"Somalia has suffered so much from warlords, pirates and terrorists," he said. "Our capital city was destroyed. So much blood has been shed. The dreams of generations of our people have been destroyed.
"So when there was a chance to rebuild my country I knew I had to do it. We can make this a decent place. I am a hard worker and I want this task." The outlook was grim indeed when he arrived in 2008, with the al-Qaeda-backed militia Shabab, a kind of African Taliban, poised on the verge of victory.
Since then African Union troops have pushed the Shabab out of the capital in a grinding, bloody campaign, and with some kind of normality returning to Mogadishu's streets the crucial business of forming the first proper government in 21 years can begin.
In mid-May there will be a series of crucial meetings of tribal leaders, ex-warlords and clan power brokers, men who, if they can settle their own differences will be the key to fixing the broken nation. It will be Somalia's moment of truth, and getting it to work will be a daunting test for Mr Osman and the prime minister he serves, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
The stakes are high. For nearly thirty years every attempt to broker peace and get Somalia back on the road to recovery has failed. If the power-brokers cannot agree next month, their nation will be doomed to sink back into bloodshed and misery – with dangerous implications for the West, and for Britain in particular.
The weight of responsibility weighs heavily on Mr Osman, but despite everything he is an incorrigible optimist. Some kind of normality is returning to Mogadishu's streets and markets, the diaspora is returning to look for business opportunities, and the mood is genuinely hopeful. A sense of momentum is building and instead of just thinking of survival, Somalis are starting to believe they may have a future.
"The Somalis have had enough of war and warlordism, and they don't want the Shabab any more. At the beginning they did because they brought order, but the Shabab treated the people harshly and didn't allow them any freedom," Mr Osman said. He lists a series of small towns around Somalia which have been "liberated" from Shabab control in the past six months, with the help of soldiers from half a dozen African armies. The enemy have been pushed into the scrub miles outside Mogadishu, although there are still suicide bombings.
Food aid has arrived in large amounts from Muslim nations, easing the semi-permanent famine which has ravaged Somalia for years. Being able to feed the people has boosted the government's fragile credibility.
"What we need now is more support from Western nations. We need to build schools, clinics and police stations, so people can see the benefits of peace. Then they will support the government," he said.
"Even a pilot project would help, if we could point to one place and say, see the benefits of peace." Britain has taken a leading role, with a budget of £60 million for aid this year. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, visited in February and Her Majesty's first Ambassador to Mogadishu for 21 years has been appointed.
The money is not being spent for purely altruistic reasons.
"A large number of young British-Somalis come here to fight jihad," Mr Osman said. "While that happens there is a danger of terrorist attacks in Britain. With more resources, we can win the support of the people and then wipe out the Shabab. The only way to do this is to have an effective, popular government in Somalia." There is an alternative, argued for by many Western anti-terrorism experts; Special Forces raids and drone attacks to pick off the most dangerous al-Qaeda operatives. In Pakistan such a strategy has had a terrible human cost and rallied popular support for al-Qaeda. It would mean abandoning Somalis to their fate – and perhaps turn them to the Shabab.
But although the West has quietly committed itself to nation-building lite in Somalia, so far little of the funding that was promised at the London Conference on Somalia in February has arrived.
Mr Osman admits that the Transitional Government would soon collapse without foreign support. In particular they rely on the African soldiers from Uganda and other nations who have fought and died in Somalia. But the more difficult task is persuading Somalis who have grown used to anarchy to change their ways. "People had to adapt to warlordism. We are trying to change their culture after 21 years, and there are lots of competing clans. People here just haven't seen the benefits of government yet."
He does his best to get the message across. In Mogadishu, the former council official patiently explains the lessons he learnt in Ealing to Somali warlords, ruthless men who saw off the US military in 1991 and since then survived years of internecine bloodletting.
"In London I was dealing with noise nuisance, neighbourhood disputes, youth gangs, domestic violence, serious criminality," he said. "It meant getting people to resolve their differences and learn to live together. Actually it was quite a lot like working here in Somalia." Of course, even the toughest criminal in Ealing didn't have machine-guns or rocket-launchers, or a private army of cut-throats to call on. But the principle was the same.
Mr Osman toured the schools of West London explaining to pupils why they should stay out of trouble, listened to the complaints of tenants on some dreadful council estates, and did his best to improve the lives of people who were often in despair.
It was painstaking and unglamorous, but it worked.
His proudest achievement was managing Golf Links, a rundown estate which sounds like a mini-Mogadishu without the guns. By persuading the community to work together, life got better for everybody.
Of course Somalia has problems that make the worst inner-city estate in Britain look like a paradise. But Mr Osman believes that with patience, foreign help and determination, a miracle can be worked.
"We cannot remake our nation in a year or two," he said. "It may take many years. But we can do it."
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Giant private firm to take on 600 West Sussex council jobs - The Argus.co.uk
Giant private firm to take on 600 West Sussex council jobs
2:00pm Saturday 9th June 2012 in News By Neil Vowles
A giant private sector firm has been chosen to take on hundreds of council jobs and run back-office services in a deal worth up to £154 million.
West Sussex County Council has confirmed Capita as its preferred bidder for a huge outsourcing project that will see responsibility for payroll, human resources, finance, procurement and office services transfer to the firm.
About 600 council staff would transfer to Capita later this year as part of the ten-year agreement which could eventually see 800 staff swap employers.
The deal is set to save the council £5.8 million over the next three years as part of total planned cost savings of £79 million.
Opposition councillors have raised concerns about what safeguards will be put in place if savings are not met and departments have to be brought back in-house.
The contract is expected to be formally signed by the end of the month and would start at the beginning of September.
Parallels have been drawn with joint venture company Somerset One, which was set up in 2007 by Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset police and IBM to modernise the local authorities’ business processes.
Earlier this year, Somerset decided to bring 160 HR advisory, development and learning jobs back in-house after making losses of £31.5 million.
Liberal Democrat councillor James Walsh said: “This is not dissimilar to the Somerset arrangement.
“I want to have assurances that the contract will be precise and specific, and that it will be subject to close monitoring by elected councillors of all parties in West Sussex.”
A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on decisions made by Somerset County Council. They were outsourcing a different set of services.
“We have followed rigorous procedures in procuring a partner to work with us.
“Levels of performance, standards and service have been identified as part of this process, and will be carefully monitored throughout the life of the contract.”
A Capita spokeswoman said: “We are thrilled at the prospect of working with West Sussex County Council and look forward to supporting the council in delivering services.”
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
London 2012: Rivals engage Usain Bolt in a sprint for supremacy - The Guardian
Justin Gatlin leant forward on the railing, dripping sweat and sucking in lungfuls of humid air. Gatlin had just won the inaugural Diamond League meeting of the 2012 season, in Doha. He ran 9.87sec, his fastest time since he won the Olympic title in 9.85sec in 2004.
At least, it was his fastest time since that still stood in the record books, several others having been struck out when he was banned after testing positive for testosterone in 2007. The run was not his first since he returned, but it was his quickest. Gatlin was back.
"How does it feel to be Justin?" he was asked. "Have the fans made you feel welcome?" Gatlin switched on his goofy smile. Sure they had. And if some of them saw him as a villain, he did not much mind. He insists that the failed test was caused by a malicious masseur who secretly rubbed testosterone cream into his knee. "Track and field," he said in his Brooklyn drawl, "is a soap opera with spikes on."
Some soap opera. They say that 3bn people watched Usain Bolt win the Olympic 100m in 2008. Such estimates are notoriously hard to verify, but that was certainly the figure Puma were working with when they gave Bolt a three-year sponsorship contract worth around £21m. In eight weeks' time, at 9.50pm on Sunday 5 August, more still will tune in again to see the denouement to a story that has been running for four years now: can anyone beat Bolt?
When Bolt opened his European season with a run of 10.04sec in Ostrava it looked as though maybe they could. Now no one is so sure. Irked by that performance, he followed it up with a 9.76sec in Rome, equalling his quickest time since he set his world record of 9.58sec at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. In Oslo on Thursday he ran 9.79sec.
Bolt is still a swaggering showman – he did a lap of honour before his race in the Stadio Olimpico, on the back of a golf buggy – but his approach to his sport is a little more serious than it once was. It was a lack of sleep and a bad diet that slowed him down in Ostrava, he said. Since then he has been keeping sensible hours and eating sensible food. "I do still eat fast food," he said with a smile. "But now I try to get a lot of pasta in too. It's key that as you get older you have to watch your diet." This is the man who prepared for the 2008 Olympic 100m final with a midnight feast of chicken nuggets.
Bolt talks incessantly about wanting to make himself "a living legend" at the 2012 Games. He would like us to think his success is effortless, but that is just part of his image. His friend and training partner Jermaine Gonzales, a 400m runner, insists that the idea people have of Bolt is all wrong. "People imagine that Usain isn't a hard trainer. He can be a bit inconsistent and miss the odd day here and there but he doesn't know how to run slow. Try training with him and tell me he doesn't work hard."
Another of Bolt's training partners down at the Racers Track Club in Kingston is Yohan Blake, the 22-year-old who won the world 100m title in 2011 after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. Blake is renowned as the hardest-working man in the group. "I train hard by myself – that is why Usain calls me The Beast," he said recently. "I'm doing twice as much work as anyone else. When everyone else is sleeping I am still working."
As if Blake's world 100m title wasn't enough, he followed it up by running 19.26sec over 200m in Brussels last September. That was 0.07sec off Bolt's world record, a mark many had imagined would be all but untouchable. Blake has not yet made a similar breakthrough in the 100m – his personal best is 9.82sec – but he says he is "really focusing on my 100m" by "working hard on technical aspects, on my start and on the first 30 metres. All of that is going to come in to play for the Olympics." He opened his season with a run of 9.84sec in the Cayman Islands.
Bolt looms over his sport. His fellow 100m runners have had to get used to living in his 6ft 5in shadow. Blake and Gatlin are two exceptions. Neither has been scarred by the experience of trailing in behind Bolt in Beijing or Berlin, when he set his world records: Blake was too young to be there, and Gatlin was banned.
"Everyone wants to see a great competition," said Gatlin after he won in Doha. "They have watched the Bolt show for a couple of years and everyone wants to see someone else in the mix – I'm glad to step up and take charge of that."
He and Bolt have previous. In a recent interview with CNN Bolt recalled that when the two had raced together in Zagreb last year, Gatlin spat in Bolt's lane as the two were walking back to the blocks.
"When he did it, I knew he was trying to intimidate me," Bolt said. "I found it really funny." Bolt gave that interview to Linford Christie, and the story is reminiscent of Christie's era, when 100m sprinters were all swaggering braggadocios, swapping sharp words off the track and gimlet-eyed stares on it. Gatlin v Bolt is a rivalry that has real needle to it.
When Bolt heard what Gatlin had said in Doha, the Jamaican snapped out of the droll torpor that is his default mood during press conferences. His body shook with laughter. "I don't want to sound rude," he said. "But I think Gatlin's had his chance. He's been on top, to say 'Get ready for the Gatlin show' is funny. There are a lot of other athletes. You can't count out Tyson Gay and Yohan Blake, so he has a few guys to get past before he should be worried about me."
Bolt's list of contenders Gatlin would have to get past had one conspicuous absentee: the former world record holder Asafa Powell. Between them, Powell and Bolt have run 12 of the 15 fastest 100m times in history. But Powell seems to have got so used to being beaten by Bolt that you wonder if he has given up hope of ever finishing first.
At the third Diamond League meeting of the season, in Rome, Powell was forced to give his press conference while sitting in front of a huge poster of Bolt running down the Via Condotti. "I'm not here to compete against Bolt, or try to beat any times," he said wearily, "I am here to run fast. The finish line is my target, not Bolt or anyone else." He sounded like Chevy Chase in Caddyshack, espousing his hippy creed: "I don't play golf for money … against people."
"Unlike some people who say they are going to run 9.7, I can't do that," Powell said. "I am a human being, I don't know what my body is going to put out. We'll just have to wait and see."
Gatlin has already skewered Powell too, after beating him in Doha: "Races like this, it shows who's a competitor and who's just a runner." Powell bridled at that, but it is hard to argue with. Powell has run five of the 15 fastest 100m times in history, but none of them came at a major championship.
Last year Powell was striking a notably more strident tone ahead of the world championships in Daegu. "I think of myself as the No1 now. I'm the one people have to beat. I'm the No1 sprinter this year. That gives me confidence, the edge over everyone," Powell said. "I think I have a great chance, a 99% chance of winning." He ended up pulling out of the competition two days before it started, saying that he had a groin strain.
Despite that, Powell was once again trying to talk the talk at the start of the 2012 indoor season. "I'm not going to say if I do well tomorrow; I am going to do well tomorrow," he said, before running over 60m at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham. He finished third behind his two compatriots Nesta Carter and Lerone Clarke, who were both selected ahead of him for the world indoor championships in Istanbul in March.
Of those 15 fastest times in history, the remaining three belong to the American Tyson Gay. Like Powell, he has proven he can come close to matching Bolt for speed – he is the only other man to have run under 9.70secs – and, crucially, he has also won major championships: he did the sprint double over 100m and 200m at the world championships in Osaka in 2007. "I really believe it's going to be one of the most exciting Olympics in history," Gay has said of this summer's race. But the question is, will he be part of it?
Like Powell, Gay missed the 2011 world championships. He was having corrective surgery on his hip. Since then he has had serious groin and tendon problems, and started track training only at the start of February. He ran his first race in a year, in New York, on Saturday. He says he has been through the hardest three months of training of his life, and that he has given up running the 200m so he can eke whatever mileage is left out of his ailing body and focus on challenging Bolt in the 100m.
Before he can even think about that, he will need to get through the US Olympic trials at the end of the month. It is not just Gatlin he will be competing with there, but seven other sprinters who have run under 10.05sec this season.
Kim Collins, the 2003 world 100m champion, is convinced that the 100m final is going to be greatest in Olympic history. "This year is going to be special," he said. "This year is going to be the year when we see eight men under 10 seconds in the same competition."
Five men have run under 9.90 seconds this season: Gatlin, Bolt, Powell, Blake, and the Central American and Caribbean Games champion, Keston Bledman, from Trinidad. There are other medal contenders too – Carter, Clarke, and Nickel Ashmeade from Jamaica, and the odd man out from France, Christophe Lemaitre. As Collins says "Keep watching".
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Concierge firms boom as the rich flee to London - The Guardian
London is facing an unprecedented surge in the number of companies offering concierge and other special services to the very wealthy, as new groups of rich emigrés relocate to the UK to escape instability abroad.
Russians have been joined by Indians and continental Europeans among the overseas buyers that have purchased 60% of the prime property available in central London in the past few years, according to estate agents. The growth in foreign purchases appears to be matched by the growth in companies that are willing to do anything for their clients – any time, any place, anywhere.
Alistair Gill, the manager of Mayfair Concierge, which started business last month, said companies such as his were there to open doors, simplify procedures and obtain the unobtainable for those who could afford it. "While times are tough, there are still a lot of people who enjoy a high quality of life – who are cash-rich and time-poor. It's a growth market," he said.
Clients typically pay a retainer of around £5,000 a month, for which they expect 24-hour service but still must meet all other costs. Neither the price of the services nor the economic climate has had much effect on demand. Andreas Ash, marketing director of Greek Concierge Group, which has been in business for three years, said his company was working at capacity with a waiting list of 350 people. "We won't be able to accept most of them. It's all about service, and if we take too many members we'll degrade our service," he said.
Russian, Indian and French buyers have accounted for almost one third of recent central London house purchases, but there has also been an increase in Greek and Italian arrivals, a spokeswoman for estate agent Knight Frank said. The French are escaping a tax regime in which the wealthy are likely to be required to pay more under the new presidency of François Hollande; the Russians are investing in an insurance policy against possible persecution from an authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin; and other Europeans are moving their money out of the unstable eurozone.
What they share is a desire for certain aspects of British life – private education, hunting and fishing – as well as everything they might expect from a playboy's paradise, such as reservations at restaurants and nightclubs, and sometimes even drugs and prostitutes. But going to the right shoot, ensuring your child jumps the school waiting list or getting a seat at a restaurant that is fully booked for the next year require skills and contacts beyond most of us.
Gill describes the typical concierge as someone who has worked in five or six-star hotels, "someone who loves people and is well balanced, understands what people want and is unshockable".
People in the industry are happy to talk about extravagant requests but less comfortable talking about personal services such as prostitution and drugs, which they are often asked to accommodate. According to Ash: "We have been asked for some things like escorts. We always do our best, but if it's not a healthy business situation we have to say that is as far as we go."
Even some of the legal requests are as demanding as they are unusual. One company recounts how it was requested to organise a two-hour shopping spree with an unlimited budget for a client and her two friends in the style of the film Pretty Woman. "With no prior warning, and without being allowed to explain the challenge, we had to get the co-operation of managers and numerous assistants at more than a dozen stores, including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hermès, Chanel and Yves St Laurent. Two hours later, what had started as a stroll for four friends had become a convoy of cars and vans carrying £250,000 of shoes, clothes and accessories," the website recounts.
The same site describes how the company received a call from a client at 10.40pm, saying he wanted to get engaged at breakfast the next morning. "We sourced $20m of diamond jewellery overnight in time for him to propose when his girlfriend awoke," according to the site. On many occasions, the company has been commissioned to make clients' wives burst into tears of happiness.
Some of the companies employ linguists to ensure London feels just like home. Ten Lifestyle Concierge has teams of Russian and Chinese speakers to deal with the growing number of clients.
Bryn Dyer, a director of Ten, said: "Typically our London-based Russian members will use us to get set up here. They also ask us for tutoring services, help getting their children into private schools, finding exclusive retail items, booking high-end restaurants and finding theatre tickets. Our London-based Chinese members are similar in tastes, but tend to be younger students. They tend to use us to book high-end restaurants, hotels and taxis."
All the companies say they expect their business to expand over the coming years and many are opening branches all over the world and recruiting staff. Bryn Dyer said: "The demand for our services is most definitely increasing. Not just in London but globally, as the wealthy elite are increasingly mobile."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Seaford’s part in warning against foreign invasion - Lewes Today
I SHOULD imagine that beacons have been used for many years as a means of communication. This was particularly the case to warn us good Sussex folk from invasion against the French.
The first records of these devices in England date from the 14th century when we were at war with the French – the Hundred Years War. There would have been a beacon, ready to be lit on Seaford Head. In July 1545, a French fleet headed by the French Admiral Claude D’Annebault attacked Seaford. Locals, under the command of Sir Nicholas Pelham of Lewes used farm implements and stones from the beach to pelt the enemy into a hasty retreat. How did Pelham raise this makeshift army so quickly? I am sure his motley army was warned by beacons. The French went on to attack Brighton and Hove and a contemporary print shows the “ye Towne Fire Cage” lit on high ground where Kemp Town is now located.
Other beacons were more substantial. Orders issued in 1585 stated that beacons would need to be ‘in the accustomed places’ and that five households would be appointed for each pair of beacons. Two people were needed to watch the beacons at all times – a rule that lasted until after the Spanish Amada passed in 1588. In 1584 an entry in the Seaford Town Records says: “Robert Best will not watch at the sea-side according to the laudable custom.” This indicates that there was obviously a form of coastal watch at Seaford.
The beacons were all the way along the Sussex coast. At Beachy Head (the most southerly part of East Sussex) a series of beacons were constructed in-land at Willingdon, Wilmington and Firle (Beacon) to send warning quickly to Lewes, the County Town.
By the Victorian era, more sophisticated means of communication had been developed but beacons still used – not for warning but for celebration. Bonfire beacons were lit on Seaford Head to commemorate Royal jubilees and coronations. When George V was crowned on June 22, 1911, both Seaford and Newhaven celebrated with beacons lit at 10pm. The one at Newhaven was so big it was still alight the next morning! The teenage girls of Ladycross School decided they were going to watch a beacon being lit – not at Seaford but Firle!
They set off from school in pelting rain at 8.30pm and by the time they reached Blatchington Golf Course their shoes were waterlogged and they were soaked through. They soldiered on and finally reached the huge bonfire in the pitch dark. At first there were just a few people there but by 10pm a large crowd had gathered. On the stroke of 10pm a rocket and a loud bang was heard from Newhaven. Two men with flaming torches ran to the beacon, pulled aside large branches that covered openings and applied the torches to the dry gorse underneath. Soon the whole bonfire was ablaze and lit up a large area (and hopefully dried the girls!). One of the party, Miss D Patterson said she could count 18 other beacons from Firle and was sure she would have seen more if it was not for the bad weather.
After nearly an hour, the girls decided to head back to Seaford, lit for a short distance by the beacon. The weather was still bad, the Firle beacon was soon out, it was pitch black and they had no torches. They got lost. They were aiming for Alfriston race course but were too close to Newhaven, some fell in rabbit holes or tripped as they walked through dark fields of barley, climbed fences and stumbled through gorse hedges. Eventually, led by Miss Brunton, they heard St Leonard’s Church Clock strike midnight and saw the Seaford beacon, which guided them back to their school an hour and a half later. I am sure they deserved the hot cocoa and biscuits that were waiting for them.
Isn’t that a fantastic story? I am sure every girl remembered the beacon and their adventure until their dying day. Can you imagine the Health & Safety implications today?
This leads me to the special beacon built by Seaford Bonfire Society for her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee last Monday where unfortunately red-tape prevented a bonfire being built on its traditional spot. The beacon however was built on the retaining wall of the old Splash Point Hotel and was clearly visible from the east end of the town. Following the excellent concert on Martello Fields which every one seemed to really enjoy there was a laser light show from the top of the Martello Tower. A few minutes earlier the huge golden orb of a full-moon hoved into view from behind the cliffs, a truly beautiful spectacle.
At 10.15pm a shaft of green laser light sliced through the night air to the beacon which was soon alight to the cheers of the thousands of Seafordians.
As I was caretaking at the Martello Tower I was able to see the beacon on Castle Hill, Newhaven and the glow of the Firle and Alfriston Beacons. Michael Ann was the Beacon Master for East Sussex and reports that about 300 people witnessed the lighting of the Alfriston beacon which he believes was the largest in the county. There were over 50 official beacons in East Sussex and our beacons will be added to a list which will be presented to Her Majesty.
I would have liked to ended this report by saying there was no sign of the French – but I can’t. I spoke to a part of two French families who were visiting us. They said that they had had a fantastic evening and it was. Thank you to all concerned.
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Print this pageSource: www.sussexexpress.co.uk
Hume: London Mayor Boris Johnson says bikes civilize cities - Toronto Star
The Mayor of London, England, Boris Johnson, wants to make it clear that until Friday morning, he had never been to Toronto, and never heard of Rob Ford.
With that out of the way, the great apostle of urban bicycling does have a message for Toronto.
“Bicycles,” declares the man who rides one to work every day, “civilize cities. Closing bike lanes; that’s not what we’re doing in London. In fact, I’m very proud that bicycle use went up 15 percent last year. Bicycles put the village back in the city. It’s not a war on motorists. I’m a motorist, too. We’re going to keep going, extending bicycle routes all the way out to the suburbs of London.”
In town to flog his latest book, Johnson’s Life of London (Harper Press), the shaggy-haired blonde is, by his own account, having the time of his life. Fresh from an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman — “How long have you been cutting your own hair?” — Johnson likes what he has sees.
“Toronto looks beautiful,” he enthuses, with apparent sincerity. “You have some lovely old buildings. The quality of life is obviously very potentially high.”
Johnson smiles nervously. As the use of the word, “potentially,” indicates, he knows things are seldom what they seem. Still, he insists, cities are where nations will succeed or fail:
“I keep on telling the government that if it wants the economy of the U.K. to grow and grow fast, it has to invest in London. We should be investing where it creates jobs. In Britain, for example, things are pretty sharply divided; there’s what’s happening in London and what’s happening everywhere else.
“My general view is that cities are where the world’s going to be in the future. I believe in cities. People who live in cities live longer, they have better health and they are better educated. Only in cities can we find the praise we all seek. Cities are where we find other people to impress. Cities are fame’s echo chamber …”
Suddenly, a bright red London double-decker bus drives by and Johnson falls momentarily silent.
“My God,” he splutters. “There’s an old Routemaster. They only made about 6,000 of those buses between 1956 and 1970, but they’re everywhere.”
“I’m also a believer in mass transit,” says Johnson, who points to the recent royal celebrations in the British capital and the changes unfolding in London’s East End due to the summer Olympics. “The Jubilee went well. We ticked a lot of boxes there. The crowd was huge, about 1.3 million, but transit worked well. We have a new LRT in East London, new train lines and thousands of new houses.”
In Toronto, Johnson would be dismissed by some as just another Don Cherry-style bike-riding pinko. But keep in mind he is a former Tory MP and a disciple of what he calls “compassionate conservatism.” He attended Eton and Oxford — on scholarship, mind you — and could easily be mistaken for a pillar of the British establishment.
He is also an author. Johnson’s Life of London, his sixth book, tells the story of the “City That Made the World,” from Roman times to the present, Emperor Hadrian to Keith Richards. Like the man, it is clever and quick, learned but not stuffy.
Then Johnson, a former journalist, has a few questions of his own. He wants to know about municipal politics in Toronto, federal politics under Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the “cottages” to which Torontonians escape every weekend.
Oh, yes, and one more thing: “Do you have bears here?” he asks. Not in the city, comes the answer, but up north, behind the cottage.
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
Source: www.thestar.com
Sussex beat Surrey by ten wickets at Horsham - wscountytimes.co.uk
Sussex wrapped-up a ten wicket County Championship win against Surrey at Horsham today in a tense finish.
Ed Joyce and Chris Nash guided Sussex to the win after they had been set 22 runs to win from the final six overs of the match when Surrey were dismissed for 248 in their second innings.
Surrey had started the day 39-1, but Sussex chipped away throughout the day, with wickets at regular intervals.
They were 183-7 at tea, before Murali Kartik, who had gotten away with some big heaves, saw his middle stump sent cartwheeling by Jimmy Anyon with Surrey still 30 runs short of making Sussex bat again.
New batsman Jon Lewis dug in alongside his skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown and eked Surrey towards to final hour of play, but Sussex introduced Chris Nash for a second spell, and in his second over, the Horsham boy teased the thinnest of edges from Lewis to set up an enthralling finish. Anyon then wrapped up the Surrey innings when he emphatically ripped Hamilton-Brown’s off-stump out of the ground, it meant needed 22 runs off six overs in their second innings to secure the win.
Nash and Joyce wasted little time in racing to their victory target, with Joyce hooking one enormous six off Lewis into the Barrack Field, to see Sussex home with four overs to spare.
Source: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
London Broncos 28-24 Widnes - BBC News
Antonio Kaufusi's late try saw London Broncos climb off the foot of the Super League table by beating Widnes Vikings.
The pair were level at the break with tries from Craig Gower and Omari Caro cancelling out efforts from Widnes duo Cameron Phelps and Frankie Winterstein.
It was then all-square at 18-18 with Broncos centre Tony Clubb cancelling out a further effort from Phelps.
Winterstein and Daniel Sarginson traded late tries but Kaufusi crossed in the dying seconds to seal the victory.
The result means the Broncos leapfrog the Vikings in the table while Widnes, who were hoping to record back-to-back victories for the first time this season, return to the foot of Super League.
The visitors made the brighter start, Phelps racing clear to touch down after a delayed pass from Jon Clarke with barely three minutes on the clock.
But a succession of penalties soon put Widnes on the back foot, and the Londoners profited when Gower charged over from close range to bring the teams level.
London took the lead with wing Caro crossing in the corner but, as has so often been the case this season, the Broncos were unable to take that lead into half-time, Winterstein muscling over to bring the sides level right on the hooter.
And things got even better for the visitors moments after the interval when Phelps took advantage of Gower's slip to race through for his second try and push Widnes back into a six-point lead.
London were quick to answer that though, Clubb bulldozing through to level things up on 48 minutes.
But as the chances went begging the Vikings rallied themselves, and then showed London how it should be done when Winterstein crashed over for his second. Patrick Ah Van maintained his 100% record with the boot in the game with the conversion attempt to push the visitors 24-18 ahead.
Back came the Broncos, Sarginson setting up a grandstand finish when he wriggled over with seven minutes to play, only for Shane Rodney, who had added the extras to the previous three tries, to hit the post with his conversion attempt.
The game looked up but Kaufusi changed all that, with Kieran Dixon adding the extras to seal a narrow win.
London Broncos coach Rob Powell:
"It is really great to be able to focus on something positive rather than negative.
"I thought the way we came back at the end said a lot about our spirit and resolve.
"This win really should be a big thing for us.
"It is the type of thing that galvanises a group, and to see the players jumping and celebrating at the end said a lot.
"I hope that helps build the chemistry of the squad and we can take that forward."
Vikings coach Dennis Betts:
"We have to stay philosophical about it.
"Last week we won a game in the last minute and this week we lose in the last minute.
"I thought we did enough to deserve something from the game, although we did have to spend a lot of our time defending and that took a lot of energy out of us.
"I'm really disappointed as this was a great opportunity to push ourselves away from the foot of the table and we have not taken it."
London Broncos: Robertson, Dixon, Howell, O'Callaghan, Caro, Sarginson, Gower, Wheeldon, Randall, Kaufusi, Golden, Rodney, Bailey. Replacements: Bryant for Wheeldon (21), Rinaldi for Randall (30), Clubb for Kaufusi (18), Lovell for Golden (25).
Widnes: Phelps, Flynn, Isa, Dean, Ah Van, Clarke, Hanbury, Cross, McShane, Pickersgill, Winterstein, Allen, Cahill, Leuluai. Replacements: Davies for Cross (20), Leuluai for Pickersgill (24), Haggerty for Cahill (24), Gilmore for Leuluai (34).
Att: 2,117
Ref: Robert Hicks (Oldham).
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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