Tuesday 2 June 2009

1732 The Casino Fixers

I love the hot sun even though my age and physical condition means that I have to take care. The past few days we have had had Mediterranean weather and on Sunday there was 20 20 cricket at the riverside. I followed the over night plan of going to the ground as early a possible to get a good car parking place and to enjoy the weather.

Before then I watched in disbelief as the Prime Minister on the Andrew Marr show appeared to be attempting to disassociate himself from his party political colleagues in the House of Commons, portraying himself as a moral man above the behaviour of Members of Parliament In general. It was evident he is out of touch with the mood of the people and is planning a Cabinet reshuffle after the debacle of the European and county council elections in order to crush the expected challenge to his leadership prior to a General Election. Hopefully the majority of his Cabinet colleagues and sufficient back benchers will persuade him that without his departure and a new Cabinet all hope of the Party surviving to form a credible opposition will be lost. I agree with the Labour Peer, Lord Desai that the Party is facing political extinction in terms of holding office if it is beaten into third position and fails to form the official opposition in the next Parliament.

The chief media targets over the weekend were the Chancellor of the Exchequer who flipped his home four times in four years in order to make full use of his allowance and hired a tax accountant at the public expense to minimise his payments all within the then law of course and how on earth can the man ever lecture anyone about the excesses of the bankers or those who engage in taxation avoidance ever again. It appears that he offered to announce he would stand down at the next election but was persuaded against because of the damage it would do to the Party prior to the elections. It is evident that the advisors are so besotted with their power and position that they have failed to understand that the public mood is such that only several high profile cabinet scalps might save the Party from political power oblivion as it hard core will never forgive the combination of giving reign the financial sector and bonus culture and the abolition of the ten pence taxation band and now only admitting the abuse of power in the use of taxpayer’s money for dodgy expenses without he information being “stolen” and released in the media/ One wonders about which Papers were offered the same information and refused and why?.
Mind you the Conservative Leader also had significant egg on his face when it was revealed that shortly after gaining his seat he did a financial transaction, paying off a mortgage in order to be able to claim mortgage allowances from the taxpayers. Thus it is that the top leadership is as tarnished as the rest. Hopefully the general public will not be impressed by the continuing manoeuvres to cling to office or Parliamentary position by persuading some to announce they will not stand again at the next Parliament, claiming their salaries and allowances, severance and pension payments in the process and with some assuming they will gain peerages and help the Parties through positions in the House of Lords, or escape other sanctions by making payments back of amounts which although within the rules were always questionable, even without the fraudulent bankers and speculators on both sides of the Atlantic. The Westminster stench had become even more nauseating.

On Sunday I purchased the Mail as I had purchased the Saturday edition, on the way to Riverside where I was allocated a place in the first area of the first car park. I eat a crab salad with fingers having forgotten to pack a fork, followed by a banana and a can of cold coke. I left the car windows and door open. I then made my way into the ground where the steward of the bag search asked if I had travelled far, perhaps thinking perhaps I was supporting the midland team because of my lack of North East accent. When I said the “The Lawe Top” overlooking the mouth of the Tyne he knew it well, living in Jarrow and asked if I had seen the giant Cruise liner which was docked across the River Tyne from Shields. I had seen the vessel and planed to take a photo if it was still there on return. He had seen it swing round the previous evening in the widest part of the river. It is an extraordinary sight not just because of its height but because of its extraordinary length, several times the size of the cross channel ferries and significantly larger than the QE2.

As on Friday I was able to get an aisle seat on the Member’s lounge balcony and enjoyed an hour reading the paper, sipping coffee and the salami and mustard rolls I had brought for tea, as I was still hungry after the salad and banana. I then went on walkabout first to see where my allocated seat was situated and then for an ice cream and then to view from the back of the terraces until close on starting so I could identify somewhere to sit in the sun. I had my new hat but left the bag and the cold water on my balcony seat. Around the stadium every effort had been to entertain the children with a bouncy Castle, a game of cricket, donkey rides, a fire engine and home safety vehicle and the local dance school. There was also a form of quick cricket competition from various school teams from around the county. A young man was selected to replace the university job who had who had won the prize of the best seat in House and the university rabble were not evidence suggesting this was to be a one off disaster in the clubs misguided attempt to increased public interest. There was an exceptionally good crowd however and for once the majority went home happy. Durham lost the toss and were sent in to bat. They struggled to score runs at a good rate at first but managed to increase to over 8 and a half. Unlike Friday the total came from consistent good batting with confident big hits throughout the innings although I thought the final tally was about ten to twenty light given the conditions.

At the interval between innings I returned to the cool of the balcony after sitting behind the boundary fence overlooking the bowlers run ups to the wicket. Nottingham had a shaky start and fell behind the required run rate but still had the look of a team which could claim victory . I was right in so far that three sixes plus other runs were hit off the penultimate over so that ten was required by the visiting team of the last over. Fortunately Collingwood was off with the England Team preparing g for the World 20 20 cup so there was no risk if him claiming the chance to redeem himself after messing up in the last game. Mitch Claydon who continues to impress took the last two Notts wickets in two balls with only one ball left. The win means that Durham now joins three other teams with two wins while Lancashire have four out of four and Durham will need to beat them home away and then home if they are to have any chance of not only qualifying for the last eight but gaining a home tie as last year. First they are away to Yorkshire on Tuesday evening who will want to avenge the home loss of last year Given the continuing fine weather I am tempted to go but it would mean a later return as it is an evening game and there is till so much to do.

I again had a brilliant getaway and collect my camera to photo the Holland America Line cruise liner from the bridge over the old coal line to what was the east docks basin and now converted into a yuppy residential area as well as housing the infamous call centre.

In the evening, for the third time of asking I finished the three hour Martin Scorsese film Casino. I found the subject boring and the approach of Scorsese distinctly amoral in what appears to be is lifelong devotion and adoration of the homicidal gangster. So here are the bare bones of the story. The film is set in Los Vegas when the Casino’s were owned by gangsters with managers placed to front the enterprises and a team of people to ensure as much money was taken and then filtered to the mobs outside the required booking keeping and taxation requirements of the law. Everyone involved was on the take one way or the other and as were the large number of professional gambler, tricksters and fraudsters who attempted to take the money leaving only the American people and overseas visitors, the mugsters, to spend, spend, and more than they can afford to lose.

There are three outstanding actors in the film. Sharon Stone plays a drug and drinking tart who sleeps with anyone who will keep her in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. Robert De Niro is sent by the New York Mob to be the unofficial boss of a Casino where he puts his years of skilled gambling to use in spotting those who attempt to beat the system, albeit a crooked one. His misfortune is to want Sharon Stone to be his wife and mother of his children, Unsurprisingly give her attractive body and calculated sexual skills De Nero wants her to love him and as an inducement trusts her with the keys and rights to a security bank box contained two million dollars and a similar value of jewels. He realises she is just a greedy drug and drunk who ties up their one only child when the baby sitter does not turn up and she wants to go out whoring with his best friend of thirty five years he tries to throw her out but she manages to get hold of the money which she then blows on low life scum and ends up dead from an over dose at the hands of one of them.

This brings us to scum of scum played by Joe Pesci, A ruthless gangster who enjoys torturing and killing anyone who comes in is way or required by his gang bosses. He is sent out to Vegas to watch the back of De Niro who is turning in such great profits that Pesci is able to mount his own local operation and still hand over more that the mobsters had received before the De Nero stewardship.

Then all goes wrong and the FBI begin to move in and mobsters get scared. One early victim is Pesci and his brother who are savagely beaten before beating buried alive in the desert. De Nero survives a car bomb because of ant bomb protection beneath the drivers seat. Wonder why the troops out in Iraq and Afghanistan did not get the same protection until recently! De Neo goes off somewhere and returns to his former gambling prowess to rebuild his life and wealth. Meanwhile the international corporations move to Vegas and demolish the told style Casino‘s and create new family holiday centres to ensure that the USA public and international visitors spend an even greater proportion of their new wealth in the 90’s and early millennium before it all came crashing down. Meanwhile the Party Politicians continue to try and fix their game.

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