I am officially the funniest person at #EdFringe

Today, TV channel Dave announced the 'funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival' - a joke by comedian Rob Auton, which goes like this:

"I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa."

Very funny.  I should know - I wrote this joke more than two years ago.

Admittedly, I didn't have the platform the the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to publicise my joke - I just posted it on Twitter - but as you can see, I was doing this joke as far back as March 2011:

I am going to make a bubbly milk chocolate bar, with a layer of sweet'n'sour sauce, and market it as a Chinese Wispa...
— Kit Marsden (@manek43509) March 26, 2011

In total, I have Tweeted the joke four times (three times publicly, once to drummer and producer Craig Blundell):

I will admit that Mr Auton's version is rather better worded (he is a professional comedian, after all) - but no one can really deny that this is, in essentials, the same joke.  And that I got there first.

Where's my prize?

#BBCsportsday on England's "key player"

Hodgson’s short-sighted and dogmatic insistence that Rooney would ‘always’ be considered is - I think - damaging England. #BBCSportsday

— Kit Marsden (@manek43509) August 12, 2013

Following the announcement ahead of Wednesday's England vs. Scotland friendly at Wembley that Roy Hodgson would 'always' consider Wayne Rooney for selection for the England squad, if he were physically fit (presumably this is regardless of his recent form at club level), today's BBC Sportsday live text has been asking for suggestions on who England's "key player" is.

In my opinion, this is symptomatic of the problems England have in international football.  We are always looking for a silver bullet, one player on whom we can pin all our hopes - one basket, in which we can put all our footballing eggs.  Quite apart from the damage this could do to that player (whoever he might be) from the pressures of being expected to carry the national team, I really don't think this is the right way to be running things at all.

This fixation with Rooney is damaging our national team.  Sure, he's good - but is he so good, that he can waltz into the team no matter how good (or bad) his recent performances (and attitude) have been?  And what sort of message does this give other young English players, hoping for a chance to get to represent their country?  Already we have a very strong scent of players being selected based more on which clubs they play for (would Danny Welbeck really get a call-up, if he were at, say, Sunderland instead of at Manchester United?) and I don't think comments like this are helping.

"What's the point in competing for a place in the England squad?  Rooney will always get in, no matter how well he's playing!" is not a good attitude to be fostering.

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