“Let’s form a committee tasked with exploring why committees are so ineffective. Then we’ll stand-back and watch it argue and self-destruct.”
Ryan Lilly
Anybody tempted to think this is a disguised pop at certain committees tasked with coming up with sensible and practical ideas to sustain a struggling recreational sport rather than chase the latest fad might be right.
Anyway, enough of that…on with the normal stuff.
So good to see that, as part of the Government’s reaction to Corona Panic, they are proposing MPs and Lords get five months off and an inflation busting pay rise to boot! It is unclear as to whether they have volunteered for Statutory Sick Pay or the normal Gravy Train Rates.
Personally I would ring fence the bastards in the respective Houses for five months where they might actually do some work; at least the rest of us would be free from the free-loading numpties.
What could be so bad with all that subsidised food and drink? And if a few of them got bumped off well what a saving that would be for the NHS – double whammy!
I am sure the Lords will be coming up with some scam to ensure they don’t lose out on their daily attendance allowance of around £300. Maybe they could install a call button on their bedside tables; ring once to collect your wonga.
Just a thought.
Whose Game?
Rumours circulated last weekend that, on expiry of the current television deal with the BBC and ITV, Rugby’s iconic Six Nations could be bought up by Sky.
In his regular column for The Telegraph, respected pundit Brian Moore makes a few telling tackles.
“Look at what happened to cricket in the decade after 2005 when it left free-to-air television. The England and Wales Cricket Board announced record turnover, profit and investment in the game and a near 30 per cent drop in participation numbers.”
In other words the suits tucked in and had a ball. The money men do not care, seeing top level sport simply measured by return on investment. And so a great tournament will become largely invisible.
In a few short years, most of sports’ governing bodies will be in the control of the likes of Sky plus, perhaps, new entrants such as Amazon and Netflix. Who cares if fewer people play these games?
And as television’s control takes on new levels this merely allows them to announce mind-numbing new formats dictated by their schedules; what price Ant & Dec presenting Test Match Special?
As a prime example, here comes cricket’s The Hundred, shaped by and for television this summer and aimed at sofa-bound retards who’ve never heard of cricket – you have been warned.
What Really Matters
If you are rushing through this blog, maybe short on time, then I would urge you simply to read this article and ignore the rest.
In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff – and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he’s still on the minimum salary, and says the gamble has paid off.
If that does not wet your appetite, then little point trying to convince you any more.
And Finally
It seems not only Bradford has form with blowing big money on expensive water features that don’t actually work, albeit how Bradford managed to spend £26m remains a mystery to me. Still, the local winos have often shown their full appreciation.
In Manchester – see this story – they’ve barely blown a million.
As one reader commented: “As if it doesn’t already rain enough in Manchester!”
True enough, city centres have to compete for scarce inward investment but far too often decisions like these are made by people with zero business skills. The very same people that moan about central government draining – apologies for the pun – them of cash.
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