United in US

I stayed up to watch the first half of United's first game of their US pre-season tour the other night, and of course managed to miss most of the action which all happened during the second half when the home team tired. But i was encouraged by what i saw of Ashley Young on his first appearance for the club. He linked up reasonably well with Fabio and managed to put some telling crosses in. I wasn't quite as impressed by his habit of always cutting inside and never quite going to the byeline and use his left foot. Saying that even though the full back always knew he was going to cut inside he couldn't stop him delivering dangerous balls into the box.
Rooney looked sharp which is good news, Nani looked good and both twins really looked the part. The only player to disappoint slightly was Berbatov, but friendlies are to get that match sharpness back so i can't wait to see our International under 21 brigade get onto the pitch during this tour.

Fergie cites the example of the rent boys Petr Cech as the reason why he thinks De Gea will have no trouble in having an instant impact in the premier league. I'm still a bit concerned about his command of the English language, but we can't expect him to just carry on where Van Der Sar left off. We will have to give him time.

All the transfer talk now seems to revolve around Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan. I know we need to replace Paul Scholes, but at the price tag being quoted i don't see the Dutchman as the answer myself. Don't get me wrong he is a class player, i just don't think he is what we need, Modric would have been the man for me, but he obviously only has eyes for Chelsea. Sneijder plays too far up the pitch for me, unless we are going to play 4-3-3 all the time, which given all the wide men now at the club, i can't see.
Fergie tried to downplay all the speculation the other night saying we have no interest in him, but as others have said you can never know when he is telling the truth or playing games.

It looks like the season is going to kick off without Darren Fletcher in the squad as the rumour on twitter that he hadn't gone on the tour because of a return of the virus that he suffered from in the latter stages of last season had returned looks like it was true. Unfortunately this sounds serious.

The Mail report that Danny Welbeck will be rewarded with a new contract as the club continue to look after the long term future of the club. It has also been reported that Fergie has told him to forget about going back to Sunderland on loan as he is a part of his plans for the first team squad this season.
We know that Ferguson thinks he is going to be some player and i want him to stay this season as i think he will be a quality player. But looking at the size of the squad and the surprise retension of Michael Owen, just how much playing time is he going to get?

Talking of loanee's, Fredrico Macheda who scored in Boston the other night spoke of his delight at being back at the club. But looking at the size and depth of the squad he will really struggle to get much match time this season if he was to stay at the club. After the disaster of his time at Sampdoria he really needs to be playing next season. Which must mean another spell away from Old trafford over the first six months at least for him. You would like to think he will be loaned out to an English club this time and he does indeed get the experience that he will need. I'm not too sure whether he will be good enough for United, but i won't write him off yet.
As Mark Ogden writes is he really still a teenager, he seems to have been around ages.

Paul Parker argues in his Yahoo blog that he thinks Fergie is paying lip service to some rivals as he thinks our only real rivals to the premier league title will be Chelsea or City. He can't see Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool realistically challenging for the title. You can't really argue with any of that, though i would be surprised if City are challenging come the last month of the season. Depending on who Chelsea manage to snap up during the transfer window, they would appear to be our main challengers again.

United's Irish youngster Robbie Brady may be the latest to make the trek over to Hull City, on loan this time. Though if he does do well i could see him making the move permanent. From what i have seen of him i don't really see him having a long term future at United.

The Murdoch saga just gets bigger and bigger, Carl Bernstein asks whether the phone hacking scandal is Murdoch's watergate, and with todays news that Rebecca Brooks is the latest News International to suffer arrest at the hands of the police, the answer must surely be yes.
Peter Oborne who has had a pretty good scandal so far looks at the great Murdoch conspiracy, he doesn't let us forget that new labour were up to their eyeballs in all the rotteness of the corrupt state of this country during Murdoch's hegemony. Gordon Brown may have made some decent points in his speech in the commons but as Matthew Norman wrote in his Indy column, don't pity Gordon Brown.
I'm not so sure that Simon Jenkins has been on top form during the past fortnight's revelations but there is every chance that his pessimistic take on events will prove to be the correct one and nothing much will change. You have got to hope he is wrong but it's still the same set of political pygmies running the country after Murdoch's castration as it was during the sun kings reign. I can't say i have that much faith that they will turn things around.
This blog from Robert Peston is already completely out of date, he asked who was more powerful, Parliament or Murdoch. It was and still is a good question, though it can't be directed at Murdoch or News international either after this scandal has run its course. But the question still has relevance for the world of finance and the corporate world. Democracy has got to use these events and the events of 2008 ot reassert just who is in control runs the world and who they run it for, political and financial elites or the people. As Steve Richards argues we need to know a lot more about these people.
This Torygraph editorial described a scandal that has diminshed Britain, amazingly there is hardly a thing i could quibble with in that piece.

John Kampfner argues that now MP's have won one battle will they now battle for their Liberal values. Margaret Drabble uses the Indy to argue that now we have the chance ourselves of insidious shame. Conrad Black compares Murdoch to Napoleon arguing both were great " bad men ", not the most fitting of men to deliver that message.
Henry Porter writes that we have to take this unique chance to introduce reform and clean up the media but not by sacrificing a free press. There are some good ideas in that column.

As all the furore over the phone hacking scandal continues the future of Europe and maybe even the world's financial system stands on the brink. John Lanchester argues that Europe's fate rests with its economic powerhouse Germany and it's willingness to shoulder the burden thrust upon it. Larry Elliott argues that Eurzone chiefs must realise they are in a life or death struggle.
Newsweek reveals the billion dollar heist or how the financial industry is buying off Washington and killing off reform. Will US politicians stand up to the plate?

New Order have another best of available, but they are still not on talking terms as they give seperate interviews and stick the boot into each other yet again. It doesn't look like i will ever be seeing them live again.

Music
Betty Davis - Betty Davis: I love 70's funk though i haven't actually heard that much of the stuff. This is superb, some great playing and she is a terrific vocalist.

Foresr swords - Dagger paths: A cracking album from Matthew Barnes, i'm not sure what genre it is, but it's hauntingly good. There seem to be quite a few darkly atmospheric projects around at the moment and this as good as anything around.

Lykke Li - Wounded rhymes: She has travelled in a more mainstream directio for her second album which was pretty leftfield. It's a good album with some excellent tunes on it, but i have to admit to a preference for her debut album.

Mazes - A thousand heys: A pretty good indie album from the US outfit. Great energy that will make you want to jump up and down.

The Dears - Degeneration street: This is the first album of the Canadian indie outfits that i have heard and it won't be the last as it is pretty good.

The Uniques - Absolutey rocksteady: Cracking rocksteady reggae with a firm emphasis on an excellent vocal department.