Tourism and tennis
The News Review:
- Tourism and tennis
- Why you can’t sit down to eat without making a statement
- ‘Boomerang’ children:When the nestisn’t empty anymore
- Brazilians fear US is plotting to take Amazon
Tourism and tennis
Guardian Unlimited – Jun 25, 2005
Although overseas visits to the UK over the same period rose by 8% (from a lower base) it did not prevent our travel deficit with the rest of the world from widening by £500m to a socking £17. 5bn compared with a year ago. The lack of success of home-grown players at Wimbledon, despite large sums being spent on training has become something of a national ritual, an annual fix that we may find it difficult to live without. The Japanese have even coined a phrase for it and have applied it to other UK industries. “Wimbledonisation” means it does not matter if home-grown players do not win, as long as you host the tournament – with all the associated economic spin-offs. This has worked well not only for tennis, but for motor manufacture (foreign-owned but successful) and ditto banking in the City. But a new challenge to this theory is emerging in the form of Andrew Murray, the 18-year-old Scot who beat the 14th seed this week and looks capable of actually winning the tournament, if not this year, then at some stage in the near future…
The lack of success of home-grown players at Wimbledon, despite large sums being spent on training has become something of a national ritual, an annual fix that we may find it difficult to live without. The Japanese have even coined a phrase for it and have applied it to other UK industries. “Wimbledonisation” means it does not matter if home-grown players do not win, as long as you host the tournament – with all the associated economic spin-offs. This has worked well not only for tennis, but for motor manufacture (foreign-owned but successful) and ditto banking in the City. But a new challenge to this theory is emerging in the form of Andrew Murray, the 18-year-old Scot who beat the 14th seed this week and looks capable of actually winning the tournament, if not this year, then at some stage in the near future. It is not at all clear that the nation is yet ready for this sort of thing. In tennis we are a nation of gallant losers and deep down, we may actually prefer it that way.
Why you can’t sit down to eat without making a statement
Seattle Times – Jun 25, 2005
Even as America ships its meat and grain around the planet, the country imports 13 percent of its food — 56 percent more than two decades ago. As food crosses borders, so do trade squabbles such as those between the United States and Europe over wine and cheese. Still, picky eaters are every bit as influential in such matters as politicians. Consumer pressure changed fishing practices so now countries that don’t properly monitor dolphin-free tuna catches face U.
‘Boomerang’ children:When the nestisn’t empty anymore
International Herald Tribune – Jun 25, 2005
"A couple's retirement date could be threatened if a grown child with a genuine need moves back home," said Bill Blevins, managing director of Blevins Franks International, an independent firm based in London that provides investment advice. Blevins laid out the math, which is compelling: "It costs several hundred pounds a month, if not a lot more, to cover the costs of an additional adult. Parents in their 50s who have a grown child at home for two or three or four years might be O. But for parents who are 60 or older, this situation could cause them to defer their retirement date. "He added: "Much depends on whether a grown child is moving back home with their own children or whether they stay only a few months. "Lori Bergvall of Los Angeles is facing those issues with her daughter, Erica, who is now 21…
But for parents who are 60 or older, this situation could cause them to defer their retirement date. "He added: "Much depends on whether a grown child is moving back home with their own children or whether they stay only a few months. "Lori Bergvall of Los Angeles is facing those issues with her daughter, Erica, who is now 21. Erica moved out two years ago to settle in San Francisco, intending to enroll in university there, but she became overwhelmed with expenses. "I suggested she move back home, regroup and, most of all, get enrolled in college here," Bergvall said. "I told her that while she was in school I would help support her, whatever she needed.
Brazilians fear US is plotting to take Amazon
Seattle Times – Jun 25, 2005
” But the mangled English didn’t stop many Brazilians, even educated ones, from accepting the textbook’s authenticity. Fanning the conspiracy-theory flames is Brazil’s own federal intelligence agency. Last month, O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper published an account of what it said was an agency report describing home-grown and foreign organizations with a presence in the Amazon as pawns of “hegemonic countries” trying to “maintain and broaden their domination. “Everything indicates that environmental problems and problems with indigenous peoples are only pretexts” for these groups to operate in the jungle, the paper quoted the report as saying. Among the front organizations it listed was the World Wildlife Fund. Leandro Schilipake, a sociology professor who attended a recent Communist Party rally in Belém’s central park, worries about the encroachment of “big North American interests” and global capitalists on the rain forest. “We don’t have a xenophobic attitude regarding the Amazon.