army man

A worrying issue has been cropping up in the UK, as Armed Forces personnel continue to arrive back from Iraq and Afghanistan. Two unconnected incidents have lead to soldiers being denied the common privilege of shopping - a freedom that they themselves have laid their own lives on the line to protect.

Imagine making the ultimate sacrifice for the Armed Forces of your nation: that's what was going though the mind of 27-year-old Corporal Sam Rae when a bomb blast sent him flying and left him with a broken back.

Now the heroic Dragoon Guard is back in the UK undergoing recuperation.

But he's not received the welcome he might have expected, having been banned from a local shop simply for wearing his desert combat fatigues. He went in for some crisps, but shopkeeper Arumugam Tharma told him he had to leave. "Are you military? I can't serve you," he told the furious Rae.

Defense Secretary Liam Fox has been quick to support Cpl Rae: "It's a disgrace that one of our brave soldiers should be treated in such a disgusting manner."

In a separate incident, another soldier was refused service at a Co-op store because he too had donned his desert gear. Sapper Anthony Wells, 27, stopped off for a few beers on the way to visit his three-year-old nephew on his birthday. "A luxury I haven't had in a while," said Wells of the beers.

But the cashier consulted her manager and they told him that they couldn't serve him in his uniform, and Wells was forced to leave empty-handed.

The serviceman flies back out to Afghanistan next week, and the Co-op have since apologised for the misunderstanding: "years ago we had a policy which meant we couldn't serve police officers in uniform, but that is no longer the case. The cashier thought she was doing the right thing."

Return of Woolworths

The recent economical has lead to high street chains closing down stores, and cut jobs in the process. Former employees of the once-commonplace Woolworths department stores have (hopefully) set in motion the beginning of the end for this depressing trend.

14 former Woolworths branches have been re-opened so far across the UK by former Woolies manager Andy Latham, the latest one in Newhaven in East Sussex. The ambitious businessman has re-branded the stores 'Alworths', and the stores sell many items in similar fashion to the former high streets favourite Woolworths.

Other stores have been re-opened under names such as 'Wellworths' or 'Smallworths,' creating a few hundred jobs nationally. 60% of the former Woolworths stores have been replaced with cost-cutting retailers such as Poundland.

It has not been an easy ride for the ambitious Latham, however. Woolworths brand owner, Shop Direct, threatened him with legal action. They accused him of "trading off the back of the goodwill of the Woolworths business" in one scathing statement.

X FActor Autotuning

Multi-million dollar music mogul Simon Cowell has defended the X Factor's decision to allow the use of 'auto-tuning' technology in order to help struggling artists maintain their pitch in the itv show's auditions.

Fan's had branded some contestants 'cheats' after the show's synthesisers were used to mask mistakes in their performances, contrary to the concept that the show is a competition to find the best natural singers.

"Do the producers think our ears are that easily lied to? The whole point is to disseminate the good from the bad," vented one viewer.

The controversial auto-tuning is a corrective measure to cover up mistakes in performances during the audition phases of the show. X Factor bosses maintain that it's used to help the budding artists - most of them young - to cope with the pressure of performing, so that they can acclimatise themselves to the competitive atmosphere before performing in front of a live audience.

14 year old make-up tattoo

The NSPCC is has accused a mother of sexualising her daughter, following the controversial move to allow her to undergo cosmetic treatments to have her eyebrows and features enhanced. 14-year-old Sophie Watson from County Durham insists: "I am happy. I just look better."

Her mother, who works as a beauty therapist, defends the decision. "It's done to enhance her features," she insists, "it's not done to change her, to make her look like somebody else. It's not done to change the way she looks."

The NSPCC remains unconvinced, and this case brings up a startling trend in the current generation where children are given the freedom to act independently of the influence of their parents and seniors, whilst remaining trapped inside the increasingly materialistic ideals of the Western world.

Watson has 22 beauty pageant titles to her name and has musical ambitions as well. You might think that that would be enough to allay any aesthetic insecurities she may hold about herself.

It's a distressing concept that a 14-year-old girl would crave semi-permanent altering of her features simply to fit into her own ideal of a 'beautiful' image, and Sophie says she'd also like to have her freckles lazered off in the future. On top of this, her still-maturing body also harbours two illegal tattoos: one of her name on her wrist, and one of flowers on her stomach.

The legal age for tattoos is 18 and she apparently acquired these without her mother's consent. No doubt at 14 she is fully aware of the consequences of her actions and understands her own physical vulnerability better than the government who introduced the age-restriction for tattoos.

When prompted about the headlines on social networking site Facebook, Watson was praised by her peers for appearing in popular culture periodicals 'Closer', and 'the daily star', as well on the 'This morning' show, as Watson herself brags. One comment reads " :) well done, bet you got paid lots for doing these like haha."

Evidence, then, that the youths value the media coverage and sensationalist headlines as a kind of social-status gauge. The NSPCC leaves us with a compelling message:

"The danger is that a growing climate of sexualisation encourages a view of girls as sex objects. All children should be valued for their abilities and talents - they should be free to grow up as children. Sadly, we have reached a point where many children get distress because they think they dont look good."

Drive-thru Supermarket

A new development for the age of convenience and impatience: the drive-thru supermarket. The concept is being trialled by Sainsbury's and Tesco in different locations. Shoppers can order their shopping online and then have it brought to them and packed into the boot of their car in the car park of their local store.

"This will be especially popular with busy mums who have the school run and children's activities to manage," say Tesco. "It also offers a solution to parents who want to avoid the challenge of shopping in a buy store with children in tow."

The cost of the service will be similar to that of the home delivery service. The biggest advantage of the drive-thru is that customers will no longer need to wait around at home to wait for their shopping to arrive within a time-slot of a few hours; they can go to the store, and pick up their pre-ordered food at their own convenience.

The trials are being held by Sainsbury's in Manchester and by rival conglomerates Tesco in Baldock, Hertfordshire.

Another trial idea involves a massive vending machine being accessible during the store's close hours, stocking everyday items such as bread and bottled water.

Bloodgate

It was the cheating scandal that shook the world of Rugby Union and would bring disrepute to the game’s highest level. 12 April 2009 will be remembered as a dark day for Harlequins Rugby Football Club. With time running out in their Heineken Cup quarter-final tie against Leinster, a blood injury to Tom Williams allowed Harlequins to make a substitution and bring on specialist kicker Nick Evans to try to save the game. The fall-out from this controversial move would come to be known as the “Bloodgate scandal.” Evans was brought back on, having been earlier substituted, to try to kick Harlequins to victory. After the game it emerged that Harlequins Director for Rugby, Dean Richards, had orchestrated the change. He had given Williams a blood capsule which he then burst in his mouth to fake injury, but not everyone had been deceived. He was taken to the treatment room by club doctor Wendy Chapman, and she and Williams panicked when officials came to investigate the legitimacy of the injury.

In an attempt to cover up the deceit, Williams managed to convince Chapman to cut his lip with a stitch cutter, in order to provide a genuine injury to justify the substitution. "This is a very huge game and they cheated," she said at her hearing. "I was so ashamed of doing the wrong thing."

Harlequins lost the game 6-5 with Evans spurning a late goal attempt, meaning that Williams and Richards' plotting was in vain. However, that would prove to be nowhere near as painful as what was to come.

]. Both men were accused of cheating and were handed lenghty bans, and new procedings have opened this week to determine the extent of Chapman's guilt.
When Williams had initially gone to see her, she had no knowledge of the plot - the capsule had been passed to Williams from Richards through the physio. Now the General Medical Council have opened the hearing - based on this new information - to decide whether she should be allowed to continue to practice medicine.

The worst-case scneario for Chapman would be losing her job - indeed she has spent most the of the year since the incident on unpaid suspension and recovering from breast cancer surgery.

The trial continues

England v Pakistan

The world of cricket has been rocked in recent days by the match-fixing scandal involving the Pakistan cricket team. The News of the World newspaper succeeded in capturing video evidence of 35-year-old Mazhar Majeed receiving £150 000 as payment to fix certain events during the fourth and final Test match.

Majeed, who owns non-league football team Croydon Athletic, promised that there would be no-balls bowled at specific points during the game, and later that day the no-balls occured exactly when he had predicted. He explained that this allowed his employers to control the pace and flow and run-rate of the game, and subsequently adjust the betting odds in their favour to make money.

Majeed claimed to be working with seven players in the Pakistan team, to whom he would relay instructions about when they were to make their 'mistakes.' Salman Butt, Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Asif, and Kamran Akmal have all been questioned by police, who also confinscated the players' mobile phones and laptops.

This revelation comes at a time when the country's worst flooding for 100 years has left at least 1600 dead and many millions homeless. One of the greatest concerns is the contamination of the wells, meaning that clean drinking water is in short supply. World aid efforts have been established and undertaken to try to preserve as much of the country's culture as possible.

Pakistan decided to stay on their tour of England rather than return home, and the people in their homeland now fighting for their lives have been quick to voice their outrage at the players' betrayal, following the match-fixing allegations. Cricket legend and former team captain Imran Kahn said "If the allegations are true ... the there should be exemplary punishment, so that future generations think that crime does not pay." He added, "and unfortunately I will say for these cricketers that there are not many leading role models."

In the cricket itself, England had looked all set to wrap up a convincing home trouncing over rivals Pakistan, until a batting collapse in the 3rd Test saw the Three Lions falter. Andrew Strauss’s team fell to pieces against the bowling of Muhammad Amir, who finished with figures of 5-52 from 19 overs.

England had been ticking along nicely but went from 156-3 to 222 all out, allowing Pakistan to bad out their second innings in relative ease to to take the match by 4 wickets.

England recovered though to wrap up a fine fightback in the fourth and final Test, having looked like throwing the game away. With key batsmen again struggling for runs, a world record 8th wicket stand of 353 runs to save the match. The situation looked grave with the England languishing on 102-7 but wicket-keeper Jonathan Trott added 184 from 544 balls and fast-bowler Stuart Broad contributed 169 runs, facing 426 deliveries. This sparked a remarkable England comeback, which continued as the visiting Pakistan team crumbled to 74 runs all-out, facing only 32 overs of England's revitalised and inspired bowling attack.

At the end of the game, the usual post-match trophy presentation took place indoors as cricket chiefs decided that holding the presentation on the pitch could pose a security risk. Former England captain Nasser Hussain had this to say: ""If they have nothing to hide then they should go out and face the public. Nothing has been proved yet, so why did they feel the need to hide away? "

Pakistan are no strangers to controversy. In 2006 against England Darrel Hair penalised Pakistan for ball-tampering, which led to the team refusing to take to the field for the final session on that day in the fourth test match. This meant that England were awarded the first ever forfeiture-win in cricket's history. 3 months later Shoib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif tested positive for banned substances and were each handed bans.

Darrel Hair has since spoken out, saying he wasn't surprised by the develoments at Lord's. "When the anti-corruption unit was formed a decade ago they went around the world and spoke to all the leading umpires," he says, "And they said there were concerns in tournaments in places like Sharjah that the Pakistanis were bowling (deliberate) no balls and wides. But they have not been able to get any proof."

Another match that Majeed bragged to have thrown was the test against Australia last year. The Aussies posted a second-innings lead of less than 180 runs and Pakistan folded against Nathan Houritz' bowling but Majeed claims in the video footage that the players had already rigged the game.

Medal of Honour

The latest craze in British youth’s PlayStation culture is stirring controversy, with Defence Secretary Liam Fox branding the game “tasteless.” EA Games are set to re-launch the sensationally successful Medal of Honour franchise next month with an updated modern warfare shooter. Gameplay footage was released at __ games event on __ to wide acclaim. Critics, however, have been quick to identify a moral issue with the game. Players can, for the first time, choose to fight on the side of the Taliban AGAINST American and British Allied troops. The new features include insurgency guerrilla tactics widely used by the Taliban. One section of gameplay footage demonstrated a player detonating a car bomb with a mobile phone signal to kill an American soldier, which prompted Mr Fox to launch a scathing attack on EA. “It’s shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban,” he said. EA maintains that its intention is “to reflect that every conflict has two sides.” In the current climate of political correctness, however, fears are arising that the game may stir racial hatred. Although the game is rated 18, the likelihood is that many younger players will still have access to it, as is the case with most contemporary computer games. The long-term impact of the move remains to be seen, but it’s chilling to think that young teenagers are all set to be get their kicks out of pretending to be killing our boys in Afghanistan; the very same men and women who are fighting to preserve freedoms like computer games, which our generation are increasingly taking for granted. Mr Fox leaves us with a strong message: “I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product.”

Cricket: Ashes

The build-up to the winter's Ashes series has begun to heat up this week. England’s tour begins in December, and Koolaroo skipper Ricky Ponting has wasted no time in opening up the customary pre-match mind-game banter by attacking England’s batting line-up.


“I think the English rely on their bowling attack anyway,” said Ponting, “but there seem to be a few cracks there; i’m pretty sure there’s a few blokes in that side just looking over their shoulder at the moment.” Ponting singled out Strauss, Pietersen, and Cook as the question marks in England’s batting line-up, and the wily batsman has a point as all three talismanic batsmen have come under fire for their lack of recent Test match centuries. Speculation was rife that Alastair Cook was on the verge of being dropped until his century in the 3rd Test, and Kevin Pietersen’s dry spell stretches back almost a year.


There is reason for optimism, however, with a new generation of attacking bowling talent coming to fruition. Can the likes of Broad and world player of the year nominee Swann emulate the 2003 heroics of Harmison and Hoggard this winter? The Ashes series begins December 16th in Perth.

David Beckham

The England football team's World Cup fallout continued today with Italian head coach Fabio Capello letting slip in a pre-match interview that he didn't intend to play former captain David Beckham for the upcoming European Qualifying games. "He [Beckham] is probably a bit old," he told national TV.

Beckham, 35, has been left angered and confused by the revelation, especially as Don Fabio allegedly did not tell him in person. Beckham spent the summer with the England team in South Africa, despite being ruled out of playing through injury, in a heroic display of patriotism - especially considering injured full-time captain Rio Ferdinand jetted straight home after suffering a knee injury in training.

Beckham, who with 115 caps holds the outfield record as the most experienced Englishman of all time, was eventually informed of Capello's decision by his trusted lieutenant Franco Baldini. It was also Baldini who spoke directly to Paul Scholes to try to coax him out of international retirement and play at the world cup alongside the returning Jamie Carragher.

Carragher, 32, and Scholes, who turns 36 in November, were both approached by England to make dramatic returns from retirement. Carragher played as defensive cover given the injury to Ferdinand and the sporadic fitness of Ledley King, 3 years after he announced his retirement as a result of consistently being played out of position under former managers Sven Goran-Eriksson and Steve MacLaren.

Beckham's goal in against Ecuador in the 2006 world cup saw him become the first Englishman to score in three world cups, and with injury denying him that opportunity to play in the world cup this year, any dreams of becoming the first Englishman to play in four world cups are quickly fading.

Confusion surrounds Capello's decision to publicly axe Beckham; after all, his persuit of Scholes - six months Beckham's senior - suggests that if a player is good enough to play, he'll be considered no matter his age. Just take a look at Capello's old club AC Milan, who preserved the career of Paulo Maldini until the age of 34. Other players from the Beckham era in the current Milan team include Gattuso, 32, Pirlo, 31, Nesta, 34, and Seedorf, 34, and one Fillipo Inzaghi who continues to play at 37.

It remains to be seen what will become of Beckham, with many England fans calling for Capello to show the legendary midfielder more respect amidst fears that his career could fade in much the same way as former goal-machine Michael Owen's did, after he was immediately dropped by Capello following three injury-plagued seasons.