england out of the world cup

Many must be drowning their sorrows last night after their favourite team lost out to Porugal by penalty kicks. England has always been a favourite to this little island of former British subjects. Despite more than 40 years of independence, the link and bond between the two countries have been very strong. Singaporeans will talk about the Premier League as if they were there, watching every match. Singaporeans are more familiar with the Brtish football scene than anyone else except the brits themselves. Thanks to the daily coverage of the Premier league by the media. All the who's who of British football are well known here. Even what they eat, what car they drive, how many times they need to pee, are common knowledge and exchanged over a cup of teh tarik or in the pub. We are British in many ways. Our likings, our favourites, even a subconcious desire to speak like the British ala the recruiting of British native speakers to teach our children the British way of good English. Britain is still our model of a society to emulate. We are British at heart, or at least for those who are above 40s. The interest of the younger generation may vary and may be a bit more international, but as for football is concerned, it is still British. Now, how could England be out of the World cup? Every day Singaporeans are being fed with the exploits of the British football stars, how good and how legendary they were. Names like Beckham, Owen, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampart etc etc are household names. And when watching the Premier League, they were mesmerised by all the great moves of their favourite stars. Last night was lights out for the British stars. The next few days will be reports after reports of the missed opportunities and how England could have won. Yes, they will be whinning and brooding over not being able to see England in the final again. It is a sad Sunday morning to start the week.

a post by Joe Public in redbeanforum

Increased youth crime rate is caused largely by absent fathers. We have seen two groups of working age adults emerging. One group will have received psychological, social, economic, educational and moral benefits. The other group will have been denied them all. The first group will have grown up with a father present in the house. The second group will have not had a father present.

In order to be divorced in the past, one mate had to be proven adulterous. Legally, one party was deemed guilty and one was innocent. That finding affected each party financially and socially enough so that most couples tried hard not to divorce.

In the late sixties, the "sexual revolution" began and couples rebelled against the constraints of marriage. The addition of more grounds for divorce and the elimination of the need to appear in court made it easier for couples to split.

Now there are "no fault" divorces which further decrease the stigma. By late 80s one out of two couples divorced. The divorce picture is not all rosy. Divorced uneducated women get by with less or no income.

For their children, this translates into less money for school activities, clothes, opportunities for traveling and learning, day care and sometimes food. Children can be called on to do adult tasks before they are ready, like caring for younger siblings. Older children may be required to work long hours at a job to help bring money to the family.

As a result, they may fall behind in their school work. After a while, the child may feel it is hopeless to try to keep up and decide to quit school. At this point a girl may decide to get pregnant and bear a child. She may feel that in doing so her life will have more meaning and she will receive unconditional love from the child. More girls from divorced families become mothers. For boys, leaving school generally means a succession of low paying jobs or life on the streets.

comfort women fairprice

Talkingcock.com posted an article that NTUC Comfort is moving into masseurs services and setting up a new company called Comfort Women FairPrice. Now this is a test to see whether Singaporeans got any sense of humour. I think got. But before this conclusion is final, lets wait for an official confirmation.

the anwar factor

The Anwar factor. Anwar is squeezing himself into the fight and it seems like he is not on anyone's side. Now it looks like a 3 corner fight but with Anwar cheering the two combatants to slog it out. Isn't that interesting? From the reports apparently the Umno camp has cold shouldered Anwar which is understandable given that Anwar will be too big a presence and a threat to many of the aspiring leaders. And it is also to Anwar's advantage to let Badawi and Mahathir to fight it out. When two tigers fight, very likely both will be badly wounded. And here comes Anwar, clean after washing away all the dirt and mud that were smeared on him. Nothing can stick anymore. Looks like Anwar's chances of becoming the next PM is still very good.

myth 30

'Singaporeans are so lucky' I can't help share Mr Brown's enthusiasm today. Everything is up, spirits up, morale up, hopes up, salaries up, prices of properties up, fares up, fees up, and I think happiness index also up. It is such a joy to read happy articles like this, contributed by Mr Brown in the Today paper. And in the small prints Mr Brown also included a small thing that was left out, the income of the 30% low income earners. Only this little item was not up. And after reading all the ups, I got this strange feeling that something is not going to stand up. I think our population rate may be slightly affected if this thing is not up. But all things considered, Singaporeans should be happy as there are more ups than downs.