David Beckham not selected for London 2012 football squad - BBC News
David Beckham has not been selected for the Great Britain Olympic football squad.
The 37-year-old former England skipper said in May he thought he had a "good chance" of playing at London 2012.
He said: "Naturally I am very disappointed, but there will be no bigger supporter of the team than me.
"I would have been honoured to have been part of this unique Team GB squad. Like everyone, I will be hoping they can win the gold."
Beckham made manager Stuart Pearce's shortlist of 35 players but was overlooked for the final 18-man squad as one of three players over the age of 23 allowed to compete in the Olympics.
"David Beckham will receive widespread sympathy after his omission from the Team GB football squad - but if his inclusion was only going to be based on sentiment or as a gesture of thanks for bringing the games to London then Stuart Pearce is right to exclude him.
Pearce, however, is sure to feel a weight of criticism for his treatment of the enduringly popular Beckham for such a global event and many will believe his absence will damage the tournament. On purely football grounds, however, it is a decision based on sound logic.
It was always going to be tough for the 37-year-old to be one of the three over-age players when he has been playing for LA Galaxy while Ryan Giggs, Micah Richards and Craig Bellamy have been featuring in the Premier League."
Pearce, who watched Beckham play for Los Angeles Galaxy in the United States last week, picked Manchester City defender Micah Richards ahead of him.
Pearce rang Beckham on Wednesday night to tell him the news, explaining that he wanted more defensive cover in the squad.
Richards has been included alongside Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy as the three over-age players.
Beckham, who signed a new two-year with LA Galaxy in January, was part of the Olympic flame handover ceremony in May, bringing it to Britain for the torch relay.
He played a major role as a sporting ambassador when London won the 2012 bid, and has made no secret of his desire to captain Team GB.
He said in April this year that he wanted to "be a part of history" by competing in the Olympics in his home town.
London 2012 chief Lord Coe said he would be talking to Beckham about a role during the Olympics.
"David has been an extraordinary supporter - probably our number one supporter - of the Games from the very beginning and is keen to continue his enthusiastic support right to the end," he said.
"He is from East London and knows how important the Games and sport are to young people. He is a great role model."
In January, Beckham said: "I have led my country before and know how special it would be to lead them into the Olympics."
However, Pearce said in April: "He's been a great ambassador but that's no guarantee he'll get in the squad. I'm picking on form and merit alone.
World Cup 1998 - Beckham off as England go out
"David Beckham will be treated exactly the same as any other individual, whether it is young or over-age.
"I have a duty of care to the Great Britain squad to try to win a gold medal. I will pick the strongest squad I can."
BBC Match of the Day's Gary Lineker reacted to Beckham's omission by tweeting: "Never thought for a second that David Beckham would be excluded from GB's team.
"Terrible shame for Beckham having given so much to the Olympic bid and football."
Former Wales international and BBC Sport pundit Robbie Savage tweeted: "Why was Beckham on the shortlist in the first place, then not pick him? Disgrace!"
And Beckham's former England team-mate Danny Mills, who played under Pearce at Manchester City, told BBC Sport: "There's always an issue around the Beckham brand. We know how big he is - he's global, he's huge. But when it comes to football reasons, David Beckham can still do a job.
"I think he would have been a great spectacle and I think it's a bit of shame he's not in there.
"Stuart Pearce doesn't always like confrontation and he's struggled with big players in the past. Maybe he's thinking that what Beckham brings with him is too much to handle."
The British Olympic Association said it had not received the final 18-man squad from the Football Association.
A statement read: "We are expecting the list no later than the early part of next week."
Team GB were drawn in Group A at London 2012 alongside Senegal, Uruguay and United Arab Emirates.
They begin their Olympic campaign against Senegal at Old Trafford on 26 July before facing the United Arab Emirates at Wembley on 29 July, and Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium on 1 August.
Each squad must contain 15 players born after 1 January 1989.
London Could Stage Formula 1 Grand Prix - Sky.com
Formula One’s billionaire chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has offered to pay more than £35m to stage a grand prix in London.
Plans for a route around some of London’s most famous landmarks - including Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square - are to be unveiled later today.
It would be the biggest grand prix motor race in the world, and experts believe that as many as 120,000 spectators would watch the race from grandstands on the 3.2-mile route.
The event could generate as much as £100m in spending for the London economy.
The idea for a London street race came from British sponsor Santander.
Mr Ecclestone said that he was prepared to promote the race, which is likely to be staged in the summer, with Formula One picking up the bill.
Previous attempts to stage the grand prix in London have fallen flat, when politicians balked at the possible cost.
Governments elsewhere in the world have been charged up to £30m to stage a grand prix race.
Mr Ecclestone believes the event would be so popular that it would pay for itself.
“Think what it would do for tourism. It would be fantastic, good for London, good for England - a lot better than the Olympics,” he said.
Nigel Currie, the director of the sports marketing agency brandRapport, said the grand prix could represent a "commercial bonanza" for the capital.
"A successful London Olympics will show that there is an appetite for big events and bringing a grand prix to the people on their doorstep will attract massive attention."
A study by global design practice Populous has examined the feasibility of staging a London grand prix.
Assistant principal John Rhodes said the event would not cause major disruption, taking five days to set up equipment and three to dismantle it.
Pride London funding ‘shortfall’ sees WorldPride heavily scaled back - pinknews.co.uk
The WorldPride event in London on 7 July has been severely cut back with floats banned from the route and start times moved after a funding “shortfall”, organisers Pride London confirmed today.
Organisers said they would be “returning to the roots of the original Pride London rallies” after cars and floats were cancelled with just over a week to go until the event.
Instead of the usual procession, the event has been scaled back to a walking parade taking the same route but beginning at 11am, not 1pm.
Pride London confirmed this afternoon: “There will be no official World Pride events in Soho. Licensing regulations will be that of any normal day, the Golden Square event will be cancelled and the Family Area in Soho will proceed independently.”
The details were released after an emergency meeting at City Hall today. Activities in Trafalgar Square are “expected to proceed, but with some changes to the programme, including an earlier start and finish time”.
Organisers said: “Each and every year, Pride London needs to achieve some serious commercial targets to fund the event – and this year, targets are even higher than before, because of increased cost, the sheer scale of the planned event and mounting pressure to deliver a “world class” event.
“To a backdrop of a more difficult economic climate and tough sponsorship calls considering everything that is happening in London this year, fundraising from both corporates and from within the community has been more challenging than ever. Despite creating a strong sponsorship base for this year’s planned event, there is, in the week leading up to the 7th of July, still a shortfall.”
James-J Walsh, who left his position as Associate Director of Pride London in 2009, said LGBT charities in particular would be “severely affected” by the last-minute changes to the day.
He told PinkNews.co.uk the last-minute scaling-back “could result in them not being able to undertake fundraising and other activities associated with Pride”.
“This will mar the work of Pride London for years to come. Pride London has lost the focus of being an LGBT campaigning organisation, instead focusing on partying rather then politics, which is what the community needs when legislation around equal marriage and LGBT rights are still to be won both in the UK and around the world.”
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell helped organise the first Pride event in London in 1972 and has attended every event since. He told PinkNews.co.uk this afternoon it was “absolutely outrageous” that the parade’s start time had been changed.
“Many people have booked coaches and trains to arrive at the original start time of 1pm, and it’s too late to ensure that everyone knows that the start time has changed. It is going to result in total chaos and gridlock throughout the West End. The police and the mayor are stark, raving mad to have agreed to this shambles.”
Mr Tatchell said the last-minute exclusion of floats and vehicles from the parade is “a massive blow to the many organisations who have spent thousands of pounds on hiring and decorating them”.
It is not yet known whether the cost of the floats, several thousand pounds each, will be refunded.
On Trafalgar Square, Mr Tatchell added: “Scaling back speakers and performers on the main stage at Trafalgar Square will cause huge disappointment. The fear is that some of the human rights speakers will be axed as a result, further depoliticising the event.”
“Whatever the rights and wrongs, this scaling down of WorldPride is a huge embarrassment for London and for our LGBT community. We promised LGBT people world-wide a fabulous, spectacular event. It now looks like WorldPride in London will go down in history as a damp squib.
“We’re not only letting down LGBT people in Britain, we’re also betraying the trust and confidence of LGBT people world-wide. This is an absolute disaster.”
Discuss this →MPs' switchboard staff upset over move to Southampton - BBC News
Plans to move Parliament's switchboard to Southampton are damaging staff morale, Labour MP Kate Hoey has said.
The MP for Vauxhall said some of her constituents had worked loyally on the switchboard for more than 20 years and were being asked to move next May.
In response, Commons Leader Sir George Young praised the operators for providing "a high quality service, often in challenging circumstances".
He pledged to raise their plight with the officials responsible for the move.
During exchanges on forthcoming business in the Commons, Ms Hoey called on Sir George to initiate a debate on the subject.
"Can we really not look at how we actually treat our own staff?" she asked Sir George.
The House of Commons Commission, which shares oversight of the administration of Parliament, decided to outsource the switchboard operation to Capita to save costs, the Commons leader explained.
"The honourable lady is right to draw the attention of the House to the debt we owe to all those staff," he told MPs.
"It is not primarily a matter for the government but it is a matter for the commission and I will raise the honourable lady's concern with the commission and see if there is a role for us to play in minimising the dislocation of her constituents to which she has just referred," he said.
Corsa is now a car that has real impact - This is Scunthorpe
Bigger, more grown up and infinitely better built, Vauxhall's Corsa is the car you knew General Motors could build if the gloves came off...
No longer just a shopping trolley, the Corsa now has real impact. The front end features a deep Vauxhall V-grille with aggressive air intakes under the bumper and a pair of headlamps that smear back along the wings.
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NO LONGER A SHOPPING TROLLEY: The front end features a deep V-grille with aggressive air intakes under the bumper and a pair of headlamps that smear back along the wings.
Bigger than the model it replaces, the Corsa shares a platform with Fiats Grande Punto, the benefit of a rather complicated relationship between Fiat and General Motors thats too convoluted to go into here.
Suffice to say, you may be reminded of the pretty Fiat when you spot the window by the A-pillar and the rather unconventional door outlines.
Climb inside and, if youre used to the Astra, you'll feel immediately at home. The quality of materials used is leagues ahead of the old Corsa and like the Astra, there's the bulletproof feeling of build quality that's as good as anything in the sector.
Just about the only criticism of the Astra's interior was that, although well built, it didnt offer a whole lot of slick design to catch the eye.
The Corsa changes that particular script with translucent ambient lighting on the centre console switchgear, one of those surprise and delight features that adds the all-important showroom wow-factor. The round air vents and big satellite navigation screen (available on high spec cars only) give the Corsa's dash a far more modern, integrated look than the piecemeal integration of technology of the old car.
Prices start at around £4,225 for an 06 plate 1.0i 12v Life model with three doors, the five-door variant tacking another £150 to that figure. The peppier 1.2-litre models open at £4,350, again on that 2006 plate, but many will want air conditioning which will add £400 to that asking price.
The 1.6-litre SRi kicks of at £6,675 on an 07 plate while the sporty VXR, only available in three-door form, opens at £8,375. The diesel Corsa models are very sought after and the 1.3-litre CDTi in 74bhp Life trim with air con starts at £4,925 with around 49,000 miles on the clock. Go for the bigger diesel engine and you'll pay £5,800 for an 06 plated 1.7 CDTi SXi.
The third generation Corsa feels built like a rock but, as we have seen from other manufacturers, perceived quality doesnt always translate into actual, quantifiably low warranty claims.
In the Corsa's case, however, what you see is largely what you get. There have been few reported issues with this car although the long service intervals mean a full service history is even more desirable than usual.
Check for the usual parking knocks and scrapes and make sure the alloys aren't kerbed.
The sporty SRi and VXR models should be checked for tyre wear, suspension alignment and accident damage and a full HPI check undertaken.
Vauxhall Ampera Scoops Auto Express Magazine's Green Award - The Auto Chanel
LUTON, UNITED KINGDOM – June 28, 202: Vauxhall’s ground-breaking Ampera has added Auto Express magazine’s Green Award 2012 to its growing collection of top honours.
The UK’s best selling weekly car magazine made the announcement at its prestigious New Car Awards held last night in London. The Ampera, which has only just been launched in the UK, adds this latest accolade to an impressive haul of over 40 awards including the 2012 European Car of the Year, What Car? magazine’s Green Car of the Year and Top Gear magazine’s Green Car of the Year.
“The Ampera is a superb car that debuts technology that will play a huge part in our motoring future,” said Steve Fowler, Auto Express Editor-in-Chief. “As always, the simple ideas are the best, but putting them into a car and making it work so well, then getting it on sale, is altogether much harder.”
“We are delighted that the Ampera has received recognition from Auto Express magazine,” said Duncan Aldred, Vauxhall’s Chairman and Managing Director. “The Ampera is truly a pioneering vehicle not just for Vauxhall but for the automotive industry as a whole. Its revolutionary E-REV technology makes it the first vehicle on the market providing uncompromised electric driving."
Football: Vauxhall Motors snap up former Liverpool FA Youth Cup star Michael Burns - Chester Chronicle
London cops order Julian Assange to turn himself in - The Register
London cops order Julian Assange to turn himself in
Erratic leaker too busy boning up on Ecuadorian anthem
Posted in Policing, 28th June 2012 16:02 GMT
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WikiLeaker-in-chief Julian Assange was served with an extradition notice by the Metropolitan police this morning.
Scotland Yard said that the 40-year-old Australian, who holed himself up in the Ecuadorian Embassy's digs in London a week ago in an effort to seek political asylum, was required to "attend a police station at date and time of our choosing".
Before adding: "This is standard practice in extradition cases and is the first step in the removal process."
As we reported last week, Assange's bizarre plea for shelter from being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of coercion, sexual molestation and rape meant that he had broken one of the conditions of his UK bail terms, which had been in force since his arrest in December 2010.
He had been cuffed, courtesy of a European Arrest Warrant, by the Met's extradition unit on behalf of Swedish authorities.
By taking up residence in the Ecuadorian Embassy's flat in Knightsbridge, London, the computer hacker broke a curfew set out by Scotland Yard, which demanded that Assange remain holed up at his bail address between the hours of 22.00 and 8.00.
The moment he steps outside the door, Assange will be re-arrested under the Bail Act by police officers currently camped outside the embassy.
Scotland Yard said today that Assange "remains in breach of his bail conditions, failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest".
Meanwhile, Ecuador has yet to respond to Assange's diplomatic plight. ®
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