I’m beginning to wonder if I am losing the plot a bit at the moment as everything I do and say seems to be against what is perceived as being normal, and I am becoming increasingly marginalised but what I say, think, listen too, or purchase. For instance, I have bought two albums recently by Paul Heaton and “I Am Arrows” that I think are great, whilst record sales for Paul Heaton in particular are a reflection that not many other people agree with me, they would rather blow sixty quid to watch Take That singing pretty much non descript songs at Wembley. I don’t really have anything against Take That, they seem harmless enough, but to me they are the musical equivalent to McDonald’s or John Smith’s Bitter. People seem to take the easy option and consume things that will not do any harm but won’t inspire either, I wish we could snap out of it as a nation.

I have been mildly verbally abused this week for not much more than doing things that are against the supposed norm. Firstly I caught red handed buying The Guardian yesterday by an old friend who instantly enquired whether I had turned in to a “Sausage Jockey”. I find it amazing that if you happen to buy a newspaper that portrays left of centre views it makes you homosexual or some sort of  “Loony Lefty”. I suppose I do have left of centre views on some things, but it is more a case that I am trying to have an open view. Many of the right wing newspapers make an open and shut case of everything and in my opinion make people angry, one dimensional and confrontational, as was the case with those idiotic Islamic Fundamenalists marching on remembrance day. As much as I don’t want to be associated with Islamic extremism, I also don’t want to be associated with Right Wing facists revved up by the likes of Nick Griffin and Calvin Mackenzie. Just ignore them and their childish Anti west banners, they are attention seekers and just not worth the bother, nor are Nick Griffin and his army illiterate thugs.

The second topic is the Poppy. I have bought two poppies outside Sainsburys. Actually I haven’t bought them, I have put the money in the box and not taken a Poppy. The reason I have done this is because I feel that wearing a poppy is a matter of choice, it should not forced upon us. I put money in the box in the sincere hope that it goes to the right causes, to the people who have been slaughtered and maimed in wars that could have been avoided in the Falklands, in Ireland and right now in Afghnistan. I don’t wear a Poppy because I don’t want be associated with a society that wears a Poppy, but in reality is more interested in the X Factor results than a 21 year old get blown up by a land mine. A few years ago I wrote about a guy called Jack Mizon who was fighting in Afghanistan who saw his own colleagues dying around him getting killed and hideously injured. If you click here you can watch clips of the excellent Panorama documentary then click here to witness his life after. I support Soldiers but not the governments who send them to war on a whim.

If you are going to display a Poppy this weekend, do it for the right reasons, not because like BBC Newsreaders you have been forced to by the media. I will observe the two minutes silence at the football today and think about the likes of Jack Mizon. Then I will think of  George Bush, Tony Blair, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Never have the actions of so few cost the lives of so many.

I just hope Reading don’t wheel out their inappropriate Laughing Lion to join the players on the centre circle. If that happens I may have to leave the stadium.