Mihir Bose's Blog, page 30
July 1, 2015
Steven Finn: If England play meek, timid cricket against Australia we will be found out
“For the first time, we have been allowed to wear those little ear pieces in the dressing room to hear the television commentary,” says Finn. “Before that they were banned. The TV would always have to be on mute. It is important that, when you are out there playing, you are a team. But it’s also hugely important to let the people in: the fans, the media, and give us an insight.”
But can England maintain this new attitude in the Ashes under Alastair Cook given that he was not part of the one-day revival after being dropped from the squad for the World Cup? “He is a different sort of leader to Eoin (Morgan) with the one-day team but that is necessary in Test cricket. I don’t think Cookie gets as much credit as he should for his captaincy. He is a very good leader, a lot shrewder than people think.”
And Finn points out that Cook will have two cricketers who have lit up the summer.
“Joe Root has been a revelation. I remember, on his first tour to India in 2012, I was bowling in the nets and I thought, ‘this guy is going to be bloody good’. The way he left the ball, the way he watched the ball was something I hadn’t seen in a young guy. He can grind out innings in a Test match, he can up the tempo, he can play funky shots. He is a real situation player. It’s scary to think how good he can be if he keeps learning at the rate he’s been.
But can England maintain this new attitude in the Ashes under Alastair Cook given that he was not part of the one-day revival after being dropped from the squad for the World Cup? “He is a different sort of leader to Eoin (Morgan) with the one-day team but that is necessary in Test cricket. I don’t think Cookie gets as much credit as he should for his captaincy. He is a very good leader, a lot shrewder than people think.”
And Finn points out that Cook will have two cricketers who have lit up the summer.
“Joe Root has been a revelation. I remember, on his first tour to India in 2012, I was bowling in the nets and I thought, ‘this guy is going to be bloody good’. The way he left the ball, the way he watched the ball was something I hadn’t seen in a young guy. He can grind out innings in a Test match, he can up the tempo, he can play funky shots. He is a real situation player. It’s scary to think how good he can be if he keeps learning at the rate he’s been.
June 30, 2015
The one Blatter legacy that will live on
The one Blatter legacy that will live on
Inside World Football
It is interesting that, despite all that has been written about FIFA, one issue has not been much discussed. This is how will politicians treat any future FIFA that emerges from its bribery crisis? We know how western politicians now regard FIFA. They have nothing but contempt. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has made this abundantly clear in the House of Commons.
Hugh Robertson, who was sports minister when England made its disastrous bid for the 2018 World Cup, told me: "We should not host the World Cup, or any FIFA tournament, until such time as the organisation is successfully reformed." It should be emphasised that this seems largely a northern European and American political view. Vladimir Putin, for instance, has suggested that the ongoing investigation is all an American plot and his views are echoed by politicians in the non-western world, particularly the Sepp Blatter strongholds of Asia and Africa.
Inside World Football
It is interesting that, despite all that has been written about FIFA, one issue has not been much discussed. This is how will politicians treat any future FIFA that emerges from its bribery crisis? We know how western politicians now regard FIFA. They have nothing but contempt. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has made this abundantly clear in the House of Commons.
Hugh Robertson, who was sports minister when England made its disastrous bid for the 2018 World Cup, told me: "We should not host the World Cup, or any FIFA tournament, until such time as the organisation is successfully reformed." It should be emphasised that this seems largely a northern European and American political view. Vladimir Putin, for instance, has suggested that the ongoing investigation is all an American plot and his views are echoed by politicians in the non-western world, particularly the Sepp Blatter strongholds of Asia and Africa.
June 26, 2015
English football still has a problem with race – but not among the players
The Guardian
The controversy generated by pictures of black and white England Under-21 players lunching at separate tables, and also forming separate groups in the swimming pool and on the exercise bikes, is a powerful reminder that issues connected with everyday behaviour in a multiracial society have not been resolved and might never be.
The pictures do suggest that the behaviour of football players has not moved on since the 80s. Back then Garth Crooks, who as a player suffered horrendous racial abuse from fans, was asked by a fellow Tottenham team mate at a social gathering: “Why do you blacks always stick together?” To which Crooks responded: “Why do you whites always stick together? I always see Bryan Robson alongside Ray Wilkins not next to Viv Anderson or John Barnes?”
Back then, with football in denial about race, Crooks laughed it off. Now the reaction of the football authorities shows how sensitive the subject has become, as exemplified in the response of Gareth Southgate, who manages the Under-21 team. After emphasising that football can break through racial barriers he turned on the media, saying: “I’m looking at a room of journalists and it’s not very multicultural.”
The controversy generated by pictures of black and white England Under-21 players lunching at separate tables, and also forming separate groups in the swimming pool and on the exercise bikes, is a powerful reminder that issues connected with everyday behaviour in a multiracial society have not been resolved and might never be.
The pictures do suggest that the behaviour of football players has not moved on since the 80s. Back then Garth Crooks, who as a player suffered horrendous racial abuse from fans, was asked by a fellow Tottenham team mate at a social gathering: “Why do you blacks always stick together?” To which Crooks responded: “Why do you whites always stick together? I always see Bryan Robson alongside Ray Wilkins not next to Viv Anderson or John Barnes?”
Back then, with football in denial about race, Crooks laughed it off. Now the reaction of the football authorities shows how sensitive the subject has become, as exemplified in the response of Gareth Southgate, who manages the Under-21 team. After emphasising that football can break through racial barriers he turned on the media, saying: “I’m looking at a room of journalists and it’s not very multicultural.”
June 25, 2015
Wimbledon 2015: How the All England Club cashed in following Andy Murray’s 2013 triumph
London Evening Standard
Andy Murray may or may not win Wimbledon but Philip Brook can guarantee one thing at SW19 — the price of strawberries there is the same as last year, £2.50.
The chairman of the All England Club smiles as he says this but then spells out what a Murray triumph two weeks on Sunday would mean. “There is an Andy Murray factor,” he says. “We saw it last year with our issue of debentures.”
Brook is referring to the impact Murray’s 2013 victory had on income. The previous debenture issue in 2009 brought in just under £60million. Last year, with the country still basking in the after-glow of Britain’s first men’s singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936, raised £100m. This was despite the debenture — which guarantees a Centre Court seat for every day of the Grand Slam for five years — almost doubling in cost to £50,000.
Wimbledon 2015: How the All England Club cashed in following Andy Murray's 2013 triumph
“One of the reasons it was so successful was that people looking to buy debentures will have had in their minds that Murray is 28 now,” explains Brook. “He’s probably going to be playing tennis for at least another five years.” And, despite 2014 hardly being a vintage year for Murray, the public’s confidence in him has not dimmed. The debentures can be traded in the open market and this year they have fetched twice their value: £100,000.
Andy Murray may or may not win Wimbledon but Philip Brook can guarantee one thing at SW19 — the price of strawberries there is the same as last year, £2.50.
The chairman of the All England Club smiles as he says this but then spells out what a Murray triumph two weeks on Sunday would mean. “There is an Andy Murray factor,” he says. “We saw it last year with our issue of debentures.”
Brook is referring to the impact Murray’s 2013 victory had on income. The previous debenture issue in 2009 brought in just under £60million. Last year, with the country still basking in the after-glow of Britain’s first men’s singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936, raised £100m. This was despite the debenture — which guarantees a Centre Court seat for every day of the Grand Slam for five years — almost doubling in cost to £50,000.
Wimbledon 2015: How the All England Club cashed in following Andy Murray's 2013 triumph
“One of the reasons it was so successful was that people looking to buy debentures will have had in their minds that Murray is 28 now,” explains Brook. “He’s probably going to be playing tennis for at least another five years.” And, despite 2014 hardly being a vintage year for Murray, the public’s confidence in him has not dimmed. The debentures can be traded in the open market and this year they have fetched twice their value: £100,000.
June 23, 2015
FIFA must undergo reform before England bid for World Cup again, says Hugh Robertson
London Evening Standard
England should not bid for another World Cup until there are major changes at FIFA, says Hugh Robertson, the sports minister during the FA’s failed attempt to host the 2018 finals.
World football’s governing body is in turmoil following the arrests last month of 14 officials and executives, including seven high-powered FIFA members in Zurich, as part of a £100million corruption probe by the FBI.
Wrongdoing has been emphatically denied by Russia and Qatar, which won the 2018 and 2022 bids. Amid the chaos, Sepp Blatter, who has not been implicated in the scandal, was re-elected FIFA president only to step down five days later.
Robertson believes the organisation needs a huge overhaul.
“We should not host the World Cup, or any FIFA tournament until the organisation is successfully reformed,” he said.
England should not bid for another World Cup until there are major changes at FIFA, says Hugh Robertson, the sports minister during the FA’s failed attempt to host the 2018 finals.
World football’s governing body is in turmoil following the arrests last month of 14 officials and executives, including seven high-powered FIFA members in Zurich, as part of a £100million corruption probe by the FBI.
Wrongdoing has been emphatically denied by Russia and Qatar, which won the 2018 and 2022 bids. Amid the chaos, Sepp Blatter, who has not been implicated in the scandal, was re-elected FIFA president only to step down five days later.
Robertson believes the organisation needs a huge overhaul.
“We should not host the World Cup, or any FIFA tournament until the organisation is successfully reformed,” he said.
June 19, 2015
June 18, 2015
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota, book review: A picture of modern immigration
Sunjeev Sahota's first novel received rave reviews and won him the accolade of Granta's Best Young Novelist for 2013.The cover of this new novel carries a recommendation from Salman Rushdie that this is the "real thing... and all you can do is surrender, happily, to its power".
I must confess I found it almost impossible to follow the great man's advice for the first 100 or so pages and not surrender to the urge to abandon the novel. But it was worth persevering for long before the end Sahota proves a wonderfully evocative storyteller, taking us into the heart of the world of illegal migration and how it shapes lives.
The story centres round three young Indian migrants, Tarlochan, Randeep and Avtar, and their interaction with Narinder, the British born daughter of an earlier generation of Indian migrants. Avtar and Randeep, whose families in Amritsar know each other, arrive together. But while their lives show the impact of modern, aspirational India, society has not changed enough for Avtar to tell Randeep that he is the lover of his older sister. With their families on hard times they decide to migrate to Britain to look for work, but in order to gain entry they have to pretend they are not: Avtar posing as a student and Randeep on a "visa marriage" to Narinder. Tarlochan takes the more classic illegal immigrant route of arriving on a fake passport in a torturous journey via Russia and Paris.
I must confess I found it almost impossible to follow the great man's advice for the first 100 or so pages and not surrender to the urge to abandon the novel. But it was worth persevering for long before the end Sahota proves a wonderfully evocative storyteller, taking us into the heart of the world of illegal migration and how it shapes lives.
The story centres round three young Indian migrants, Tarlochan, Randeep and Avtar, and their interaction with Narinder, the British born daughter of an earlier generation of Indian migrants. Avtar and Randeep, whose families in Amritsar know each other, arrive together. But while their lives show the impact of modern, aspirational India, society has not changed enough for Avtar to tell Randeep that he is the lover of his older sister. With their families on hard times they decide to migrate to Britain to look for work, but in order to gain entry they have to pretend they are not: Avtar posing as a student and Randeep on a "visa marriage" to Narinder. Tarlochan takes the more classic illegal immigrant route of arriving on a fake passport in a torturous journey via Russia and Paris.
June 13, 2015
Lord March at Goodwood House
Lord March at Goodwood House
Financial Times
We are in the small library at Goodwood House and Lord March, who is in line to become the 11th Duke of Richmond, is at his desk sitting in the chair Napoleon sat on during the battle of Waterloo. “Wellington,” he says, “gave the 4th Duke the chair. He was an observer at the battle and his son was aide-de-camp to Wellington. Four or five generations of my family have sat on it.”
On the shelf opposite is the Waterloo invitation book, written by the wife of the 4th Duke, for the ball held on June 15 1815, three days before the battle. Taking out the green book, Lord March starts reading the names: “HRH the Prince of Orange, HRH the Prince of Brunswick, Duke of Wellington, Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. The duchess organised the ball at the request of Wellington. The men left their dancing shoes there and went off to fight the battle. It confused Napoleon.” With that, Lord March returns to Napoleon’s chair and opens his Apple Mac.
Financial Times
We are in the small library at Goodwood House and Lord March, who is in line to become the 11th Duke of Richmond, is at his desk sitting in the chair Napoleon sat on during the battle of Waterloo. “Wellington,” he says, “gave the 4th Duke the chair. He was an observer at the battle and his son was aide-de-camp to Wellington. Four or five generations of my family have sat on it.”
On the shelf opposite is the Waterloo invitation book, written by the wife of the 4th Duke, for the ball held on June 15 1815, three days before the battle. Taking out the green book, Lord March starts reading the names: “HRH the Prince of Orange, HRH the Prince of Brunswick, Duke of Wellington, Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. The duchess organised the ball at the request of Wellington. The men left their dancing shoes there and went off to fight the battle. It confused Napoleon.” With that, Lord March returns to Napoleon’s chair and opens his Apple Mac.
June 12, 2015
Getting Mo Farah back on the track and doing great things again is key to the healing process, say Ed Warner
Getting Mo Farah back on the track and doing great things again is key to the healing process, say Ed Warner
London Evening Standard
UK Athletics chief on the challenges facing British Olympic champion amid the doping storm surrounding his coach
Ed Warner, the chairman of UK Athletics, has had a traumatic week. The doping allegations surrounding the coach of his most iconic athlete, Mo Farah, sent shockwaves throughout sport.
BBC’s Panorama alleges that Alberto Salazar had provided testosterone to one of his athletes, Galen Rupp, in 2002 when the Olympic silver medallist was just 16.
There is no suggestion that Britain’s double Olympic champion is involved but a distraught Farah withdrew from last Sunday’s prestige Birmingham Grand Prix and flew back to Oregon to confront his coach.
Despite the storm, Warner is calm as we talk on the lawn of his London club. He is, however, fully aware of the long-term effect of these allegations.
London Evening Standard
UK Athletics chief on the challenges facing British Olympic champion amid the doping storm surrounding his coach
Ed Warner, the chairman of UK Athletics, has had a traumatic week. The doping allegations surrounding the coach of his most iconic athlete, Mo Farah, sent shockwaves throughout sport.
BBC’s Panorama alleges that Alberto Salazar had provided testosterone to one of his athletes, Galen Rupp, in 2002 when the Olympic silver medallist was just 16.
There is no suggestion that Britain’s double Olympic champion is involved but a distraught Farah withdrew from last Sunday’s prestige Birmingham Grand Prix and flew back to Oregon to confront his coach.
Despite the storm, Warner is calm as we talk on the lawn of his London club. He is, however, fully aware of the long-term effect of these allegations.
June 11, 2015
Formula E is ready for the green light in Battersea Park
London Evening Standard
The boss of an environmentally friendly alternative to Formula One today said he hopes London will be the springboard for electric car racing.
Spanish entrepreneur Alejandro Agag, a former chairman of Queens Park Rangers, is bringing his Formula E circuit — whose cars, which can reach speeds of up to 150mph, are electrically powered — to the capital this month, transforming Battersea Park into a race track for the championship decider.
In its inaugural season tens of thousands of spectators, including Lindsay Lohan and Natalie Imbruglia, have turned out to see the environmentally friendly alternative to elite motor racing at 10 cities including Monaco, Moscow and Beijing.
Mr Agag told the Standard he was convinced London will be the peak of the season: “We are trying to get young fans and just as Formula One has its petrol heads London could see the start of the sparkheads.”
Natalie Imbruglia with driver Nelson Piquet Jnr (Picture: Action Press/REX) He said Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone had told him “you won’t make it” when the pair part-owned QPR with former Renault boss Flavio Briatore from 2007 to 2011.
But Mr Agag, a former Spanish MEP, said Mr Ecclestone has now changed his tune, saying: “I am glad I was wrong and you were right.”
He said: “I come from the world of Formula One and felt sponsors were having a problem with the sustainability credentials of our sport. The way to fix it is to create a clean motor sport.”
Mr Agag admitted that it “could take between 10 and 30 years” and that “electrical cars will only replace combustible cars if they are better, not because they are green”.
He said Formula E proved city centre races work: “No one knew us in Miami, 35,000 people showed up. Why? Because it was under their doorsteps.”
The boss of an environmentally friendly alternative to Formula One today said he hopes London will be the springboard for electric car racing.
Spanish entrepreneur Alejandro Agag, a former chairman of Queens Park Rangers, is bringing his Formula E circuit — whose cars, which can reach speeds of up to 150mph, are electrically powered — to the capital this month, transforming Battersea Park into a race track for the championship decider.
In its inaugural season tens of thousands of spectators, including Lindsay Lohan and Natalie Imbruglia, have turned out to see the environmentally friendly alternative to elite motor racing at 10 cities including Monaco, Moscow and Beijing.
Mr Agag told the Standard he was convinced London will be the peak of the season: “We are trying to get young fans and just as Formula One has its petrol heads London could see the start of the sparkheads.”
Natalie Imbruglia with driver Nelson Piquet Jnr (Picture: Action Press/REX) He said Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone had told him “you won’t make it” when the pair part-owned QPR with former Renault boss Flavio Briatore from 2007 to 2011.
But Mr Agag, a former Spanish MEP, said Mr Ecclestone has now changed his tune, saying: “I am glad I was wrong and you were right.”
He said: “I come from the world of Formula One and felt sponsors were having a problem with the sustainability credentials of our sport. The way to fix it is to create a clean motor sport.”
Mr Agag admitted that it “could take between 10 and 30 years” and that “electrical cars will only replace combustible cars if they are better, not because they are green”.
He said Formula E proved city centre races work: “No one knew us in Miami, 35,000 people showed up. Why? Because it was under their doorsteps.”
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