Federer winning Wimbledon

What a remarkable final - now I thought last year was good, but this match was every bit as good. In winning, Federer has to be the best ever tennis player, his performance was again brilliant, even if it took until the 77th game to break the Roddick serve. I thought Andy Roddick put up a great show, even after squandering four set points in the second set tiebreak he kept going right to the end and to lose the final set 15-13 and showed his tenacity and perseverance. For Andy Roddick to lose three Wimbledon finals must be pretty hard to take, but Federer is a brilliant player, and to win fifteen Grand Slams is an amazing record unlikely to be beaten for a long time to come. I can even see Roger Federer getting to twenty, and given his age he has every chance of achieving even more.

Wimbledon is a tournament that produces some great matches each year, and this year was no exception. As a tennis addict I am always glued to the TV set during Wimbledon fortnight, the only thing missing this year was not seeing Nadal being able to defend his title, and Murray missing out on the final. Hopefully next year will be different but nothing can be taken away from the triumph of Roger Federer in winning again.

Michael Jackson's death

Over the past few days the death of Michael Jackson has received saturation coverage in the media and his death is testament of the huge impact he had on the world of music over many years. He was a truly global superstar,known in every corner of the world.

Although I wasn't his biggest fan,the sales of the Thriller album are likely to remain unsurpassed for many years to come(though I thought the Bad album was even better). Michael Jackson was an extremely talented musician and still had a huge fan base, his ability to fill the O2 arena in London for 50 nights showed that he still had great pulling power, hardly any other musician or groups would've been able to sell out so many concerts. It is very sad that his life ended the way it did, but he leaves behind some great musical memories, and for me, Billie Jean is my favourite Jackson track, closely followed by Dirty Diana and I Can't Stop Loving You.

May he rest in peace.

Chris Ostrowski selected in Norwich North

My congratulations goes to Chris Ostrowski on his selection as Labour candidate in Norwich North. I know Chris from his time as an activist in Mitcham and Morden CLP, and I know what a fantastic candidate he'll make for Norwich North, and for the Labour Party. He will be a great camapaigner for the party and very hardworking. This seat will be a hard seat to hold and by-elections for the governing party are always a challenge, but in Chris our chances of winning are greatly enhanced, and I'm sure he'll fight a great campaign to ensure the seat stays in Labour hands.

Back to political blogging

Well it's been a while, and after my non-political sabbatical during my mayoral year I'm back political blogging again. Since I've been away plenty has been going on in Merton that I've been unable to comment upon, now that I'm free of those restraints I'll certainly be starting to comment again on the Tories on Merton Council and their actions. With an election now less than a year away, it promises to be a an exciting year. I will also be giving my views shortly on the national political scene, clearly we're in challenging times, the European Election results were a disaster, and as a party we've many lessons to learn in terms of the future.

Back in business very soon

The blog has been very quiet for a long time, and quite deliberately as it would have been inappropriate for me to give my view on politics whilst serving as Mayor of Merton. However, my year comes to an end on Wednesday night, and after a year doing mayoral activities I will be free to blog again about all thing political, and blog I will!

President Obama - A truly momentous day

It was a truly remarkable event seeing Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. After years of dismal failure and disaster under George Bush, America has finally turned over a new chapter in its history and hopefully usher in a new era in politics.

He comes to office at one of the most challenging times ever given the economic problems we face globally, and the economic recession both in the US and across the world. Likewise trying to sort out the mess that is US foreign policy is no easy task, but I believe that under Obama things will change and that we will see a real difference under his leadership.

Today was a wonderful occasion to witness, and his inaugural address was inspiring as well. The time for talking is over, now is the time for delivery. Good luck President Obama, I have faith in you!

Obama is elected president

The election of Barack Obama as president is a remarkable and inspirational event. Having backed him from the start, my faith in him was vindicated and his election has ushered in a new era in Amercian politics. It also shows how much America has changed over the last forty years since the civil rights movement and it's willingness to embace Barack shows that as country it has come together.

This has been a hard fought election between Republicans and Democrats with many twists and turns along the way but eventually Barack came out on top. The crucial turning point was the financial problems in September which had a huge impact on the polls and in turning a narrow Obama lead into a substantial lead. John McCain fought a good fight to the end, but it was clear that he did not have the vision to move the country forward or to bring people together. His choice as Sarah Palin as his running mate was a disaster.

Now is opportunity for Barack to turn words into action, expectations are high but I believe that he has the necessary skills to bring about change America.

Lewis Hamilton

It really was edge of the seat stuff yesterday, first it looked like Massa had clinched it then sensationally Hamilton won it at the final bend. It was great to watch and my congratulations goes to Lewis Hamilton on winning what will hopefully be the first of many world championships.

One day to go

The long road to the US election is finally at an end, and what an exciting campaign it has been. In the States the election has seen record early voting, with the Obama base extremely energised and voting in numbers never seen before. All the polls are in his favour, and looks like it may be a landslide, personally my prediction is that he'll be elected President and win the electoral college with over 350 votes. I also think he'll sweep the swing states, Virgina(first time since 64), Ohio, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and may even have some surprise wins in states like Georgia and even Arizona(McCain's home turf). Mc Cain is on the defensive, and the maths are also strongly against him given the latest state polls.

Still elections can be strange beasts, and nothing can be guaranteed but given the polls and 111 successive polls showing Barack in the lead, surely McCain is not get going to pull this one off and it's why I think Barack will be the 44th President. Good luck Barack, you'll make a great President and tomorrow will surely be a momentous day for the world.

England winning in Zagreb

They struggled against Andorra the other day, but tonight they turned in a vintage performance in Zagreb to triumph 4-1. The performance of Theo Walcott was phenomenal, scoring a hatrick in one of his first competitive appearances for England is a no-mean achievement. Replicate a performance like that again and we'll on the way to the finals in South Africa. England seem to vary from outstanding to downright rubbish, this in my view was the best performance since that never to be forgotten night in Munich back in 2001 when we beat the Germans 5-1. Now lets build on that performance, and not make it a one off. We've had too many false dawns in the past, lets hope it's the start of something great.