Complicity

We went to a great tango show in Buenos Aires tonight. We have been avoiding the touristy servings but were persuaded to go along to this by our language exchange partner not only because of the venue (it was in the Palace of Culture) but also because we figured it would not be tourist fare. We were right. This was not a dance show but a ninety minute concert, passionately delivered and professionally executed.

However, as the evening progressed and my mind wandered a little (I can`t sit still easily for an hour and a half), I got to thinking about all the grey-haired Argentines we were sharing this with. It was no working-class affair. The audience were middle-class to well-off and living in the nation`s capital.

We watched "The official story" last week. It may not have been the best acted film but it was powerful nevertheless. I recommend it if you have the chance: it dealt with the dirty war (see my first May entry) and the search for truth. One powerful scene involved a family argument. The aging father, on the verge of tears, declared to his middle-aged son: "Under this government only sons-of-bitches prosper, and you have succeeded more than anyone".

Walking around this city, you see the memorials for the disappeared. Thousands died under successive military governments between 1976-1983 but especially under Videla in the early years. Children were stolen and the most powerful symbol of resistance was the "Plaza de Mayo mothers", those who had lost their children to death squads.

The "respectable" prospered. The activists were tortured and murdered. Tonight I sat in a "palace" with grey-haired middle-class porteños, and I couldn`t help but wonder about their stories.

Fans` Favourite

Tommy Smith is a shoo-in for Player of the Season (again). Today the Horns won 3-2 at Coventry, Smith getting his sixteenth goal of the season while Tamas Priskin scored his thirteenth and Grzegorz Rasiak netted his seventh. This was our first victory after two defeats and two draws previous to those. Brendan Rodgers has proved himself more than a worthy successor for Aidy Boothroyd.

Global Football Justice

It is time for global football justice and the revolution must start in England.

It was only in 1997-8 that “the big four” took the top positions for the first time. The second occasion was 2003-4, the third in 2005-6 and since then they have shuffled the Champions League positions between them in each of the following three years. There was a “bored by the big four” Philosophy Football T-shirt a couple of years ago but if it is only in the last four years that the Premiership places have been absolutely sewn-up, the relatively recent addition of European Champions League dominance has added an extra level of tedium.

Any initial tinge of patriotic pride in seeing Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United playing in the latter stages of the European tournament should be extinguished by the thought of their Russian and American owners or their lack of English or even British players. These days there is rarely an underdog to support: Portsmouth in last year`s FA Cup, Aston Villa for a while in the league this season (also US owned).

The only level of failure that these teams now know is not reaching the semi-finals or finals of the FA Cup and Champions League. Finishing fourth in the Sky Barclays Setanta premiership is still rewarded with ridiculous cash once the preliminary joke rounds of the European tournament are played out. How boring for the rest of us, but how uninteresting it really must be for the fans of these teams too.

At my club, Watford`s level, a 2-0 win at Doncaster is a triumph against the possibility of relegation while a 1-0 defeat at home to promotion-chasing Birmingham is accepted as not unexpected. Resignation and surprise still exist for fans of most of the G88 (the minor gods in the pantheon that is the football league) and without them a fan`s life is incomplete. Schadenfreude exists too, for us below the biggest, and perhaps for the local fans of the top teams too. It is the “plastics” who will not know that joy of a bitter local rival suffering.

The economic effects stretch to the cost of attempting to play with the big boys. Leeds descent into administration is well documented and Charlton are just the latest of several teams whose inability to “bounce back” has seen them slip into the third tier after the obligatory cost-cutting exercises. The ripples go beyond the lower leagues. Elsewhere in the world, attendances fall when matches clash with a “big” televised Premiership game.

Something must be done. The arguments are there: a player draft, a cap on wages, a minimum number of home-grown players or club ownership being put in the hands of the fans. Alternatively, the majority of the G88 could get together to demand a restructuring that brings (most of) the Premiership back under Football League jurisdiction (if the Big 4 want to float off into a European Super-League, let them). It won`t happen yet. The big four dominate English football like the G8 dominate world economic policy. The seeds of rebellion exist though. Viva Football Justice.

Senate Museum

Ah! How great it is to be in a big city amidst real culture again... Today we went into the free Senator Domingo F. Sarmiento museum round the corner and saw the remains of a chair burned when the congress was attacked by rioters in December 2001 and one of Eva Peron`s outifts. There were newspapers from 1933 announcing the death of two-time 1920s President Hipolito Yrigoyen, whom a street here is named after, just as they were lamenting "Father of Democracy" Raul Alfonsin`s death last week. A wall was decorated with a number of colourful caricatures, one of which refers to British greed though I am unsure in what context.

Arise Marilyn Green

Who is Marilyn Green? Here in Buenos Aires there is a public art installation of Buddy Bears in San Martin Plaza (he is the big Argentine hero). Marilyn Green designed the current British "entry", which it took me a second or two to appreciate. Unlike many of the others, which rehash old self-conceits, focus on established symbols, cover the bear with the unique local script or wave the flag, the British bear attempts to say something new about the identity of its country of origin. In this way, it is far superior to the bowler hats attempt of our contribution to the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, for example.

Horns away and home

The Golden Boys got a fantastic three points at Darlington on Saturday to take us above them, Don Cowie getting his third WFC goal a few minutes after they scored a 13th minute own goal. Tonight, though, we let in another late one to draw 2-2 with second from bottom Southampton. Another new boy, Aleksandrs Cauna, put us equal in the first half and Tamas Priskin looked to have sealed it in the second. We`re in a safe looking 15th now, though with no games in hand.

British Council Interview

The "questions" went something along these lines:

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Describe an activity you set up carefully and how it worked.

Describe a pronunciation activity you do for an area students have trouble with and how it is successful.

Describe how you adapt a lesson to a particular class.

Describe how you make sure to involve all students in a class.

Describe a successful class you used technology in.

Describe how you ensured all customers were kept informed.

Describe how you changed your view or approach as a result of other`s input.

Give an example of you assisting other members of the team.

I would have to say that I don`t think it went as well as it could if I had had the questions in advance...

La vida nueva de Van Gogh

Our snow-white stray has been washed and fed some more. Today, after a quick snip-snip at the local vet, we bought him a bed and took him bollockless to the animal shelter at the school we studied at, where they hope to find Van Gogh a new home.