Is this the worst England shirt ever?

Over the years I have found myself owning a large range of football shirts, more often than not, at least one of them was an England kit. It became something of ritual, that on the eve of a major tournament I would head out to the shops and spend my well earned cash on the latest overpriced offering from the FA. For me it was part of getting involved with the excitement of the tournament.

Now I'm happy to concede England shirts have never been the prettiest of football kits, but the latest one, debuting in the game against Slovakia last night, has plumbed new depths.

It is so dull and unimaginative. Clearly its meant to be retro, harking back to English football's greatest moment 1966, with the giant 3 lions badge and bizarre collar. Instead it just looks like a chavvy t-shirt from Burtons or something Matthew Horne would wear in Gavin and Stacey!

The first thing Cat said when she saw it was 'isn't that the girls version?' which for me, sums the other major problem with this kit. It is REALLY feminine and cut in a very shapely fashion, which would seem to be a major error on the part of Umbro, as most people who buy this will be men with sizeable bellies!

But how does it compare to previous England horrors and classics- here are my top 3 of each.

Classics

The all time #1 England kit 1966

The Euro 96 shirt

The Italia 90 top
















Horrors


The Euro 96 away kit

The Euro 96 Keepers top

1997/98 home shirt
















For me, the sooner the FA get signed up with a decent kit manufacterer like Nike or Addidas, the better, as the 09/11 is one shirt I will not be buying!

Arm Update #6!

Today I have been at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford recieving treatment for the Fibrous Dysplasia in my arm that caused this break in the first place.

Basically this involved a Zoledronate infusion, which sounds way more exciting than it actually is, and involved me being hooked up to a drip for 15 minutes while they pumped me full of aforementioned drug. This should solve the problem of the Fibrous Dysplasia by slowing down bone remodelling in my arm, i.e. inhibiting the cells that break down the bone, and allowing those that rebuild bone to work more effectively. There is also a bonus effect- it should make my break heal quicker...

Really it is a pretty harmless drug, and the only side effects tend to be flu-like symptoms, which so far I am not experiencing. It does however mean I need to increase my calcium intake- which is great! It is now better for me medically to eat more cheese, chocolate and creamy things and to drink plenty of Nesquik!

Now all that is left treatment-wise is straight forward fracture based and hopefully some physio too. At this point I'm praying nothing else will go wrong, but already I'm worried my treatment has fallen into some administrative limbo between Oxford and Swansea, so will be on the phone on Monday kicking some consultant's secretary butt!

In the mean time I'm travelling back to Swansea tonight and will be spending the weekend stripping wallpaper in our living room. Good times....!

Hip-Hopopotamus vs. The Rhymenocerous

I'm not a huge Hip Hop fan, but I make an exception for the genius that is Rhymemocerous

Calvinism vs Arminianism 101

Found this a really useful, basic explaination of these two viewpoints that can have such a strong influnece on how we understand our faith and how we read the Bible. It's 8 minutes long, but well worth your time... I also liked how Mark Driscoll (usually a fairly confronational kinda a guy) emphasised that this is not an issue that should cause division, but only promote loving debate and discussion.

Which side of the fence do I sit on? Well my middle name is John, so you could say I dont really have choice!

It was in the notes all along! AKA broken bone update

So it turns out the answer to the second opinion we have waited 3 weeks for was in my notes all along, and the doctors in Morriston missed it...

Along with 7% of the British population I have condition called Fibrous Dysplasia. Basically this means that in my left Humerus, fibrous tissue replaces bone and makes the bone very weak (you can find out more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrous_dysplasia). This explains why my bone broke so easily, and the big lesion that appeared on all my scans. Essentially this is good news because the worst thing that can happen is I might break a bone (oh, now wait...) and it can be cured by a simple injection of drugs that inhibit fibrous material production and much drinking of milk!

All this was revealed to me by the very helpful Mr Gibbons at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford where I had gone for a biopsy and the long awaited 2nd opinion. It turns out I did not need a biopsy to establish what the cyst is, as it was recognised and diagnosed on an MRI scan I had in 2005 at the Nuffield while preparing for surgery on my Arthritic elbow. It was the aforementioned Fibrous Dysplasia and was nothing to be worried about. There is some more good news that comes along with this diagnosis; I will not be having a bone graft, as if new bone was put into the cyst the fibrous dysplasia would turn it into more fibrous material, thus rendering the procedure useless, and actually counter productive in terms of my overall well-being.

This is pretty galling on a number of levels; firstly the answer was in my notes all along, secondly Swansea missed it, thirdly I twice came very close to having a pointless bone graft that would have been extremely painful and a waste of time.

However I don't want to dwell on the negatives too much, as overall it has been a very encouraging couple of days. The tumour scare is over, and soon to be sorted out and we are just left with the fracture to deal with. I go back to the Nuffield on Thursday to see Mr Rees, the man who operated on my elbow back in 2005, to discuss the fracture. It is possible over the past 4 weeks the bone has healed enough that I may not even need the plate any more. We wont know till we see the X-rays that were taken yesterday. But ultimately if after all of drama I end up with just an operation to put a plate in my arm and an injection to calm my industrious fibrous tissue I will be pleased!

I will update again on Thursday!

Guilt free Dairy Milk!

Fairtrade fortnight is turning out to be a good one! not only is Starbucks going fair trade, but now Cadbury's has announced that from this Autumn all its Dairy Milk bars will be too! According to the FT "The confectionery group will certify 300m of its Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars as well as its packaged cocoa, at a cost of £1.5m ($2.1m), by the end of summer."

Unsurprisngly this news has been welcomed by the Fairtrade Foundation, and their chief executive, Harriet Lambsaid Cadbury’s move, which represents £200m in retail sales, would “throw down the gauntlet” to other big chocolate manufacturers. “It’s an iconic British brand ... This does really set the pace for the mainstream industry.”

It seems that the tide is turning, that major multinationals are realising fairtrade (and ethical trading) is becoming an increasingly important part of people's choices, and that they have to keep up with it.

Cadbury 's will now pay an extra $150 a tonne for Fairtrade cocoa to ensure farmers receive a minimum price, which is $1,600 a tonne. It buys nearly two-thirds of its cocoa from Ghana, and this will make huge difference to their lives.

However we should never sit on our laurels, and much, much more still needs to be done. We all still need to make the right consumer choices, lobby companies and governments and serve those less well off than ourselves. Proverbs 16:11 says "The Lord demands fairness in every business deal; he sets the standards" We who are Christians, Christ's ambassadors, must do the same.

Guilt free Starbucks!

I have a confession. I love coffee and I love Starbucks. I love Caramel Machiatos and Frappachinos, Mochas and Cafe Estimas. What I don't love though is their lack of ethical practices. For many, Starbucks, along with Gap are the torch carriers for all that is wrong with commercial globalisation, and therefore should be avoided at all costs. However generally I'm of the opinion that boycotting doesn't work as a tactic for change (see No Logo by Naomi Klein and Lift the Label by Tearfund), and positive action is a far more effective route to challnging the behaviour of multinationals. So I have written letters and emails asking them to expand their fair trade range, and usually that results in a nice letter, but aso a large degree of fobbing off and excuses.
Imagine my delight then when on Sunday we headed to Starbucks for a Frappichino, and discovered the following sign...



Its a little blurred, so I'll make it clear! In March all of Starbucks espresso will become fair trade! This is great news as most of their drinks (lattes, machiatos etc) are based on espresso, and therefore making this change will benefit the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of coffee growers and plantation workers. Also (and with much less significance) it means that we can drink Starbucks coffee guilt free! Hooray for Starbucks!

I realise there are still plenty of things wrong with the way Starbucks does business, and the homgeonisation of society is not a good thing generally, so we should continue to write letters, kick up a fuss and frequent independent coffee houses. But in the mean time we should enjoy this victory and enjoy the fair trade coffee!