India tour in October. Bowling wise there have been no real problems for ages and so need for change. I felt Monty was poorly treated but that's for him to deal with. The big test now will be back-to-back series with South Africa in England and that India tour, the two best teams in the world for me. I would like to see some new batting blood and maybe James Taylor of Nottinghamshire to join Cook as opener in the West Indies series. I also think Ravi Bopara still has lots t offer England. Read the complete review |
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M
by thedevilinme So, is Mary Portas the latest victim of ageism on the BBC? The so-called 'retail style guru' has noticeably moved to Channel Four for her latest show called 'The bottom Line', seemingly replaced by busty Alex Politzzi in the same format and time slot that Mary owned. Alex is younger, sexier and flirtier with the boys, not Mary's thing ... anymore, recently 'outing' herself as bisexual and living with Grazia magazine fashion features editor Melanie Rickey, and with a baby on the way. Has the mop top moved to the alternative channel with her alternative lifestyle as the money is better or, whispers it quietly; she is too old for the 9pm slot on BBC2? Politzzi is playful and sexy and loves the camera, taking the opportunity to squeeze into a magnificent leather bikers outfit when helping to help a family firm turn their garage business around in Manchester. Mary just seemed to change her outfit for every camera angle, going through an extraordinary amount of costumes for her show, a self-publicist attention seeker. She simply didn't appeal to men with her big gob and bossy manner and so had to go. I'm happy with Alex. So, after sorting out the charity industry and various businesses and boutiques across the land our Mary has used her celebrity power accrued from the BBC to launch herself as the Portas brand, the House of Fraser flagship London store project last year a big success and to be fair very popular with middle-class mature women as she sold clothes they actually wanted to buy. There's no doubt she knows what she is doing and very entertaining on this type of inspirational makeover TV but has she outlived the non commercial BBC now she tries to build her fashion empire through them, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay style? Like Jamie Oliver, Mary has moved into that guru territory where you exploit working-class people through the medium of television and who know no better and let the tears flow as they 'go on a journey'. The plan this time around for good TV is as absurd as Oliver's plan to make Rotherham get thin or school the nations chav's with celebrities, here Portas rocking up in a once thriving northern town and trying to kick-start the clothing manufacturing industry by making 100% British made underwear, the sort of impossible task even a James Bond villain wouldn't try. Mary thinks that if the product is good and home made then middle-class women- presumably- will pay ten pounds for a pair of cheeky knickers. If they will pay three quid for a cappuccino then there is a chance, right? Well no as you can be seen drinking the coffee but few older women get men to see their knickers these days. Cheap foreign and child labour means 90% of the clothing industry has left Britain because 90% of the country doesn't give a crap about the poverty of sweatshops and just want cheap pants, the industry halving in the last ten years alone in the UK from what it was in the 1990s. But Mary knows better and believes because Chinese labour costs are rising so the west can compete, a pretty deluded observation if I may say so as sweatshops just move to poorer countries when that happens, the fundamental mechanics of a sweatshop. The only profitable clothing factories in the UK are illegal sweatshops in places like Bradford and Leicester who exploit illegal immigrant labor on three pounds an hour, a documentary also recently shown on Channel Four. In episode one Mary recruits her sewing staff alongside some older skilled staff from the unskilled unemployed of Middleton, Manchester, where the mill industry once ruled, plenty of jobless moody Northerners to pick from to create the characters that are essential to these shows and plenty of empty units from that industry to base their factory. The queue is huge for the interviews, Mary looking almost disappointed that the young people want to work, no doubt a lot of middle-class fashion students in the queue wanting to get ahead from her connections or kids just wanting to be on TV. Mary tries to fob off the demand as Work Program kids told to attended and so belligerently selects the least likely eight from the queue to get the trainee jobs, kids that cant sew and looking rather overweight, fitting the jobless stereotype to appease the middle-class sneering viewers watching on who tuned in for exactly this reason and will reciprocate to the commercials during the show that sell them nice things they want to buy even more now because they don't live like these poor people. Maybe the guilty ones will even buy Marks knickers made by the poor? So with all the 'characters' in place the kids begin to learn to get up for work in time and use a sewing machine, three of the eight being young guys, all on minimum wage for nine months, the first principal of the sweatshop, the bottom line. Knickers, no money. Get it? As Mary and the team get to grips with sourcing materials for her knickers the plan is to make and sell 5000 in that nine month period to make a decent profit. But the first cheat is Mary is allowed to pull on her various connections to get things done and no doubt waved her badge round when suppliers were late or sent defective materials, as did the lace manufacturer from Nottingham. These shows don't work without false economies of scale television shows will deliver. The kids seem willing to work and Mary clearly struggling to find the 'human story' to produce more tears, one stroppy overweight twentysomething all we have so far. She was Marys pick, clearly aware that the show needed drama, where you always get cynical about these shows. Mary isn't putting up much of the money for the shows venture - one presumes - and so still needs to make a TV show. You want her to succeed but at the end of the day it is just exploitative television. She is a hard-headed business woman and so the methods she applies to make this television show are the exact opposite she advises her clients as a high street fashion guru to do, her other job, a scheme like this pure folly. The reason why 90% of our clothes are made abroad is because that's the only way we can afford them and why 90% of us pay as little as possible for pants that will soon have more skid marks than Silverstone! I guarantee you 100% that if Mary was advising a private client how to launch an underwear range she would say make them cheap in China and enjoy the greedy mark up here. How long it will be until silly documentaries like this are outsourced to China is the big question here. Channel 4 at 9pm Thursdays if you're keen guys.... Read the complete review |
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