I don't want to go overboard, but......

did any of you see the Cutting Edge program on Channel 4 last night? The title was 'Strictly Baby Fight Club'.

It was perhaps one of the most distressing programs I've seen for a while. It was about these parents that make their kids do child Thai Boxing. These kids are in the ring in organized fights from the ages of 4 or 5 in some cases.

One family take there kid to Thailand for matches as there's more money involved, but the kids do not wear any guards for protection. One father described these fights, "the Thai kids just see a foreigner in the ring and want to smash them in".

One 5 year old little girl was being obviously forced rather than willingly to fight another 6 year old girl in the ring, who had beaten her the time before. The parents were shouting at her to beat this other girl in! The father almost ridiculed the fact the little girl cried after the fight and wanted to go home and play with her dressing up stuff and tiara.

I can understand (not agree) that some kids may desire to take up boxing and like that sort of thing. It's not my style, but I can see it could provide an outlet for a kid with too much energy. This was taken much further than this and was prizefighting for infants, who were being trained to show exceptional aggression in infancy. Parents have a unique responsibility to bestow a gift to there children that will help them in life, but these parents have given the gift of violence. It has been proven time and again that Violence begets violence. Violence doesnt provide security and protection, it doesn't prepare people for love and consideration. (i'm going to have to stop now)

When we hear about abuse in the world I can't help but think that people like this are doing exactly that. They lose their rights to have children in my opinion. My feelings on this are much stronger than I wish to convey in this post as I don't want to be provocative.

Please review the program if you get a chance and i'd be interested in your opinion.
here's a couple of Youtube links to clips from this program.
Clip 1
Clip2
Clip3

I'll leave this direct quote from the Channel 4 website about the little girl of 5 i mentioned above.

As the father of a daughter in particular, Darren feels that it will help Miah to stand on her own two feet and encourage her to be able to take more care of herself when she is older.

Determined to make champions of his kids, they are encouraged to train three times a week and compete in the ring against other children. But pre-match jitters often get the better of Miah, who has to be coaxed into the ring on more than one occasion. "Every time she goes in that ring, there is always a worry she will start crying", admits Darren. But nonetheless he remains determined and ambitious.

For her next fight, Darren is taking no chances. He has 'bulked' her up so she is not at a weight disadvantage against her older opponent. Will this be enough for a win to make daddy's day or will the five-year-old, with a penchant for disco dancing and dressing up as a princess, go home empty-handed once again.

The difference 2 days can make.

I don't plan to be another Englishman that talks too much about the weather, but I'm quite amazed at the difference 2 days makes. I'd heard snows was coming, but never thought it would hit this far south.


This was taken early Friday evening after a Fish & Chip supper down by the sea. All day had been tee-shirt weather.


Never would have thought that 2 days later on the Sunday we'd be pulling sledges through the snow. We had a stormer of a snowball fight in the park over the road, screaming and shouting with fun and laughter. When my son got too cheeky I just reminded him of some yellow snow we'd seen, that sorted him out!! ha ha


It's melting already and I can be pretty sure that by tomorrow it will be clear again.


btw - don't forget to read my previous posts if you haven't already!!!

Ashes to Ashes....

Ashes to Ashes, Funk to funky
We know Major tom's a Junkie.......

This song has been going around my head for weeks now and I know why. It's the drama on BBC that's just finished it's first season.

Coming on the back of 'Life on Mars', which set is 1973, 'Ashes to Ashes' is based in 1981. Both shows are about police officers that are injured on duty and end up in a coma whch sends them back in time. The unusual link is that the other characters in the show are the same. (more or less) The real gem is that both shows introduce us to Gene Hunt, the straight talking, sexist, macho brother of Jack Regan. Every profane comment that comes out of his mouth is pure gold.

If I had to make a choice over which series I prefer I think i'd go with 'Ashes', just because the vibe is more upbeat and the music is much better. 'Life on Mars', reminds me too much of the 70's and how grim it was. The feeling is captured perfectly. I can almost taste the Homepride white bread and smell the dog pooh. I get reminders of walking to school with holes in my shoes and watching Big Daddy wrestling on a Saturday afternoon. Which doesn't sound all that bad I guess, but the memory seems to be set in a dirtier and greyer time in my head.

The 80's weren't perfect by any means, but choosing 1981 for 'Ashes' was a good move. It was the start of changes in peoples lives. A little less hand to mouth for many. Music was powerful and a lot of new sounds were being born out of punk. In fact i think this may have been my personal experience rather everyone else's life too. I just wish I had been that bit older in 1981, so that I could have immersed myself into the sounds of the time. I was only 10 or 11 years, which was too young to truly appreciate the innovation and rawness of music at that time. When I was shopping for music everything had gone drastically downhill. Stock, Aitken and Waterman were playing with our minds and our tastes. I think it was this that drove me to listening to old time Motown, Soul and Blues, which is as far as I could get away from the bland blended benign commercial muck of the later 80's. ( my music influences, thats for another post I think)

So i've come to a conclusion that yes I prefer Ashes, but thats more to do with my association with the time than the show itself. These shows are the most original TV drama's to grace our screens for a very long time, and because of this the producers will flog it to death until we are sick of it. I wish we had the same originality with comedy, which in my mind had its greatest decade in the 70's. I can replay some of the scenes from Christmas specials over and over in my mind without getting bored of them. (Four Candles) That my friends is a story for another time....