I was kind of disappointed when Lalit Modi vs Shashi Tharoor episode started surfacing, eclipsing the actual cricket being played with the whole world watching. Awaiting the brawl to succumb to draw a write-up, I lost circa 2 weeks of good cricket. Not only the cat and mouse game lasted till the final match of this edition and after, it brought in some cringing accusations of match fixing, betting, illegal money laundering, income tax raids, political wrong doings, illegal stake holdings and more to say, on IPL. Lots of big names - Shahrukh Khan, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty, were taken for ride and some faced IT raids and got served notices from the department. Though this straightening out considered mandatory for IPL to survive tidy, there was strong consensus that all these happenings were targeting one person directly or indirectly to be removed from being the face of IPL.I wonder after the expulsion of Lalit Modi, the above mentioned corruption charges be continued on respective people!!
Amidst all these bewilderment, the finals between Majestic Mumbai Indians and Charming Chennai Super Kings, took place following closing ceremony extravaganza (I cannot understand why loads of money spent on calling bollywood to give a mediocre performance? Instead kids and youths of India can be channeled to perform something innovative). Mumbai being consistent throughout the tournament, playing in home considered favourites over shaky chennai super kings. However, Chennai showered their batting, bowling and fielding prowess all over Mumbai to prove that on a given day any team can beat any. It was shocking to see no spectators left for the presentation ceremony to cheer the winners in Mumbai, again assertingthe fact that Semi finals and Finals should be held in a common venue.
Congrats CSK. As a consistent team through all seasons you guys deserve to win. Congrats MI on reaching finals.
IPL3 according to me, the most eventful till date for both off-pitch controversies and on-pitch acts. Thanks IPL for providing such an entertainment spoiling 45 days in my life :-)
The historical first election debate in ITV4 saw three leaders of Britain - Prime Minister and Labour Party Leader Gordon Brown, Conservative Party principal David Cameron and Liberal Democrat chief Nick Clegg, going head-to-head on Immigration Policy, Law and Order, Expenses Row, Education Prospects and Dealing Budget Deficits leading economic growth.
Well, when Clegg opened his introduction urging people “to try something new” and choose democrats, Brown made a threatening note on “double dip recession” if Labour did not come back to power. Cameron tendered an apology on expenses row and suggested Tories as the best alternative to Labour in the current climate.
Answering question on immigration, Cameron quoted the raise in number of immigrants in the last few years, pointed out Labour’s failure in controlling the number and suggested a Cap (Limit) to be set on the number of immigrants entering Britain. Clegg on the other hand very wisely spoke about Good and Bad immigration. However his regional approach on immigrants job (can work only in particular region in UK) may be a success in bigger countries like Australia and U.S, but not in a small island like UK where one can travel from one end of the country to another in just a day. Brown defended his party based on stats of decreasing immigrants in the past few years. He also came up with a reasonable point on hiring immigrants to train resources in Britain rather than to do a job, making us wonder why this is not implemented yet when Labour is still in power!!
Moving to Law n Order Clegg and Cameron left no stone unturned to mention the failure of the current system and insisted on more police patrol on streets rather than 400+ officers sitting in HR department in Metropolitan Police. Brown again brought his stats weakening his argument, but made a very valid statement on how parents should take some responsibility on derailed teens committing crimes.
And then the amusing expenses row was under fire - It was hilarious to watch all the leaders who had their share of corrupt MPs, speak about honesty. Brown promised more power to people by introducing “Right to recall MP” and “Petition Parliament” schemes. Then he strategically moved the argument accusing Tories for not supporting the reduction of candidates from House of Lords. Cameron in reply suggested ministers undergo pay cut and agreed on 10% reduction of House of Lords’ strength. The clear winner however in this argument was Clegg. Clegg came very clean, frank and forthrightly accusing both Labour and Tories for not supporting him when he, on the first place, brought the proposal of “Right to recall MP” in House of Commons. Unable to answer him Brown engaged Cameron again in House of Lords issue and be-friended Clegg with maximum possible effort. This is when Clegg started taking control of the debate and proved why he shares dais with huge Tory and Labour party leaders.
Clegg continued to outshine his contemporaries in the subsequent arguments on Education and War. And interesting debate came with topic “Dealing budget deficits without compromising economic growth”. When Brown defended Labour’s stand on not taking any money out of the system to save the country, Cameron promised £6 billion by cutting waste expenses (there may be lots of waste expenses but GOD knows what Tories are actually after). Clegg not only promised near to £15 billion save, but also bravely put forward of how it has to be achieved. Straight to the face Clegg talked about scrapping CTF, cutting 10% from Tax Credits and imposing 10% tax on profit from banks who lead us to this recession. He has got guts to put this proposal of cutting benefits in the debate, while public watching.
At the end of this first round, for many Clegg emerged clear winner in voicing his refreshing ideas. When all thought he will be lost in the presence of Cameron and Brown, he stood tall and brought something new to the table. However it's always easy to argue sitting outside not running the countries’ office. PM Brown succeeded here by taking a good debate defending the ups and downs of the Labour party in the last 13 years. Not an easy job at all, but he kept his cool and was the only person to bring some smile and humor to the discussion. The wonder here was Cameron who was expected to fire from all directions, was even vaguely remembered at the end of the debate. He totally failed to make feel his presence.
For me there is no clear winner after this round of debate, but the country now knows that a new kingmaker is in the making. Lots expected from Mr.Clegg in the coming rounds of the debate!!
