Last Saturday the mighty Bees hammered the local rivals Chelsea. The same club that has had outstanding success in the last two decades and are currently Champions League holders and world club champions. Despite this pedigree Brentford won 4-1 away form home. Amazing result. The first win over Chelsea since 1939 it seems.

I had a late offer of a ticket but could not take it up as I had a conflicting appointment- pre-op assessment at Chelsea & Westminster. An opportunity missed.

This is the same Chelsea that are in difficulties due to sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs close to the murderous, war mongering Putin regime.

So it seems the Danish superstar had a lot to do with the great performance and win. He scored in this match as well as scoring on his international return during the week. A marvellous story.

2 April 20222 April 2022.

Chelsea 1 Brentford 4

• Rüdiger (48’minutes)

FTHT 0-0

• Janelt (50’minutes, 60’minutes), 
• Eriksen (54’minutes), 
• Wissa (87’minutes)

Christian Eriksen scored his first goal for Brentford as they closed in on Premier League safety by outclassing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Brentford produced a magnificent display to record their first win over Chelsea since 1939 as they came from behind to stun Thomas Tuchel’s side with three goals in 10 minutes in the second half before adding a fourth late on to humiliate the Champions League holders.

The programme is prioritised- most 80 and above have had their first dose I think.

So EQ stays in Scotland at least. Parcel services are to be used to quickly send presents up north.  I expect there is a lot of misery across London and the south-east.

“Perhaps we should call this new Covid-19 variant the “Grinch strain”. As coronavirus in a mutated, more contagious form scuppers plans for festive gatherings, the front pages can do little to hang a bauble on the news. At least you could buy a copy of all today’s papers to keep you occupied during the times of suppressed joy ahead. Puzzle specials, added sections and other extras abound in these final Sunday editions before Christmas …”

We did our little bit to support the march. We arrived on time and stood for two hours before finding a point to join the route. Amazingly met Nige and Trish at Hyde Park Corner. It was good to put in the effort and show your position. Others came from much further afield and so very much engaged in the protest.

Will it all make a differnce?

The politics currently is so chaotic and nasty- who knows. Maybe just helps to show that there is a large committed number who do not accept the path proposed by TM and the rest and so the the outcome should be moderated. Cannot have no- deal exit.

So today there government has announced that the vote on the exit deal is to be delayed. It is clear the government does not have the support to win the vote. This has been much talked about for the last week. So now we have a delay to allow May to go to Europe looking for more concessions. 

However, how realistic is that? The EU has been clear that this is the deal and further negotiations are not on the cards. They have said that for a while, which of course, they would. But is there reason to doubt their position? May has been saying as part of her strategy that the deal is not re-negotiable – and yet…….

This is all so ridiculous. Where is this going? 

A deferred inevitable rejection of the deal and more time wasted.

In the end there was no emotion or real awareness of all this process, it had seemed to fade into the background. A 67% turnout though was good one could say.

I agree with the article below written by a Kiwi in London. It was a superficial process that ddi not involve the true wider issues of New Zealand’s constitutional  position and the process was very badly done.

The motley opponents of the Kyle Lockwood-designed alternative, which came out on top in an earlier run-off referendum, made unlikely bedfellows. Among them were, yes, many conservative-minded voters, set against any idea of jettisoning the emblematic link to the mother country. Alongside them was another group eager to shake off the colonial vestige gobbling up a quarter of the flag, yet unable to stomach the alternative. For them the mishmash Lockwood flag – variously compared to a beach towel, a Weetabix packet and the logo for a chain of budget motels – was such an eyesore that they were driven to plump for the unsatisfactory but less hideous incumbent.

Others were against the alternative flag because they opposed the man most closely associated with it: the centre-right prime minister, John Key. Egged on by the opposition parties, who almost universally denounced this Key legacy project as a distraction, and a waste of NZ$27m, their objective, more or less, was to give the prime minister, unaccustomed to losing anything much, a bloody nose.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2016/mar/24/new-zealand-votes-to-keep-its-flag-in-referendum

Following the news flash on TV1