Enjoying a Restful Christmas apart from watching Hibs Lose!

Nothing much going on politically apart from stupid Christmas and New year Statements from the Scottish First Minister bleating on about Scottish Independance.
The Scottish press are very upset today as the new Microsoft Earth has not got up to date images and still shows the Scottish Parliament site as a Contruction site although the building has been open since 2004!



I watches the Hibs V Rangers match without much expectation and in truth it was in parts a one sided affair and only Rangers slacking off gave us any chance in the game with a very good goal from Zemmama althouh a 2-1 defeat probably flattered us!
In truth the Hibs players played well against an in-form Rangers but the injury hit sqaud was really exposed and is currently threadbare not having built up the sqaud in the summer and we are now paying a heavy price with defeat after defeat and sliding down the table. We need a new Manager quickly and we need new players in the January window especially Colin Nish from Kilmarnock and a good full back and central defender or it will be avery long season. We could do with Riordan or Killen back on loan from Celtic or even Kris Boyd who cant get a name at Rangers? Only bright note is that Hearts are in an even worse state than we are!!
I wont see the home game against Motherwell on Wednesday as it has been rightly posponed after the sudden and tragic death of Motherwell Captain Phil O'Donnell at the end of yesterday's match against Dundee United, collapsing on the pitch and pronounced dead very soon after!


All our problems will only get worse when David Murphy leaves in January, Celtic and Rangers fighting it out for him!
We will be sorely missed and will leave us even deeper in trouble and will no doubt score against us next time we play the Old Firm!
On a brighter not the £5M Training Centre is open, the best in Scotland and one of the best in the UK, and the new East Stand will be up for the start of next season bringing the capacity upto 20,000 and completing the redevelopment. all good news for the future but we need to give fans something now and at least we have the memories of that amazing Cup win in May but wont wait another 19 years to repeat the experience!

Christmas Shopping in Glasgow and Hibs hold onto point against Celtic at Parkhead!

I spent the day in Glasgow yesterday with my sister and nephew and we had a good chance to have a look around and do some last minute christmas shopping including the Winterfest Market in Argyle Street.



After the recent turmoil Hibs picked up a surprising point by drawing 1-1 with Celtic at Parkhead. We have taken 4 out of 6 points against Celtic so far which is great but we need to keep it going against rangers and Motherwell at home over the next week, not an easy job either game. Hopefully I will be at both games with dad so we will see how things progress?

Christmas Shopping Done and John Collins Quits Hibs!

Just about finished all my Christmas Shopping and now getting ready for Chruistmas with my sister and two of my nephews joining us on Christmas Day in Edinburgh.
Princess Street was busy as ever and cold but a great place to shop and the Winter Festival is in full swing!
looks like I shall be expereincing the joys of Wii as my two nephews will be testing them out no doubt?

Of course the big Hibs news was the sudden departure of boss John Collins citing the lack of funds made available to him by the Board! This is somewaht questionable given the departureof Laurie Sanchez from Fulham the day after and I would not be surprised to see Collins announced as the new Manager any day now? This will not warm him to the Hibs faithful so he had better not plan a return visit any time soon! In truth he made the team play attractive football and the 5-1 CIS Cup Victory was a stunning performance and one that I was very fortunate to witness! The serious players revolt only a month after the Cup win did raise alarm bells re his man management skills and this may be his problem in the future.

Hibs now face Celtic away today and Rangers at home next Saturday without a Manager in a critical part of the season so really crap timing by Collins!

There are lots of names in the frame including ex player Mixu Pattellainen currently doing well in Finland and Billy Davies recently sacked harshly in my view, by Derby County. Mark McGee of Motherwell would be my first choice but he may be being lined up for the vacant Scotland job ?

Anyway interesting times ahead!

Back in Edinburgh, Lib Dems go for "Cameron Lite", Southwark worst performer for Traffic tickets and Hibs open new £4M Training Centre

SoI am safely back home in the bosom of my family in Edinburgh after a usual positive experience with EasyJet (not like the Tv programme at all!) but we did have to fly around Edinburgh seven times for over half an hour as something fell off the palne in front of us and onto the runway!!
I suppose I was please that bits were not falling of my plane!

The Lib Dems really are becoming a bit of a bad joke with the outcome of their Leadership election nothing short of shambolic!

Clegg, astonishingly only an MP since 2005, beat Chris Huhne to the Lib Dem leadership by 20,988 votes to 20,477 - a margin of just 511. So now we know that around half the Lib Dem members see him as "Calamity Clegg" but prefer the new press title of "Cameron Lite" with his endless vaccuous statements like "you know who" but without the personality! The idea that him and Huhne will work together is laughable as they had to be almost physically restrained after the cameras were switched off on the Politics Show!

The Times reported the following today:

"Local councils are dismissing challenges to thousands of parking fines despite having poor evidence or no proof against the drivers.
Which? magazine uncovered a big disparity in the way different councils handle parking fines. Motorists in some parts of the country are almost three times more likely to appeal successfully against a fine compared with elsewhere, figures suggest.
Hackney, Hillingdon and Southwark, all London councils, are the worst offenders, says the magazine."
Last year Southwark Council lost 84 per cent of 2,256 cases heard by an adjudicator and failed to offer evidence in six out of ten of them. Hackney lost 86 per cent of disputes and did not contest 44 per cent.
Overall, Londoners have a 75 per cent chance of successfully appealing against a parking fine."

Yet another Department in complete meltdown! Whilst Stanton fiddles whilst Rome burns Southwark Residents are getting a worse and worse service with reorganisation after reorganisation and all the senior experienced Managers voting with their feet!! What a Mess!

Hibs opened their £4M new Training Centre yesterday wiuth out doubt the best in Scotland and probably one of the best in the UK?

It wont stop Collins getting a hard time from the Hibs fans though, only a win will do that but it is a great investment for the future!

Last day before I leave for Christmas in Scotland!!

It is my last day at work and in London before flying off to Edinburgh tomorrow morning for almost 3 weeks!

I have posted some photos of the Christmas Festival and of course Hogmanay from last year so hoping for a nice restful time with the family, seeing Hibs hopefully get back to winning ways!
It is great to be with the family at Christmas and I will look forward to last minute Christmas shopping in Edinburgh, going to Easter Road with dad to watch Hibs, visiting my sister in St. Andrews and hopefully going to the Cairngorms which I have never done before?
I will be blogging at home and have my camera with me so will try to put some pics up over the Festive period to reflect my time at home.
Next year is an Election Year so it will back to vigourous campaigning for the Mayor and GLA when I get back so I am going to enjoy the break!

This picture is of the Cairngorm National Park.

Lib Dems Hold Riverside and Hibs keep losing!

The Lib Dems held on to Riverside despite an excellent Labour campaign with an excellent candidate.
The Council reported the result as follows:

Anood Al-Samerai was elected last night (13 December) as a councillor for the Riverside ward. The results were: • Anood Al-Samerai – Liberal Democrat – 1,114
• Cormac Hollingsworth – Labour – 691
• Rahoul Bhansali – Conservative – 260
• Amanda Penfold – Green – 122
• Fernando Grace – UKIP – 49
Ballot papers counted: 2248 (12 rejected). Turnout was 24.7 per cent. Yesterday's by-election was prompted by the resignation the Paul Baichoo (Liberal Democrat).
The vast majority of Riverside residents who could not be bothered to vote now have another Simon Hughes bag carrying careerist "representing" them instead of a local person like Cormac who would have challenged this entirely rotten Lib Dem/Tory Coalition instead of another insider who will no doubt be rewarded soon with a highly paid Executive position to work for Simon at the Rate Payers expense?


On the Hibs front they are the midst of a real slump losing again against Inverness Caley at the worst time possible with a busy Christmas schedule. They have Falkirk at home tomorow and then I will see them against Rangers and Motherwell and on their curent form I can see myself watching 2 home defeats backk to back! Still good to see Rangers dumped out of the Champions League!


On Sunday I will be at the Emirates to see Arsenal hopefully beat Chelsea and go into the new year at the top of the Premiership! Cant wait!

Camberwell Labour Party Christmas Party,Riverside By-Election Looms and Fletcher signs new contract at Hibs!

The Camberwell Labour Party had their Christmas Party last night in the Dark Horse with a lot of new and keen members turning up. The picture shows Chris Page victorious in the Christmas Quiz with his prize and Peter Parkes in third place, Clare Cozens winning a House of Commons bottle of claret for a very good effort in second place.
Again a good night was had by all although not many could name all of Santa's reindeers!

The Riverside By-Election Campaign in in it's final week with lots of Party members working hard to get our good comrade Cormac Hollingsworth (pictured) onto the Council. He would be a really excellent Councillor and knows the area extremely well unlike other candidates who have been hawked around half of the Borough before turning up in Rotherhithe!

I really hoppe that the electorate of Riverside Ward do the right thing and vote for Cormac on Thursday to hasten the demise of this totally discredited Liberal Democrat/Tory Coalition which is currently overseeing crisis after crisis within Southwark and is setting us back years!

Hibs play Inverness Caley away tomorrow, something of a bogey team for us (we are also facing them in the next round of the Scotish cup!) . It is important to perform well after Sunday's dreadful display against Aberdeen but there is good news in a new deal with Steven Fletcher keeping him at Easter Road and making him the highest paid palyer in the squad! I still reckon he will go in the summer but at least Rangers or Celtic will have to fork out for him! hibs nd to find their form ahead of a busy Christmas schedule or they will find themselves slipping down the table!

Over The next month I will see Arsenal play Chelsea and then Hibs take on Rangers and Motherwell at Easter Road so hopefully some good football over the festive period?

Camberwell Branch Working in Riverside and Hibs are rubbish!!

Dora, Chris and I and a team of Camberwell Labour Party members were out Campaigning in Riverside on Saturday on the Dickens Estate. The Tories and UKIP were also out in force but no sign of the Lib Dems?

It is always slightly nerve wracking campaigning out of your own patch but we had a good time on a sunny but cold morning! Not long to go til polling day!!! It would be a terrific result to take a seat in Stanton's patch but lots of work to do upto the 13th December.

I watched Hibs play Aberdeen at Pittodrie yesterday and it was an absolutley shocking performance by Hibs despite taking an early lead through Fletcher. We were always second best, outplayed, outmanouvered and to be honest only one team seemed interested in winning. It was an awful performance and not the sort of form when we go into the Christmas programme! I am worried!

Meanwhile Collins is interested in Racing Ferrol's 21 year old French midfielder Steven Cohen who has said

"Scotland is an attractive league and I will listen to all offers that are presented to me".