Tangerine Dreams

What is the most unexpected event of the past couple of weeks? The coalition government formed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats following the UK election, perhaps? Jose Mourinho completing an unprecedented treble with Inter Milan? Sarah Feguson's willingness to accept a few bob for access to her ex-husband's address book? No, I would suggest the biggest surprise of all has been the severe outbreak of tangerine in Glasgow and London. Last week, Dundee United won the Scottish Cup for only the 2nd time in over 100 years. Yesterday, at an unexpectedly steamy Wembley Stadium, Blackpool won promotion to the English Premiership after almost 40 years in exile from the top division.

These are both magnificent achievements but the most extraordinary story is that of Blackpool. He may previously have been regarded as a bit of a clown, but the manager, Ian Holloway, deserved his day in the sun yesterday at Wembley having taken Blackpool from being relegation favourites to winning promotion in a single season. The adjustment for the Seasiders will be truly transformational. This is a club which only recently smashed it's club transfer record with a £500,000 signing and where first team players are responsible for washing their own kits. With their new found riches, it remains to be seen how many of the current patchwork quilt squad of journeymen players will survive to play in the Premiership, but for the moment, they should enjoy their success.

Is this an omen? If you enjoy a flutter, you may consider a wager on the Dutch winning the World Cup.

Black Swan

Attending an in-house conference a couple of months ago, I asked one of my new colleagues from another department where he worked. I'm a "quant" he replied. I was about to offer some comfort and suggest that perhaps he was just having a bad day when I realized he was one of those PHD-wielding gents charged with calculating how much banks could expect to lose when things get a bit rough. Banks may have paid these guys a lot of money in the golden years but, as we all now know,the idea that markets could police themselves effectively proved to be a pretty expensive mistake.

A long-term critic of such risk modelling, Nassim Nicholas Taleb in "The Black Swan" highlighted the vulnerability of these assumptions in the event of high-impact, hard-to-predict and rare events.

Thom Yorke's "Black Swan" was released in 2006 and has nothing to do with the financial crisis that was to come. But the lyric certainly fits the way things turned out...

BA(RMY)

As if the prospect of another ash cloud and 2009 losses to be reported this week in the region of £600m was not enough for BA's management to worry about, the threat of industrial action over the next 20 days looms large. A baptism of fire for the new Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond. What happened to the once proud BA? There is certainly not enough space here....

I was thinking about BA last month when Malcolm McLaren died. McLaren was always more of a showbiz impressario than a serious musical talent but this arrangement of an old French opera known as "The Flower Duet" was a perfect accompaniment to BA's outstanding advertising campaign from 1989. Although you may prefer "Buffalo Gals"....

HANGING AROUND

These really are momentous times. A week in which Nick Clegg was described as a harlot and Adam Boulton on Sky News almost at the point of punching Alastair Campbell's lights out on live TV! In case you missed it, here it is...

John Hartson

It was great to hear that John Hartson has made a full recovery from cancer. John was with Celtic from 2001 to 2006 and made 146 appearances, scoring 88 goals. The one I remember best is this one from 2003 against Liverpool in the EUFA Cup. I was in Hong Kong watching on TV at about 5.30am when John unleashed this rocket. I must have made a racket because Terry, our helper, suddenly appeared. She was certainly surprised to see "sir" up so early and animated. It really was a moment to savour. (With apologies to my Liverpool friends..)

Oil City

Don't worry, this is nothing to do with the price of oil or the major oil spill in the U.S. I recently watched the Julian Temple documentary on Dr. Feelgood called "Oil City Confidential". The title refects the band's roots in Canvey Island, Essex in the shadows of large oil refineries. The film is well worth seeing and confirms that Wilko Johnson is every bit as unhinged off the stage as on it.

I first encountered the Feelgoods in 1975 when they were on the bill at the Reading Festival. Having just turned 16, I managed to convince my parents that I should be allowed to go - my friend's uncle obligingly gave us a lift in his HGV all the way to St. Albans and we hitched from there. It was a major event with bill toppers being Hawkwind, Yes and Wishbone Ash. But the real surprise was Dr. Feelgood - their debut album "Down By The Jetty" had just been released but they were relatively unknown compared to the other big names on the bill. It's a long time ago now, but I can still remember the impact of Wilko's manic strutting around the stage and the power they generated. As soon as I got back to Scotland, I bought the album which I still have to this day. It was defiant to the point of being in mono and with a single black and white sleeve in an era when Roger Dean's elaborate artwork adorned many a gatefold album cover. The Feelgoods were never slaves to the vagaries of fashion.

Welcome

I've been thinking about doing this for a while as a way of keeping family and friends up to date with my current ramblings. Since moving to Singapore last year we have all been kept very busy and work has rather unreasonably interrupted our schedule. I can't make any promises as to how prolific my posts will be but I will try my best....

This is not intended to be a serious zone, rather a place to retreat for some light relief. If you manage to discover something new here then I will consider my work done.

The Cosmic Rough Riders just might be the best band to come out of Castlemilk (or Chateau au Lait), a large housing estate in Glasgow. They haven't recorded an album since 2006 but this track from 2000 is an enduring classic.