Nor did it help that the maverick qualities of Luis Garcia were completely lost in another tide of whimsy and lost possession.It meant that comparisons between the champions of Europe and those of England could hardly have been more extreme.Chelsea made them so by merely re-establishing a cutting edge to the relentless control and professionalism that has already carried them into the middle distance of the Premiership race. Inevitably, their mastery was shot through with a sense of mockery, both on the field and the terraces. It was inevitable because that advantage they have in so many crucial areas of the game had perhaps rarely been so evident against opposition which might just have believed in their ability to push forward from such a recent points victory.That conviction was fragile by half-time At the finish it was made of matchwood. In an interview in The Sunday Telegraph with the former England captain Michael Atherton, Marlar, himself a former first-class cricketer, was indignant when he stated: “Did you know that Brighton College are playing girls in their First XI? Girls! I think it’s absolutely outrageous.”. We don’t have to end the discussion about when Rafael Benitez will return Liverpool to the stars, but anything less than a decent pause might make the Special One rather cross Reasonably so, to be fair. Jose Mourinho’s men may not have been 4-1 better than the reigning European champions, not creatively, anyway, but in terms of organisation, stern purpose and deeply entrenched discipline they inhabited their own planet.

He is a master of all circumstances and he’s at the height of his powers at the moment It’s just a lucky day for us.”. He had been in office barely 24 hours before Robin Marlar, the incoming president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, was raising an apparent dust storm in the game’s corridors of certainty at Lord’s. It was almost possible to see a smile playing around Magnier’s lips.”I was very worried when I saw him [Hurricane Run] at the back,” he said “I thought he had no chance. I thought he was out of the race to be honest.”But then you never know with Kieren. Andr?abre, the multiple champion French trainer, had won his sixth Arc.Hurricane Run was bought before his victorious run in the Irish Derby by John Magnier’s midas empire at Coolmore. The bay colt advertised not only himself yesterday but also his sire, Montjeu, the new celebrity stallion in Co Tipperary.

“I thought he had it in the bag,” Michael Bell, his trainer, said. “It was just unfortunate that the gap came a little too soon Johnny had to set him alight to get him through that gap He had to take it. If we do go again we would hang on to him until the very last minute.”Motivator faltered but hung on for fifth as he was passed by Westerner, Bago and Shirocco. He was passed fastest, however, by Hurricane Run, who was carried along by a combination of enticement and muscle by Fallon At the line the partnership was two lengths clear. It was a true mile and a half and he didn’t get it.”This was the crushing of Motivator’s remaining claim to greatness.

Competitive and clever, signed in the summer on a free transfer, it was the Finn’s cute reverse pass after Charlton sloppily lost possession outside their penalty area that led to Tottenham’s equaliser The ball found Mido completely free. “If we could have held on to our two-goal lead for a few minutes longer, I think we would have got the result we deserved.”Anyone who was here today will have seen how we have got ourselves a good start,” he claimed “But that confidence has also caused problems. We are losing the ball in dangerous areas because of their eagerness to do well.”It took Charlton 15 minutes to get going and, in danger of being overrun, they began to bypass midfield, longer passes having an unsettling effect on Tottenham’s defence. The approach worked so well that Spurs were caught flat-footed, vainly appealing for offside as Danny Murphy’s exquisite through ball found Darren Bent sprinting through the middle to beat Paul Robinson.Three minutes after the restart, Jerome Thomas threaded a pass of perfect weight through the Tottenham defence and Bent gave successful chase, taking too much time for Curbishley’s liking, but finally shifting the ball on to his right foot and curling it past Robinson.That seemed to be the decisive blow, but much to Curbishley’s disappointment Charlton slipped back into their old careless ways.

Pedro Mendes floated in a free-kick that Mido jumped for but missed, the ball bouncing in off King’s shins.A fluke goal but one that transformed Tottenham, whose general play benefited from the introduction of Teemu Tainio. “We needed to get ourselves together at that point, settle down,” he said Instead, Charlton allowed Tottenham to come at them. Yet Tottenham are a sterner proposition these days and Charlton were left to rue lapses in concentration.”It’s one of the things we’ve got to work on,” their manager, Alan Curbishley, said. “After being two down I would have settled for a draw,” Martin Jol, the Tottenham head coach, said, “but with Keane I felt we could win it.”

Jol speaks in riddles. No, Keane is not a supersub, a modern-day equivalent of the original holder of that title, David Fairclough. Yes, he will benefit from two games for the Republic of Ireland over the next 10 days, come back with improved match fitness. But there are no guarantees.
Jol has made it clear that Keane and Defoe do not go together as an attacking partnership “If they both play with Mido, one has to be on the left But they all come to me and say they want be in the middle.

It’s a nice problem to have, keeping them happy.”For 50 minutes on Saturday, he had other problems to contend with. At that stage Tottenham seemed destined to lose their first Premiership away match of the season to Charlton, who had out-thought them and often out-fought them. Not enough, though, to ensure that the Irishman can now expect to spend more time on the pitch than the bench, where he again started on Saturday. With 10 minutes of a rip-roaring game left Robbie Keane worked a classic one-two with Jermain Defoe and crashed in the winning goal for Tottenham. Television pictures suggested it might have been legal…Goal: Clemence og (82) 1-0.Arsenal (4-4-2): Lehmann; Lauren, Tour?Campbell, Cole; Hleb (Bergkamp, 60), Fabregas, Gilberto, Pires (Van Persie, 70); Ljungberg (Flamini, 87), Reyes. Substitutes not used: Cygan, Almunia (gk).Birmingham City (4-4-2): Taylor; Tebily, Cunningham, Upson, Clapham (Forssell, 87); Pennant, Johnson, Clemence, Gray; Heskey, Pandiani (Lazaridis, 55). Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Painter, Aluko.Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).Booked: Birmingham Clemence; Sent off: Birmingham Cunningham (25).Man of the match: Taylor.Attendance: 37,891..

But Taylor dived to his right to block Robert Pires’s kick, and the Frenchman drove the rebound into the side netting.From then on, Taylor continued to deny a succession of Arsenal efforts, notably diverting a Ljungberg shot over the bar and tipping a close-range Pires effort onto the post. But with 82 minutes played, a leg-weary Julian Gray miscued a clearance and Francesc Fabregas swiftly transferred the ball to the man who was about to break a goalkeeper’s heart.The final twist of the knife came after 87 minutes, when Olivier Tebily’s headed goal from Jermaine Pennant’s corner was disallowed because the ball had gone out of play before reaching him. Like an honest batsman, Cunningham walked, passing his captain’s armband on to Matthew Upson.Within two minutes the home side appeared set to capitalise on their numerical advantage when a grounded Damien Johnson halted Ljungberg’s charge in a flurry of legs and the referee pointed to the spot. “I thought he was outstanding today,” he said, before adding, in a reference to Taylor’s equally fine performance in the World Cup qualifier against England last month, “I hope he doesn’t play for Austria and Poland.”The England manager Sven Goran Eriksson chose this match to attend shortly before announcing his squad for those two upcoming matches, and would have been heartened by the displays of Arsenal’s centre back Sol Campbell and left back Ashley Cole, who appeared to be playing Birmingham virtually on his own for the opening period.After just three minutes, Cole was on hand to clear the ball off the line after Emil Heskey’s shot had been parried by Jens Lehmann, and thereafter he became a major source of Arsenal’s enterprise.Arsenal’s hopes rose dramatically when Ljungberg, sent through on goal by Gilberto, was levelled by a steam-shovel tackle from the Birmingham captain Kenny Cunningham that could have come from his old days as one of Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang. “He just knew he’s had possibly his best game ever, the game of his life, and unfortunately it’s ended like that and been spoilt.”It’s hard enough coming to Arsenal with 11 men. But to hold out for more than an hour with 10, and then lose out when you are eight minutes away was cruel.”The Arsenal manager Ars? Wenger also paid tribute to the visiting custodian. And despite much fervent activity they looked increasingly likely to draw a blank until the young Dutchman’s late intervention.Birmingham’s manager Steve Bruce reacted with the wry smile of an old pro who has seen this sort of thing happen many times before But it clearly hurt.”What could you say to Maik?” he asked.

S?stien Loeb has capped a “perfect season” by clinching the world championship with second place at Rally Japan. The Citro?driver needed to finish in the top three to secure his second world title and end the slim hopes of Marcus Gronholm and Petter Solberg.
He had been on course to do that all weekend but received an unexpected boost when Solberg crashed his Subaru out of the lead to promote Loeb to second place.”It is fantastic,” said Loeb, who finished over a minute behind winner Gronholm’s Peugeot. But he was not dismayed at being denied another chance to secure a top-six placing in the second event. “It was the correct decision to abandon the second race,” Martin said “There was no grip and a lot of standing water. This is the kind of circuit where, if someone crashes, the bike or the rider ends up in the middle of the track. As there was no vision, it would have been asking for trouble.”Valentino Rossi scored his 10th victory of the season in Saturday’s MotoGP round at Qatar, but only after fellow Italian Marco Melandri had come close to his first win in the series.Melandri pushed his Telefonica Honda inside Rossi’s Gauloises Yamaha on the final lap, but ran wide on the exit from the corner and finished second..

Help them develop road-sense by travelling as much as possible by foot. “Battery-reared” children will lack confidence as they grow up. Researchers have found a link between children who become victims of bullying and the protectiveness of their parents.. Troy Corser gave Suzuki their first ever win in the 18-year history of the World Superbike Championship when he finished second in the Italian Grand Prix at Imola yesterday. Corser, riding for Belgium’s Alstare Corona team, managed the unusual feat of taking his second world title almost a decade after he first won the Superbike title in 1996 on a Ducati.Chris Vermeulen, riding the Winston Ten Kate Honda, beat Corser in the first race yesterday to be 55 points behind his rival.
Vermeulen still had a theoretical chance of taking the title with three races to go, but yesterday’s second race was cancelled due to torrential rain, handing the championship to Corser.Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga finished third, while Britain’s outgoing world champion James Toseland had to settle for fourth place when he ran off the track on his Xerox Ducati.Steve Martin achieved the best result of the season for Carl Fogarty’s Foggy Petronas FP1 team when he claimed fifth place in his 100th finish in a World Superbike race. Give them a chance to know their physical limits through tree-climbing and other outdoor play. Fewer than one child in a million is killed by “stranger danger” each year, and today’s children are more secure than ever before Children learn to be safe through experience.

Remember your own childhood and the enjoyment of getting dirty, and playing without adult supervision Try to resist media scare-mongering. The more we and our children get out and use streets, parks and public spaces, the safer everyone will be Get out with your children Let them see you enjoying the outdoors Join together for outings with other families Let children roam together. The full version of this article appears in the October 2005 issue of ‘The Ecologist’ magazine. www.theecologist What you can do Parents as well as policy-makers have a part to play in giving their children the chance to enjoy nature There’s safety in numbers. We parents also have the power to resist the seductions of consumerism and play our part in restoring to children some of the freedoms we took for granted when we were young. We can say “no” a little more, switch off the screens and direct our children’s curious eyes to some altogether more expansive vistas ©2005 Tim Gill.

Having been part of the original campaign to introduce home-zones to the UK a decade ago, I recently surveyed some 40 schemes to assess their impact. More than half reported more children walking, cycling and playing in the street. Intriguingly, some schemes have also seen falling crime-rates and rising levels of community activity in the form of litter collections, festivals and street parties. Some communities have gone even further and worked with local councils to create “home zones”: people-friendly streets, based on continental designs, where the street-space is transformed from a car corridor to a shared space in which people can meet, children can play and the driver is a guest. Many communities are crying out for safer streets with lower speed-limits and less traffic. A growing alliance of environmental, road safety, and children’s agencies has signed up to “20’s plenty” , the call for a standard speed limit of 20 mph in residential areas. Exciting outdoor environments are all very well, but children have to be able to get to them.

One day they’ll eat half a jar and the next one-and-a-half, and you’re supposed to throw them away once they’ve been opened, so it’s a terrible waste.” Instead, she invested in a pur?machine for processing organic vegetables. But a report by Which? magazine last month revealed that, despite new labelling rules, many organic products for babies under a year old made by major manufacturers such as Cow & Gate and Heinz were low on some key ingredients. After all, no harmful chemicals, energy or transportation go into nourishing a baby this way. While Safia Minney breast-fed her children for up to two and a half years, don’t worry if you don’t have the stamina for that – the World Health Organisation recommends six months, which could still save you some £600 in formula milk and equipment.When it comes to weaning, most of the a large proportion of ready-made baby food in the supermarkets is now organic. “There are a growing number of people out there who are aware of organic cotton and want the best for their babies, so I’m not surprised that Topshop is providing the option,” says Safia Minney, founder of People Tree and mother of two.While an organic cotton baby-gro is a great first step, there are a whole range of other options available to the aspiring green mum or dad.FOODIf a new mum is able to breast-feed then it’s still the best option, not just for your baby but also for the environment. “I just became more aware, started reading labels, that kind of thing,” she says.

“When it’s just you, or you’re in a couple, you may be more laid-back, but when you’re suddenly in charge of this little life, things change.”

Barker took her new-found passion to the next level by setting up Green Baby, a chain of London shops and a website selling environmentally friendly baby products. But her initial experience is a common one for many new parents. In fact, the Co-op Bank’s 2002 Ethical Purchasing Index reported that 70 per cent of parents became more interested in environmental issues following the birth of their baby.
And if a high-street giant like Topshop is reacting to the trend, it must be serious. This month, it launches Mini Topshop, which includes organic Fairtrade cotton baby garments from labels such as People Tree, Hug and Gossypium. “For me, it was realising how many rubbish bags of disposable nappies I was filling,” says Jill Barker “By the end of the week we had sacks of the things. I thought, this new little life is inflicting a lot of damage on the world.” Canadian-born Barker is describing how the birth of her son Thomas seven years ago inspired her to become an eco-parent.

But the criteria for calling is if people find one dead swan, duck or goose, three dead birds together of the same species or five dead birds of different species.”. They say it could trigger a flu pandemic in its new form, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.A Defra spokesman said: “If in any doubt, people should call the hotline. Since February, 1,100 birds have been tested for avian flu in the UK.The bird was found in an advanced state of decay, with its head missing, making it hard to identify. Finding out which species the bird belongs to will help epidemiologists know if it was migratory and where it might have come from.Until that information is available, Defra is refusing to speculate about how the bird may have picked up the disease.Jack McConnell, Scotland’s First Minister, warned against being complacent because other European countries affected by bird flu had seen more than one case.Mr McConnell said: “That doesn’t mean there may not be another case in Scotland or somewhere else in the UK at some time over the next few weeks and months.”So far, more than 100 people worldwide have died of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the disease, but all have been in close proximity to infected poultry.The H5N1 virus cannot pass easily from one person to another and therefore currently does not pose a large-scale threat to humans.But experts fear the virus could gain this ability if it mutates.

He said that in his assessment of the consequences of the H5N1 avian flu virus mutating to threaten humans, it would take just a single case to be confirmed in a teacher or pupil for all the schools in a county or borough to be closed.Another leaked government report included plans to call off-duty firefighters and retired lorry drivers into service to ensure food supplies were delivered.Documents reportedly outlined concerns about a lack of preparation among food firms, and a potential shortage of HGV drivers who were willing to go into infected areas.Experts at the Central Science Laboratory in York are continuing DNA tests on the dead swan, which was found washed up in the harbour of the coastal town, in an effort to determine the exact species it belongs to. We need to see more evidence of spread before we can say that it has arrived in the UK.”Sir David emphasised that no more wild birds had tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain since a case was found in a swan in Fife last week and that British poultry had also been unaffected by the virus.The Sunday Times yesterday reported details of a study by Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, who advised the Government that 50,000 child deaths could be prevented by a widespread closure of schools. Professor Sir David King made the statement as an increasingly worried public reported thousands of sightings of dead birds over the weekend.
Almost 3,500 people called the Department of Rural Affairs last Friday and Saturday and tensions among the public also increased after details of a leaked government contingency plan warned that a pandemic could kill 100,000 children in the UK.Sir David, speaking on ITV1’s Jonathan Dimbleby programme, said that the Government was preparing for it as a “very low possibility”.He added: “We have got a virus in the bird population that has gone on since 1996, and in Asia particularly there has been a lot of contact between human beings and the birds that have got that virus.”The one swan doesn’t mean it has arrived here. The chances of the avian flu virus mutating into a form that spreads between people is “very low”, the Government’s chief scientific adviser said yesterday. LESLIE PALMIER BATH The superior sex Sir: Proof that women are superior to men (“Life expectancy of women exceeds men’s for the first time”, 7 April) is provided by the fact that they are better drivers than men Ask any insurance broker. NORMAN T SHEPHERD BRISTOL Dylan needs to chill Sir: In “The 10 Commandments of Cool” (6 April), Dylan Jones seems to have forgotten the 11th commandment: “Thou shalt not try so hard.” RICK MILES CARDIFF.

With three fences to jump, they were daring each other to blink first.Yet it was the greenhorn who took control, sending Numbersixvalverde into the lead over the last and driving him six lengths clear on the long run-in. “Well, I must be doing something right,” Madden said to himself.The symbolism could scarcely have been more explicit had McCoy and Walsh ended up sliding a glass slipper on to their young rival’s foot. Here were two of the masters, men whose stature in Turf history is assured. Much of the talk before the race had concerned their different fortunes in this race – McCoy had completed without mishap only twice in 10 attempts, whereas Walsh had already won it twice in just five. They crept closer with each fence and suddenly, having sailed over Becher’s a second time, they were poised behind the leaders just as the race began to take shape.Soon after Ballycassidy crashed out of the lead, at Valentine’s, Madden moved upsides Ruby Walsh and Tony McCoy on the two overwhelming favourites, Hedgehunter and Clan Royal. Embarking on the second circuit, both horse and rider were exuding confidence.

That would still leave him a good two miles to show what kind of jockey he is.Sure enough, with a daring bordering on impudence, “Slippers” dropped Numbersixvalverde towards the very back of the field and concentrated on settling the horse into a rhythm. Drawing on that memory, he told his son to take his time on the first circuit, just to hunt his way round as others hastened to their downfall. “Slippers” was champion amateur in Ireland, never a dilettante achievement, but Numbersixvalverde none the less represented a heavy responsibility for an Aintree debutant.Eighteen years ago, “Boots” finished fifth round here on Attitude Adjuster. Inevitably, his son – like himself, Niall on his birth certificate – soon became known as “Slippers” among the Irish racing fraternity.And here he was, still only 20, riding one of the leading fancies in the John Smith’s Grand National. “And that’s how he rode the race, too – very cool.” It was in the same, tender years of his own riding career that he had acquired the nickname “Boots”, because he used to clump around the stableyard in shoes that were always too big. “They’re big enough.”
But Madden could tell that the boy was not nervous “I was amazed how relaxed he was,” he said yesterday. “You should have seen them 20 years ago.” His son responded with the same grin that would, by teatime, enchant millions who had never yet heard of him “Jeez, Dad,” he said.

They stood in front of Becher’s Brook, Valentine’s, the Chair, each fence neatly restored after 30 horses had smashed their way across the previous afternoon. They breathed in the scent of fresh spruce, and the damp of replaced divots

“They were much bigger in my day,” Madden kept saying. On Saturday morning, “Boots” Madden walked his son round the most famous steeplechase course in the world. Though an icy wind was blowing, the grey sky sat heavily above. Although Dr Reynolds thinks the situation is “pretty bleak”, Professor Gurnell is more positive: “I’m optimistic that in some places, such as the north of England and Scotland, red squirrels will persist.”Sanjida O’Connell is the author of ‘Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World’ (Virgin Books, £8.99). This will guarantee these unique animals are not lost forever.”Unfortunately, there is no chance that any of the red squirrels, Cumbrian or otherwise, could currently be released on mainland Britain as they would succumb to the virus.

At the time, Dr Lurz said that this strain should be included in the programme, adding, “A captive breeding programme needs to be introduced as an additional conservation measure, just in case the conservation programme does not work. The Independent has previously reported research by Dr Lurz, which showed that a new strain of Cumbrian red squirrel had been detected. “We need to have a test for it, we need to be able to screen populations, which will change management plans, and we have to hope that a vaccine will be developed.”Others have put their faith in captive breeding programmes, such as the one at Kelling Heath, Norfolk, which is part of the national breeding programme. Dr Reynolds is sceptical, pointing out that Australia has spent millions of dollars attempting to create fertility control for rabbits. Not only have the Australians not managed, but none of the chemicals developed would pass environmental health standards. “I think we need to know a lot more about this disease,” says Dr Reynolds.