Mihir Bose's Blog, page 85
July 25, 2011
We'll wipe the smiles off the Aussies' faces, says Geraint Thomas
Evening Standard
Cadel Evans made history yesterday by becoming the first Australian to win the Tour de France but Britain's 2012 medal hopefuls are confident that the London Olympics will provide a different story.
Minutes after Advance Australia Fair had rung out over the Place de la Concorde, I asked Geraint Thomas whether he was worried that he might have to hear a lot more of that national anthem next summer.
Cardiff-born Thomas, 25, who won gold as part of the team pursuit in Beijing, smiled and said: "The Australians can say what they want about the British, morale-wise we are in great spirits. Everyone forgets that me and Bradley [Wiggins] have stepped away for quite a while. We're pretty confident that, when we come back in and give it 100 per cent, it will be different."
Cadel Evans made history yesterday by becoming the first Australian to win the Tour de France but Britain's 2012 medal hopefuls are confident that the London Olympics will provide a different story.
Minutes after Advance Australia Fair had rung out over the Place de la Concorde, I asked Geraint Thomas whether he was worried that he might have to hear a lot more of that national anthem next summer.
Cardiff-born Thomas, 25, who won gold as part of the team pursuit in Beijing, smiled and said: "The Australians can say what they want about the British, morale-wise we are in great spirits. Everyone forgets that me and Bradley [Wiggins] have stepped away for quite a while. We're pretty confident that, when we come back in and give it 100 per cent, it will be different."
The Games? It was Cherie who won it, says Tony Blair
Evening Standard
Tony Blair may not have been invited to William and Kate's wedding but he is reasonably confident he will be in the Olympic stadium next July when the Games start.
In fact, he's so confident that he did not even bother applying for tickets. "I guess," he says, "there's a chance I may get some. I would like to see some of the athletics, the 100 metres final obviously. And I hope that I will get invited at least to the Opening Ceremony."
We are sitting in what will be the royal box of the Olympic stadium. The former Prime Minister, making his first visit to the stadium, has been shown round by Seb Coe, the chairman of 2012, and Blair has just told me: "This is much more intimate than a normal stadium, very cosy, don't you think? When I compare it with the Beijing Olympic Stadium, here you can feel very close to the athletes."
Then he reflects on the moment it all started.
Tony Blair may not have been invited to William and Kate's wedding but he is reasonably confident he will be in the Olympic stadium next July when the Games start.
In fact, he's so confident that he did not even bother applying for tickets. "I guess," he says, "there's a chance I may get some. I would like to see some of the athletics, the 100 metres final obviously. And I hope that I will get invited at least to the Opening Ceremony."
We are sitting in what will be the royal box of the Olympic stadium. The former Prime Minister, making his first visit to the stadium, has been shown round by Seb Coe, the chairman of 2012, and Blair has just told me: "This is much more intimate than a normal stadium, very cosy, don't you think? When I compare it with the Beijing Olympic Stadium, here you can feel very close to the athletes."
Then he reflects on the moment it all started.
July 22, 2011
Forget all the issues at HQ, the only thing my men are worried about is the World Cup
Evening Standard
The Rugby Football Union may be in meltdown: John Steele, the chief executive, sacked; Martyn Thomas, the chairman, forced to step down; and a confidential report claims that "trust has broken down within the RFU".
But team manager Martin Johnson is sure it will make no difference to England's chances in the World Cup, which starts in New Zealand in six weeks.
We are at Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, less than half an hour's drive from Twickenham. Johnson has just finished a hard morning training session with his 45-strong squad and I ask him if the turmoil at HQ will have any impact.
The Rugby Football Union may be in meltdown: John Steele, the chief executive, sacked; Martyn Thomas, the chairman, forced to step down; and a confidential report claims that "trust has broken down within the RFU".
But team manager Martin Johnson is sure it will make no difference to England's chances in the World Cup, which starts in New Zealand in six weeks.
We are at Pennyhill Park in Bagshot, less than half an hour's drive from Twickenham. Johnson has just finished a hard morning training session with his 45-strong squad and I ask him if the turmoil at HQ will have any impact.
July 21, 2011
India bats its way up the new world order
Financial Times
With the euro in peril and the US on the brink of bankruptcy, the west seems to have enough to worry about without fretting about cricket. Yet a private dinner, in London on Monday night, was just the latest indication of how global power is shifting from west to east – and how India's newly rich and powerful elite is throwing its weight around far from home.
With the euro in peril and the US on the brink of bankruptcy, the west seems to have enough to worry about without fretting about cricket. Yet a private dinner, in London on Monday night, was just the latest indication of how global power is shifting from west to east – and how India's newly rich and powerful elite is throwing its weight around far from home.
July 14, 2011
FIFA are in danger of falling in to the same trap as News International
Insideworldfootbal.biz
Mihir BoseFIFA is facing its own News International moment with its corruption scandal. News International thought that by saying phone hacking was the work of one rogue reporter, Clive Goodman, the royal correspondent, and his confidant Glenn Mulcaire, it could isolate the problem. As the world now knows, it could not.
FIFA is in danger of making a similar mistake if it thinks the corruption scandal has been dealt with once the Ethics Committee finishes its work on July 23. Let us consider what is in store for this day.
On that day, we shall know the fate of Mohammed Bin Hammam for his alleged attempt, in May, to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union in Trinidad during his aborted FIFA presidential campaign. It is alleged that bribes of $40,000 (£24,000) were paid or offered to each member. Caribbean Football Union officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, who were suspended along with then FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, will also hear their fate.
Mihir BoseFIFA is facing its own News International moment with its corruption scandal. News International thought that by saying phone hacking was the work of one rogue reporter, Clive Goodman, the royal correspondent, and his confidant Glenn Mulcaire, it could isolate the problem. As the world now knows, it could not.
FIFA is in danger of making a similar mistake if it thinks the corruption scandal has been dealt with once the Ethics Committee finishes its work on July 23. Let us consider what is in store for this day.
On that day, we shall know the fate of Mohammed Bin Hammam for his alleged attempt, in May, to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union in Trinidad during his aborted FIFA presidential campaign. It is alleged that bribes of $40,000 (£24,000) were paid or offered to each member. Caribbean Football Union officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, who were suspended along with then FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, will also hear their fate.
July 12, 2011
Our Grand Prix is far bigger than all Britain has to offer, says Bahrain chief
Evening Standard
The chairman of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Zayed Alzayani, left Silverstone on Sunday making all the right noises and saying it was "a very good race, a fair result and the new facilities made a huge difference".
However, even as Silverstone rejoiced in attracting more people than any grand prix this season - 100,000 - Alzayani could not help but compare how much more special his own Bahrain race is and how much he is going to miss it this season.
"At Silverstone you feel the race only on the track," he tells me. "You don't see anything at the airport, maybe a small banner, nothing in London. You come to Oxford Street, nobody knows the grand prix is on. If this was the race weekend in Bahrain, you would see posters and fliers and advertisements in every shopping mall, in every corner of the town. To us, the grand prix is definitely the biggest event of the year.
The chairman of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Zayed Alzayani, left Silverstone on Sunday making all the right noises and saying it was "a very good race, a fair result and the new facilities made a huge difference".
However, even as Silverstone rejoiced in attracting more people than any grand prix this season - 100,000 - Alzayani could not help but compare how much more special his own Bahrain race is and how much he is going to miss it this season.
"At Silverstone you feel the race only on the track," he tells me. "You don't see anything at the airport, maybe a small banner, nothing in London. You come to Oxford Street, nobody knows the grand prix is on. If this was the race weekend in Bahrain, you would see posters and fliers and advertisements in every shopping mall, in every corner of the town. To us, the grand prix is definitely the biggest event of the year.
July 6, 2011
We're in the money! (and it's all thanks to Gordon Brown)
Evening Standard
David Cameron has little reason to say a good word about Gordon Brown. But, next year, as he takes his seat for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, he may reflect that the former Prime Minister has been responsible, albeit unwittingly, for an unexpected success story. London, the only city to host the Olympics three times, will also be the first in modern times to come in under budget. Not quite a golden legacy but at least, in this area, Labour has left Cameron some money - the Government will be getting back more than £800 million from its Olympic budget.
To appreciate how unexpected this is, consider the spat between the chairman of arguably the most powerful Commons committee and the highest civil servant in the department responsible for the Olympics. It came in 2008, just a year after Brown's government had finally announced that the budget for the Games had risen almost four times, from its original estimate of £2.375 billion to £9.3 billion.
David Cameron has little reason to say a good word about Gordon Brown. But, next year, as he takes his seat for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, he may reflect that the former Prime Minister has been responsible, albeit unwittingly, for an unexpected success story. London, the only city to host the Olympics three times, will also be the first in modern times to come in under budget. Not quite a golden legacy but at least, in this area, Labour has left Cameron some money - the Government will be getting back more than £800 million from its Olympic budget.
To appreciate how unexpected this is, consider the spat between the chairman of arguably the most powerful Commons committee and the highest civil servant in the department responsible for the Olympics. It came in 2008, just a year after Brown's government had finally announced that the budget for the Games had risen almost four times, from its original estimate of £2.375 billion to £9.3 billion.
July 5, 2011
Pulling out of FIFA is FA's nuclear option
Evening Standard
John Whittingdale accepts that England could be seen as bad losers. We are discussing today's report by the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport on the failed 2018 World Cup bid, which says it is "appalling" how FIFA have swept aside "allegations of corruption" against members of its executive. To make matters worse, say the MPs, FIFA are treating those making the allegations with "contempt".
"There is a danger that, having got a derisory two votes, one of them English, we will be accused of sour grapes," says Whittingdale, chairman of the committee. "But it is not. The evidence of corruption is overwhelming.
John Whittingdale accepts that England could be seen as bad losers. We are discussing today's report by the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport on the failed 2018 World Cup bid, which says it is "appalling" how FIFA have swept aside "allegations of corruption" against members of its executive. To make matters worse, say the MPs, FIFA are treating those making the allegations with "contempt".
"There is a danger that, having got a derisory two votes, one of them English, we will be accused of sour grapes," says Whittingdale, chairman of the committee. "But it is not. The evidence of corruption is overwhelming.
June 30, 2011
FIFA faces MPs wrath over handling of corruption allegations
Insideworldfootball.biz
FIFA will come in for unprecedented criticism from a House of Commons Select Committee over its handling of the corruption allegations surrounding World Cup bids next week.
This is believed to be at the centre of a special report on the England 2018 World Cup bid which will be made public next Tuesday (July 5), after being finalised by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee last Tuesday (June 21).
It is understood that what provoked the Parliamentary wrath is the way Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, brushed aside the explosive evidence given to MPs by Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association, about favours asked by FIFA executive members in return for supporting England's bid
FIFA will come in for unprecedented criticism from a House of Commons Select Committee over its handling of the corruption allegations surrounding World Cup bids next week.
This is believed to be at the centre of a special report on the England 2018 World Cup bid which will be made public next Tuesday (July 5), after being finalised by MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport committee last Tuesday (June 21).
It is understood that what provoked the Parliamentary wrath is the way Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, brushed aside the explosive evidence given to MPs by Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association, about favours asked by FIFA executive members in return for supporting England's bid
Blatter is famous for short-term tactical victories but will lack of long-term vision be his undoing?
Insideworldfootball.biz
Is there anybody at FIFA minding the shop? Sepp Blatter, the President, clearly does not give the impression he is.
He may strut about as if he is the head of a unique Vatican-style sporting state, no territory or army, but through football, as the Vatican does through religion, reaching out to places no politician can. But the FIFA corruption crisis has exposed the fact that while Blatter is a master tactician who can turn almost every short term situation to his advantage, he is not a strategist.
Blatter desperately needs to have a strategy to cope with the FIFA corruption crisis, the worst in the organisation's history. But not only is there no evidence Blatter has a strategy, he does not even seem to appreciate the need to develop one. At every step he has given the impression of reacting to events, rather than being in charge
Is there anybody at FIFA minding the shop? Sepp Blatter, the President, clearly does not give the impression he is.
He may strut about as if he is the head of a unique Vatican-style sporting state, no territory or army, but through football, as the Vatican does through religion, reaching out to places no politician can. But the FIFA corruption crisis has exposed the fact that while Blatter is a master tactician who can turn almost every short term situation to his advantage, he is not a strategist.
Blatter desperately needs to have a strategy to cope with the FIFA corruption crisis, the worst in the organisation's history. But not only is there no evidence Blatter has a strategy, he does not even seem to appreciate the need to develop one. At every step he has given the impression of reacting to events, rather than being in charge
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