Category: UK

Next season fixture list

Looking at the names seems a little wild, unreal.

Saturday 14 August Arsenal H

Saturday 21 August Crystal Palace A

Saturday 28 August Aston Villa A

Saturday 11 September Brighton and Hove Albion H

Saturday 18 September Wolverhampton Wanderers A

Saturday 25 September Liverpool H

Saturday 2 October West Ham United A

Saturday 16 October Chelsea H

Saturday 23 October Leicester City H

Saturday 30 October Burnley A

Saturday 6 November Norwich City H

Saturday 20 November Newcastle United A

Saturday 27 November Everton H

Wednesday 1 December Tottenham Hotspur A

Saturday 4 December Leeds United A

Saturday 11 December Watford H

Tuesday 14 December Manchester United H

Saturday 18 December Southampton A

Sunday 26 December Brighton and Hove Albion A

Tuesday 28 December Manchester City H

Saturday 1 January Aston Villa H

Saturday 15 January Liverpool A

Saturday 22 January Wolverhampton Wanderers H

Wednesday 9 February Manchester City A

Saturday 12 February Crystal Palace H

Saturday 19 February Arsenal A

Saturday 26 February Newcastle United H

Saturday 5 March Norwich City A

Saturday 12 March Burnley H

Saturday 19 March Leicester City A

Saturday 2 April Chelsea A

Saturday 9 April West Ham United H

Saturday 16 April Watford A

Saturday 23 April Tottenham Hotspur H

Saturday 30 April Manchester United A

Saturday 7 May Southampton H

Sunday 15 May Everton A

Sunday 22 May Leeds United H

Wembley is next

After a tense early afternoon on Saturday, with much excitement and shouting the Bees managed to win the semi-final play-off match and tie, after a disastrous start, with the winner with 10 minutes to go.

As summed up:

What it took was victory in one of the most chaotic, glorious games of the season as they overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat Bournemouth in a contest that included calamitous defending, a penalty, a red card, countless fouls and a ballistic atmosphere. It was ultimately decided by substitute Marcus Forss’s winner in the 81st minute.

My voice was harsh at the end with the shouting and frustration.

 

Unfortunately there is not ticket for me as things stand for the final against Swansea. There were 4,300 at new GP but the club has access to less than 4,000 for the final even though 10,000 are allowed to watch. Not enough fan points on my behalf. Oh well, Isaac’s rugby followed by watching in a pub in east London? Interesting.

The Cat’s Back walk

We drove through many narrow and windy roads to the ‘picnic site’ to begin the walk- as recommended by The Guardian. It was somewhat more of a challenge than expected, along with some misunderstanding between the two of us.

Very beautiful and with few other people around.

  • Looking south
  • Looking north

We walked around the sides for a while until we decide that, with a likely change in the weather, it was sensible to make out way back It was then that we came across the path to the top. There is a platform -like area with beautiful views to the valleys to the side and over the steep, south- facing side. Beautiful. As ever, we met lots of sheep and evidence of wild horses.

The shepherd’s hut

The hut is on a farm near Longtown, officially in Herefordshire but this part of border country seems more Welsh.

The hut

As well as a holiday experience it was also a way to test the market and see how other people do the secluded, quiet, minimalist accommodation and how we may do something similar in the future. A useful learning experience as well as a holiday.

And the view from the deck

Birthday walking in Powys

We are on holiday. Photos of the hut to come on due course.

We are officially in Herefordshire but on the border with Wales. The area feels Welsh as the names are more Welsh and the accents are more like that too.

Today was a walking day. First to the Skirrid which was steep and tough on the legs. At the top the views were good and the wind and rain strong.

In the afternoon we managed to do the Sugar Loaf on the other side of Abergavenny, though we did have a bit of trouble finding the car park for the start. It was very much ‘4 seasons in one day’ stuff. We did not reach the summit but that did not matter.

HRH standard response

Thank you for contacting us with your feedback about BBC Radio. 

The passing of HRH The Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was a significant event which generated a lot of interest both nationally and internationally. 

We acknowledge your complaint about the level of coverage, particularly in relation to the BBC News Special programme which was broadcast across all networks. 
We do not make such changes to billed schedules without careful consideration. The decisions made reflect the role the BBC plays as the national broadcaster, during moments of national significance.

We are grateful for your feedback, and we always listen to the response from our audiences. Your comments have been shared with senior management.

Kind regards, 

BBC Complaints Team

Media coverage of the death of Duke of Edinburgh

 

Yesterday at the age of 99, Prince Philip, ‘Phil the Greek’ died. It was not unexpected as he was clearly old, and had recently spent a significant time in hospital.

As expected there has been ‘wall-to-wall’ coverage. It has been excessive  and totally in keeping with the traditional obsession with service to royalty. It has driven me made but as the same time, it seems, many others too:

BBC flooded with complaints over Prince Philip death coverage

Corporation opened dedicated complaints form on its website to deal with high volume of comments

The BBC logo
The BBC curtailed dozens of broadcasts on Friday, taking the nation’s most popular television and radio channels off air. 
 

Within six hours of Prince Philip’s death being announced the BBC had received so many complaints about its wall-to-wall coverage of the news that it opened a dedicated complaints form on its website, as television viewers turned off and went elsewhere.

The BBC curtailed dozens of broadcasts on Friday, taking the nation’s most popular television and radio channels off air and reducing dozens of other broadcasts on stations across the country, to provide uninterrupted coverage of tributes to the Queen’s husband.

BBC One played a series of pre-recorded shows, including Philip’s children paying tribute to him, while BBC Two scrapped its schedule and simulcast the same shows as its sister channel. Friday night staples such as EastEnders, Gardeners’ World, and the final episode of MasterChef were taken off air to make way for more tributes, an approach also taken by ITV.

So, to keep up the momentum I decided to make my complaint too. What particularly annoyed was the universal broadcast of I think Gyles Brandreth as a royalty history expert or maybe a documentary he made.

All of this has echos of the death of Diana when again we all had to fall into line with national mourning and a group expectation of sadness. Again tv schedules were changed and radio was replaced with nothing or dirge music.

Here is my short complaint:

I am complaining regarding the response of the BBC to the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

With particular respect to the radio I found it inappropriate that each national radio station that i tried was broadcasting the same programme. As such there was no choice in whether I wanted to participate in the remembrance. I found it unacceptable and I would expect younger people who tuned into Radio 1 would have bemused.

The BBC is not meant to be an organ of the state and blanket coverage of the same programme and then funeral music after , an for how long, is not acceptable.

In conjunction, the over- indulgent coverage of the death on BBC television excessive for me and I am sure a significant proportion of the population who do not feel a sense of obdedience to the idea of royalty.