Sad Sad Sad

That's QPR for you. They pull off an incredible comeback from 0-2 vs Liverpool to win in injury time and rekindle hope that it is still possible to avoid the drop. And then ... and then they crumble at the Stadium of Light and crush our hearts once more. And bloody Cisse gets sent off again. I think he has now been banned from more games than he has actually played for us. We are so relegated. Yet I still have shelled out for a ticket to see the Arsenal next week. What is my problem?!

Hi Lo Armani Lining

WARNING - OLDIE RANT ALERT

I have been spoiled in the past by having a ten yard commute from my bedroom to the office. Karma is coming back to me though, as these days I must take the Northern Line tube trains to get to work. Until now, I had thought that the Manhattan underground during rush-hour was the ultimate in sardine subway experiences. No longer is that so. In the past few weeks I have been in more intimate contact with utter strangers than with people I have dated. Since I am armpit height, I have conducted an involuntary survey on the efficacy of the use of underarm deodorants. And I have developed a strong dislike of the current fashion for women to have long hair that flows freely around their shoulders, particularly if they have a tic that means they flick their hair every few seconds. Someone's going to lose an eye one of these days!

Today, however, for some strange reason (and those who know me will know how strange this is), the issue that enraged me was younger men and their pants. There are those who currently enjoy going without whilst wearing trackie bottoms. Please don't! There's nothing more unsavoury than being crushed against unrestrained dangly bits from Finchley Central to Warren Street. As for those who are kind enough to don a pair, I am most grateful. However, I have no need for visual proof of this fact. I'm happy to trust you to get dressed properly before you leave your home. And I'm really not impressed by the label on the waistband.

Actually, I was thinking about why this bothers me so much. It's a toss-up between the anxiety engendered by worrying if your trousers will fall down at any moment, and envy that you seem to be able to keep your trousers up despite having absolutely no hips whatsoever.

In the end, if the research in the picture below is accurate, I don't understand why you'd want to do it in the first place.

Way to go, Lionel!

In the recent Sunday Telegraph, Cardinal Keith O'Brien stated his case against same-sex marriage. Amongst other things, he said:

"Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father."

If you must read the rest of his article, it may be found here. 

Meanwhile, Lionel was invited onto the Today show this morning on Radio 4, along with the Cardinal. As reported by The Week:

"The cardinal described the plans as 'grotesque' and said they would 'shame the United Kingdom'. Likening gay marriage to slavery, he told John Humphrys the move would be 'violating human rights' and lead to society 'degenerating even further ... into immorality'.

Moments later Rabbi Lionel Blue read out his Thought for the Day, in which he told a humorous tale about 'loving couples' walking in London in the springtime.

""A gay couple arm-in-arm walk behind a young man and his girl", he said. "Suddenly the boy and girl have a flaming row and one of the gay couple remarks sadly to his partner: 'That is what comes of mixed marriage.'""

The rest of that article may be found here. We love you, Lionel.