Pietersen text row won’t affect one-day mission, insists Cook August 23, 2012 ENGLAND one-day captain Alastair Cook insists the Kevin Pietersen text message saga will not dent his team’s efforts to continue their winning run when they face South Africa today in Cardiff. The Proteas could knock Cook’s 50-over side off the top of the world rankings with victory in the five-match series, just as they did [...]
Guilty ten times over August 22, 2012 ■ Ex-Polly Peck chief stole £28.9m ■ Sentence to be given this morning ■ Creditors seek £374m in assets ■ Triumph for the Serious Fraud Office ■ Wife vows he will appeal verdict FORMER fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir was yesterday convicted of plundering £28.9m from his former company Polly Peck International in a complex financial [...]
Finn fights back as England save series hopes August 16, 2012 SEAMER Steven Finn played down suggestions England had been fired up by the Kevin Pietersen saga after his three wickets helped the hosts take control on the first day of the third Test against South Africa. Fellow paceman James Anderson (3-58) also took a trio of scalps at Lord’s, including opposition captain Graeme Smith, as [...]
Assad’s brutality won’t be enough to save his regime July 30, 2012 SYRIA’S ongoing civil war is now entering a decisive phase. Bloody battles, street by street, alley by alley, are raging for the two key cities of Damascus and Aleppo. The regime of the Syrian President Bashar al Assad appears to be expending every last ounce of effort to maintain its hold over urban centres. Fast [...]
Holy smoke! The Dark Knight Rises rocks July 19, 2012 FILM THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Cert 12A | By Steve Dinneen ***** UNLESS you’ve lived in a cupboard for the last six months, it won’t have escaped you that there is a new Batman movie. Even if you have, you’ll probably have heard about it anyway. You’ll have seen a trailer through the little crack [...]
Should the government consider removing state benefits from wealthier pensioners? July 10, 2012 YES Alex Burghart The pinch on public spending is, very likely, going to have to get tighter. When it does, the government will need to ask itself some searching questions. Questions like, does Lord Sugar really need £200 for his heating bills this winter? Could Sir Bruce Forsyth afford his own TV licence? Would Lord [...]
I only spotted Terry rant on web, says Ferdinand July 9, 2012 QPR footballer Anton Ferdinand only realised former England captain John Terry had aimed racial abuse at him during a match when he was shown a YouTube clip of it by his girlfriend hours later, a court heard yesterday. Ferdinand had until then not seen or heard Chelsea skipper Terry call him a “f****** black c***”, [...]
Why QE is not the answer to Britain’s economic problems July 5, 2012 IVAN PAVLOV, the psychologist who famously trained his dogs to respond to stimuli, would have been proud. Whenever the economy grinds to a halt, regardless of reason, well-conditioned policymakers from Beijing to Frankfurt always respond in the same way: they cut interest rates and wheel out the printing presses. It is the new orthodoxy: ever [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 5, 2012 Political animals [Re: Pity Osborne isn’t this passionate when talking about growth, yesterday] George Osborne is treating this scandal as a political game, and most of the coalition is following him. There may be evidence of over-close contact between politicians and bankers, but that contact crosses the spectrum – it is, in fact, structural. Jamie [...]
Obama’s healthcare victory could prove a poisoned chalice in November July 4, 2012 FOLLOWING the ratification of the US Constitution, Benjamin Franklin quipped that “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Due to the creative jurisprudence of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, President Barack Obama can be thankful that the death of his health care reforms has been [...]