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Reuters blog archive
from Photographers Blog:
Shrovetide: a rough and tumble game
Ashbourne, central England
By Darren Staples
There are rules – even if there is no referee to enforce them. One of the ancient ones is said to be: ‘committing murder or manslaughter is prohibited’. Royal Shrovetide Football is not for the faint-hearted, either for players or the spectators who can quickly become caught up in the scrum.
On the face of it, the game played in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday each year will sound familiar to anyone who knows what happens at any English Premiership venue on a Saturday afternoon.
There is one ball, two teams – the Up'ards and the Down'ards - and the goal is to score goals. In these parts, it’s like Manchester United playing Manchester City, with all the passion and pride that comes with it.
But that’s where the similarity ends. The goals are, after all, three miles apart, and the ball is ‘goaled’ by tapping it three times on stone plinth on the banks of the River Henmore. Oh, and it’s played by 200, 300 and even 400 players.
from John Lloyd:
England’s inevitable gay union
Earlier this week the British Parliament housed a restrained, sometimes mawkish and at times moving debate on gay marriage – and the bill passed the House of Commons, 400 to 175. The story was not that it passed, which had been expected. Instead, it was the split in the major governing party, the Conservatives, more of whose 303 MPs voted against the bill than for it. (Conservatives voted 136 in favor of the bill, with 127 voting no, five abstentions and 35 not registering a vote.) Prime Minister David Cameron, still intent on ensuring that his party is liberal as well as conservative, was emollient and understanding of those against the measure but presented his support in the context of a “strong belief in marriage. … It’s about equality but also about making our society stronger.”
His remarks signal that while there is division on the right over gay marriage – at least in Europe –and that while prejudice and bigotry still exist, the serious debate is between contending notions of conservatism. For liberals like Cameron and many in his party, gay marriage extends the benediction of an ancient rite upon modern couples, drawing them into the rituals of homebuilding and long-term affection that have so far been claimed as a heterosexual monopoly. For opponents, marriage must be just such a monopoly, since it is a union of one man and one woman for the purpose (if not always the practice) of procreation, of continuing society’s values in particular and the human race in general.
from Photographers Blog:
The flood and the pub
Tewkesbury, southwestern England
By Andrew Winning
On a dull Monday morning in London, my assignment desk rescued me from a dreary assignment to travel to Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire to cover the effects of the second of two consecutive weather systems that brought flooding misery to many parts of southwestern England.
I arrived with about an hour of daylight left to work with and inquired if there was any flooding. Some helpful local people pointed me towards the White Bear pub, on the northern side of the town. As I arrived I found David Boazman, and his brothers Michael and Richard, pumping flood water out of his bar. They kindly invited me in, through the window, to have a look.
from Photographers Blog:
Belles of the ball
By Olivia Harris
I had thought that 'debs' belonged to the pre-1960s days before the pill and equal pay. But at Queen Charlotte's Ball last week there were eighteen young debutantes who had volunteered for the London Season, the symbolic right of passage to mark their entry into 'society' as young women.
The ball was the high point of 'the season'; six months of parties where young women of money and class were premiered for the marriage market.
from Left field:
Swedes must match England’s fighting spirit – Hysen
By Phil O'Connor
Former Sweden defender Glenn Hysen is at Euro 2012 as a fan and he told Left Field that his nation will have to “show some balls” if they are to match England’s fighting spirit in their Group D clash in Kiev on Friday.
“It'll be tough, but if the players show that they have balls we can do it,” said Hysen, whose son Tobias is part of Erik Hamren’s Sweden squad.
from Left field:
Twitter tells Sweden’s Lustig to “hold the post”
By Phil O'Connor
Sweden defender Mikael Lustig will have no excuse for forgetting to hold his position against England in Euro 2012 - his mistake on the post for Ukraine's second goal in Kiev has sparked a tactical Twitter meme that will take a long time to live down.
With the scores level at 1-1, Ukraine won a corner and Lustig took his place on the goal-line defending the near post.
from John Lloyd:
A London divided against itself
London voted for its mayor last week and voted, narrowly, for Boris. Boris Johnson was the Conservative incumbent, a 47-year-old upper-middle class, Eton- and Oxford-educated former journalist, a classics-conversant, high-IQ prankster with a streak of political intelligence and ruthlessness that reportedly has Prime Minister David Cameron worried for his job.
Boris beat Ken (Livingstone). In London, the two main contenders for the mayor’s seat are known, with or without affection, as Boris and Ken, perhaps a reflection of the fact that they are seen, still, as not quite serious people. (The London mayoralty doesn’t have much power, and nothing like that enjoyed by Michael Bloomberg in New York, who isn’t universally called Michael.) Indeed, they are not seen as entirely serious by themselves. Both have deserved reputations as comedians. Ken used to appear on comedy quiz panels, Boris wrote witty columns for the Daily Telegraph.
from Left field:
Could Pardew take Champions League spot and England job from Redknapp?
By Phil O'Connor
Unheralded and unpopular when he took over at Newcastle United, Alan Pardew has led them into the upper reaches of the English Premier League, and within touching distance of a Champions League place.
The question is whether he can beat Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Redknapp to fourth spot and the last Premier League place in football's top club competition - and make himself a contender for the England manager's job at the same time.
from Left field:
Ireland seek scrum coach with ‘complete and thorough understanding of rugby’
By Padraic Halpin
Ireland's rugby board advertised for the newly established role of high performance scrum coach on Tuesday, just days after the national team's scrummaging skills were shambolically exposed in a 30-9 Six Nations defeat by England.
The job, posted on the Leinster and Munster provincial websites, called on applicants with "a complete and thorough understanding of rugby union" to plan, research and constantly evaluate current scrummaging practice.
from Left field:
What can England achieve at Euro 2012?
Whoever takes over from Fabio Capello either as a caretaker manager or a long-term replacement faces the dauting task of living up to somewhat unrealistic hopes that England will land their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
Let's face it, the Three Lions have entered every tournament since, bar Euro 1996 on home soil, as one of the dark horses to bring the silverware back home but never as the top contenders among a plethora of more talented if not more resourceful nations taking centre stage either in European Championships or World Cups.
