A weekend in Berlin

Last weekend I spent a few days in the German capital Berlin.

It was the first time I'd been to Berlin since spending a day there in 1995. At the time I was inter-railing across Europe. I wasn't there long enough to get a real feel for the city. My lasting memory was the feeling of amazement that only 6 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall I was actually in the city itself standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate!

I remembered looking over towards East Berlin and seeing what looked like a massive building site. I always thought it would be great to come back again one day once all the rebuilding had finished.

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin has a reputation of being a kind of cool hipster capital of Europe, similar to London's Shoreditch and Hoxton. I have to admit it does have that vibe about it. I was surprised at just how chilled and laid back Berlin was for a capital city.

Cities like London, Paris and New York have that feel of places that say to you: 'this is where it's at' They are cities that have the confidence to say we are the biggest and the best. Certainly with London, Paris and even Rome, you also have that European grandeur.

Even though Berlin is an historic capital I get the feeling that it doesn't have those kind of pretensions, it feels like a city that doesn't take itself too seriously which is something I quite liked.

What Berlin does have is a heavy sense of 20th century history hanging over it. No city in the world represented the division between the Capitalist West and Communist East than the Berlin Wall. I remember when the Wall came down in 1989 and realising that I was watching a truly historical event.

Other historical sites include the government parliament the Reichstag which was famously burnt down by the Nazis in 1933, Checkpoint Charlie and The Topography of Terror, both an in and outdoor museum on the site of the ruins of the old Gestapo and SS headquarters.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

I wasn't aware of the memorial until my friend pointed it out to me. It was designed by the architect Peter Eisenman and inaugurated in 2005. The memorial is made up of hundreds a grey blocks which have been formed into a grid system which once inside feels like you're in a maze. The slabs are of varying sizes and when you walk inside, can feel quite disorientating.


Berlin isn't all about the darker side of European and World history. Berlin is also famed for its nightlife. I have to admit I found Berlin's nightlife a bit confusing to begin with. The city is very quiet and doesn't have what you could call a traditional city centre, there are different neighborhoods. When you go out in the evening you didn't really come across a row of bars or clubs in the way you might do on a UK high-street.

Berlin's bars and clubs all appear to be quite discreet, its as if you have to stumble across them or know exactly where you are going to find a place. What I liked was that when you do find somewhere there are some really nice intimate chilled out bars to discover. Busy enough to create a good atmosphere but not overly crowded to make the experience tiring. a couple of the bars and clubs we went to had a bell you had to ring to get in before being confronted by a curtain. It was like you were being allowed into an exclusive venue that once inside was pretty chilled and very inclusive.

I realised that's what Berlin is all about, nice bars and cool clubs that you need to hunt down or keep your eye out for. There's no need to dress up, nobody seems to care what you look like and this is what I quite liked about Berlin.

It's definitely a cool place to spend a weekend.

Hertha v Schalke: Hertha Ultras

One of the main reasons for visiting Germany was for the chance to watch a Bundersliga football match. The Premier League may be the richest and most popular league in the world, but Germany's Bundersliga has a growing reputation were fans can watch affordable games in some of the best stadiums in the world and where the fan culture and support is second to none.

Watching Hertha v Schalke was a great experience. Hertha aren't really one of the most glamourous or famous names in German football but they're having an exceptional season. Before the start of the match they stood in 3rd place in the league behind Bayern and Dortmund. They have a great chance of qualifiing for next season's Champions League.

This was an important match as Schalke were one place behind them in fourth; if Hertha could win it would help cement their position in third. It was an good match, fairly even in the first half with Hertha taking the lead just before half time. The second half Hertha were very much the better team and deservedly doubled their lead in the middle of the second half. They had chances to make it three which they failed to take but overall they deserved their win.

Apart from the football what really stood out were the fans. Hertha's ultra supporters behind the goal were superb. They never stopped singing and chanting. It was an impressive sight to see thousands of fans all jumping up and down in unison. I should also give credit to Schalke who also brought some numbers with them as well and contributed to the atmosphere.

One of the things I loved most about Berlin is the graffiti and street art you see on buildings all over the city. I know you find graffiti in many cities but Berlin seems to have taken it to another level and forms part of the city's look and identity.

The legacy of the Wall

In various districts of the city you can find parts of the Wall that still remain. They form part of a memorial to those people who risked and lost their lives trying to cross from East to West Berlin. It's very poignant to see and it's good that they've kept bits of the Wall up, if only to remind people of the destructive nature of building barriers between people.

The EU Referendum: Are you in or out?

It's been a few weeks since the date of the EU referendum was announced. Those of you that follow me on Twitter will know that I've already made it clear which way I'll be voting and that's to stay in.

They might as well hold the referendum next week as I know my views aren't going to change but for the next 4 months we're all going to be subjected to endless debate on the merits of staying in or coming out.

Despite my initial feelings I've still been following the debate which I think is important as the public has a rare chance to think about and make a decision on the type of country we want to be in the 21st century.

So far we're being presented with two narratives on Europe to choose from. The first comes from the stay campaign led by the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osborne. They're pushing forwards the fear and uncertainty argument. One that says it is too much of a risk for the UK to leave the European Union. They may not have great affection for the EU but the risks of coming out of the EU are to great to consider.

The argument put forward by the out campaign arguably presents a more positive message. One that says the UK can prosper and thrive by going it alone and leaving the EU; saying goodbye to its intrusive laws, regulations and struggling economy.

Personally I've always considered myself to generally be pro European and I instinctively feel that Britain should remain in the EU and be a prominent player inside it.

I certainly don't believe the EU is perfect. I'm all for closer political and economic ties with our European neighbours but there is a limit to how far you can go towards greater integration. I don't want to live in a centralised European super-state, I think it's incredibly undemocratic. You only have to look at the situation in Greece where despite the Greek people electing a government opposed to more austerity, they've ultimately had to follow the orders of Germany and the EU.

The European Union needs reforming but I'd rather try and reform it from the inside rather than leaving the EU altogether. Those who want to leave the EU will never truly convince me. I think in a globalised world I don't believe that Britain will maintain the same power and influence it has by leaving the EU.

The out campaign talk about how we are a country who can trade with the world, which is true but we are still geographically part of Europe, our history and future will always be tied to the Continent regardless of whether some people dislike that fact.

The debate so far is all about our role and future in the world which is understandable but there's the other side of the argument. What would a Brexit mean for Europe?

Europe needs and wants us to stay. It would be a complete disaster for the European project if Britain was to leave. It would potentially be the beginning of the end for the European Union. That might sound dramatic but it certainly conceivable. If one of the biggest countries decided to leave what would prevent other countries from deciding to do the same thing.

Europe is facing a number of difficult challenges at present: Slow economic growth, high youth unemployment, the increasing migrant crisis, and Islamic terrorism. Europe needs to be unified and strong to deal with these issues. A Europe without Britain will be weaker and one person you know wants to see a weakened, fragmented Europe is Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The EU will never be something that this country will truly love but the consequences of Brexit will have far reaching consequences across Europe and the world for years to come.

The cost of football: £77 for a ticket: "Enough is Enough"

I was pleased to see a small victory for football fans this week, following the protest by Liverpool fans against the club's proposal to increase some tickets to £77.

For years Premier League football has amazed me in that it seems immune from the wider world and economy where people continue to pay eye watering prices despite the fact that many people in the country are struggling financially and the country is slowly recovering from an economic downturn.

If I was a Liverpool fan at last weekend's Sunderland game I to would have walked out on 77 minutes to make the point that enough is enough. With so much money in football and with a new tv deal coming into effect next season there really is no justification for clubs to continue increasing prices.

We can all talk about market forces and the fact that there will always be people who will pay £50 plus prices but that doesn't mean it's right to charge such prices and keep increasing them.

I've heard other people say and I've noticed myself at games that you see fewer children and teenagers attending matches. If you see games from the 70s and 80s it's striking the number of teenagers you see in the stands. Now you have to be middle aged to afford to go to games regularly but how do clubs think they can build the next generation of fans to support clubs and attend matches?

As much as I think that the Premier League is a great product and is entertaining and exciting, I've come to the conclusion that on average I want to pay £25 to watch a football match.

The success of the Premier League is that it's a great marketing exercise. As good as football is, how great can watching 22 players on a football pitch get?

In November last year, I paid £40 to see Roger Federer play Novak Djokovic at the ATP Tennis Masters. Not only was I watching two of the best players in the world, I was watching two of the greatest tennis players of all time. That was value for money. Why should I pay more to watch a mid table Premier League match?


I would happily pay £77 to watch a Test match in cricket, a day at Wimbledon including Centre Court seats. A 6 Nations match at Twickenham. I'm happy to do this because these are more one off events, you may attend these events a couple of times a year at most.

Watching football on the other hand is what I consider your bread and butter sport. You watch football week in week out. Why would I want to pay £70 plus to watch say Arsenal v Norwich? That is not a special or unique event unless you're a tourist. I'd only consider paying £77 to watch a Champions League Quarter/Semi Final or the Final itself.

When you watch football on television part of the appeal of the product is seeing stadiums full of fans providing the atmosphere to the game. When I occasionally see Italian football, Serie A doesn't have the excitement or appeal it used to when you see half empty stadiums. It feels dull in comparison to the Premier League. Football needs the fans and nobody is going to be interested in watching Man Utd v Chelsea in a half empty stadium, the fans are part of the product.

I would like to see and I think it could easily be affordable for clubs to charge away fans no more than £30 for a ticket, in fact they could allow many away fans in for free. Average prices should be no more than £30 which is more than reasonable. In 2014 I saw Lionel Messi and Argentina play Croatia at Upton Park. The cost £25!

As much as money has revolutionised football in England fans have been squeezed for too long and to some extent we as fans have allowed this to happen by continuing to attend games and pay increasing prices. This is why the time has now come to say enough is enough.

David Bowie 1947 - 2016

Like many people today, I took the news of David Bowie's death with a feeling of almost disbelief.

How could David Bowie be dead. He's always just been there. He's one of the biggest and most iconic names in Pop and Rock music. Many of his records form part of the soundtrack to my childhood. I couldn't believe it.

Only yesterday I was reading a feature in the Sunday Times about how he brought Soho life to suburban South London before he became famous. I thought great, I always like reading about David Bowie.

When I turned the TV on this morning to watch BBC news, I was surprised at how emotional I started to feel about his death as the report looked back on his career. There are so many of his records that I've grown up listening to.


When it comes to British Pop and Rock music David Bowie is without question one of the most important and influential artists this country has produced. He is a music and cultural icon and you can see this with the amount of coverage that his death has received.

This morning on my train journey to work I felt I had to listen to the Best of Bowie album which I bought a number of years ago.

My #DavidBowie soundtrack on the way to work today included: John, I'm Only Dancing The Man Who Sold the World Fame Modern Love China Girl

— Rodney Dennis (@Rodneyd75) January 11, 2016

I first became aware of Bowie as a child growing up in the 80s. I always loved his 1983 hit Lets Dance which was number 1 for weeks. During the 80s I simply viewed David Bowie as a major pop star, it was only as I got older and started discovering his work from the 1970s that I began to understand his influence on British music.

I've just been flicking through a book I read over 10 years ago called Black Vinyl White Powder by Simon Napier-Bell. It's a history of British music. While reading the book, I realised that if the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were the two most influential bands of the 1960s then the 70s were Bowie's decade.

I'm not going to sit here and write about how David Bowie changed my life - he didn't. I'm just a huge and passionate music fan, I love all kinds of music; different bands, singers and genres. When it comes to pop music I love many of his records from the 70s and 80s.

But more than just the music, David Bowie is/was a real artist in the truest sense. A singer, songwriter, performer, actor. Flicking through the autobiography from Nile Rogers who produced his biggest selling album Lets Dance, he described Bowie as the Picasso of Rock and Roll.

What I think really appeals to me about David Bowie is the skill and desire to constantly experiment and reinvent himself in terms of his music and his image and also to draw upon so many different influences from music, theatre, art, film, and literature.

One of the things I love about the UK is that in terms of popular culture and particularly music we punch above our weight. Our influence around the world has been huge. There are so many iconic bands from the 60s and 70s that are revered. From the Beatles, the Stones, The Kinks, Pink Floyd etc.

David Bowie was the one iconic artist to emerge from that era that I've always loved and listened to and that's why he'll be missed by me.

Goodbye 2015 - A year in review

As it's New Years Eve, I thought it would be a good idea to write a little review of the year.

As we approach the start of 2016 it reminds me that 2016 will be the 7th year that I have been writing my blog. Admittedly I seem to write fewer blog posts each year but that's not because I'm bored by my blog. It's more the case that writing and maintaining a blog is a lot of work and requires a large amount of dedication and commitment.

When I first started this blog I had just started studying for my postgrad degree in newspaper journalism. My blog was a way of accompanying my studies and challenging myself to write on a regular basis as a way of developing my writing skills.

I've now completed my postgrad training and I'm working full time as a content writer for a Consultancy firm in the City. I spend my working days writing about investment banking and capital markets.

It's interesting but geeky stuff! It means the committment to constantly update my blog with new content isn't always there but I still love my blog as it allows me to write about the things that interest me. My blog is still an outlet to express my thoughts and opinions and when something really grabs my attention I will always want to write something down about it.


Looking back at 2015

For me personally it was the year I turned 40. It's one of those ages where we're meant to look back and reflect on what we've done in our lives and look forward to want we would still like to achieve.

I don't particularly feel 40 (and I've been told I don't look it either). Whereas in previous generations being 40 was considered properly middle-aged I don't feel that old but then at other times it amazes me at just how quickly the years have gone by.

I've become a bit of a London cliché by moving out of London to 'commutersville' that is High Wycombe. As much as I love London, the city is eating itself and is becoming almost too successful.

It's not sustainable that the capital has such high property prices which is one reason why I decided to move out. I can afford to buy outside of London and although I'm currently still renting I can get a lot more value for my money by moving 30 miles away.


The big stories of the year

Well we had a General Election which nobody appeared to predict the final result. Still remember the shock of seeing the exit poll at 10:00.

So we have a Conservative majority government. It wasn't that long ago it seemed that the Tories would never form a majority but it now looks like they'll be in power for the considerable future.

For Labour the election was a total disaster. When it came down to the basics, Ed Milliband was considered less of a leader than David Cameron and Labour were not trusted on the economy. They were wiped out in Scotland and saw UKIP eat into their support in the North.

In response to this defeat, Labour party members decided to to elect the previously unknown left winger Jeremy Corbyn. I'm not going to go too much into my thoughts on Corbyn. You can read them in my earlier blogs.

All I will say is that Labour's membership are quite happy to please themselves and would appear to have little interest in appealing to those voters that will be needed if Labour are to form a government again.

I genuinely believe that 2015 could be seen as the beginning of the end for the Labour Party.


Islamic terrorism

The year began and ended with two horrific attacks in Paris, firstly on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and then in November in a concert venue and entertainment district in the city.

This was truly shocking and the fact that it took place in a city like Paris seemed to make the impact and fear even greater. The rise of ISIS has been one of the most worrying developments in the Middle East in recent years.

It's clear that with the removal of leaders such as Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Colonel Gaddafi in Libya and the civil war in Syria; a number of opposition groups and leaders have been unleashed who may have looked better than previous regimes but in many cases are more unpredictable and worse.

When you look at the mess in Iraq you have to wonder whether things would have been more stable had Saddam Hussein been allowed to remain in power.

I don't feel knowledgeable or qualified enough to set out a plan on how to defeat the likes of ISIS, what I do think is that it requires a long-term commitment and a holistic approach to the problem in terms of bringing about a cease fire in Syria, looking for a diplomatic solution with the various parties. Some military action against ISIS but also looking at other countries in the region particularly Saudi Arabia and how elements within that country fund the likes of ISIS.


The United States

This time next year we'll have a new President. I'm assuming it will be Hilary Clinton and it definitely will be if Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination. What started off as joke is becoming deadly serious. I get Trump's appeal, we've seen that there is a growing disenchantment with mainstream politicians both in America, Europe and the Uk. The public like authentic 'tell it how it is' honest politicians but this can only take you so far.

Donald Trump has tapped into this anger and frustration with a certain section of the American electorate. I suppose the challenge for more moderate mainstream candidates is how they can speak to and appeal to these voters who seem to like so much of what Trump has to say.

I don't think Donald Trump will become the next President but his appeal reflects poorly on the world's only super power.


#blacklivesmatter

I wrote earlier this year that guns and race are the two dominant news narratives that seem to come out of America. This year we had the black lives matter movement which has developed in response to the series of high profile killings of black men by various state police forces.

When I think back to the hope that existed when President Obama was elected you genuinely thought that perhaps America had turned a page in its history of race relations. The depressing thing for me that #blacklivesmatter prove very little has changed in America and despite the election of its first black President, America continues to have a problem with black American men.

Although living in Britain, the history of race relations is very different to that of the United States, the story still means a lot to me. Many of my grandfather's siblings emigrated to the United States from the Caribbean rather then come to England. If things had been different I too could have ended up being born and brought up in America and not England.

As a black male what would my life chances and opportunities have been like growing up in America and not England? We'll never know but what I can say is that the risk of being killed by the police simply for being a black man is a lot greater in the US than here in the Uk.


Sport

Corruption has been a key theme in the world of sport this year. We've seen the long overdue comeuppance of FIFA and Sepp Blatter and the world of athletics continues to struggle with the issue of doping, with Russia being one of the main culprits.

Sport is no longer just sport. It is big business and politics but I think that the types of people that end up running the likes of FIFA or the IAAF are simply not up to the standards whether they be ethical of in terms of administration needed to work in such organisations.


This year I loved watching the Rugby World Cup despite England's disappointing performance. It was easily the best World Cup that's taken place and it remended me that this country is just brilliant at holding sporting events. I just hope that at some point in the near future we can stage the World Cup in football again.

In tennis Britain actually won the Davis Cup. This really was incredible. For so many years Britain always appeared to be on the verge of being relegated to the lower leagues of international tennis but here we are Davis Cup champions for the first time in over 70 years.

I have so much time and respect for the Murray brothers. What they have done for British tennis is phenomenal. They will be missed when they're no longer playing.

In football we witnessed the unexpected collapse of Premier League champions Chelsea and the sacking of Jose Mourinho. Nobody saw this coming but like the General Election in hindsight there were many signs indicating problems behind the scene.

As great as Mourinho is as a manager he comes with a lot of baggage. His style of management is so intense, so full on and full of controversy that it all begins to take its toll on the players and clubs that he is manager of. He needs to find the secret that Alex Ferguson had in terms of having success but also longevity.

In Chelsea's place at the top of the table we had surprise package of Leicester City topping the table after starting the year rock bottom. It's still unlikely they will win the Premier League but it would be the greatest thing that could happen to football in this country.

We haven't seen anything like Leicester's challenge in the Premier League era and if we looked back for a similar kind challenge we'd have to go back to Leicester's East Midland rivals in Nottingham Forest and Derby winning League titles under Cloughie in the 1970s.

The Premier League has certainly become more competitive due to the amount of money coming in from TV. We're now getting mid ranking clubs who have enough money to not only hold on to their better players but can attract top players who perhaps previously would have played for bigger European clubs.

So there's a few of my thoughts on the last year. There's so many other stories I could have talked about but I'd be here for another week.

I'll finish by wishing you a Happy New Year and I hope 2016 brings your hopes and dreams into reality.