student march or student riot?

There has been a series of student marches in London recently to protest the increase of the capping of university tuition fees from £3290 to £9000. This is a maximum amount to charge local students. If you’re wondering what this is all about, here’s a good page for some Q&A info. For international students, there are no caps, so it’s hugely expensive to get a degree here in the UK for non-European students.

Anyway, back to the topic. Protests are okay if they are peaceful ones. There was a march at around noon that passed by the office and it was quite peaceful. Some police officers were flanking the march and there were several police vans at the end of it. It caused a little bit of a traffic jam later on but it was quite peaceful.

However, it became worse as the sun went down. Many students were protesting near parliament. When it got a bit out of hand, police started ‘kettling’ to one place in order to control them easier.

Even Prince Charles and Camilla didn’t escape the violence. They were on their way to the Royal Variety Show when protestors chased their car and threw paint on it. They even attempted to smash one of the windows.

This has gone a bit too far. If they want to protest, then please do so, but peacefully, not with violence. It seems that there were some of them who intended to cause problems.

Videos of the march/riot showed that it was a real mess. Protestors vandalised public property and were violent to police, while the police were hitting some protestors with their batons. Click here for a page with many photos of the day.

I’ve always thought protests in the UK were exemplary as they were always peaceful ones. People would march on the streets with their protest banners, and the police will watch over, making sure there were no funny business.

But these student protests are getting out of hand. Too any damages to public property and injuries to people. It’s worse than other countries where the police will just spray water to protestors.

Protests and marches usually will only have a small probability of changing things, but the violence will certainly not help them to achieve their cause.

royal engagement

I took the morning for Raya Haji, so after the prayers, I went back home to lepak a while before going to work.

Amer and I watched TV, the This Morning show on ITV1 to be exact. Suddenly, the host, Phillip Schofield, was touching his earpiece and then he said they just received news that Clarence House just announced that Prince Williams and Kate Middleton were now engaged. Clarence House is the official residence of The Prince of Wales by the way.

Anyway, we were quite surprised that this was considered ‘breaking news’, but I guess it’s some sort of good news considering the current economic climate. And the media seemed to love it as it was all over the news yesterday afternoon and today as well.

Well, I must say that they are a very good-looking couple. Will their wedding top the recent Swedish royal ‘fairy-tale’ wedding I wonder?

salam aidil adha

Selamat Hari Raya Haji to all Muslims out there! =)

Allahuakbar Allahuakbar Allahuakbar.
Laailahailallahu Allahuakbar.
Allahuakbar walillahilhamd.

ed's first prime minister's questions

Ed Miliband recently won Labour's leadership contest and has since selected his shadow cabinet. In the UK, the Prime Minister will spend half an hour every Wednesday morning to answer questions from Members of Parliaments (MPs). This is called the Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ).

And today was Ed Miliband's first PMQ and it was entertaining to watch. Although they did criticise each other, it was done in a respectful way. Plus, the speaker is fair to both sides. Note that non-UK viewers may not be able to watch the two videos, but for those who can, enjoy!

If you can't watch the videos and are desperate to know what happened, you can read a long and boring commentary at this link.

back home for raya

I keep having to dust off cobwebs from this blog. Doesn't matter anyway since I don't think there's much traffic anyway. Hehe.

I'm now back home in Shah Alam. Will be in Malaysia for 3 weeks. Cuti Raya yeay. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with some old friends.

The flights home were okay, but both of them were delayed, quite unreliable really.

Maybe I should update this blog more often, but with short snippets instead of long posts. Wouldn't have to dust the cobwebs then. And write paragraphs which don't have much connections or flows, like the above.

Short snippets good, long posts bad, random paragraphs ugly, no?

england in the world cup

England played ok during their first game against USA (except that goalkeeping gaffe), but they were absolutely rubbish against Algeria.

My amateur opinion on what England's formation should be:

Rooney

J Cole                                      Lennon

Gerrard      Lampard

Barry

A Cole      Upson      Terry      G Johnson

James

England will surely win against Slovenia with this formation! Hehe. Don't think that Capello will use this though. Whatever tactic he uses, I really hope that Joe Cole gets to play.

Come on England!

Final prediction: South Korea vs Spain. =)

Update 23rd June:
So Capello didn't use that formation against Slovenia (as expected), but England did win nevertheless. Good, disciplined performance by England. (Though I still think will do better with this formation, well, maybe replace Lennon with Milner. Hehe.)

first election debate in the uk

It was a very interesting debate between the 3 main party leaders: Nick Clegg, David Cameron and Gordon Brown. I'm too lazy to elaborate here so I'll just jot down some quotes.

Nick Clegg on the duel between David Cameron and Gordon Brown:

The more they attack each other, the more they sound like one another.

I must say that there were quite a few jabs from Gordon Brown towards David Cameron:

You can airbrush your posters but you cannot airbrush your promises.

This is not Question Time – this is answer time, David.

And one very good one regarding posters like the above that the Tories put up everywhere.

I'm grateful, by the way, to David for putting up all these posters about crime and me. You know there's no newspaper editor who has done as much for me in the last two years – because my face is smiling on these posters. I'm very grateful to you and Lord Ashcroft for funding these.

england 3-1 egypt

I went to Wembley with Amer, Apiq and Kat to watch the friendly match between England and Egypt. Headed there straight from work, meeting them at Marylbone station along the way.

I must say, Wembley is huge! Humongously huge. Yeah, I know, incorrect grammar but the stadium’s really big. And it looks good too. Inside, the atmosphere was great. We were in the home fans section but there were a few Egyptian supporters who seems to be a bit sesat sitting there as well with a huge Egyptian flag.

The funny thing was that when Egypt scored the first goal, there was another group of fans leaping for joy near us in the home fans section! However, I didn’t see them getting told off or jeered at. But then England scored 3 goals in the second half, so the celebrations were much much louder.

We had good seats because even though we were at the top section, our seats were in the front row so we had a really good view. Plus, all the goals were scored near where we sat. In the first half, Egypt scored a goal while England scored 3 in the second half.

Here’s what I think of the England players’ performance, with scores out of 10 in brackets:

1 – Robert Green (6)

Had an ok game. He produced a confident display and will probably be England’s first choice keeper in the World Cup. Oh now I know what the keeper does while play is at the other end of the field. Jumping around feeling bored I guess.

2 – Wes Brown (7)

Pretty solid display. Defended well and also produced some good crosses. Had a few bad passes as well though.

3 – Leighton Baines (6)

He was ok overall. He did try to create space on the left flank but it seems that nobody wanted to pass the ball to him. When he did get the ball near the opposition’s penalty box (which was passed to him by Milner might I add), he crossed the ball which indirectly helped Wright-Phillips to score England’s second goal. Defensively, he is ok but lacking in pace.

4 – Steven Gerrard (5)

Not a very convincing display from the Liverpool midfielder. He lacked the energy that he usually displays for his club. Maybe it was a friendly, but he should show more effort in chasing the ball.

5 – Matthew Upson (5)

He was a bit shaky in the beginning, probably due to nervousness. It was his slip that let Zidan go through and score Egypt’s goal.

6 – John Terry (7)

His first kick was quite bad but improved throughout the game. The boo boys were on him in the beginning but it died down in the end. Good defensive work.

7 – Theo Walcott (4)

He was quite inefficient. It seems that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the ball. He’s fast but wasn’t very good as England’s right winger.

8 – Frank Lampard (5)

Played ok but not up to his usual standard. Missed two sitters in front of goal. His passing was ok I guess.

9 – Jermain Defoe (6)

Had some good runs, but he didn’t seem to click with Rooney. I think he’ll be one of England’s main bench warmer if Rooney stays fit throughout the World Cup.

10 – Wayne Rooney (7)

Had a few sparks here and there. Was a bit more effective in the second half after Crouch and Carrick came on, but not as amazing as he should be. All of England would want him to stay injury-free for the World Cup.

11 – Gareth Barry (7)

Had a good game. Did his job well, helping the back four.

The subs:

20 – Peter Crouch (8)

Man of the match performance. Was at the right place at the right time. Connected well with Rooney but not with Carlton Cole. Had several smart flicks and good passes. Did some defending as well during set-pieces.

15 – Michael Carrick (7)

Had a better game than Lampard whom he replaced. Lots of good passes.

19 – Shaun Wright-Phillips (8)

Much much better than Walcott on the right wing. Really fast and quite intelligent with the ball. He set up England’s first goal and scored the second.

13 – James Mliner (8)

England seemed to have more pace after he came on. Played well on the left wing, which was mostly empty before he was on the pitch. Roamed to the right a few times as well.

22 – Carlton Cole (6)

Didn’t have much time to have an impact on the game but was ok nevertheless.

Wow that’s a bit long. I can’t comment on Egypt’s players because I only know 1 or 2 of them. To me, their best player was Mohamed Zidan. Not only did he score their only goal, he was also a real threat to England and outpaced the defenders many times.

Overall, England didn’t actually play very well, but they did play better during the second half. Crouch’s performance could earn him a starting position a few games in the World Cup. Come on England! =)

for the ladies...

For those in Malaysia, if you're interested in buying Tie Rack scarves and tops from Zara, Mango, Bershka and H&M, just click here.

Hurry, stock is limited. Happy browsing!

[Oh btw, if you were wondering, this isn't spam.] :)

age++

In C++, age++ is equivalent to age = age + 1, which just means increase age by 1.

You dah kat ofis ke?

Belum. Tengah siap2 ni.

Boleh tak tolong bukak pintu?

I had a surprise visitor in the morning of my birthday bringing breakfast, flowers and presents! =)

A breakfast of delicious home-baked New York cheesecake and hot white tea. I was given a lovely hand-made card and a nice portrait of myself pencil-drawn by her. Then, after work, there was another present: an iLap! *More smiles.*

Thanks Nina! :)

For dinner, we bought risotto and sushi and ate at home while watching HIMYM.

A couple of days later, had a great time with some friends eating dinner at Nandos.

Thanks Nabilah & Belle and Arin & Amer!

Pretty awesome birthday if you ask me. =)