Today is the end of an era: The News of the World have published their final newspaper in their 168 year old history. Good riddance.
Parent company News International has taken the decision to close the doors after the massive backlash against the paper when it was revealed they’d not only hacked the phones of celebrities and politicians but also those of bereaved families of killed soldiers and the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler; as if her family hasn’t gone through enough recently.
I think it’s fair to say it’s been a torrid year for Fifa. First we had the World Cup bids that resulted in one tournament going to the largest nation in the world and one going to a nation the size of a postage stamp; then we had the whole Andy Gray sexism debacle leaving a huge question mark over who will partner Martin Tyler on the upcoming Fifa 12; and then we had the inevitable questioning of corruption within the octual organisation of Fifa.
This really is one of the most obvious statements in the world: Fifa are corrupt. It’s right up there with: oil is a valuable resource; Hitler wasn’t very nice; and Badger loves mashed potato! For some reason the world has only just realised this and several members of Fifa have been hauled in front of Fifa’s own ethics committee to answer to these charges of corruption. The very fact Fifa have an ethics committee is actually quite amusing.
I ran the Manchester 10K again on Sunday which was a gruelling battle between man and road. It was a good race that left my legs heavier than a pair of Americans after Thanksgiving and my ankle in quite a bit of pain. But I made it! All be it in a longer time than last year, a whole six minutes more, meaning I have some work to do for next year. Six minutes in a 10K is a week! Although my time was disappointing, I did manage to raise a lot of money for CICRA (Crohn's in Childhood Research Association) which is always great!
Of course being involved on Sunday meant that my Saturday night was spent indoors watching Saturday night tele. Lucky for me it wasn’t just any Saturday night, this one was special, it was of course Eurovision night!
