It has been a seminal and seismic week for British tennis, jolted from winter torpor by the seemingly unstoppable ascent of Andy Murray, top-level firing and hiring at the Lawn Tennis Association and an accompanying searing blast from that one-man furnace David Lloyd. Murray’s achievement in toppling Tim Henman as British No 1 is something the 18-year-old Scot insists does nothing for him World rankings, and their domination, are his goal. However, for Murray to have overtaken someone who has for so long been the nation’s tennis icon is a feat plenty of others are prepared to hail as extraordinary.
There will be a new voice involved in the cheerleading section following the departure of John Crowther after nine years as the LTA’s chief executive and his replacement by Roger Dra-per, a move which prompted the blast from Lloyd. The former Davis Cup player and captain was more than miffed at being overlooked once more for a role he considers practically a birthright, an opinion shared by many, though not the LTA’s administrative and coaching staff, whose comfort zone would have suffered early exposure to the heat of that furnace.Perhaps Draper will generate some heat of his own. At 36, the former head of Sport England is exactly twice the age of Murray, and certainly young enough to take a vigorous broom to the cobwebbed corridors at Barons Court. He is fortunate that Henman’s decline has not left the void so widely predicted until Murray sashayed on to the scene, and his brief will be to provide evidence that the vast profits handed to the LTA every year by Wimbledon are being used to more visible benefit.The person in charge of ensuring the annual delivery of that bunce, which averages £30 million, is also new, a 52-year-old self-described Scottish Yorkshireman named Ian Ritchie who became Wimbledon’s chief executive following the retirement of Chris Gorringe. A barrister and long-time toiler at the more rarified levels in television and newspapers, Ritchie has slotted impressively into the level of calm confidence which is the hallmark of the All England Club.This summer will mark his first Wimbledon, and already the path is being quietly prepared for everything from the new roof on Centre Court to impending acceptance of the line-calling system Hawk-Eye, not forgetting the welcome problems which Murraymania will bring to the manicured lawns of SW19.As Ritchie pointed out, Wimbledon has dealt with such matters before, notably when the young Bjorn Borg’s stiletto-heeled fans attempted to follow him on to those manicured lawns.

“We will make the usual adjustments if we need to meet them,” he said “This is one of those problems you are delighted to have There was already a chunk of it on Murray’s debut last year. Andy’s is a fantastic success story and can only be good news for us. All the pressure will be a difficult thing for him and we will do everything we can to assist him to deal with that.”Except, Ritchie added, offering a helping hand in terms of a higher seeding, something which has happened in the past with both Henman and Greg Rusedski “The formula for seeding is now fixed. We put in the players’ results and rankings and it comes out like a sausage machine, though he will obviously get a credit for grass-court performance because of what he did last year. We are a global tournament, not a British one, and we want to make it as friendly as possible for all, but Murray will be an added attraction.”Another attraction whose arrival is still on schedule for the 2009 Wimbledon is Centre Court’s retractable roof. Unlike Wembley’s problems, Ritchie does not anticipate a move to Cardiff, though construction would be more straightforward if it were for a new stadium rather than a 1922 building, and the current deep excavations are not only for foundations but to deliver a large amount of air conditioning to Centre Court. “We would look extremely foolish if we closed the roof and then the court was sweating so much that it was not playable,” Ritchie said.Unlike the Australian and US Opens, there are no plans to introduce night play, nor to start the tournament a day earlier, as the other Grand Slam, the French Open, is doing this year.

If you get in the Munster side you’re bound to be very close to international selection, and it comes down to having the patience to stick it out.. Scotland wrecked England’s Grand Slam ambitions – just as they did six years ago – by defeating them 18-12 in a gruelling Six Nations’ Championship scrap at Murrayfield. It was another wonderful evening for the game in Scotland. Once ahead, the Scots defended ferociously to complete a glorious victory and claim the Calcutta Cup for the first time since that 19-13 victory in 2000.. While it would be grossly unfair to point the finger at such a complex sort as Andrew Sheridan and so label him the living embodiment of English rugby’s “all brawn, little brain” problem, it is also mighty tempting. For as Scotland proved yesterday, picking on the biggest really can be the best policy. Yes, they ultimately won this match with their tenacious loose play and with a gutsy defensive game that gave new tangibles to physical endeavour, but tellingly Frank Hadden’s men also held their own against the mighty Red Rose scrum.

“Hold up Sheridan, hold up England”; so the mantra is starting to have it.. Before kick-off at Murrayfield last night they wheeled out the kilt-wearing, torch-bearing, pike-wielding extras from that Mel Gibson film, the name of which has become the standard Caledonian clich?or such occasions as this. The match programme carried an advert for a Scottish Sunday newspaper offering a Battle of Bannockburn CD, “telling the story of the most monumental battle between England and Scotland – and Scotland’s greatest triumph.” By the final whistle, none of the natives present were thinking of 1314 or other past glories They had the 18-12 overture of 2006 to savour. And what an overture it was – every bit as memorable as the Murrayfield classics of 1990 and 2000 And it was painstakingly crafted Or grafted, more like..

The Stade de France is not exactly Walmington-on-Sea, but France’s Dad’s Army provided an impressive take-off of Captain Mainwaring and his stumbling men. These old French chaps (eight of yesterday’s team were over 30) at times made Corporal Jones look positively sprightly. For more than 50 minutes, France’s rugby team looked as bumbling and idiotic as Dad’s Army on manoeuvres.. The last time the England rugby union team were up this way, the Scottish resistance went up in smoke. Only the pre-match fireworks and the massed ranks of the pipe bands succeeded in getting up the noses of Sir Clive Woodward and his men. Hope that it might be different at Murrayfield last night was not entirely pinned on a beefed-up Caledonian welcome, courtesy of the “tribal” band Clann an Drumm and a welcoming committee of flame-bearing, pike-wielding “clansmen from the past” as the teams entered the arena.

I realise, what with issues of over-fishing, that cod is a potential minefield, but I believe that the cultural value of salt cod makes it worth a risk. Its importance in the culinary traditions of the Basque Country cannot be underestimated. And it’s very popular in Iceland, thanks to their sustainable fishing policies.

The advice from the Marine Conservation Society is to “avoid eating cod from overfished stocks”. They recommend choosing line-caught cod from a sustainable stock. I also suggest you strike up a dialogue with your fishmonger – ask if he stocks line-caught fish, and where it is from.
I have to say, however, that I have never found the shop-bought version satisfactory Often it can be hard, sinewy and massively over-salted As a result, I became intrigued by curing the fish myself. The idea that you can take an ingredient in its purest form, and by respectfully manipulating it, turn it into something else, is incredibly gratifying.I began to experiment and, through trial and error, have managed to achieve a cure that is gentle and succulent.

In fact, it is beautiful and delicate enough to serve raw and unrinsed. Sliced as finely as smoked salmon, drizzled with oil, lots of pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, there’s nothing like it. (omega)Skye Gyngell is head chef at Petersham Nurseries, off Petersham Road, London, TW10, tel: 020 8940 5230How to cure your codAsk your fishmonger for a skinned cod fillet. Rinse it under cold water and gently pat it dry using a dish cloth. Lay the fish on a stainless-steel rack which fits snugly inside a larger pan (that will later catch the drips while the cod is curing). Weigh the fish and season it with 11/2 tablespoons of plain, good-quality sea salt per 500g (16oz) of fish Season the fillet evenly all over on both sides. You will need to go over the thicker central section of the fish with a little more salt to ensure that this, the thickest part of your fillet, also receives an even curing.Loosely cover the whole pan with cling film to prevent the smell seeping into the rest of your fridge.

There is no way of getting round it – home-curing cod is a very stinky business Refrigerate the pan and leave to cure for seven days. In the interest of cleanliness, I would recommend that you remove and rinse your bottom pan every day because, as the cod begins to firm, liquid will weep from its body. Your fillet will give off approximately one tablespoon of liquid per pound.Often, depending on what I am intending to do with the end result, I only allow the fish to cure for three, rather than seven days. Rinsed and filleted into portions, this home-cured cod is gentle and delicate enough to serve simply grilled with a green sauce or roasted tomatoes and a really lemony aioli. If I was to serve it very finely sliced and raw, three days is also more than enough curing time.Home-cured salt cod with tomato, fennel, saffron and aioliServes 4This dish’s base flavours are reminiscent of a classic French bouillabaisse; the difference essentially being that there is not the varied mixture of fish that a traditional bouillabaisse displays. The pungent garlicky aioli once stirred in helps to create a rich, velvety sauce with a sublime flavour.800g/28oz salt cod (soaked and drained) 1 large, or 2 medium fennel bulbs, chopped (fronds reserved for garnish) A good pinch of saffron threads 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped 1/3 cup of olive oil 4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped 1 medium leek, sliced 3 fresh bay leaves A few sprigs of fresh thyme Quarter cup dry white wine 2 tins good quality Italian plum tomatoes The peel of one orange 3/4 cup lightly salted warm water (or, if you don’t object, then chicken stock) Slice the fennel into 2cm (3/4in) thick wedges Place the saffron in a good-size casserole dish.

Place over a low heat and, when the pan is just hot to the touch, add the olive oil and quickly swirl the pan Add the onion, fennel and a good pinch of sea and stir. Cover and cook gently, stirring occasionally until the onion is transluscent; about 10 minutes Add the leeks and garlic and cook for another few minutes Pour in the wine and allow to bubble and evaporate slightly. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, orange peel, a sprinkling of pepper and the warm water or stock. Cook over a low heat for a further 15 minutes with the lid on and stir occasionally.Meanwhile, slice the salt cod on an angle into 3cm (11/2in) thick pieces and place it in the pan, nestling it among the other ingredients. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 3 minutes swirling the pan gently once or twice to allow the flavours to get to know each other. Turn off the heat and allow the flavours to sit together for a minute. Before serving, scatter the fennel fronds over the dish and serve in the dish it was cooked in.The only accompaniment this dish needs is warm crusty bread to soak up the juices and a simple green salad Serve aioli separately, if desired.

I think it’s interesting that finally their influence is being recognised by the mainstream American music industry America didn’t do them any favours They had a terrible time on tour there. At the end of the day the Sex Pistols were punk rockers, so what do people expect?”Several other leading figures from the punk days have already become part of the Hall of Fame.The Clash were inducted three years ago, shortly after the death of co-frontman Joe Strummer, and the Ramones accepted their place in 2002.The forthright Lydon has previously referred to it as the “Rock and Roll Hall of Shame”, and, “a place where old rockers go to die”.Next month marks the 30th anniversary of the band’s first headline appearance, at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, London, after a handful of support shows. Within months of the gig they had caused nationwide uproar when the television presenter Bill Grundy goaded them into swearing during a live interview.A backlash against the band’s language, volatile behaviour, anarchic sentiments and chaotic performances soon followed, which meant they struggled to hold on to record deals, going through three in 1977. Following a shambolic US tour, which saw them banned from several venues, Lydon (then Johnny Rotten) quit during a show in San Francisco, telling the audience: “ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” The band had completed just one album, Never Mind the Bollocks, but had a lasting effect on the music industry and on high-flying current US bands such as Green Day.Susan Evans, the executive director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said of the band’s decision to shun the accolade: “They’re being the outrageous punksters that they are, and that’s rock’n'roll.”. And it was all going so well… There they were, four albums into a career that, by the strict rules of pop, should have ended several years previously amid escalating acrimony and crippling bankruptcy, and yet Sugababes were, instead, progressing in leaps and bounds. Their fourth album, Taller In More Ways, released last October, was their best yet, reaching audiences far and above their original teenage targets, while the terrific flagship single, “Push the Button”, even managed to hold Robbie Williams’s comeback song, “Tripping”, from the number one spot.

They were huge across Europe, and if their manager was to have his way, America would soon fall under their spell as well. The girls had continually shaken off endless tabloid speculation that a split was imminent with a collective smile more insidious than an MP on an election campaign. In December, Keisha Buchanan (the pretty black one) responded to the rumours thus: “It’s not going to happen yet, everyone. We’re happy and that’s the way it’s going to be for now.”

But just a couple of weeks later, the split did indeed happen: Mutya Buena (the perennially scowling half -Filipino one) quit, the reasons proffered gleefully contradicting one another. She wanted to spend more time with her new baby daughter, born six months previously She wanted to pursue a solo career.

She hated her bandmates, and always had done.
“Not true!” laughs Heidi Range (the bottle-blonde one) over orange juice in a west London hotel one Wednesday afternoon “It wasn’t like that at all, honest. OK, yes, in textbook terms, Mutya leaving when she did – well, it was probably the worst timing it could have been, like, but she never hated us She never actually gave us a reason for quitting. She just went, that’s all.”Range, who is perky to a professional standard and has a habit of gazing at you with her cold blue eyes without ever quite pulling focus, smiles blandly: “And then our manager found us Amelle here [Amelle Berrabah, the new sultry one] and it’s all really good and brilliant now.”No doubt at this juncture, Keisha Buchanan would have pitched in with her own reading of the situation. Buchanan is, after all, preternaturally ingenue-ish and full of skittish opinion But she isn’t here right now Why?”She missed her flight, didn’t she!” This from Range. “We were in Italy last night, Turin I think it was, and me and Amelle wanted to come home early today so we could get our hair weaved in time [for the Brit Awards, at which "Push the Button" would miss out on Best Single to Coldplay's "Speed of Sound"]. Keisha was going to come with us, but she never made the flight.”Eventually, I do catch up with the woman by telephone the following day.

This is the morning after the night before when, despite losing out on a Brit, Sugababes partied with alcopop-flavoured gusto As a result, she has all but lost her voice When she tries to talk, a frog’s croak pops out.”It was a… sh-shame,” she says, clearly struggling, “but Mutya wasn’t happy, was she? I could see that, but then I’ve known her half my… half my life.” She stops here to ask if I mind whether she whispers instead Whispering is softer on her voice, and easier too The words now come out in an excitable rush. “What a lot of people don’t know about Mutya, right, is that she has been singing since she was six years old. Before even I met her [at school], I saw her on TV – Michael Barrymore, My Kind of People – singing Whitney Houston’s ‘The Greatest Love Of All’. Mad, isn’t it? I had a pretty normal childhood, right, but I don’t believe she had the kind of childhood where she went to school, and that. All she has done is sing, and now that she’s 21 and a mother and everything, she probably just wanted a change of scene and I can sort of understand that, can’t you?”Presumably, their decade-long friendship has suffered, though? “Well, we’re trying to build on that now.

The use of cheap shimmering fabrics – most notably a wedding dress with Cellophane sleeves – looks a bit poor as well, though the choice is surely deliberate, underlining that the nobility and the social climbers around them are morally shoddy.The acting isn’t uniformly fine-tuned. Bruce Mackinnon is sorely unfunny as the rich twit engaged to the play’s other young woman, Emma Cunniffe’s Isabella, who passionately liaises with her own uncle, when craftily misled by the latter’s sibling, Wilton’s Livia.The great strength of this production is that it doesn’t steep Middleton’s Italy in an obviously malign atmosphere of intrigue, and potentially 2-D characters blossom into lovable real people. Susan Engel and Julian Curry are touchingly sweet and well as foolish old parents, and Wilton is a witty widow with an independent spirit – like Beatrice from Much Ado, 30 years on – before she turns shockingly into an upmarket bawd. The hardening of the young women, when forced into affairs, is also the more disturbing for its suddenness, with a lurking vein of proto-feminism countering the dramatist’s own title.k.bassett independent.co.ukBooking to 1 April, 0870 609 1110. Peter Brook is, probably, the most famous theatrical guru on earth and he is still creating as he turns 80.

This monologue, touring from his revered Th?re du Bouffes du Nord and performed by Bruce Myers, is adapted from the chapter in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov where the Grand Inquisitor is imagined incarcerating and rebuking Christ himself in Seville. However it’s hard to adore Brook’s works these days because – somewhat ironically given his subject matter here – his productions have an irritating aura of assumed sanctity and vague mysticism, a holier-than-thouness which rings suspiciously hollow

This piece might seem admirable at first. The staging is markedly simple: no mundane clutter, only a grey plinth and two wooden stools. A halo of light, strangely warm for a prison cell, invites intimate concentration.

Even the receptionists at Random House big up Nigella Lawson, thanks to the tasty treats she brings them when visiting the building Booksellers bend over backward for Maeve Binchy. After an extensive tour the Irish writer writes to each bookshop to thank them for their help.It is a lesson Jeffrey Archer finally seems to have learned. For years, trade tittle-tattle about Archer’s attitude was far from flattering, but that seems to have changed on his latest tour of Australia. The peer launched a charm offensive with booksellers and journalists that produced positive press and book sales.Years in publishing before she turned writer taught Kate Mosse that authors must recognise they are a part of a team.

“Publishers have to work really hard to sell your book in a very over-crowded market, and you should expect to work hard too,” she says. She worked harder publicising Labyrinth than she did for her previous novels, writing articles for newspapers, appearing on radio and being willing to turn up at the tiniest event It left no time to work on her next book. “I said to someone the other day that I haven’t really written anything for months, and they said, ‘What do you mean? You’ve been writing articles for the last six months to publicise the book.’”Her willingness to answer every journalist’s call and schlep around the country has paid huge dividends. It is why, despite an early set-back when publicity planned for Labyrinth’s July launch was pushed out of newspapers by the 7 July bombings, the hardback still went to number one.It also laid strong foundations for the book’s endorsement by Richard & Judy, and explains why it was the first of their choices to go straight to number one since Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea in 2004.The X Factor is not an arcane mystery; it is sheer professionalism and the willingness to get out there and, horror of horrors, be nice to people.

It is a lesson a few of Mosse’s peers should learn too.The London Book Fair seminar, ‘The X-Factor: promoting the unpromotable in a sea of celebrity titles’ takes place in the Orange Theatre, ExCel, E16 at 3.45pm on Mon 6 March See page 28 for more details about the LBF. Editing an anthology of poems about people recently, I remembered an earlier anthology I had made, aged 14, which first got me interested in writing poetry. My older sister had gained prestige by making one for my father the previous Christmas and I was keen to reap the same favour. The technical-sounding word, “anthology” bestowed authority on what was really just a notebook with poems copied into it. I got the book back like a piece of homework when my father died. Opening it again after so long, I marvelled at the handwriting and taste striving so hard to mimic his own. The effort of neatness over 100 pages was painful to behold, but I looked with envy and nostalgia at the excited “Turn quickly” I wrote at the bottom of a page on which I was copying out Laurie Lee’s “Town Owl”.

I was trapped like a rat.” She sighs, wearily, her cloak of energy momentarily falling aside. “So I had three adopted kids and I wasn’t even married three years!” Then we laugh about how they could only go out to eat on Thursdays (when the cook was off) if Phil’s hair was right: “I went to bed hungry a lot of nights.”So why did she stay? “I didn’t think I could make music without him because he was so powerful And I loved him He was older than me. When she got home, the same children were playing in the fountain in front of the mansion, and she was now their adoptive mother (adding them to the child the couple had already adopted). About how she only ever went to a place once, be it to the hairdresser’s, a mass-euse, or on a food-shopping trip, because after the first visit Phil would make sure that what was needed came to the house.About how once, coming out of one of her spells in rehab (“I was drinking because I didn’t known what else to do, because he was yelling all the time so I’d just run to my room”), Phil took her by a park and asked her if she liked the two children of about five playing there She said yes.

About how once he caught her laughing with the cook – after which she was never allowed to talk to him again (this man, she says, was the only member of the Spector staff to stand by her at her divorce hearing). And he would have curse-words I’d never heard before.”The stories pour out of her. I couldn’t listen to music because he had on this opera music all through the house and I didn’t have a radio He would yell a lot. “When we moved to Beverly Hills, I wasn’t allowed to talk to the servants, I couldn’t read books, and if I watched television he would put it down. “Mike Love of the Beach Boys said to me: ‘Ronnie, I listened to your voice to get the phrasing of “I Can Hear Music”.’ I did it first. But I lost my apartment and I went broke.”Phil, she says, took over her entire life. The Fab Four wanted the Ronettes to tour with them, but Phil wouldn’t let Ronnie go “He tricked me,” she sighs.

“I thought it was great and he was writing me songs I love, so how could I also think that this guy was taking my career from me? He had to have me in the studio all the time. What makes me mad is that the records I did were great but he never released them. Everybody else was making money and having fun.”Periodically, she stops herself and says we need to move on, to talk about her album – but each time she slips back to telling me how Phil stole her career and, more often than not, there’s a famous name involved. I remember John saying: ‘Would you like to go to dinner with us?’, thinking that she would say: ‘No, you kids go and have fun’, and my mother said: ‘Yes, let me get my purse.’ We were devastated!”But she was already becoming overwhelmed by the man she calls the “boy genius”, and his promises of giving her a hit “bigger than ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’”. He immediately incarcerated their vocals inside his trademark wall of sound – dense, layered, reverb-strewn orchestration – to create classic singles including “Be My Baby” and “Baby I Love You”.When the Ronettes came to England in 1964, the Rolling Stones were their opening act. Ronnie struck up an enduring relationship with them (Keith Richards plays on two songs on Ronnie’s new album) and with the Beatles. “I remember when John Lennon and George Harrison came to pick us up to go to dinner with us,” she smiles, “and my mum was with us They were so nice to her.

There were movie stars standing there but this guy from the club saw us and said: ‘Girls, you’re late!’ They thought we were the act! They put us on stage and after that they hired.” The girls danced, and gradually got chances to sing, in a variety of nightclubs until, in 1963, they met Phil, already a successful producer. We had hair piled up and eyeliner, and my aunts put blusher and lipstick on. “Our aunts taught us to put on rouge and lipstick so we could stand in line at the Peppermint Lounge. And that’s when I knew I was going to sing.” There was no question about who was the star “They all knew I was the one. The other girls liked it, but they knew I loved it”.Restrictions were lifted when the girls were in their early teens. I didn’t know if he was black or white or yellow, I just fell in love with the voice.

The yellow card was shown to three more Romanians before the interval and two, central midfielder Sorin Paraschiv and the impressive winger Banel Nicolita, now miss the second leg through suspension.Next week it would be remiss of Middlesbrough to rely as heavily on the long balls that peppered their performance last night, although it was George Boateng’s cross that almost delivered a precious away goal when the presence if not the final touch of Yakubu forced Carlos Fernandes to turn the ball on to his own crossbar. It was, in fairness, a fine forward’s goal against a side shorn of its first choice centre-halves through injury and suspension, and tarnished for the scorer when he was booked for raising his shirt in celebration. As more composure crept into their performance so a nervousness began to unsettle Middlesbrough and in the 30th minute their intended priority of a clean sheet was ruined by Nicolae Dica.A throw from George Ogararu found Mirel Radoi on the edge of the area and when the Steaua captain chested the ball into the goalmouth the Middlesbrough defence were found wanting for a second time as Dica was allowed to collect, turn and send a rising shot beyond Schwarzer. The sight of Sven Goran Eriksson mingling with the dignitaries at the Lin Manoliu Stadium was a clear show of support from the Swede for his England assistant and potential heir.
Eriksson would have recognised the caution in Middlesbrough’s opening, with both side’s midfields remaining deep and depriving the forwards of support. Bucharest are a very good side with a good away record, but I saw enough in the game to know we will have chances at The Riverside next week.” By which time his next career move may be clearer than Middlesbrough’s Uefa Cup prospects.McClaren had prioritised history above the future by imploring his players to grasp the opportunity of the club’s first European final and to ignore his possible succession to the England throne, a likely development that he is not prepared to discuss outside FA headquarters.

“I would have taken 1-0 as the game went on, most definitely,” admitted the Middlesbrough manager “Mark Schwarzer made some great saves to keep us in the tie. A third away defeat in succession befell McClaren’s men in Romania, although it was neither as severe as the quarter-final loss they suffered in Basle or as convincing as Steaua should have made it. His request was answered last night at the expense of Middlesbrough, but Steve McClaren will not have to seek spiritual salvation in Greece to keep his faith in the Teessider’s European journey. Gigi Becali, a devout Christian and the president of Steaua Bucharest, spent two days praying for victory in the monasteries of the Athos Mountains prior to his club’s appearance in the Uefa Cup semi-final. Stewards and other players are said to have broken up the fracas but punches are not believed to have been thrown.
Savage also upset Blues chairman David Gold by refusing to shake his hand, although Savage insisted he had not snubbed Gold.. Savage, who scored against his former club, is said to have been involved in an argument with two Birmingham players who confronted Savage outside the changing rooms, after taking exception to his goal celebration. The German public broadcaster, ZDF, reported on Wednesday that the 29-year-old had agreed a four-year deal with the Premiership champions and claimed all that was left was for the Germany captain to put pen to paper..

Robbie Savage is at the centre of more controversy today after reports he was involved in an altercation in the tunnel following Blackburn’s 2-1 defeat at Birmingham on Wednesday. I believe there is no one in the dressing-room who is more committed to Liverpool than Steven Gerrard. Maybe during the summer there will be further speculation, but he is a good player so that is to be expected.”. Michael Ballack may be Chelsea-bound – but not just yet.

The Bayern Munich midfielder yesterday denied reports he has already agreed a move to Stamford Bridge. We are focused completely on the FA Cup semi-final, not on things like that. Steven feels the same.”The two of us have had many discussions. We’re motivated enough already.”Chelsea’s attempt to prise Steven Gerrard from Liverpool 18 months ago also caused friction between the clubs. The England midfielder has been the subject of transfer talk again this week, but Benitez insisted that his captain would not be going to Real Madrid, or indeed anywhere.”I know a lot about the Spanish press and how they need to say something [to sell newspapers],” the former Valencia coach said “In this case, I am really clear: Gerrard is not for sale I don’t want to waste my time talking about it. Benitez said: “We don’t need to use such incidents to motivate us. Chelsea’s Michael Essien injured Dietmar Hamann by planting his studs in his right knee, a wild challenge that was punished retrospectively by a Uefa ban.In the Premiership tussle at Stamford Bridge in February, the Chelsea winger Arjen Roben collapsed holding his face after Pepe Reina raised a glove to him The goalkeeper was sent off.

It looks like a novelty tea cosy or a thick, filthy dandelion. He really needs a haircut.simoncarr75 hotmail

More from Simon Carr. Radio 3 has been experimenting with programming music in a saturated way. I’m willing to allow her to correct the record.” It’s how it works there.NB: Peter Ainsworth’s hair can’t go without mention. Elliot Morley says parts of the South-east are suffering their worst drought in 100 years.

Do you notice the parched white bones of cattle in the dust bowl outside Rose Cottage? What it means is, he has found some figures to justify a hosepipe ban.And second: Theresa May referred to the PM’s assertion that no one in the South-east waited more than 13 weeks for an appointment with a consultant. She had a letter from a constituent who’s having to wait 20 weeks. The Prime Minister misled the House, so would he come and put matters right?Geoff Hoon said: “I’m sure the honourable lady didn’t mean to say the Prime Minister misled the House. It almost certainly comes down to getting people to separate their rubbish.Political grammarians may like to add a couple of examples to their files. That’s human nature.So, maybe the Vital Villages and Market Town Initiative will work its magic and maybe it won’t.

The Government funnels money through the Regional Development Agency to regenerate vital villages and market towns (partly by giving them Beacon Status) and those of us who watch will see the slow evaporation of money time and effort in more box-ticking, micro-management.Ben Bradshaw (whose hair, incidentally, is back on form) told us packaging minimisation is at the top of the government’s waste hierarchy and that the steepness of the landfill tax escalator is the best driver of the landfill allowance trading scheme in the government’s waste review process.This very likely means something but it costs a lot of public money to pay people to understand it. Because the more they tell us to do, the less we want to do it. But it’s not just Tories, politicians of every sort find themselves doing it. It’s what happens in politics and may even be what politics is about. They begin by thinking: “A farmer in my constituency, whose interests I was elected to represent” and immediately on being elected change to “one of my farmers”.
Because they own us they feel entitled to push us around And the more they push us, the more they want to push us The more they do, the more they have to do. A new Conservative MP said: “One of my farmers…” You might think that’s just a Tory thing; a proprietorial born-to-rule sort of thing “One of my farmers” (try it).

Besides, if they really wanted their children to be happy, they would, in most cases, have kept them at home.terblacker aol

More from Terence Blacker. Only a fool or a sociopath (of both of which, come to think of it, there were a fair number when I was at Wellington) would argue against the headmaster Anthony Seldon’s plan to teach happiness lessons, but I fear it will impress less than he imagines.While his recipe for contentment, “knowing one’s limitations, accepting oneself for what one is”, may be wise and gentle, most ambitious parents will interpret it as a recipe for mediocrity. Then she shopped him.It is difficult to decide who emerges from this story with least credit. Surely we are now grown up enough for public money and time not to be spent on idiotic cases like this, however amusing to read about.* For anyone who has spent their formative years at the place, the photographs of Wellington College in this week’s press beside headlines about happiness will have caused a certain amount of head-scratching.The school serves a purpose and happiness is undeniably important; it is the connection between the two that somehow fails to compute. He invited her to his room and, it is claimed, tried it on with her, making “a pervy, Benny Hill, lascivious, groaning sort of noise”.

It’s been 13 years now and when you see the names of the singers who have come out of Operalia, it’s really amazing.”All this could have been lifetimes’ work for at least three people. He accepted a cameo role in the Tristan recording, the young sailor who sings the opening lines after the prelude, and he sang so beautifully – that was certainly a bonus and I thank him very much for doing it.” Operalia is still going strong, and, says Domingo, “every year the number of singers has grown. In 1993, he founded the Operalia competition for young singers: the winners have included the charismatic young bass-baritone Erwin Schrott, who has recently been packing a punch as Figaro in the David McVicar production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Covent Garden; the Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, who went on to record the title role in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with Domingo last year; and the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon – now a prot? of Domingo’s, he is the latest emerging superstar in the opera world and has been signed up by Deutsche Grammophon, following in Domingo’s footsteps.”He is a wonderful singer,” Domingo declares, “and we are very good friends. He is the general director of both the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, where his personal charm and overwhelming charisma have certainly helped him in the American opera-house director’s inevitable role as fundraiser.But more important to him is helping the development of young singers. That says something: it says unfortunately how expensive is opera for some people – they would like to come and hear someone at these prices and I wish that they would do it more and more. Because opera is expensive; what can you do?”Domingo knows plenty about the cost of opera: as well as singing and conducting, he has become increasingly involved in opera-house administration over the years. “The atmosphere was unbelievable,” he says, “At the beginning it’s very impressive because you have the people so close And it takes you a little while to get used to that.

But you have to do it and then immediately you feel OK.” He was impressed by the number of young people in the audience, “but not only young people – people of all ages, and this was the first time they heard me. In singing during almost 34 years at Covent Garden and the Festival Hall, I meant to come to this very prestigious festival but I never did it, so I’m very happy.”He found it quite an experience. “I’m sorry that for years I was never able to do it, but it’s better late than never, no? So I’m lucky to make my debut You’d never think that it would be in something so popular. In the UK, after his sensational appearance as Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca in 1971, he quickly became a regular audience favourite at Covent Garden.Last year he appeared at the ROH as Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walk? the company’s performance of it at the Proms proved a historic occasion but marked, extraordinarily, Domingo’s very first Prom appearance. At that time he had just married for the second time, to Marta Ornelas, a young Mexican soprano with a penchant for Mozart; the pair met as students at the Mexico City Conservatory and went to Israel together.

Domingo’s debut in the US followed just six months after they left Israel, when he appeared for the first time with New York City Opera; he first stepped on stage at the Met in 1968. A period of serious groundwork followed, when he joined the company then known as the Opera Company of Israel, in Tel Aviv, giving 280 performances in 12 roles during two and a half years. He played piano for a touring ballet company, appeared as an actor on Mexican television, arranged pop songs, trained choruses, accompanied other singers in what he describes as “elegant and not so elegant” bars, and performed in light operettas and musicals, including the first Mexican staging of My Fair Lady, in 1959.Opera claimed him via the small role of Borsa in Verdi’s Rigoletto with the Mexican National Opera; his debut in a leading role, with the Monterrey Opera in 1961, was as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. As for its character, it was only when he auditioned for the Mexico National Opera as a baritone that it was suggested that he was really a tenor.But the intensity of the work he took on as he began his career was not solely down to vocation: Domingo married at the age of 16 and became a father at 17 He appeared in his parents’ zarzuelas as a baritone.