There are so many things bugging me today I'm going to have to listify:

1) Sport - why is sport so rubbish these days? Seriously. I can't remember the last time I actually got really excited by a sporting event. Take the Premiership, for instance. It's dull and boring. The same people win all the time, the same people lose all the time. There's very little unexpected, and 99.9% of the headlines are about politics, mostly managers getting annoyed at how craps the referees are. Pretty much every other sport we see is crap, mostly because Sky have bought the rights to and raped everything else that's interesting, charging people unpleasantly large sums for an inferior product. I realised last night as I scanned the pages of BBC Sport that for the first time in a long time, I really was looking forward to the excitement of Formula 1, and that's saying something considering the driving is as dull as it's possible to get.



3) John Howard - I am, for about the four billionth time in my life, embarrassed by my home nation. It's always the politics, because you just can't deny that the place is really behind the times. John Howard (stupid, stupid man on a par with George W) has come out and slammed Barack Obama, an American Democrat presidential candidate, for suggesting that he would pull American troops out of Iraq within a year if he was in power. Now, there are plenty of people in world politics who would share Mr Obama's views on the subject (I know I do). So why has John Howard slammed the guy? After all, he's not even in the same political arena! Perhaps, and I don't want to suggest that mr Howard is racist here (he is, by the way), this has something to do with the fact that Obama is an African-American. By that I mean his dad is African, his mum American, rather than he's just black and can trace one of his ancestors three hundred years ago to Africa. And that he would certainly not be a political ally of Mr Howard. If Howard gets another term, Autralia is only going to become more embarrasingly outdated. I pray that this doesn't happen.

4) Paul Jewel, and the referee situation - have a look at this. I can understand the Wigan manager's response to what is quite clearly favourable treatment for a big club at their home ground. It happens all the time at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates. We're past the point where we can excuse the odd mistake with the old 'only human' chestnut. These aren't odd mistakes any more. They're common, and categorical, and should be picked up by referees who deign to call themselves 'professional'. Clubs are being cost points and financial bonuses by men who are making more errors than they should be allowed to get away with. And my team (Boro) haven't even been that badly affected by refs!

That's it for the list. Other than that, my Monday morning is full of annoyance on the work side of things, and full of sleepiness elsewhere. Really need to get this whole body clock thing sorted. Hey ho.