The Wardman Wire

I’m trying a new style roundup this morning, by including the first paragraph of the story. Comments welcome. Everything else being equal, I may even experiment with a podcast some time soon.

News

JULIE MOULT (Daily Mail) - RSPCA accused of secret killing of Shambo II as police distracted Buddhist monks

It was the kind of tender, loving care only a team of devoted worshippers could provide. Even though she had suffered a crippling injury which left her unable to stand, Hindu monks continued to provide round-the-clock care for their sacred cow Gangotri.

John Kampfner (Daily Telegraph) - Helen Mirren and Michael Winner in sexist spat

Two stalwarts of British film have begun a remarkable war of words after Dame Helen Mirren accused Michael Winner of treating her like a piece of meat. Dame Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren: insulted and humiliated Dame Helen, 62, said that Winner was insulting and sexist and deliberately tried to humiliate her on the first - and only - time they met.

Gary Cleland (Daily Telegraph) - You can agree or disagree, but you can’t hide

Lunchtime in Lisbon doesn’t quite have the same glamour as Breakfast at Tiffany’s. But at least in modern politics and diplomacy they sometimes try, and occasionally succeed.

Robin Perrie (The Sun) - Why Canoe Man returned

CANOE man John Darwin returned to Britain because his wife was about to dump him for a new lover, it was claimed yesterday.

Rhys Blakely (The Times) - Tech groups Microsoft challenge threatens to reignite browser wars

A coalition of technology giants has mounted a legal challenge to Microsoft’s dominance of the software market in Europe in a move that could reignite the brutal “browser wars” of the 1990s.

Rebecca Smithers (Guardian) - Britons drink more than we thought, says minister

Britons are typically drinking a third more than earlier surveys suggested, it was revealed yesterday, as the government took the unusual step of revising the way it calculates alcohol consumption to reflect stronger wine and the trend towards drinking from bigger glasses.

Dan Glaister (Guardian) - New Jersey to become first state in four decades to abolish death penalty

For the first time in more than 40 years a US state is to abolish the death penalty.

BBC (BBC) - Brown belatedly signs EU treaty

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has belatedly signed the EU reform treaty, having missed a ceremony attended by leaders of the 26 other member states.

BBC (BBC) - More calls to ditch terror plans

The government must drop its plans to extend the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge, a parliamentary committee has said. The joint committee on human rights said ministers had not proved a need to increase the limit from 28 to 42 days.

BBC (BBC) - New forced marriage power planned

Campaigners may be able to go to court to stop a forced marriage without the permission of a victim.

Comment

Economist (Economist) - Blame the secretary

IT DID not take long for the “Macavity” jibes to start, once word spread that an unconvincing diary clash would prevent Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, from attending a ceremony in Lisbon to sign the European Union’s controversial reform treaty. When it subsequently emerged that Mr Brown would fly to Lisbon on Thursday December 13th anyway, to sign the treaty discreetly after the main ceremony had finished, the jokes gave way to head-shaking disbelief in several capitals.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (Spectator) - Life in Italy as a student priest

One of the perks of studying for the priesthood in Rome was the gita, an Italian word meaning ‘holiday’ or ‘trip’. We students rarely returned home in our seven-year stint out there, so we were given a list of places to visit during holidays, like Subiaco, the birthplace of Benedictine monasticism, Fiesole near Florence, where we would stay with the ‘Blue Nuns’, and many other places with religious resonance.

DUFF WILSON and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT (New York Times) - Steroid Report Implicates Top Players

Former Senator George J. Mitchell released a blistering report Thursday that tied 89 Major League Baseball players, including Roger Clemens, to the use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. The report used informant testimony and supporting documents to provide a richly detailed portrait of what Mr. Mitchell described as “baseball’s steroids era.

Nick Assinder (BBC) - Analysis: Brown’s first grilling

As Gordon Brown’s first appearance before the Commons liaison committee came close to breakfast time - thanks to an early start to allow him to travel to his one-man EU treaty signing - it was a battle to stop thoughts of food popping into the imagination.

Tags: daily roundup, wardman wire, news and comment from the papers

[tags]daily roundup, wardman wire, news and comment from the papers[/tags]