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It would seem the man City fear most is guess who, their nemesis on more than one occasion, the ginger prince.They are obviously right to fear him, though it does put the quality of our squad into question, that we are still relying on a stalwart who is almost 36. The man himself is looking forward to tonight, you can't win everything he says, but when you don't win them, there are certain teams you hope don't beat you to those titles, who could he mean. Evra is also keen to build things up, telling City they never beat us. Alas, in the 90's that was the case, but this decade we have had a few disasters against them. He is also happy with the way United plan to face the future by going with youth against City's plans to buy success. I would go along with that, but for the fact it's a strategy enforced on the club by our debt laden owners, not a progressive Barca style ambition. Whether the young Norwegian turns out to be the goods, who knows.
Fergie gets in on the act describing the increasing intensity of the derby, but whilst it's an important game and whilst City are now to be taken seriously after all that Arab money has been poured into the club, Chelsea are still the team to beat. He can't help but have a go at them can he, he is not impressed by the way they have been carried away by their new found wealth, Daniel Taylor thinks he doesn't hide his dislike the modern day Manchester City. He declines to say anything about City's involvment in the Rooney affair.

Andrew Cole reveals he thinks United's current crop of strikers can be as good as the treble seasons when Rooney gets back to fitness and hits his form. Besides Tevez he doesn't think City's imports match up. We probably just shade it, but only if Rooney does come back fit, in form and more importantly interested. I think Silva is a good player, but he is pretty similar in style and position to Tevez. You need forwards who compliment each other as well as click as Cole says the treble side's did.

Talking of the treble season, the legend who will forever have a place in every United fans heart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is to take up the reigns as manager of Norweigan side Molde FC. What a servant that man has been for this club. We all would love to see him back at the club in the future in some role, there has got to be one ex player who will be able to come back to the club to manage it one day, so why not him.

If Reina is for real, saying he is unsure whether he will stay at Liverpool past the end of this season, i would expect us to be connected with him for the rest of the season. I'm not sure about him myself, he is a good goalie, but is he a great one, i don't see that myself.
It is a big decision replacing Van Der Sar, needless to say, but with the presnt team about to break up and a new team to be built, it becomes even more important to get the right man. Which is why Fergie could well go for somebody with his experience. Whether he would want to come to a club in a rebuilding phase with no money, who knows.

Jonathan Wilson ponders the importance of Carlos Tevez to Manchester City in another of his tactics columns. Whilst i don't doubt he is a very good player, he isn't a special talent. If they had a Drogba or an in form Torres alongside Tevez you would be talking championship potential. It still amazes me, when i think of the big transfer fees they have payed for average players when they would have been better at times waiting for a Rooney or a Torres. I mean anybody could see Adebayor was a luxury player at Arsenal who doesn't turn up half the time.

The bank of England is expected to raise their growth forecasts but some members are uncomfortable with the governors backing of the coalition's startegy of cuts as rocky times lie ahead. As this long article in Prospect magazine by Channel 4's Faisal Islam tells us, the MPC are split over the merits of a further of QE as well. I would have thought that this isn't welcome news for Osborne as that is basically his plan B as far as i can see if growth does dip as consequence of his aggressive cuts.
It seems to me the opponents of QE have a point, it does seem like the return of the funny money policies that the credit crunch revealed, this time it's the central banks indulging in the pratice to try and wish away the funny money toxic debts left us by the banks and hedge funds.
As Simon Jenkins wrote at the time it would have been better if the central banks had just given the elctorate a certain amount of money and told them they had to spend it, and spend it within a certain amount of time to get the economy going again and return confidence to the economy. At least that money would have been spent productively as far as the real economy goes. By the end of that article you just realise voodoo econmics are still with us, monetarists still rule the world. As Larry Elliot wrote in The gods that failed, the city and the financiers always seem to come up smelling of roses and as rich if not richer than before, however much they fuck up. And yet we have a goverment attacking benefit fraud which is a pin prick in comparison to the mess bank bailouts and cutting the public sector, which we are told is unproductive. What the fuck is our financial system then, it certainly seems to provide a nice killing for the suits in the city but what does it do for all us idiots that just put up with this shit.
At the end of the day we may as well fall back on Keynes and kick start the economy using big public work programmes, but that would be state intervention for the good of ordinary people, not keeping our financial masters happy. China and the Asian tigers must be laughing that the future economic leadership of the world is being handed to them on a plate.

Hamish McRae describes why the talk of the return of a modern day gold standard looks attractive to some, with most commentators thinking the US policy of QE is just another from of currency depreciation, but he argues that would be looking backwards. Mind you he doesn't seem to be much of a visionary as to what we should do in the future. Though China being at the centre of it, is probably a prerequisite of what will emerge.

James Purnell shows the paper thin differences between new labour and it's coaltion opponents as he describes his efforts at getting Gordon Brown interested in a universal credit system. Peter Hoskin of the Spectator argues there is a broad consensus on the reform of the welfare state, there are differences to be sure, but the broad outline is similiar. I support a simplification of the system and i would go to a citizens minimum income, an old lib dem policy that i shouldn't think Clegg and his fellow orange book acolytes would be very keen on, which would not be the same thing as the universal credit that both sides are speaking off and which will probably end up condemning the poorest parts of our society to paying the price for the governments, central banks and our financial systems three decades of wrong headed policies.
Hopi Sen argues why he supports the aims of Ian Duncan Smith, but thinks the sums will not add up and the treasury will have him doing their dirty work for them as they will not deliver the sums he will need to make his policies work. Mary Riddell joins in the cheerleading for IDS.
Steve Richards is not impressed by the coalitions direction arguing the facts do not support their claims that the cuts will actualy improve public services. Amen, whichever ex labour minister claimed they are the heirs of Blair wasn't far off the mark.

Alexander Linklater argues against decrimilising drugs in this Prospect article. I don't agree, he never mentions the damage the war on drugs has done to our economies, the money spent on drug law enforcement, the drug money sloshing around the financial world and the damage done to sink estates in this country and around the world.

Simon Schama outlines his vision for the future of the history that is taught in our schools. I wouldn't have guessed that most academy schools don't even teach it, that stinks. As for his list of what every child should learn, it's pretty reasonable, but i would have to include the fight for our liberties and the democratic reform of these islands not just in that list but at the top of it.

Music
Cherry Ghost - Beneath this burning shoreline: The follow up to his debut Thirst for romance doesn't mark amy musical progression, but if you liked that, he has served more of the same. 

Demdike stare - Forest of evil: If you like your techno atmospheric and creepy, even, this is for you.I like it, but it's not music to get excited to.

Eli paperboy reed -  Roll with you: A top album is this, the second album from a couple of years ago. It's retro i suppose but some of the neo soul of the last few years has been top notch.

Lloyd Miller and the Heliocentrics - Lloyd Miller and the Heliocentrics: I can listen to this endlesly, a superb piece of modern jazz with varying degrees of eastern influences. Excellent.

Pocohaunted - Make it real: I have to admit i had to listen to this a few times for me to get into it, but it was worth it. I love the funky experimentalism of it. This is a more tune based commercial sound for them apparently, well it works, though i don't think they will be breaking any singles charts with it.

UNKLE - Where did the night fall: This is another pretty good album, i liked their last effort, War stories but this does improve on that as it works better as a whole.