| Commonwealth Games become the Sexual Olympics | Paul MacInnes This Commonwealth Games will be remembered for the most popular event – horizontal jogging. Nothing unsporting about thatIt's fair to say that the first week of the Commonwealth Games has been a spectacular success, if by "spectacular success" you mean "disastrous botch job". Empty stadiums, empty bowels (after massed ranks of British and Australian swimmers came down with gastroenteritis) and, some might say, events decidedly empty of competition. It's been a terrible seven days for a games that was troubled since before it even began. At last, though, there is some good news: whatever the difficulties in Delhi, they haven't stopped the athletes from shagging.A problem with blocked drains in the athletes' village was this week blamed on an abundance of used condoms clogging up the system. Admittedly the blame has mainly been attributed by Indian newspapers, and the organisers are denying it ("There was no clogging in the drains at the village and no plumber was called in"). But one fact seems to be incontrovertible: the supply of complimentary johnnies has been depleted by 4,000. So either there have been a lot of water fights, or groups of young people at their physical and hormonal peak have taken to knocking each other off.I know which one my money is on. Matthew Syed, Times sportswriter and former table tennis international, had this view of Games life:"I am often asked if the Olympic village is the sex-fest it is cracked up to be. My answer is: too right it is. My first games was Barcelona in 1992, and I got laid more often in those two and a half weeks than in the rest of my life up to that point."It was at Barcelona that condoms were first purposefully handed out to athletes, and organisers have continued to do so ever since. All of which seems to fly in the face of the received sporting wisdom; that sex before or near an event can undermine an athlete's performance. It certainly contradicts the evidence submitted by British heavyweight boxer David Haye: "If you refrain from busting a nut for six weeks before a fight, you've got a serious edge", he said. "People ask my why I'm so aggressive in the ring. This is why."The belief remains widely held that "busting a nut" or its female equivalent ("shivering the timbers"?) depletes the athlete of a sizeable, perhaps essential form of energy. The only problem with this is that actual scientific research doesn't seem to back it up. Ian Shrier, a sports medicine specialist at McGill University, published a paper in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine a decade ago that claimed Nut Bust Syndrome was "a long-standing myth" and stemmed from a mistaken belief that pent-up juices raised competitive aggression. Mr Haye, he's talking to you.So the news that athletes are performing their own intimate relay races in the privacy of their own (filthy, unhygienic) village is surely good news. It's a rejection of aggression, the assertion of loving over fighting. It's surely precisely the sort of message that an international athletic event should be promoting. In fact, when organisers start filling up those empty seats with local schoolkids, the temptation might be to pass that message on. Think big, organisers of Delhi, and give 'em a closing ceremony the world will never forget!Commonwealth Games 2010IndiaSexPaul MacInnesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Chile miners rescue is like Big Brother, but you care TV review: It was eviction night at Copiapó. Florencio Ávalos was first out and got a pop star's welcomeIt's day 69 in the Big Brother mine (best read in a Geordie accent). And it's eviction night at Copiapó. Florencio Ávalos steps out of the Fenix capsule in sunglasses. He's first out and gets a pop star's welcome, and hugs from his family. The crowd cheers, here at the San Jose mine and to giant video screens at the miners' home towns.But where's Davina? Is this her, Cecilia Morel, is she the Chilean equivalent? Oh, she's the first lady. And he may look like a television host but that's Sebastián Piñera, the president. Thanks to God, exclaims Piñera. And to the mining minister and to lots of other people too.Yeah, enough already … number two is here, Mario Sepúlveda. He's quite pleased to see his wife, and very pleased to see the lads. There are presents – San José rock – and a bit of a singsong. Mario is soon doing the post-experience interview on the sofa. Well, it's a hard chair actually, but hey, he's a miner. He was with God and the Devil, he says. They fought and God won. God has played a big part in this rescue it seems. Mario also says he always knew he would be beautiful. Some of it is lost in translation, I think.Before the next one out, Juan Illanes, there's time for a montage of the highlights – the first blurry pictures, the celebration of Chile's national day, the time they watched Chile play Ukraine on a tiny TV (this lot actually knew a lot more about what was going on outside than the Big Brother housemates).And in the studio there's an expert, James Thompson, who is warning of psychological problems to come. A low will follow the euphoria. Then there are the problems of sudden fame.So yes, it is a bit like watching Big Brother. The crowds, the cheering (no booing yet thankfully, though I was worried for Carlos Mamami, the only Bolivian). Then the interviews, the money, the book deals. But there is a difference. You care. This is incredibly moving. And the pictures are extraordinary. The shots from the cavern especially, showing the capsule disappearing into a hole in the roof, a life-saving suppository.Can there really be a man in there, going up through 2,000ft of rock?Then the nail-biting wait, the slowly turning wheel, the rescuers watching down the hole, expectantly, like fishermen. Anything this time? Yes! It's Jimmy Sánchez, at 19 the youngest, and one of the most vulnerable. And it's very hard not to cry, all over again.ChileTelevisionMiningTelevisionSam Wollastonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Sports fans ensnared in Fox, Cablevision rate duel By VERENA DOBNIK 2010-10-17T17:35:00ZNEW YORK (AP) -- Negotiators for Cablevision and Fox parent News Corp. entered another round of talks Sunday to resolve a dispute over rates that has blacked out Fox's channels, but subscribers who wanted to watch an afternoon New York Giants football game were forced to make alternate arrangements.... hosted.ap.org |
Humanist remembrance is overdue | Jessica Abrahams Humanist participation in Scotland's remembrance ceremonies is welcome. But it should be to honour all those who diedI was surprised to learn last week that the Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS) has finally been granted permission to lay a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance during this year's November 11th ceremonies.Firstly, I was surprised at the news that this makes Scotland the first nation in the UK to allow a secular organisation to take part in national remembrance day events. In a country where less than 50% of people believe in a God, this seems far overdue. The HSS say they want to represent the servicemen and women of the war who did not have religious faith, but I hope they will also be laying the wreath on behalf of all the non-religious people in the UK who wish to remember those who gave their lives without referring to a God.The HSS has requested to lay a wreath at Edinburgh's Stone of Remembrance several times over the last few years but was repeatedly rejected. This year, its members were finally invited to participate. The Royal British Legion Scotland commented that: "We recognise that there are plenty of ex-servicemen and women who are humanists. They respect the act of remembrance and, as such, we had absolutely no objections to them taking part." This rather raises the question of why they were ever rejected in the first place. Meanwhile, the British Humanist Association's request to lay a wreath in London this year has, again, been turned down.Secondly, I was surprised at HSS's statement. "We feel strongly that those with no religion who lost their lives in combat should be represented," they said. To me, this doesn't seem to be in the spirit of humanism. Atheism or agnosticism is a major element of humanism, but it is not synonymous with it. Humanists are people who live their lives according to a secular morality. They want to build a society based on secular principles where people are not divided by religious beliefs and where a commitment to our shared humanity comes before anything else. They should not be undermining themselves by representing "those with no religion". They should be representing every single man and woman who lost their lives fighting for our country.But I was also surprised because it shouldn't just be the humanists kicking up a fuss about representation. Every remembrance ceremony I've ever been to has been explicitly Christian, and this is not only a problem because of the rise in agnosticism but also because it isn't just Christians we're remembering. When the Allies committed themselves to war with the Central Powers, they also committed their empires and these stretched to all four corners of the globe. It is estimated that almost 20,000 African men died fighting for Britain, from countries with large Muslim or other non-Christian populations such Sierra Leone and Nigeria. India contributed around 1.4 million men to the war effort, mostly Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Of these, more than 65,000 lost their lives.Of course the majority of soldiers who fought and died for the Allies were Christians, and many of those celebrating Remembrance Day this November will also be. But it is hugely important that the minorities are not forgotten. All those people of other faiths and all the atheists and agnostics (whether humanists or not) must be remembered and celebrated too, and in a way appropriate to who they were. Rachid Bouchareb, director of the film Days of Glory, which documents the stories of North African soldiers during the first world war, once commented that "indigenes were written out of history". It's very difficult to see how this can be justified.ReligionScotlandAtheismJessica Abrahamsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Bin Laden warns France over Afghan war, veil ban By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF 2010-10-27T14:05:40ZCAIRO (AP) -- Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.... hosted.ap.org |