BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 shortlist

It's been a bumper year for sports and here's the BBC  Sports Personality of the Year 2012 shortlist:

Jessica Ennis - Olympic Heptathlon gold medallist

Mo Farah - Olympic 5000m and 10000m double gold medallist

Bradley Wiggins - First British winner of the Tour De France and Olympic Time Trial gold medallist

Sir Chris Hoy - Double Olympic cycling gold medallist for the team sprint and men's keirin

Andy Murray - Olympic tennis singles gold medallist, and first British winner of a major tennis title, the US Open

Rory McIlroy - Winner of the golf US PGA title, played in Europe's winning Ryder Cup team and won the season-ending World Tour Championship

Katherine Grainger - Finally winning an Olympic rowing gold medal in the the women's double sculls

Nicola Adams - Boxing gold medallist

Ben Ainslie - Won hist fourth straight Olympic gold medal, he's also won a silver

Sarah Storey - Four cycling gold medals in the Paralympics

Ellie Simmonds - Two swimming gold medals in the Paralympics

David Weir - Four wheelchair athletics gold medals in the Paralympics

I'd like to see Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah or Sir Chris Hoy win the award, although I do have a soft spot for Kath Grainger.

Boris Johnson just has 'it'

Boris's speech at the end of the Olympic victory parade yesterday. Brilliant - just funny and real, a good orator and great lines - "you produced such paroxysms of tears and joy on the sofas of Britain, that you probably not only inspired a generation but helped create one as well!"

However I must fact-check Boris. When he said that Team GB won more he was not correct. In fact the top country on that basis would be Grenada, followed by Jamaica and then the Bahamas. Team GB would finish 20th on that basis.


Now back to Boris, here he was four years ago when we wondered if London could stage the 2012 Olympics at all...

Boris Johnson isn't stuffy, unlike Seb Coe

Watch to the end of this piece of video and contrast Seb Coe's primness with Boris Johnson's enthusiasm and lack of embarrassment.


I have struggled to understand Boris Johnson's appeal to 'ordinary voters' but I think that I am starting to understand. You can see most politicians weighing up what they say, making sure that they don't stray from policy or speak inconvenient or uncomfortable truths. Boris by contrast seems (and I do mean seems) to say what he wants and thus means. It's a great gift and one that may well  propel him to become the next leader of the Conservative party, Prime Minister and maybe even President of the United States (he is eligible).

The definition of mean spirited?

I was going to post the video of Boris Johnson shaking his bootie along to the Spice Girls at last night's Olympics Closing Ceremony but all the video now shows is this

Oh nice one IOC, just when I think I couldn't despise you anymore, you do this.

What is racism?

What is racism? That's a pretty broad question and one that I could write about for quite a while. But for The Palestinian Authority racism is commemorating Israeli Jews murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

'The Palestinian Authority is against the moment of silence at the Olympics to commemorate the Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972. According to the headline in the official PA daily, "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism."

According to Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee:

"Sports are meant for peace, not for racism... Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading of peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them [nations]."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]

These words appeared in a letter sent by Rajoub to the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. The letter "expressed appreciation for [Rogge's] position, who opposed the Israeli position, which demanded a moment's silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London."

The PA daily does not refer to the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 as terror. In the article about Rajoub's letter, the killing of the athletes is referred to as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972."

The PA is against the moment of silence because they view the murder of Israelis by Palestinians not as terror but as heroism. Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's ongoing policy to glorify terror and terrorists. The murder of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics is presented as a highlight of Palestinian "operations" and one of their great accomplishments. In 2010, the official PA daily referred to the Olympic massacre as a "shining station" and its planner was called a "star who sparkled... at the sports stadium in Munich'

There's more:

'The following are examples of how PA leaders and the PA's official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida have glorified the Olympic massacre and the terrorists who planned it:

Honoring Amin Al-Hindi, planner of the Olympic attack:

"One of the stars who sparkled... one of many shining stations."
 

Official PA daily on Al-Hindi:

"Everyone knows that Amin Al-Hindi was one of the stars who sparkled at one of the stormiest points on the international level - the operation that was carried out at the [Olympics] sports stadium in Munich, Germany, in 1972. That was just one of many shining stations."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20,2010]

Secretary General of the Abbas' office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim on Al-Hindi:

"Secretary General of the President's office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, delivered a speech in which he praised the qualities of the deceased. He stressed that the loss of Al-Hindi is a great loss to the Palestinian people, who are bereaved of a prominent national leader...
The Secretary General of the Presidential office said: 'We shall continue in the path of the Shahid (Martyr) Yasser Arafat and his fellow Shahids, such as Amin Al-Hindi...'"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]

Abbas and Fayyad honor Al-Hindi:

"The Palestinian leadership, along with President Mahmoud Abbas, parted yesterday from the body of the Fatah leader and fighter patriot Amin Al-Hindi. This was at an imposing official military funeral that was held at the [PA] headquarters...
Present at the headquarters for the farewell ceremony and for the official military funeral, along with the President [Abbas], were Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad; Secretary General of the Presidential office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim; members of the PLO Executive Council and of the Fatah Central Committee; several ministers, commanders of security forces, senior civic and military personnel, as well as relatives of the deceased... President Abbas and the participants at the funeral cast a final parting look at the body, and laid wreaths. Afterwards, the President and those present read the opening sura [of the Quran] for the elevation of his pure soul."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]

Honoring Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' a second planner of the Olympic attack:

"His name shone brightly in the German city of Munich"
 

PA TV News, on Oudeh:

"Palestinians were surprised this morning at the announcement of the death of one of the most important leaders of the Palestinian revolution, Muhammad Daoud Oudeh (Abu Daoud), who engineered the Munich Operation and was one of the most important of Israel's most wanted in the 1970s."

[PA TV (Fatah), July 4, 2010]

Official PA daily, on Oudeh:

"In its [Black September wing of PLO] ranks were many distinguished men and women, headed by the Panther of Palestine, Salah Khalaf 'Abu Iyad.' Abu Daoud was one of his prominent assistants. His [Abu Daoud's] name shone brightly in the German city of Munich in 1972, where the Olympics took place. Oh, how these events evolved into a violent drama of the most tragic kind... May Allah have mercy on this great Fatah fighter and patriot, Abu Daoud."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2010]

Mahmoud Abbas on Oudeh:

"What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter."
 

"President Mahmoud Abbas sent a telegram of condolences yesterday over the death of the great fighter Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' who died just before reaching 70. The telegram of condolences read: 'The deceased was one of the prominent leaders of the Fatah movement and lived a life filled with the struggle, devoted effort, and the enormous sacrifice of the deceased for the sake of the legitimate problem of his people, in many spheres. He was at the forefront on every battlefield, with the aim of defending the [Palestinian] revolution. What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2010]

Abbas Zaki, member Fatah Central Committee, on Oudeh:

"He started his life as a regular individual and concluded it with giant stature... We have lost a man on the level of the Arab region and on the level of the world revolutionary movement, by virtue of his noble actions and his glorious history. Bestowing this honor in every place, inside the homeland and outside of it, does justice to this mighty man."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]

Dr. Samir Al-Refa'I, Secretary of the Fatah branch in Syria, on Oudeh:

"With the fall of Abu Daoud as a Shahid we have lost a man who is worth all other men together... Abu Daoud is one of the symbols of the Fatah movement... He will always remain our ideal and a role model for the generations to come."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010'

The Palestinian Authority have a different idea about racism and heroes than I have.

Do the BBC take notice of what I write?

Following on from this post from yesterday I noticed that on BBC 5Live this morning they have started saying that the Olympic lanes are for competitors, officials and 'media'. A small victory?

The BBC not telling us the whole story

The BBC have consistently been telling us that the Olympic Lanes (Zil lanes) are for the use of the 'Olympic Family' or for 'athletes and officials'. The BBC stuck to this story when last week reporting that some Government ministers could also use the lanes.

You will not be surprised to learn that there is another group of people who are allowed to use the Olympic Route Network.

Olympic Route Network (ORN)

The ORN will come into operation and be enforced from 0600 Wednesday 25 July. This also includes 30 miles of ‘Games Lanes’ for the use of athletes, officials and the world’s media to get them to their events on time. Games Lanes will be operated flexibly and opened to regular traffic if there are times when they are less busy. A network of 150 Variable Message Signs along the route will advise motorists when Games Lanes are open to regular traffic.

Did you spot 'the world’s media'? I presume that includes the BBC. Once again, one rule for them and one for us. If the temperature stays in the 80s and there is a long queue on the A40 reduced to two lanes from three, whilst the occasional Olympic BMW and the odd BBC outside broadcast van whizz past in the Zil Lane then I foresee trouble from pissed off Londoners.

The BBC don't want to admit that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, the Mayor of Tel Aviv has a message for them

"Jerusalem is Israel's capital. It became the capital 3,500 years ago"

Over to you BBC...

Olympic News but not on the BBC

The Sun reports that:

'PAKISTAN’S president yesterday ordered the arrest of criminals behind an Olympics visa racket exposed by The Sun.
A dozen passport officials have been suspended.
An aide said Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and President Asif Ali Zardari were appalled after we exposed corrupt officials offering potential terrorists the chance to sneak into Britain with the Pakistan Olympic squad.
Rehman Malik added: “The visa scandal is shocking.
“President Zardari and Prime Minister Ashraf have asked me to arrest those responsible for defaming Pakistan. Those responsible will be punished accordingly.”
Embarrassed Pakistan officials also rang Downing Street yesterday to confirm they are doing all they can to find the gang ringleaders.
A dozen Pakistan passport officials were suspended yesterday and others were taken into custody.
Those suspended include the general manager of the Lahore passport office which arranged for an undercover Sun investigator to obtain bogus travel documents for £600.
And senior politician Abid Chodhary, who offered our man a UK visa plus a letter confirming he was part of Pakistan’s Olympic entourage for £7,000, has been banned from leaving the country.
The Dream Land travel agency in Lahore, whose staff put The Sun in touch with corrupt officials, was closed yesterday. Arrests are expected soon.
Mr Malik said he had personally contacted the British authorities to assure them no terrorists would be allowed to slip into London 2012.
He added: “We love the Olympics and will never allow anyone to sabotage them.” Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service confirmed the racket could have been used by potential terrorists.
A spokesman said: “The ISI had reports earlier that the Olympics could be used to send terrorists into UK and Europe but we had made a fool-proof plan to stop this.
“There has been an activity of the militants for the last few months and we have intercepted calls in which militants are discussing Olympics as a tool to get into UK. We have taken people into custody and are interrogating them. The men can give us a clue if they are connected with militant outfits or were just trying to make it to the UK.”
David Cameron said he had every faith in London 2012’s security.
His spokesman said: “We are confident that we have the checks in place and the arrangements in place to deal with these issues.” Downing Street said British agents are in Pakistan working with authorities there.
The suspended staff are from the NADRA passport centres in Lahore and Islamabad.
Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: “We’re grateful to The Sun.”'

 On the BBC? Shhh not a word.

Enjoy today London drivers

London traffic since last Friday has been lovely to drive in. Late July & all of August are always quiet as London's breeders go on holiday but this year is even quieter.

However if like me you have been enjoying the light traffic, today's your last day for from tomorrow the Olympic/Zil Lanes go into 6am to midnight operation... It's not going to be nice out there.

The BBC and the Olympic Torch

Yesterday I blogged about how the BBC's usually minute by minute coverage of the Olympic Torch's progress seemed to hit a snag. Today I found some video that shows that the interloper was indeed crying "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for 'God is Great' as he tried to grab the torch...

The BBC coverage seems to censor this cry. I would ask 'why' but I know the answer already.

The BBC's usual full description of the Olympic Torches progress fails for once

According to BBC news:

'Earlier, a 17-year-old was arrested after trying to grab the flame as the torch relay passed through Gravesend. He sped out of the crowd towards the torchbearer and was wrestled to the ground by Torch Security Team officers.'

According to the BBC's live streaming news:

'0956: We have just had an incident during Anna Skora's run - a man raced out from the crowd and tried to take the torch out of her hands. He was unsuccessful as the torch security team members were immediately on him and pushed him down to the ground and the relay continued uninterrupted.'

Elsewhere in the real world, where Muslims are not automatically protected from bad publicity, we can read more:

'Teenager shouts 'Allah is great' in Arabic as he tries to grab the Olympic flame from hands of terrified torch bearer Boy runs from crowd and attempts to wrestle flame from torch bearer shouting Arabic for 'God is Great' ... A 17-year-old shouted 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for 'God is Great' - as he unsuccessfully tried to grab the Olympic torch during a stretch of the flame's route through Maidstone towards Redhill. Broadcast live on the BBC, the youth lunged from the crowd to try to take the torch from the hands of its bearer Anna Skora, but was swiftly bundled away by officers. In one video posted to YouTube he can be seen waiting behind a car and as Ms Skora gets closer he lunges towards the torch.'

Why so short on details BBC? Was it the 'Allahu Akbar' that made you so?

Commemorating the Olympic dead

Since the IOC are refusing to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes, and one West German policeman, who were murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September at the 1972 Munich Olympics, others are preparing to do so. I hear that an the NBC sports host, Bob Costas plans to report the IOC's decision and then announce his silence for one minute when the Israeli team enter the stadium during the opening ceremony on Friday. I have also read the suggestion that the Israeli team enter the stadium and then pause their march for one minute during the opening ceremony.

The IOC's decision to bow down to the will of the Muslim bloc is disgusting, albeit not surprising. If the IOC will not officially remember those members of the 'Olympic family' who were murdered 40 years ago, then unofficial action should be taken. Friday 27 July could be interesting...

If the Israeli team do stop for one minute I wonder what the teams following them into the stadium will do. I presume that the Muslim TV stations covering the Olympic opening ceremony will cut their transmissions rather than have to explain what is happening and why.

Nothing is too good for our rulers - we should just bow and scrape before our overlords

The Standard reports the unsurprising but nevertheless disgusting news that:

'A select group of government ministers are to be allowed to use the Olympic “Zil” lanes.

The revelation has infuriated London cabbies who are protesting at being banned from the lanes.
Earl Atlee, a government spokesman in the Lords, confirmed that some ministers would be able to use the lanes “on the advice of the security services” but added “that will apply to very few ministers indeed”.

They include Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Theresa May, Foreign Secretary William Hague, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, Olympics minister Hugh Robertson and Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson.'

Our political class really do sicken me. What are the chances that the Zil lanes stay in place after the Olympics have finished?  Our lords and masters deserve to travel untroubled by the congestion that their subjects have to endure.

Because Israel and Jews are an insignificant minority

At the 1972 Munich Olympics 11 Israeli athletes, and one West German policeman) were murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. 40 years on there is a campaign to hold one minutes silence for the innocent victims of a terrorist attack on the Olympics. Since the 2012 Olympics will last 17 days (around 24,460 minutes) surely one minute to remember the 11 members of the Olympic family who were killed would be simple and fair to arrange? You'd have thought so but then you have to factor in the hatred for Israel and Jews that exists in so many Islamic countries.

Ankie Spitzer, whose husband Andre was one of the athletes killed during that 1968 Munich Olympics terrorist massacre has told the European Jewish Press that Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC, told her that his "hands were tied" by the 46 Arab and Muslim members to the International Olympic Committee. Ankie Spitzer replied that "My husband’s hands were tied, not yours." Ankie Spitzer called the Olympics "a corrupt organization, led by greed rather than the Olympic spirit." She added that "The IOC’s refusal is pure discrimination – greed and anti-Semitism."

I don't believe the IOC is anti-Semitic but a large number of its member states are, enough to block any commemoration of the Olympic dead. This anti-Israel bloc is not restricted to the IOC and helps to explain why the United Nations and its subsidiary bodies are so obsessed with the alleged misdeeds of Israel whilst ignoring the factual and bigger crimes against humanity committed elsewhere, often by Islamic states.

Here come the Zil lanes

When the planning was being done for the London Olympics the aspect that worried me the most, apart from the terrorist threat of course, was transport. My heart sunk even further when I read that Olympic Lanes would be created to allow athletes but also IOC officials, sponsors and media to waft through London whilst Londoners sat in the reduced lanes left to them. At the time this was something that I put to the back of my mind and I carried on with life.

However over the last few days it has started to hit home how affected I and London will be. The template markings for the Zil lanes have started to appear: I have noticed them on the A4, the A40 and the A406 (North Circular Road). As I sat in traffic on the A4 the other day I realised how much worse it would be when one third of the lanes is put out of action so the IOC fat cats, their corporate friends and our media masters are not inconvenienced by London's traffic.

This site shows the road changes that are planned and in case you are worried, Transport for London whilst admitting that the special lanes will create 'hotspots' at certain places such as the Euston Road say that 'doomsday' will be avoided if drivers plan ahead to avoid the busiest times of day. Because we can all change our work times for the length of the Olympics and Paralympics, can't we.

So when you are sat in stationary traffic on the Euston Road whilst the odd logo'd BMW and BBC van speed past in an otherwise empty Zip lane I am sure that you, like I, will just sit and take it...?

The fine for unauthorised use of a Zil lane is £130, can they fine us all if we use them en masse? I am a Londoner, born and bred. I was here before London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and I will be here long after the thrill of watching the beach volleyball has dissipated. It's my city and I don't see why I should have to make way for the IOC chiefs, corporate chiefs and the likes of the BBC.

The Olympic gold medals have been stolen, what do we do?

Enjoy, apart from Daley Thompson's wooden acting.

Yes it's an advert for the Mini but it's a good one.

Just One Minute

Will the International Olympic Committee (IOC) spare just one minute to remember the 11 Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics? Of course not, in 1972 they barely paused the Olympics. 11 Israelis are of nothing to the IOC, let alone the Muslim countries that will be at the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Do you think that the delegations from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Pakistan, Indonesia, Algeria and other Muslim states would observe the minutes silence, or would there be some sort of protest - on behalf of the Palestinians? Indeed the  (IOC) have stated that to introduce such a specific reference to the Munich massacre could alienate and offend some members of the Olympic community. Alex Gilady, an Israeli IOC official, told BBC News Online: "We must consider what this could do to other members of the delegations that are hostile to Israel."

What happened to Northern Ireland

It has become to increasingly grate on me the way that the athletes representing this country at the London Olympics are called Team GB. The team's website is even called TeamGB.

There's just one problem: the British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) as well as various Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man and the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey) and those UK Overseas Territories which do not have their own National Olympic Committees (Anguilla; the British Antarctic Territory; the British Indian Ocean Territory; the Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia; and the Turks and Caicos Islands). Now not all of these Dependencies and Overseas Territories should get a name-check, very few will provide an athlete for the team anyway. But I remember when I was a lad that the team represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland and that Mary Peters, amongst others from Northern Irealnd, has represented this country with distinction and glory.

So why has Northern Ireland been dropped from the name of the Great Britain team and when? Do I detect the influence of the last Labour government?

A small piece of pre-Olympics athletics

Prince Harry showing a clean pair of heels to Usain Bolt...