Dear Gordon Brown,
Author: Jon Kaufman
I acknowledge your bland response to the Olympic Legacy e-petition. I doubt you would be surprised to hear that the response has not been enthusiastically received. Might I humbly offer some simple suggestions on how the UK might substantially increase its financial contribution to both elite and community sports, not to mention the health, education and the housing programmes.
Olympiclegacy - epetition response Author: Jon Kaufman
· Read the petition Read the Government’s responseYoung Gifted and Gay Author: Jon Kaufman
I find it extremely perplexing that after twenty years of running a table tennis club and a full forty years of involvement in table tennis, I cannot recall a single instance of a player openly declaring his/her homosexuality. Surely if the ‘one-in-ten’ statistic is anywhere near accurate, London Progress Table Tennis Club must have had its fair share of gay members. Similarly, the English table tennis community ought, governed by that same statistic, to have had hundreds, if not thousands of gay players over the past 100 years. Yet an eerie silence hangs over the whole question. Just where are our gay table tennis players? Festival of Olympic Elitism Author: Jon Kaufman
With the exception of the state sponsored Chinese competitors, can you imagine any of the Olympic athletes competing at the winter games in Vancouver being from anywhere other than a privileged background? I’m happy to be proven wrong but the sort of lifestyle required to be slogging up and down ski slopes and the like just does not seem to chime with the day to day grind of working class life. And if the odd proletarian competitor did slip through the net, you can rest assured they are even more unlikely to be among the medal winners. John Terry and a Parallel Universe Author: Jon Kaufman
There were a couple half decent articles in The Sun the other week. It happens every couple of years. The first one, by a Jane Moore, was entitled, ‘What does JT say about Britain?’ 3/2/10 It starts out with an attention grabbing paragraph: ‘Alicia Douvall is the psychologically damaged cosmetic addict who ricochets from one shallow sexual liaison to another.
Simon Jenkins- Bourgeois Londoner. Author: Jon Kaufman
I love to read Simon Jenkins on the question of the much hyped Olympic legacy. Jenkins has from the very start consistently decried the mega stadium approach in favour of something more down to earth. I seem to recall his plea that we use our existing venues rather than create shiny new white elephants. On this I wholeheartedly applaud him. But his latest piece in the London Evening Standard ‘Spend Olympic Money On Making London Beautiful’ 2/2/10, ( a newspaper now owned incidentally, lock, stock and barrel, by an ex KGB officer and now billionaire Russian Oligarch), is off the mark, though I do believe his intentions were honourable.
Londongrad: The Inside Story of the Oligarchs Author: Jon Kaufman
Londongrad: The Inside Story of the Oligarchs, Mark Hollingsworth & Stewart Lansley, 2009, Harper Collins. Book Review Londongrad is a jaw dropping read. If it was wrapped up into a James Bond film you would pass it off as unbelievable fiction – just a bit of fun. But this is not fiction, this is the real thing and it certainly is not fun; Russian gangster capitalism spilling out onto the streets of London, complete with lethal poisonings, exploding helicopters and shadowy KGB/FSB units tracking down oligarchs that refuse to play ball with the Russian government.
Africa’s Year of Sport Author: Jon Kaufman
Whether or not it is absolutely true, I used to delight in telling my history students that there was only one race - the Human race, and that we humans all descended from Africa. It seemed the best way to cut through their inherited tribal allegiances whether those allegiances be based on skin colour, geographic place of origin or the most facile of all tribalisms - that of religion.
Bring Back the Hard Bats Author: Jon Kaufman
A slightly surreal interview with Barry Hearn appeared in The Guardian recently (5/01/10 Anna Kessel) which caught my imagination not just for what he had to say about sports promotion but also for the sheer energy and enthusiasm of the man.
The Curious Case of Matthew Syed Author: Jon Kaufman
Matt Syed is most definitely becoming a positive force in sports journalism. From right in the belly of the beast, Syed is regularly producing thought provoking editorials which, along with the long established excellence of Simon Barnes, now makes The Times the most thoughtful sports pages on offer.
Redgrave Tells It Like It Is – Or Does He? Author: Jon Kaufman
Try as they might, Lord Coe and his team are struggling like mad to present a convincing case for a genuine Olympic legacy from London 2012. Matters were made worse when one of their own, a one Sir Steve Redgrave, broke ranks and offered a stinging attack on the government’s short-termism. Redgrave does not mince his words.
Tiger Woods and the Morality Brigades. Author: Jon Kaufman
There is little doubt that Mr Woods had set himself up for an almighty fall. By playing the all American, clean living family man, his philandering ways were certain to trip him up big-time sooner or later. That day has now come. His squeaky-clean image is in tatters.
‘50 People who fouled Up Football’ Michael Henderson, Constable, London, 2009 Author: Jon Kaufman
As soon as I heard the title I rushed out to buy it. A mistake. What promised to be a definitive text on the soiling of ‘The Beautiful Game’ proved to be just an amusing and cleverly written collection of anecdotes, personal hobby-horses and cheap gossip, all of which lets the real culprits right off the hook.
While FIFA Fiddles the Planet Burns Author: Jon Kaufman
First a confession. I am genuinely and unequivocally looking forward to the World Cup in South Africa. I’d be a bigger hypocrite than usual if I tried to deny it. A whole month of football mania slap bang on top of the climax to the current Premier League and UEFA Championships.
Boom and Bust in Dubai Author: Jon Kaufman
If there was ever any doubt that the fortunes of professional sport were increasingly tied in to the general fortunes of the world economy, last week’s financial news from Dubai should settle those doubts once and for all.
English Sport: ‘Exclusive, Snobbish and Class Ridden’ Author: Jon Kaufman
Knocking the LTA has almost become a sport in itself. It’s an easy target of course. In reality they are probably no less effective than most of the other governing bodies in this country but they do have considerably more resources at their disposal than most of their sporting colleagues, and that is the rub. Whereas their colleagues can cry poverty the LTA cannot.
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