Outside Edge (22/08/10)

Andrew Tong
Saturday 21 August 2010 19:00 EDT
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Some say that right and wrong is all about black and white but there are grey areas. Christopher Tappin, the 63-year-old president of the Kent Golf Union, faces extradition to the United States and 35 years in jail for arms-dealing after he was accused of supplying batteries to Iran for use in surface-to-air missiles.

The retired businessman denies the claims and says he was the victim of an undercover "sting" operation by US customs. Pensioners in South London are also causing consternation, if not on the same scale. Temple Bowling Club has had its drink and music licences revoked after residents repeatedly complained of rowdy behaviour. Replacement hip-hop, anyone?

14:03.18

The time it took Paul Cox of Burton-on-Trent to visit all 20 Premier League grounds. He began the 572-mile road trip at White Hart Lane at 9.35pm and finished it with a pint at St James' Park at 11.38am. Shame he's a Derby County fan.

Natural highs of the week

The raging bull which jumped into the crowd at a bullring in Tafalla, Spain, has leapt to fame so it's nice to hear that another, albeit less frightening, case of potential conflict between wildlife and spectators has been averted at Celtic Manor. In an admirable attempt at bridge-building, the Ryder Cup venue in South Wales has spent £22,000 on building a bridge to allow dormice to cross a road they laid down to improve public access. Meanwhile in Holland, Olympic gymnast Epke Zonderland has been called in by a zoo in Rhenen to try to teach its orangutans to swing from tree branches after they lost the knack in captivity. But the parallel bars will still keep them in the enclosure.

Good week for

Blake Aldridge, Tom Daley's diving partner in Beijing, is cleared of assaulting a supermarket security guard in south-east London...Gianni da Ros, Italian cyclist, has his 20-year ban for using and supplying banned substances reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport...and the vuvuzela, South African World Cup horn, is included in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English.

Bad week for

Cheuk Woon Yee Sinny, Hong Kong baseballer, was hit in the leg by a stray bullet at Fort Tiuna military base in Venezuela during the Women's World Cup...Holly Walsh, TV comedian, had to be rescued at the Worthing International Birdman contest after dislocating her shoulder and fracturing an arm...and Paul Smith, British super-middleweight champion from Liverpool, has a tooth broken by his three-year-old son, who punched him while he was asleep.

Political football of the week

You can tell the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, loves his sport by the way he likes to stick his oar in. At a recent televised economic summit he told the nation how he had phoned the New York Mets pitcher Francisco Rodriguez to talk about his arrest for allegedly punching his father-in-law. But his interest pales in comparison with Bulgaria's prime minister Boyko Borisov. When Nottingham United turned up on tour to play third division side Vitosha, they found armed guards, TV cameras and the football-mad Borisov, 51, playing up front. The home side won 6-0, the PM winning one of their three penalties with a blatant dive. He missed the spot-kick, though; he was first past the post.

a.tong@independent.co.uk

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