A busy few weeks...

First up, I'd like to apologise for not updating this blog as much as one would have liked to have done so over the last few weeks. It's been a really busy April so far with exciting experiences, new opportunities, and rather a lot of travelling.

So, just what have I been up to then? 

Well, I've been back in the UK quite a bit, travelling up and down the country to visit family. Also, I've had quite a few shifts at Sky Sports in London on the logging desk, working on the Premier League, Championship, MLS, and La Liga, all of which I've really enjoyed.

Additionally, I've started to host my own podcast for World Football Index on the English Premier League called WFI EPL Weekly. I'm really enjoying this so far and I've tried to make all my pods so far shorter and more accessible to a general listener. The guys at WFI are great to work with (hat-tip to my producer, Dave) and we've had some great pods so far, including this FA Cup semi-final preview and one with The Esk on the future on Everton (a must listen for any fan of the toffees). If you've got any Premier League-themed podcast ideas, I'd love to hear them so drop me a line.

EA WorldView's social media growth has been occupying a significant amount of my time too, particularly growing the Facebook presence, as we're now well-established on Twitter. We're 100 short of 3k on Twitter and almost at 500 likes on Facebook. Please follow us and if you've got any suggestions for how to grow a news publication on social media, let me know them.

It's weird how when I was planning to move to Barcelona this time last year, I figured that 1) I'd end up in the academic world and 2) I'd be in Barcelona for at least a few years. One has also been applying for work for next year over the last few weeks and neither of the above seems likely now as my priorities have changed: the work I've been applying for is in the media (check out my video application for the BBC) and it's my intention to move back to the UK, probably to London and maybe Manchester, for the medium to long-term now.

Oh, and there's going to be a General Election in six weeks... If anyone is running a campaign that I can help out on with comms or other stuff, I'm more than willing to help out when I'm back.

After Trump's strike, more action is needed in Syria

Some of you may know that for the last 9 months, I've been working for my old professor from the University of Birmingham, Scott Lucas, on the social and digital media for his news and analysis website, EA Worldview.

Pretty much every day, I've woken up to and had to inform our followers of horrific pictures and stories from Syria of atrocities mainly caused by the Assad regime and its main backer, Vladimir Putin's Russia.

All too often, the response to these atrocities has been radio silence from the United Nations and, at best, strong words of condemnation from the United States, but little more. Thus, I support the harder line towards Assad's genocide that has been adopted in recent days by the Trump Administration.

Although one never wants to see deaths caused by conflict, I for one, think is about time that the international community took action against the barbarism of the Assad regime. Harsh words have been unable to deescalate this civil war; thus, stronger action is required.

My hope is that continued action from the United States and her NATO allies against those who are committing atrocities in Syria (be they government forces, extremist rebel groups or Islamic State) can bring all parties to the table for meaningful negotiations and a peaceful long-term solution to the conflict in Syria.