Category: UK

  • Leeds football coach has been suspended after head butting a referee

    Leeds football coach has been suspended after head butting a referee

    A junior football coach has been suspended after being accused of head butting a referee at an under 12s match in Leeds.And police and the Football Association both launched inquiries into the incident.
    Jonathan Rimmington, 44, says he is fighting to clear his name after what he describes as a stand-off with the match official.
    The dad-of-two was quizzed by police over the allegations but has been cleared by them of any wrong-doing.
    However the FA has banned him from taking charge of his Rothwell Juniors under 12s team since the incident on February 14.
    Mr Rimmington has now appointed a solicitor ahead of an FA disciplinary hearing in a bid to get the ban overturned and clear his name.
    He denies the attack, instead claiming he was left injured in the clash.
    Mr Rimmington, from Birstall, told the YEP: “The whole affair is an absolutely disgraceful advertisement for junior football in this city.
    “I have been cleared by the police but it still feels like a case of me being guilty until proved innocent because of this FA ban.”
    Trouble flared after Mr Rimmington was ordered to leave the pitch after he went on to help one of his injured players.
    The game, played at Springbank Primary School, Farsley, between Farsley Celtic and Rothwell was abandoned six minutes into the match because of the injury.
    The later incident is alleged to have happened when Mr Rimmington approached the referee on the road next to pitch as he went to his car.
    Mr Rimmington added that problems started earlier: “The grass was six inches long on the pitch and there were holes all over the place.
    “I felt it wasn’t safe and told the referee but he just told me to go away and I think we got off on the wrong footing from the start.
    “We are in charge of growing lads and have to look after them properly, they are always my main concern.
    “This has really upset them. They are getting a lot of stick because of what has happened.”
    A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed the matter had been investigated and a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service but no further action was taken. John Riorden, governance manger for the West Riding County FA, said: “A disciplinary hearing was set up but Mr Rimmington was not available to attend. Another hearing will be arranged at a more convenient time so the matter can be dealt with.
    The YEP reported two years ago how Mr Rimmington’s team, then an under 10s said, were dubbed the ‘mini Arsenal’ because of their success in the Garforth and District junior football league.
    They were unbeaten and won the league with eight games to spare.
    More than half the team trained with the Leeds United academy and scouts from professional clubs were regularly spotted watching from the touchlines at their home games.
    Professional clubs including Manchester City, Oldham and Sheffield United have already expressed an interest in the several of the talented crop of youngsters.

    Yorkshire Evening Post

  • Bomb explodes near N Ireland MI5 base

    Bomb explodes near N Ireland MI5 base

    The Real IRA has admitted it was behind a car bomb which exploded outside MI5’s Northern Ireland headquarters.

    Palace

    The blast seems to have been timed to coincide with the precise moment that policing and justice powers devolved from Westminster to Stormont.

    It happened at about 0020 BST outside Palace Barracks, in Holywood, County Down. Police said no warning was given.

    The bomb went off as the surrounding area was being evacuated. An elderly man was treated for minor injuries.

    The bomb was placed in a taxi, which had been hijacked in the Ligoniel area of north Belfast, about seven miles from Holywood, at about 2150 BST.

    The driver was held hostage by three men for about two hours before being told to drive his taxi to the barracks.

    The vehicle was abandoned at the base just before midnight prompting police and security staff to evacuate the area. The bomb exploded about 20 minutes later as the evacuation was still taking place.

    An elderly man walking near the barracks at the time of the explosion was treated in hospital for minor injuries.

    There were two explosions – first the bomb and then the petrol tank, destroying the car and damaging other property.

    Chief Superintendent Nigel Grimshaw said the police had not received a telephoned warning about the attack.

    He said the taxi used was destroyed in the “significant explosion”.

    The senior officer visited the scene on Sunday night.

    “I saw young children in the arms of mothers and fathers, where we had moved people from the community into a local community centre – that’s the type of people who were affected by this totally callous act.

    “There is no question in my mind that it was designed to kill or seriously injure and that’s exactly what would have happened, were it not for the actions of my officers, military colleagues and indeed the community themselves who co-operated fully with us.”

    Up to 60 people were moved from their homes and spent the night in a community centre.

    The attack appears to have been timed to coincide with the transfer of policing and justice powers from London to Belfast.

    Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said this “democratic transition stands in stark contrast to the activity of a criminal few who will not accept the will of the majority of people of Northern Ireland”.

    “They have no support anywhere,” he added.

    BBC

  • Turkey is an enormous present on Europe’s doorstep (Video)

    Turkey is an enormous present on Europe’s doorstep (Video)

    Turkey is an enormous present on Europe’s doorstep. Speaker: Professor Norman Stone

    Arguing against the motion ‘Let’s keep Turkey out of Europe’, Norman Stone asserts that Turkey’s history mirrors that of Spain, now one of Europe’s greatest success stories. The EU has a crucial opportunity to influence Turkey, to shape it, and create an entirely new civilisation. Europe should mean something for Turkey the way it held promise for post-Second World War populations. Turkey is an enormous present on Europe’s doorstep.

    Contribution by Mr Yusuf Cinar and Mr Nizam Bulut, Ireland

  • Turkey will make Europe a better model and actor (Video)

    Turkey will make Europe a better model and actor (Video)

    Turkey will make Europe a better model and actor (Video).  Speaker: Dominique Moisi

    Arguing against the motion ‘Let’s keep Turkey out of Europe’, Dominique Moisi says he regards the debate over Turkey as part of the battle between hope and fear. Europe’s dissolution is much more unlikely than proponents of the motion make it out to be. Europe’s role in the international system is as a model and an actor; Turkey’s inclusion would make it a better model and a more powerful actor. He argues that this is Europe’s great opportunity to show the rest of the world that it does not believe in a clash of civilisations between Islam and modernity, democracy and secularism. Finally, he believes that one of Europe’s key weaknesses in the years to come will be its demography, an ageing population lacking energy. Citing the success of earlier enlargement into Eastern and Central Europe, he says that Turkey will easily provide citizens hungry for progress and economic triumph that are lacking in today’s Europe. Europe needs new blood.

    Return to full video

    Contribution by Mr Yusuf Cinar, Ireland

  • Fighting talk from Brown as he rallies the party faithful in Hendon

    Fighting talk from Brown as he rallies the party faithful in Hendon

    Brown and Dismore
    Gordon Brown campaigning in north London yesterday

    Fighting talk from Brown as he rallies the party faithful in Kirkcaldy and Hendon

    Martin Fletcher

    The words were almost Churchillian. “We will fight for every vote in every seat every hour between now and the close of polls,” Gordon Brown promised the party faithful in his Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath constituency on Friday.

    “We fight with strength in our soul and confidence in our cause because we are the people’s party — not simply a party in Britain but the party of Britain.

    It gave the impression that the Prime Minister would be barnstorming around the country. Aides reinforced that idea: “We are going to win this campaign people to people, door to door, street to street,” said one. The reality is more prosaic. Mr Brown may be the underdog, but his campaign to date has been distinctly low key. He does not have a campaign bus. He has yet to address a meeting open to the general public.

    On Saturday he made several appearances, but all except one were in his own constituency, where he has a rock-solid 18,216 majority and is sure of a warm reception.

    His campaign event yesterday was in Hendon, northwest London, where he met precisely six voters, at least three of whom were Labour supporters. Mr Brown arrived just before 3pm, his Jaguar coming face to face with an unsuspecting learner driver as it entered Fortune Avenue.

    He joined a young couple named Richard Belle and Cheryl Revill — both Labour supporters — in their flat on the fourth floor of a new block. The four other guests included Ms Revill’s father, a Labour Party member, and were chosen with the help of Andrew Dismore, the local Labour MP. The group of three men and three women included three from ethnic minorities — a model of political correctness.

    Mr Brown chatted for 20 minutes about how Labour’s affordable housing policies had helped Mr Belle and Ms Revill to buy their first home. He spoke about schooling, Bollywood and citizenship. He cracked jokes, mentioned his children and poked fun at his inability to use a mouse.

    Then he returned to Downing Street to work on today’s manifesto speech and, doubtless, catch up on the fortunes of his beloved Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

    Aides say that these intimate meetings help him to highlight specific Labour policies and “create a buzz” in marginal constituencies.

    The big prize, however, is the television news clip of a Prime Minister not known for his common touch, listening to “ordinary people” in their homes. And as long as the audience is sympathetic, Mr Brown is very good at it.

    He is not alone in resorting to tightly controlled events. All the party leaders do it. Today’s elections are won on television, the internet and Twitter.

    Not all of Fortune Avenue was won over yesterday. Darshna Yagnik, 38, a university lecturer, said: “It’s all to make himself look like a people’s person but he’s not.”

    , April 12, 2010

  • Muslims vow to unseat Zionists – HENDON

    Muslims vow to unseat Zionists – HENDON

    By Martin Bright

    he Muslim organisation that claimed responsibility for unseating “pro-war, pro-Israel” Labour MP Lorna Fitzsimons from her Rochdale constituency at the last election has launched its campaign for the 2010 election.

    The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, which has an openly anti-Zionist agenda, has said it will target MPs and candidates known to support Israel and those they have identified as “Islamophobic”. It claims that 82 constituencies now have a Muslim population larger than the incumbent’s majority.

    MPAC will concentrate its resources on the Oldham seat of Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, who recently raised concerns about the prevalence of marriage between cousins in the Muslim community.

    “Muslim voters can no longer be taken for granted by Labour, as a new politicised generation are becoming swing voters who demand action, on issues from Palestine to anti-terror laws,” said Rukiya Dadhiwala, MPAC’s campaign co-ordinator.

    The organisation has also warned Muslim voters in Hendon to vote for anyone but sitting Labour MP Andrew Dismore, who is considered an arch-Zionist.

    It claims 2,000 leaflets attacking the Labour candidate were distributed outside Hendon mosque at Friday prayers.

    However, his opponents, Conservative Matthew Offord and Lib Dem Matthew Harris are also both strong supporters of Israel. “They may be Zionists, but they are not as bad as he is,” said spokesman Tahir Shah.

    . April 8, 2010