Afternoon:
10°c
Nena's balloon is burst
Regarding the Freakiest Premier League Goal EVER, the one I feel really sorry isn't Rafa Benitez or Pepe Reina, let alone the phalanges of distraught Scousers surveying mid-table mediocrity after Liverpool's defeat at Sunderland. It is 1980s Teuton peacenik songstress Nena who deserves the sympathy. All the trouble she took to implant 99 red balloons in our minds as the indelible symbol of apocalypse, and now she finds out that all it takes is one.
Briatore and MPs just made for each other
Such heady days for fans of natural justice. The latest beloved public figure to champion this quaint old concept is Flavio Briatore, who was in the directors' box at Loftus Road on Saturday for what will (should the Football League disqualify him) be the final time. Flavio is appealing over his indefinite ban from Formula One over Crashgate, and has accused the FIA of a “breach of the rules of natural justice.” Precisely how punishing him for conspiring to endanger life qualifies there, perhaps ensuing legal argument will clarify. In the meantime, let him take succour from the exalted company he now keeps. The only other people banging the drum for natural justice at the minute are those railing against Sir Thomas Legg's retrospective imposition of limits to their expenses. Could anyone doubt that our MPs and Signor Briatore deserve one another's company in this double-pronged rearguard battle for human rights?
Tweddle must get her teeth into new award
Commiserations to gymnast Beth Tweddle, who took the world title for the floor exercise at the
O2 Arena yesterday afternoon. On any other day, her victory would have propelled her up the betting for Sports Personality of the Year,
in what hasn't really been a notably glittering 12 months for individual British sport. Within two hours, however, Jenson Button had trousered a slightly more lustrous world title of his own . . . and for Beth, so far as December's BBC boreathon goes, that's that. Unless, of course, there's a new category on offer this year for the Most Impressive Orthodontic Brace Modelled on 007 Villain Jaws.
Don't let us be fooled by Carlo's pet hate
Perhaps this was inevitable after events at Villa Park over the weekend, but John Terry is no longer Carlo Ancelotti's pet. In fact, the Italian now claims never to have called JT that at all, despite authoritative reports to the contrary last week. “I don't even know what pet means,” he tells what's described as an “Italian TV comedy show” (an oxymoron, surely). Well, it's hardly a challenging word for a man who speaks perfectly good English, and the denial does Signor Ancelotti no credit. Admittedly, Chelsea's defending of set-pieces was so atrocious in Saturday's 2-1 defeat that you can see why the manager might wish to leave his captain on the hard shoulder of the M4 in a cardboard box. However, we would respectfully remind Ancelotti that a John Terry is for life, not just for autumn.
