So, Milan Mandaric, Peter Storrie, Harry Redknapp have all been found not guilty of tax evasion. It must be great for them personally to have been found innocent of all the charges brought against them by HMRC.

Depending on what you read, HMRC have wasted £8 million of public money pursuing this case. I’m not saying they were wrong to go after this if they felt there was a case to answer, simply highlighting the amount.

Meanwhile, Pompey has been issued with a HMRC winding-up order. Ironically, this is due to an unpaid tax bill totalling £1.6 million.

In 2002, Peter Crouch was sold by Portsmouth to Aston Villa for an initial fee of £5 million. I wonder how much of that fee stayed within the club?

Pompey became the first Premier League team to go into Administration; a year after Harry Redknapp left the club and shortly after Pompey had bought success winning the FA Cup in 2008.

It’s obviously great when innocent people are cleared but I can’t help but wonder what now for Portsmouth Football Club? It seems to me that this proud football club has been plundered by owners, management and players on inflated salaries for many years, leaving it in the sorry state it is now with no real assets, a mountain of debt and no obvious way of getting out of what appears to be a dire situation.

Who put Pompey in this position? No one? Just one of those things? Whilst individuals carry on living their lives of considerable wealth, including holidays in Monaco, the tax-payers of Portsmouth are left to wonder if they’ll still have a team to support in top flight football in the future. And who’s responsible for this mess? Well, in the world of football, it seems no one.

I’ve no idea who the originator of this was (sorry!) but just saw it and had to share:

Social Media Explained Flipchart

This could put some social media experts out of business!

I’ve had a golf related domain for many years. It was always one of those projects that never made it from the back-burner. I guess not being a golfer, or even a watcher of the game, meant I could never really get that enthused by it.

So, I decided the sell the domain on Flippa. This is the first time I’ve ever done that by auction and with about three hours to go before the auction ends, the reserve has been met and things are heating up!

It’s all rather exciting seeing how many people are watching the listing. Fingers crossed it gets a good price

Following the announcement this week that Jonny Wilkinson has retired from international rugby, like many people, my mind went back to November 2003 and that fantastic day when England won the Rugby World Cup 20-17 against Australia in Sydney.

Jonny’s drop goal must have been viewed millions of times but one more won’t hurt:

This day started very early for me in my own team’s clubhouse. Below are just a few of the photos from this memorable day (despite the Guinness depth charges! ) and hopefully gives just a flavour of why this was so special:

Finally, Jonny Wilkinson has retired from playing for England at the age of 32. As well as being an excellent kicker, he put his body on the line time and time again whilst wearing the red rose and this tackle on France’s Ntamack shows why he was such an admired rugby player:

Thank you for being such a wonderful player for England, Jonny. If only there were more like you.

Following on from the success of WordCamp Portsmouth in July of this year, Herb Miller, the owner of Bobbing Wide, has decided that Portsmouth needed its own regular event to help develop the WordPress community in our local area.

So WordUp Pompey was formed. The first event is this evening. No doubt a small, cosy affair in The Dolphin Pub, Old Portsmouth but from little acorns…

Hopefully, there’ll be enough WordPress enthusiasts in and around Portsmouth to make this a success and lead to a larger, conference style, event next year. Hope to see you there

I’ve just seen on Facebook. Now clear why there aren’t too many ‘Agony Uncles’

Why Men Shouldn't Write Advice Columns

Here we go again. More rioting on our streets. Lots of debate. Trying to find the answer. People quick to blame the Police and quick to point the finger at the recession and how the cutbacks have led to this.

Tosh.

We’ve already had at least one round of civil disorder this year where a minority turn a peaceful protest in to a riot.

It is clear that what is happening now is that the yobs have got a taste for violence and arson. More tellingly, this ‘disaffected youth‘ also have a taste for the finer things in life as the selective, targeted looting has demonstrated.

This has nothing to do with recession and all to do with a state of mind. A mindset that says it is OK to destroy other people’s property. OK to steal.

How many of these thugs will go unpunished? I’d be willing to wager the vast majority and they know it. Crime without punishment.

I also wonder why we treat rioters in England any differently to the way we do in Northern Ireland? Water cannon and baton rounds. That’ll disperse the crowd. Instead, the Police appear to have to stand-by and observe. Is this a case of political correctness demonstrating we’re afraid as a society to bear our teeth and come down hard on the criminal element?

Are we happy to just let the fires burn knowing it will be insurance (and those who pay insurance premiums) to pick up the tab again?

One thing I know for sure. This is not the time to be discussing cutting back on the Police. It will backfire.

I spent this weekend at my first ever WordCamp event. It just so happened that this one was local to me, being held in Portsmouth at the Portland Building, which is part of the sprawling Portsmouth University campus.

This was the fourth WordCamp and overall I would say was a huge success. I’m not going to write reams of notes here as most will be found on the official WordCamp UK Wiki.

WordCamp UK - The Delegates

The event was very well organised by Tony Scott with regular email updates prior to and during the event. The organisers had been hit by a few last minute drop-outs but kept the event running smoothly and generally on-time.

The speakers were generally excellent and there was a lot of talented people present, both speaking and in the audience. Designers, developers, theme creators, plugin creators, security experts, SEOs and more. Kimb Jones gave a couple of excellent talks on plugins and themes which made the event worthwhile by itself. If you’re a WordPress enthusiast or just use for your own blog or website, this really is a great resource to tap into.

Kimb Jones - Plugins Presentation

WordCamp UK was supported by many sponsors ranging from Microsoft (ubelly.com) down to small ‘microsponsors’ all of who helped to keep the ticket costs low. StinkyInk deserve a special mention with their support and the free gifts they were giving out. A bribe always works!

At the end of the event, Tony sought feedback from the delegates about how to improve the conference and I’m sure next year’s will be even better. It’s really great to know that WordPress has such an active support community in the UK. No more that feeling of isolation when something goes wrong with an install or upgrade.

Well done to the organisers and speakers. Hopefully, I’ll see you next year.

Not that I read this ‘newspaper’ but I would urge anyone who does to have a rethink and consider boycotting The News of the World.

Of course, you’d have to being living under a rock not to know what they’ve been up to in terms of hacking telephones to gain inside knowledge.

What started as phone hacking celebrities and politicians, developed in to hacking the phones of murder victims, including Milly Dowler, families of the 7-7 terrorist victims, the bereaved of our Afghanistan war dead and so it goes on.

Obviously certain politicians are bosom-buddies with Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks (nee-Wade) but I really hope this doesn’t mean there’ll be another government whitewash and that the public vote by not buying this gutter press trash.

Just a quick reminder that today (1st July) and tomorrow, Help for Heroes volunteers will be at your local Tesco fundraising to help raise even more money for this fantastic Charity.

If you get a chance, pop out for some shopping and do your bit to support our wounded. You may even get a wristband or sticker, just for making a small donation.

If you were unable to help with this weekend, think about the 26th-28th August when it will be the turn of ASDA to support this effort. See – ASDA Helping Heroes.

Update – 010711

We had a great day today at our ‘little’ Tesco store in Whiteley raising about £500.

I was fortunate to be with some really nice people which made the day even more enjoyable. Hopefully, Help for Heroes will get a bumper amount from this weekend’s effort.

Thank you to everyone who donated.

Help for Heroes at the Whiteley Tesco 010711