This week's breaking news has very much a sporting theme to it with the commencement of the world cup today and England's rugby game against France tomorrow. So for all of you ladies out there, please be patient with all of us men over the next month. In respect of the world cup, two stories have taken my eye. The first one is that JP Morgan had predicted England to win the World Cup. You may wish to remember when considering such a possibility that JP Morgan had to be bailed out by the US Government for billions of dollars because of unanticipated losses in the lending market. Therefore, on the back of this performance, I think we can stop dreaming! The second story relates to the protection that is to be provided for our travellers whilst visiting South Africa to watch the World Cup. I immediately thought of policing and security but I was surprised to read that a group of Cape Town hoteliers will be distributing 160,000 free condoms to visiting World Cup guests. The reason for this is to promote safe sex in one of the world's highest HIV populations. It would therefore appear that during the next month there will be a lot of opportunities for our players to score both on and off the field! With regards to rugby I would like to congratulate Gareth Widdop who has received a call-up into the new England nineteen man squad for the match against France tomorrow. Gareth, twenty one, who is Halifax born, emigrated to Australia when he was sixteen and is the nephew of a very good friend of mine - Stephan Brearley. Good luck tomorrow Gareth.
