As a parent, how do you feel?

As an aunt, I’ll tell you how I feel;

I feel rage, I feel impotency,

I feel it’s time adults ceased their follies

and faced up to their parental responsibilities.

I feel that my niece at 19 months old

embodies; vitality, vivacity and a precocity

she’s inherited courtesy of her genes

I feel that her ‘right to grow up’ is not negotiable.

No more cold, dead, little hands

heartbroken parents won’t be able to prise open

a child’s ‘right to not be shot’

should be a given and not have to be spoken.

I’ve tried to articulate how I feel

and if I'm lacking in coherency

it’s down to the incomprehensibility

of a senseless tragedy.

As an aunt, I’ve told you how I feel

so as a parent, tell me how you feel.

An opportunity of a lifetime

I've always been interested in the Olympics and one of my lifelong ambitions is to attend one. In 1996, I wrote to the IOC asking for tickets for Atlanta 1996 - they sent me a pin badge commemorating the Olympic centenary. Having failed to make the grade to volunteer for Beijing 2008, I was hoping for better luck for London 2012 as I was born within walking distance of the Olympic Park. So I was rather pleased to discover that I was one of the chosen many aka Gamesmakers.

My role was to chauffeur clients around in one of these.

If G4S seriously underestimated how many security personnel would be needed (that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the armed forces personnel who stepped in to fill the breech impressed everyone with their exemplary professionalism), then LOCOG/IOC seriously overestimated the demand for our service. After all, if you're doing a 10 hour shift, you don't want to have to spend the vast majority of it waiting around - the weekend before the Opening Ceremony, I made two trips from the airport to central London. One of the people I drove on the day of the Opening Ceremony seemed pretty confident that things would pick up from Saturday, but once again it was a case of supply exceeding demand and then some!

I drove ministers, IOC staff, NOC representatives, significant others of IOC and international sports federation officials and it was my great privilege to drive the person who conceived the idea of staging an Olympic games in London nineteen years ago - Kirani James who became Grenada's first Olympic champion when he won the 400m is 19.

The Wednesday before the Opening Ceremony, I was in the Olympic stadium to watch the final dress rehearsal before the main event - the forging of the Olympic rings was one of my standout moments.

It was nice to see the efforts of the Gamesmakers recognised at the Opening and Closing ceremonies and at the celebratory Olympic and Paralympic parade and I suppose when sufficient time has passed, that will probably be my abiding memory of London 2012.

What's in a name?

A name is an identifier, sometimes unique depending on how creative your parents were if we're talking about people - occasionally if your parents get too creative, then changing your name by deed poll is an option once you come of age.

But how about countries? At one time, Britain had an empire that spanned a quarter of the globe and chose to name countries within her realm as she saw fit. Once those countries gained independence, a few decided to change their names such as Zimbabwe which was formerly known as Rhodesia and Sri Lanka which was known as Ceylon. For other countries such as China and Russia, the renaming was limited to cities so Peking became Beijing and Leningrad reverted to St. Petersburg after the break up of the Soviet Union.

In 1989, the military junta in Burma decided to rename the country Myanmar and the former capital city Rangoon became known as Yangon. Today saw the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, but whether it's a case of sticking two fingers to the military junta or a former colonial power refusing to recognise the diktat of a wayward former colony, the British press insist on calling the country Burma - Al Jazeera have no such problems.

If I tell you what I'ld like to be called then it behoves you to refer to me by my name choice, especially if you're seeking to engage with me. The British press are taking their cue from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office which persists in using the old name and that's tantamount to a diplomatic own goal.

Shooting the messenger

In July, Wikileaks released over 70,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan putting themselves, and in particular Julian Assange, the face of Wikileaks, in the firing line of the US government. Both the US and UK governments were quick to condemn the release of the Afghan war logs and say that the lives of troops and people who had collaborated with them were at risk. This has since been shown to be yet another piece of propaganda as three months on, the Pentagon were forced to admit that not a single person has been harmed by the release of the logs. In the lead up to July, Wikileaks had contacted the US government to request their help in redacting sensitive information - the US government refused to cooperate and of course initially denied that Wikileaks had contacted them until documents surfaced proving Wikileaks had contacted the US State Department via an intermediary.

The release of Afghan war logs turned Wikileaks and Julian Assange into the US government's bête noir  and so began numerous attempts to shut them down. Pressure was exerted on the British registered website that Wikileaks used for online donations and they succumbed to that pressure. A Swedish prosecutor decided to impugn Julian Assange's character by issuing a rape warrant which was cancelled 24 hours later. Last week, Wikileaks was subjected to an online attack that in their words "could have only been carried out by a highly skilled hacker", something that had been proposed by various persons within and without the US government. Fortunately, Wikileaks don't just have a Plan B, but a Plan C and a Plan D and their leak of the 400,000 classified documents on the Iraq war went ahead.

What is indisputable, is the accuracy and veracity of the documents so why is the US government hell bent on shooting the messenger instead of addressing the realities these documents reveal? With the Afghan war logs, the source, according to the US government, is Private Bradley Manning, but thus far the US government has not fingered anyone for the leak of the Iraq war logs - why?

At a press conference in London last Saturday on the Iraq war logs, Julian Assange noted that the first casualty of war is the truth and Wikileaks intent to redress that - the release of the logs shines a spotlight on seven years of propaganda peddled by the US and UK governments. Sitting alongside Julian Assange was Daniel Ellsberg whose courage about 40 years ago, in leaking the Pentagon Papers, served to make the US public aware of what was really going on during the Vietnam War and helped turn the tide of public opinion firmly against the war. During the press conference Daniel Ellsberg presented Julian Assange and Wikileaks with the 2010 Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence Award which the latter fittingly accepted on behalf of their sources.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

John Lennon 9th October 1940 - 8th December 1980

Words that are even more resonant today than when he wrote them.

There are no certainties in sport

Over the past week, there have been a number of sporting results which can be categorised as upsets; Rafael Nadal, the world number one tennis player losing to his compatriot, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in Bangkok, Liverpool FC, England's most successful club, losing to newly promoted Blackpool on Saturday and the reigning NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in an exhibition game at London's O2 arena last night.

While Rafa's loss can be categorised as bad day at the office given he had numerous break points, he got back to winning ways in his next match in Tokyo. For Liverpool, it's a different story altogether as this result has meant the club have made their worst start to the league for 57 years, far longer than I have been alive. The international break means the Liverpool players will have to wait until 17 October to see if they can turn things around - given they are playing Liverpool's other club, motivation won't be lacking, but it remains to be seen if that will be enough. The Los Angeles Lakers played all but 6 minutes without Kobe Bryant who is recovering from knee surgery he had in July. The Minnesota Timberwolves coach, Kurt Ramblis, is an ex Laker so his motivation for getting one over Phil "The Zen Master" Jackson was not in doubt. The Lakers kept things close in the first two quarters, but they made numerous turnovers in the third quarter and it was a similar story in the fourth quarter. The Lakers started with four of their usual starters; Derek Fisher, Kobe, Pau Gasol and Ron Artest, but only Derek and Pau played a significant number of minutes. Kobe has his eyes on a 6th NBA championship ring so it's no wonder he's playing things very safe.

The drama at Celtic Manor as the last day of the Ryder Cup unfolded is something that would have been labelled fanciful if a scriptwriter had come-up with such a rollercoaster of a plot as the destiny of the Ryder Cup remained uncertain until the 17th hole of the last singles match to be played.

Sport is a great leveller and the guaranteed uncertainty is what makes the watching and participation so compelling.

He came, he played, he conquered!!

At the age of 17 he won his first French Open and the deciding rubber that won Spain the Davis Cup. He successfully depended his French Open crowns three times and in the process surpassed Björn Borg's record for the number of consecutive victories on clay - they called him a clay court specialist, but by 2007 he had reached his first Wimbledon final on grass. In 2008, he would become the first man since Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back, but only reached the semi-finals of the US Open - they said he couldn't play on hard courts. In January 2009, he won his first Australian Open title, on a hard court, but his renowned mental strength was sorely affected by off-court tribulations and he made an unexpected exit at the French Open, wasn't able to defend his Wimbledon title, only reached the semi-finals of the US Open and lost all his matches at the World Tour finals in November 2009.

Still not at his physical peak, he had to withdraw from his match against Andy Murray at this year's Australian Open, but by the time the clay court season rolled round, he was back to his best, becoming the first man to win all three clay court Masters titles in a season and in doing so he took his tally of titles to eighteen, surpassing Andre Agassi and Roger Federer on seventeen. At the French Open, he swatted aside his 2009 conqueror and illustrated the gulf between himself and Andy Murray in the semi-finals of Wimbledon. His straight sets victory in the final over Tomas Berdych secured him his eighth grand slam and having decided to focus his energies on the one grand slam to elude him, he arrived at Flushing Meadows ready to cement his place in history with a remodelled serve.

Up until the final, he hadn't drop a set, but his opponent who played his best match in the semi-finals to thwart Roger Federer's attempt to appear in a seventh consecutive final, claimed the second set. However, Rafa was not to be denied and he won the third and fourth set to complete the tennis grand slam.

As he still believes he can improve, despite being world number one, having won nine grand slam titles, an Olympic gold medal, eighteen Masters title and three Davis Cups, the chasing pack should be afraid, very afraid!

Felicitaciones Rafa!!

The kindness of strangers

Over the past eighteen months, my expectations of support from people I know have become as permanent as the footprints left on a sandy beach. But when one door closes another opens and it's the kindness of strangers that has restored my faith in humanity. I believe in helping when I can and its karma that in my times of need, strangers have come through for me.

Je remercie les deux hommes qui m'aider la dimanche dernière et l'homme qui m'aider à l'aéroport il y a six mois.

All things considered

Given the heats were set up so I couldn't fail to progress to the finals, I did have serious reservations about how well I would do at yesterday's tournament, especially when it became clear that the other heat winners had actually won their heats. What's more, I lost my only warm up game, here.

My first match didn't start well when I did an air shot for my first serve and didn't land my second serve on the table so I was 0-2 down and it was first to five. Fortunately, I was able to turn things around and won the match 5-3. I won my second match 5-0, lost the third match 0-5 (my opponent used the pen-holder grip) and won my last match 5-3 which saw me top the group having won 3 matches and reach the quarter-finals. The matches were truncated to first to three and I won my first match 3-0. In my second quarter-final match, I was up against another pen-holder grip opponent and lost 1-3 to the person who would go on to win the tournament. In conversation afterwards, he mentioned that he plays for his firm so I thought I acquitted myself rather well.

Next up was a chance to practice stroke consistency with a robot and I had two goes at each table before taking my leave.

The organisers had provided me with a brand new bat when I registered and on the red side was a sticker saying, PLEASE, PUT ME BACK! As I was on my way out, I asked one of the organisers who I should return the bat to and was very surprised and delighted when he said I could keep it.

Now I have a bat and balls, I just need to find myself a club.

There WILL be medals in 2012

The sport that embodies the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius is athletics (some of you may know it as track and field) and that's my first love given that I was a high jumper and sprinter back in the day. So it was very nice to be back at Crystal Palace yesterday for the second day of the Diamond League London meet.

On my way to my seat I stopped to congratulate the person responsible for British success at the recently concluded European Athletic Championships and urged him to tell UK Athletics to give Linford Christie a more prominent role in the lead up to 2012 as he knows how to get his athletes to medal at major championships (Mark Lewis-Francis, silver medallist in the 100m and Christian Malcolm, silver medallist in the 200m are two of the athletes Linford coaches). His response left me in no doubt as to who calls the shots at UK Athletics.

Nigeria's Blessing Okabgare, who won her 3rd 100m title at the African Athletic Championships in Nairobi a few weeks ago, shocked the second fastest women of all time, Carmelita Jeter (PB of 10.64s), in the heats and recorded a PB of 11.0s while doing so. Sadly, she was unable to repeat this success in the final, but once again Carmelita Jeter was defeated, this time by her compatriot Marshevet Myers. Allyson Felix completed the 200m/400m double but had to dig deep to secure victory in the one lap race. She intends to emulate Valerie Brisco-Hooks and Marie-José Perec, who completed this illustrious double in 1984 and 1996 respectively, in London 2012. Kenyan women are starting to make their presence felt in the 3000m steeplechase, Milkah Chemos stopped the clock at 9:22.49 which was an ACR. The Empress of Entoto aka Tirunesh Dibaba unleashed her devatasting sprint finish to secure victory in the women's 5000m, but overall Kenya secured more victories than Ethiopia. Augustine Choge wrote his name, literally, into folklore by winning the Emsley Carr Mile, the meet's last event.

Canine wars

Today I realised that dogs have Napoleon complexes too because it's been the smaller dogs, Scottish Terrier and Cocker Spaniel, who've attacked me for my balls. The latter dispelled the notion that dogs are colour blind when he opted for my orange ball instead of the lime green tennis ball is owner had thrown. Once again the owner after retrieving my ball, telling the dog off and wiping the ball against her jacket handed it back to me while apologising profusely.

Her embarrassment contrasted sharply with the insouciance of the next dog owner I had reason to interact with after his sorry excuse for a dog bit chunks out of one of my balls. The difference between this mongrel and the other two, the mongrel was an ill-tempered BITCH.

Now dog owners be warned, I will take measures to defend my property from your ill-trained dogs, by any means necessary.

What did Bo get BO?

On this historic day, at a defining moment for the country of his father's birth, one cannot but ask what alignment of stars ensured a referendum that will chart a new path for a country that is yet to live up to it's not inconsiderable potential would fall on the date that a US president of Kenyan ancestry celebrates his not quite half century.

It does look as if the YES YOUTH CAN supporters will provide BHO with at least one of the presents he wanted, I wonder if Bo will provide him with another?

Made in Kenya

Mo Farah's historic 10,000m/5000m double at the European Athletic Championships in Barçelona was made in in Kenya's Rift Valley where he spends time altitude training with the world's best long distance runners. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy and here's to hoping it provides him with the motivation to take on his much vaunted training mates at next year's World Athletics Championships in Daegu.

Une médaille pour chaque couleur du tricolor

Christope a gagné une médaille pour le rouge, le blanc et le bleu, les couleurs de son drapeau, le tricolor.
Félicitations à Christophe et Renaud. À Teddy, pas mal.
Voyez-vous à  Londres en deux ans.
Allez les trois mousquetaires, allez!!!

2 year countdown begins

Over the weekend, "I took part in the London 2012 Open Weekend challenge" by playing table tennis at different venues in London. Having last played in 2005 on the rooftop of a famous Manhattan building, overlooking the East River, I was pretty rusty on Saturday, at Brunswick Square, and it showed when I lost my opening game (I wasn't fully focused), but won my next 2 games before losing my final game to the best player. On Sunday at The Hub in Regent's Park, I lost both double series (best of five) that I played in, but won my singles series. I also picked up some tips on how to refine my strokes - now I just need to find an indoor table so that I don't have to compete against the elements as well.

Being serenaded by a preocious, bilingual 2+ year old was the pièce de résistance of a weekend full of highlights.

Malevolent rays

I lived in an equatorial country for over a decade where direct sunlight was the norm and I worked in the country who's national slogan is, 13 months of sunshine. I am an avowed sun worshipper (I would never go on holiday to look for snow) who enjoys basking in the sun rays or rather I used to because now I can't spend 5 minutes in the sun without a rash on the back of my hand and neck flaring up. I am currently using 2 creams, one of which needs to be refrigerated, in order to try and sort the problem out, but no sooner do I think I'm on the mend than there's another type of flare up - who knew skin was that sensitive?! Moreover, I mistakenly thought my melanin would protect me.

BAD DOG!!

Yesterday I was in the park doing my usual exercise routine that combines footy-boules, karate katas, juggling and stretching. I was juggling when all of a sudden a Scottish terrier takes it upon himself to get involved. At first, I wasn't having any of it so I kept the balls in my hands and backed away from the excitable mutt. The problem was, this served to make him even more excitable and he started jumping on me. Now, I'm not a pet person and I really don't like dogs jumping on me especially when the grass still has its morning dew.

The owner was trying to call the dog off, but the dog wasn't having any of it - I kept backpedalling in circles with the balls out of sight in my hands behind my back. The owner catches up with me and advises me to stand still which I do and immediately regret it. The dog, now emboldened continues to jump up at me while baring its teeth. Reluctant to call the dog's bluff, I threw the balls on the ground whereupon the dog triumphantly fastened its jaw around one of the balls and ran off. For the next 5 minutes, the owner used all sorts of tricks to get the dog to hand over the ball, but the dog wasn't having any of it. Eventually the dog obeyed a lie down command and reluctantly agreed to give up the ball in exchange for a treat. The owner who up until now had not been able to get close to the dog because he kept running off, quickly put a leash on the dog, wiped the ball down several times and handed it over to me sheepishly saying, "that's the first time he's ever done that".

Does anybody know how I can dog-proof my juggling balls?

According to the Capello Index

Leo Messi's nationality is Spanish - do you think they know something we don't?!

Where life is SO cheap

It will be interesting to hear what the spinmeister-in-chief will say with regard to the IDF's latest atrocity. But an even bigger atrocity is being committed by those countries who refuse to condemn this Rogue State's wanton impunity and belligerence.

All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing 

Tail wags dog

As you can see from this, the very American sounding Israeli prime minster knows how to get the dog a fetchin' and a carryin'. It does make you wonder just how committed the current Israeli PM is to the peace process. His recent statements before his most recent mend-the-fence trip to Washington were in all probability part of the manipulation process.