A review of events and their interpretation.
July 1
Walter Matthau, the actor, dies ages 80. Best known for playing grouchy and irascible characters, the humourist's supporting role in 1965's The Fortune Cookie was recognised at the Screen Guild Awards. As in real life, he played bluntly outspoken, gruff, iconoclastic parts, exposing and embellishing his foibles to great comic effect. Lords: Second Test England makes a slow start against the West Indies, allowing the visitors to make 162/1 - Sherwin Campbell (82) and Wavell Hinds (59) making hay while the sun shone. Then came the cloud, the outfield slowed, and England took quick wickets, closing on 267. Dominic Cork - recalled to the team for this match after 18 months on the sidelines - and Darren Gough took four wickets apiece; only Chanderpaul (22) and Rose (29) offered much resistance. |
July 2Ken Follett, best-selling author and New Labour Luvvie par excellence, lays into The Party. His main gripe is the tactic of selective leaking. What happens is that PM Bair says that cabinet minister X is a waste of space, then his press office or colleagues tell journalists on a strictly non-attributable basis. Follett says that if Bair had real courage, he would say these nasty things himself, and the PM lacks the courage of his convictions. Sources close to the PM (aka Blair) say that Follett has turned Tory, as if that's going to be enough to remove the truth from his claims. France wins Euro 2000 after a simply amazing final. After a pulsating, but scoreless, first half, Italy takes the lead on a scintillating strike. Then came the defensive play, and the ribbons were surely on the cup for the Azuri when Wiltord levelled the game with less than 30 seconds to play. Golden Goal Extra Time came, and the winner came 13 minutes in, scored by Trezeguet. France now goes on to the Confederations Cup, where it will meet other continental champions. |
July 3Vicente Fox Quesada wins the Mexican election, inflicting the first defeat on the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) since 1929. Main issues included corruption and mismanagement under PRI's presidential monopoly, and deepening economic and political ties to the US. Many of the trees planted at a popular tree site in Israel as part of a worldwide effort to commemorate loved ones and friends while making the desert bloom, are routinely and covertly removed by the organization that manages the programme because the trees tend to die in the arid conditions. |
July 4Two days after the tournament ended, and almost three weeks after being soundly beaten by the Belgian police, the Government published a bill to ban football hooligans from travelling overseas. Troublemakers, both convicted and alleged, will have to surrender their passports when England is playing overseas. The rush legislation attracts a very lukewarm response from the opposition and football supporter's organisations. The law has a very small loophole, in that it won't apply to flights leaving from Scottish or Northern Irish airports. Wimbledon: Ladies' Quarter Finals. Jelena Dokic's progress to the crown continues, as everyone's favourite Aussie beats Spain's Magui Serna 3&2. She'll meet Lindsay Davenport, victor over Monica Seles in three sets. The other semi-final will see Venus Williams meet sister Serena. Williams (V) upset #1 seed Martina Hingis in three sets, while Williams (S) outclassed Lisa Raymond 2&0. |
July 5Wimbledon: Mens' Quarter Finals. #1 seed Pete Sampras is taken to four close sets by Jan-Michael Gambill, the German performing strongly throughout. Sampras will now meet qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, who put out the clearly injured Byron Black (Zimbabwe) in straight sets. In the bottom half of the draw, #2 seed Andre Agassi made surprisingly light work of Mark Phillipousis, the Scud caving in after a set and a half. He'll meet #12 seed Patrick Rafter, who put out Alexander Popp (UK) in straight sets. |
July 6
Tony Blair's eldest son was arrested in Leicester Square late last night for being drunk and incapable. Euan Blair was found flat-out on the pavement at 11pm and taken to Charing Cross police station. There he gave a false name and address and claimed he was 18. Germany will host the 2006 Soccer World Cup, defeating strong favourite South Africa 12-11. There are reports of a probable hoax letter, offering gifts for those backing the Germans in the vote. Bids from England and Morocco were laughed out of court. The aftermath is nasty, as the delegate who abstained in the final round reported being under "intolerable pressure," and does not deny receiving death threats. FIFA, which is surprised and slightly displeased by the outcome, launches a full and frank enquiry with a budget of one pfennig. Wimbledon: Ladies' Semis The Williams sisters knock each other about, Venus beating Serena 2&6. Lindsay Davenport swept past Jelena Dokic 4&2 to round off a pretty dull day. |
July 7Northern Ireland's Parades Commission bars a march at Drumcree. It's the third year in succession that the Protestant Orange Lodge has been barred from its "traditional" route (established 1962) through a mainly Catholic area. The ban sparks the now traditional (est 1996) violence between police and protesters spoiling for a fight. Wimbledon: Men's Semis Pete Sampras does just enough to beat qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov in straight sets, in spite of suffering from a niggling ankle injury. Sampras will meet Pat Rafter, who beat Andre Agassi in five compelling, excellent sets. Commentators call this latter game the best at Wimbledon in over 25 years. |
July 8The US missile defence test fails badly. The objective, to shoot down an incoming missile, didn't happen after the interceptor failed to fire properly. The simulations are now 0-2. Russia and China are nervy that the missile shield breaks US agreements. The Defence Department says it needs the shield against rogue states such as North Korea. President Clintern will decide whether to continue the project or not in some weeks time. Wimbledon: Ladies' Finals Venus Williams overcomes Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6. It's not a classic final - eleven of the twenty games resulted in broken serves. There are many unforced errors, but many quality rallies and important points. Venus raced to a 5-1 first set lead, then got broken to put a brake on the charge. The players nearly came off for rain, but stayed on, and swapped breaks through the second set. It went to a tie-break, which the elder Williams sister won comfortably. |
July 9Charles Kennedy, leader of the third party Liberal Democrats, tells Tony Blair to take a break. Kennedy says that Blair, who has fumbled and stumbled badly over recent weeks, is working too hard and needs to put his feet up for a few weeks. Twelve people are killed in riots at Harare's stadium, while watching Zimbabwe play South Africa in a World Cup qualifying match. Rioting breaks out in the crowd late in the match, after the visitors go 2-0 up. Wimbledon: Men's Final Pete Sampras comes from one set down, and overcomes a long rain break, to beat Pat Rafter 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-2. The turning point is the 3rd set, 7th game: the first break of the match. |
July 10Belfast turns into a ghost town as Protestant Orange lodges stage a four hour general stay indoors. The group is protesting against being barred from walking down the road in Portadown. Most people figure the Orange lodges are bringing themselves into disrepute. Israel's government survives a vote of no confidence. After two parties left the coalition over the last few days, the opposition Likud party can only muster 54 votes against the Labour-led coalition; 62 were needed to force the resignation. |
July 11Two care workers sentenced to jail after heroin was sold at their hostel are free on bail. The two, based in Cambridge, were sentenced to four and five years in prison after being found guilty of trafficing in drugs. The appeals court finds significant errors in the original judge's summing up, and will make a final ruling in October. The two are also appealing against their sentences. BNFL pays Japan 40 million after falsifying safety data on some reprocessed uranium. BNFL says it's a small price to pay for future business, but environmental campaigners say that taking the fuel back to Britain is humiliating and unsafe. |
July 12
Betty Boothroyd, popular Speaker of the House of Commons, is to step down after eight years in the role. Boothroyd will retire before parliament returns from its summer recess. She has taken "much pride and pleasure" from her time in the post. "Be happy for me." Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Runcie dies after a six-year battle with cancer. Robert Runcie, 78, died peacefully at his home in St Albans of prostate cancer. |
July 13The government's annual report comes out. The glossy, 60-page magazine, shows Labour's successes (continuing the previous administration's economic policies) and failures (too long to list here.) Toy Blair says that there's a lot more to be done. The Opposition says that last year they said this year would be the time for delivery, and compare the document as inferior to the recent Harry Potter books. The rail track maintainance company, Failtrack, blames rain, weeds and complete incompetence for a 20% rise in train delays. The manager says that it's not his company's fault, they just have to put up with the problems. Apart from the ones they cause on the London - Birmingham via Milton Keynes route. |
July 14The government will allow Carlton and United Media to merge, so long as the combined company sells one of its television stations. Carlton owns stations in London, the Midlands, and the South West; UNM has a stake in semi-national broadcaster Channel 5, plus stations in Wales, East Anglia and the South East outside London. It's this last station that would be sold off. The Granada Media Group - owners of Lancashire, Yorkshire and North East England - will be allowed to bid for Carlton or UNM, but not the combined company. Plans to introduce performance related pay for teachers are derailed. The High Court rules that Education Secretary David Blunkett acted beyond his powers in making the scheme the subject of secondary legislation, rather than the sort that can be debated in Parliament. |
July 15A Florida jury awards $148 billion in damages against cigarette firms. The money will compensate smokers, their dependents, and health care providers, for damage caused by the products. The firms involved say they would be bankrupted many times over, and will appeal to every deity. Six UN soldiers are rescued in Sierra Leone. The British-led attack on a rebel base springs the men, held captive since March. Mika Hakkinnen wins the Austrian Grand Prix, from team-mate David Coulthard. Series leader Michael Schumaccer is taken out at the first corner, the highlight of an otherwise uneventful race. |
July 17A Party memo is leaked to the press. The note highlights a Prime Minister obsessed with public perception, not reality. For instance, Blair is strongly aware of the Party's vulnerability on crime. He seems minded to try more of the unsuccessful 'tough on crime' formula, rather than attempting anything new. His recent attempt to march hooligans off to cashpoints shows a weakness for the quick fix, evident elsewhere in the leaked memo. Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond is resigning after 10 years at the helm. During his time in charge, Salmond doubled his party's MPs from three to six, while the SNP became the official opposition in last year's Scottish Parliament elections. Salmond will not contest his Westminster seat at the next general election, preferring to represent Banff and Buchan in the Edinburgh assembly. |
July 18
Gordon Brown puts The Party on election footing by announcing a £43billion spending package aimed at "front-line" services. The extra cash - to be spent over three years - would go to recruit more doctors, nurses, teachers and classroom assistants. |
July 19A bomb beside a railway line in west London plunges London into travel chaos. The bomb - believed to be planted by renegade Irish terrorists - and a series of alerts paralysed huge sections of the capital's rail and Tube network. First Paddington, then Victoria - two of London's busiest termini - were forced to close because of security alerts. The Party suffers a second leak, saying that The Party is obsessed with its own navel, and risks a seriously dented majority at the next election. Commentators point out the clear attempt to denigrate Brown's giveaway, and point the finger at those within The Party opposed to Brown. |
July 20The Party announces new spending on transport. Rail and roads will all get more money to build new ones, though there are no plans to make Failtrack less Fail and more track yet. The opposition questions how much of this money is genuinely new. The Inland Revenue denies losing tax records. Five million tax records need to move from the Income Tax system to the National Insurance system, but seem to have been eaten by mouses in the system. The Revenue say they've bought Catz to catch the mouses, and hope to recover all the data. |
July 21London's Big Wheel is closed again, after a bit falls off it. Though the fault shouldn't jeopardise safety, operators close the attraction just in case. Carlton and United Media call off their merger, one week after the Competition Commission said the merged firm - Carlton United Television - would have to sell off their southern England stations. |
July 23Tiger Woods wins The Open, becoming the fifth golfer ever to win all four major tournaments in his career. The G8 summit ends in Japan. This year's communique pledges to make primary schooling available to the whole world within 15 years, and to halve deaths from tuberculosis by 2010. Critics say that an opportunity to relieve much suffering was lost. A tabloid published the names of paedophiles. It claims the move is to protect its reader, but sentinent people figure it's a circulation stunt that will backfire when those named move from their addresses to avoid lynch law. The editor may yet face charges of complicity to incite violence, after someone who looks like (but isn't) one of those named suffers vandalism. |
July 24The Hillsborough trial jury fails to reach a verdict in the case of David Duckenfield, match commander when police failures killed 96 people. His second-in-command was acquitted of manslaughter charges last week. Members of the public gallery expressed extreme displeasure at this result; the judge then told the press not to publish anything of this. The private prosecution may yet go to a retrial. Plans to repeal Section 29 are blocked by the House of Lords. The Section has no legislative effect but sends messages disapproving councils spending money on homosexual services. The Lords criticised the lack of alternate provision to help reduce the fear of bigots. |
July 25A Concorde crashes near Paris, killing all 109 on board and four on the ground. The plane, chartered by a German tour operator, was just two minutes into a flight to New York when it crashed into a hotel. First reports indicate that one of the plane's engines may have caught fire. The Middle East Peace Talks conclude without agreement. The talks at Camp David had been running for two weeks, the main sticking point being the status of some of Jerusalem's outlying areas. President Clinton is pleased with the attitude of all participants, but saddened at the lack of an agreement. |
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