Sunday 24 October 2010

The Apprentice is back

THE latest series of The Apprentice has been as addictive as other years.

The programme, which is normally shown in the Spring, returned to our screens a few weeks ago.

In the first three programmes the team leader of the losing side has been the one to be fired. So you know if you put yourself forward to be a team leader, you are taking a huge gamble.

The arrogance of some of the contestants is unbelievable and some of their comments, such as, “my first word wasn’t money it was money” are laughable. It is often the case that the one’s that talk themselves up the most are the most incompetent, for example Melissa.

Melissa put herself forward to be a team leader because she said her experience was perfect for the task. However she was unable to work out costs, or make a decision. Luckily for her, her team just won and beat Shibby’s.

The behaviour of Shibby, a surgeon was scary. You would have thought he would have been good under pressure, but as soon as a situation became tough he went into a sulk. He was also very argumentative with potential customers.

It is interesting when a team fails and the internal arguments start. No one wants to accept the blame and the finger pointing begins.

Keeping an eye over the tasks again is Nick Hewer, and he is joined this year by Karren Brady, who brings some glamour to the programme. Nick doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t need to, as his facial expressions normally tell the whole story.

Finally it is too early to predict an overall winner.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Montgomerie's men take Ryder Cup

WHAT a great win for Montgomerie’s European Ryder Cup team in this year’s match at Celtic Manor in Wales.

Who’d have thought during the downpours and play suspensions on the Friday that they would have ever finished the event.

Europe took the contest in dramatic fashion, and it was one of the most memorable Ryder Cups in recent times.

Montgomerie proved to be a good captain and the team never looked back after his pep-talk, when the air was said to have turned blue.

He had told his team they lacked passion, but that was certainly there on the Monday during the singles matches.

And you could feel the tension as the contest went down to the final match between Graeme McDowell and Hunter Mahan.

It was amazing to read in a new study that nearly nine million adults can’t ride a bike, and five million can’t tie their shoelaces or swim.

The study has been published by www.one-poll.com, who used 3,000 people to get their findings.

People said they did not learn when they were younger to ride a bike and thought it was too late to start learning now.

A One Poll spokesman, said: “These stats are absolutely startling.”

Meanwhile, I’ll drink to another study that says that three cups a day can prevent heart problems.

The review could be found in the journal of the Molecular Aspects of Medicine.

According to the study tea reduces plaque in the arteries.

A total of 80% of this country drinks tea.

Dr Catherine Hood from the Tea Advisory Panel, said: “Evidence is growing that three to four cups of black tea each day is good not only for general health, but also for cardiovascular health.”

Firstly after Europe’s success in the Ryder Cup, let’s hope England can follow suit and retain The Ashes in Australia.

The first test is next month.