The image above is a screenshot swiped from the Osun Defender, a Nigerian newspaper. It’s exposing corruption, in this case the award of a construction contract for a sports stadium to a family member. Or look to Sierra Leone, where a contract to supply the country’s army with rice just happened to go to the … Read more
Pegasus, the team named after a mythical horse, believed it secured a last minute reprise and sent new documentation to Switzerland. This turned out to be unsatisfactory and the UCI sent the team to the knacker’s yard. I could write plenty about this process being unsatisfactory, it should not be the case that a team … Read more
I got an email from a reader saying the Cavendish piece below wasn’t suitable for many readers at work. I agree. It’s the first time I’d put a semi-nude pic on here and should have realised it could be sensitive for some. I’m all for a light-hearted tone at times and I suspect many readers … Read more
As well as celebrity gossip about footballers and the royal family, a regular feature of The Sun, Britain’s top selling “newspaper”, is the Page 3 Girl. Every day a big picture of a semi-naked woman appears on page 3 of the newspaper, to the delights of the largely male readership (and the desperation of the … Read more
I’ve sung the praises of cyclismag.com in the past. It’s a French website on cycling that is original and amusing enough to almost justify learning French just so you can read the content. If you’re not that diligent, translation websites will do the dirty work increasingly well these days. Anyway, they’ve found an interesting comparison … Read more
British and Australian readers will be familiar with pantomime, a form of theatre that is very popular at Christmas. It’s mainly for children, a staged version of fairly tales like Snow White or Jack and the Beanstalk. But it includes characteristic features like actors in drag and humour that works in different levels, children may … Read more
A quick note on a financial deal: British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has bought Maxinutrition, the company behind the Maximuscle brand of diet supplements and energy products. GSK is paying £162 million to acquire the company, roughly US$250 million / €190 million. Viper Active or snake oil? I knew Powerbar had been bought by Swiss food … Read more
You could argue that Belgium is the world’s top cycling nation. You can state with more certainty that Omega Pharma- Lotto is Belgium’s top team, thanks to the presence of Philippe Gilbert and Jurgen Van Den Broeck, not to mention André Greipel. Yet despite all of this the team didn’t get invited to the Tour … Read more
I get a bit tired when cycling fans try to point out other sports have doping problems. It’s understandable that cycling fans think the sport can victimised. For example the recent arrests in Spain haven’t generated as many headlines as the original Puerto busts. But it’s not an great comparison, Puerto happened on the eve … Read more
Luxembourg can be a secretive place, the OECD’s “grey list” of countries accused the country oof lacking financial transparency and it’s reportedly the country of choice for the North Korean dictatorship to stash its ill-gotten gains. We are still weeks away from reading anything official on the workings the Luxembourg cycling team. Remember this is … Read more