Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United

A magnificent result, but i'm trying to not get too carried away. The job is still only half done, but a 1-0 defeat at home in a two legged tie is a horrible result for Chelsea as United know after being on the receiving end to Bayern and AC Milan in the early eighties. Still if the rent boys score first at Old trafford it would be game on again.
It was nice to see United finally get the rub of the game at Stamford bridge, as Fergie said why should we feel guilty in getting a decsion go our way after the decisions we have suffered down there over recent years. As ever it was a tight game between the two teams but this time, and when it mattered most, to us and them, we did the business.
Daniel Taylor describes the games as Wayne Rooney's way of reminding Chelsea and the watching football world which of the F-words he is really about. Martin Samuel goes a tad over the top claiming which ever side had got Rooney in their side would have come out on top.

Rio Ferdinand argues that the demonising of Wayne Rooney has got to stop, as the FA uhold their two match ban which puts him out of the semi final. I suppose the best way to get them back for that is to go and win that game and stick two fingers up at the bastards. Rooney himself feels victimised, claiming the punishment didn't fit the crime. Ian Herbert thinks that the FA punished Rooney to boost its flagging respect campaign, that sounds reasonable and makes the case that they used Rooney for their won ends even stronger.

Fergie comes out with a classic about " some wee guy, in the midlands ".

Mark Ogden thinks Owen Hargreaves may have the opportunity to extend his Manchester United career beyond this summer, i really can't believe that.

Ancelotti fumes over the referee and the penalty that wasn't, pressure telling? if we do finish the job he will be out of a job come the summer. Which would be scandalous, but that is the Chelsea way under Abramovitch and long may it continue.
James Olley tells Ancelloti he got it wrong tactically in a reasonably fair assesment of recent United Chelsea history, though i wouldn't say they have had the sign over us, almost every game could have gone either way, we do struggle against them physically. 

Bennedict Brogan looks at Cameron's big problem, which is that he knows and his back benchers know is that he isn't a winner. He also makes the point, correctly, that this is also part of Clegg's problems, the lib dems did not get the result that they should have done at the last election.
Simon Jenkins describes the problems that lie in the way of Clegg and Cameron's drive against social mobility. How they expect to alter that one jot following their economic policies is beyond me.

Jon Snow looks at the problem with Britain's charming arms deals, that just seem to go on and on whoever is in power.

Is the Berlusconi roadshow finally reaching it's end game or is that wishful thinking.

Peter Foster wonders if the detension of Ai Weiwei suggests bad old days are returning to China. Th Economist looks at the biggest state crackdown for years against reformers and dissidents.

The economist Stephen King accuses Krugman, Blanchflower and co of being more Keynesian than Keynes and argues for them to admit that the country does face hard choices. Larry Elliott asks whether George Osborne is fit to run the economy or to ruin it. It's a fair point, has he got any of the big decisions right over the last 3 to 4 years. In answer to King Keynesians have not made things worse, that's for sure.
Martin Wolf looks at the great economic rebalancing that will have to come, and he thinks that it will but that it will bumpy and there will be a fair bit of pain. Roger Bootle argues that whether you approved of Thatcher or not the country needs someone with her level of radicalism to fundamentally reform the British economy.

Hs judgement day for the Euro got closer as Portugal finally admit that they will have to seek a financial bailout. On the same day the European central bank has decided to raise interest rates, co-ordinated policy? The Telegraph look at why they have taken this decision. At least the UK has retained its sanity and left it interest rate alone.
David Blanchflower is interviewed about the ECB interest rate rise.

Johann Hari doesn't trust the west's motives in Libya. I can see where he is coming from, and i would accept that the response is probably far from totally altruistic, but to me it looks too shambolic a response to be as deliberate and co-ordinated as he supposes.
John Pilger thinks only the naive would disagree with Hari's analysis, whilst Mick Hume of Spiked tends to the chaos theory.