Anchoring of putters banned from 2016 by golf’s ruling bodies

Golf's two ruling bodies will ban the anchoring of putters in competition from 1 January, 2016.

The R&A and the US Golf Association first unveiled plans last year which were supported by the European Tour but not the PGA Tour.

The ban will apply to any club rested against a part of the body, such as the broom-handle or the belly putters.

It’s about time the rule makers got together and banned a piece of equipment that has no place in the game.

I agree that it’s unfortunate for players who currently use it, the long putter should have been banned as soon as it was introduced, but they’ve been given sufficient time to make the transition back to a regular putter.

As for all the youngsters who have grown up with it, it’s also unfortunate for them but you really have to question a coach who suggests to a player under the age of, say, 16 that they should use a long putter.

The big stumbling block on the horizon is what those who run the PGA Tour decide to do, they have indicated that they aren’t in favour of the ban, but frankly it’s not up to them.

The R&A and the USGA make the rules and whether the PGA Tour agrees with it or not they should follow, you can’t have a situation where you can use the long putter one week but the week after you can’t, the game would be a laughing stock.

Instead of staying silent the PGA Tour should do the right thing and release a statement saying they support the ban. 

Jose Mourinho to leave Real Madrid

Real Madrid announced that head coach Jose Mourinho will leave the club at the end of the season after three years in charge of the Spanish giants.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez broke the news at a packed news conference on Monday.

"Nobody's been sacked, it's a mutual agreement," said Perez. "We've decided to bring our relationship to an end."

This has been coming; Mourinho has made it clear on numerous occasions that he wasn’t happy, that he didn’t feel loved, for the first time in his career he’d fallen out with key players, and the fans.

This obviously paves the way for a return to Chelsea, but given what happened last time he was there, when he fell out with the owner and left, this is one of the few times in Mourinho’s career where there’s a little bit of a question mark against him.

Will the same happen again? Can he replicate what he did first time round?

It’s also a little strange when you analyse his time in Madrid he won the cup in his first season, then in his second season he won the league with a record amount of wins, points and goals, this season he got to the cup final, and on top of that made it to the last four of the Champions League in all three seasons he’s been there, yet he’s leaving on a rather sour and unfulfilled note.

He was brought to Madrid to win them their 10^th European Cup/Champions League trophy, and he didn’t quite manage to do it, yet if you look at it in the last three seasons he’s done exactly the same as what Mancini did with City, cup, league, cup final and he did much better in Europe, yet Mancini can be called very unlucky to have been sacked, whereas you can argue that Mourinho has underachieved.

However you may view his time in Madrid I’m glad he’s coming back to England, albeit he is going to Chelsea, he is a character and his presence will enhance the league next season the answers he gives to questions are much more refreshing than the obvious text-book stuff you get from a lot of the others.    

Apple ‘among largest tax avoiders in US’ Senate committee

Apple has been accused of being “among America's largest tax avoiders” by a Senate committee.

The committee said Apple had used “a complex web of offshore entities” to avoid paying billions of dollars in US income taxes.

Apple chief Tim Cook will go before the panel on Tuesday. In prepared testimony Apple said it did not use tax gimmicks.

The committee said there was no indication it had done anything illegal.

There’s a simple solution here close the loopholes, don’t give huge corporations the option of keeping vast sums of cash overseas where it can’t be taxed.

Apple has a cash stockpile of $145bn yet $102bn is held outside the US, and in the committee report the Apple are accused of seeking the 'Holy Grail' of tax avoidance.

I don’t know what’s worse the fact that these large corporations think the rules don’t apply to them and they can do what they want and pay the taxes they think they should be paying, not what they should actually be paying, or the politicians who know what the problem is and all cue up in the media to condemn, yet never actually do anything about it.   

David Beckham to retire

David Beckham is to retire from football at the end of this season after an illustrious 20-year career.

The former England captain made 115 appearances for his country and 394 for Manchester United, winning six Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Beckham, 38, signed a five-month deal at Paris Saint-Germain in January.

“I’m thankful to PSG for giving me the opportunity to continue but I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level,” he said.

Beckham has obviously had a remarkable career, he has been a fantastic role-model, and  has won everything worth winning, club wise, but he’s been in semi-retirement since he left Real Madrid to join LA Galaxy in 2007.

Beckham has been criticised at times because his celebrity status overshadowed the game, but that sets him up perfectly for any sports ambassadorial role so kudos to the Chinese for getting in their first.    

Although we won’t be seeing Beckham excelling on the football field anymore, we certainly haven’t seen, or heard, the last from him.  

Police free man stuck in a McDonald’s high chair

One McDonald’s customer did not have a very Happy Meal after he became stuck in a baby high chair. 

The customer needed to be rescued by police when he could not free himself from the seat.

Three officers were pictured helping the stricken man as he sat in the restaurant in Cork, Ireland. 

According to the person who took the picture, the man had drunk some alcohol before squeezing himself in to the seat.

I’m so surprised to hear that alcohol was involved, because this incident sounded to me like a perfectly rational and reasonable person who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, not.

To see a picture of a grown man wedged in a child’s chair surrounded by three police officers is funny, but also quite sad, and yet the very fact that three officers were sent to help this dim-wit is also funny and yet at the same time quite sad.

Couldn’t they have just left him there until he lost enough weight to free himself?

Wouldn’t that have taught him a much more thorough lesson to be stuck in a child’s high chair for an extended period of time while customer after customer came through the doors and mocked him for being such a feckin eejit.

It may sound harsh but that way at least you’d have the guarantee that he won’t do it again. 

Rio Ferdinand calls time on international career

England defender Rio Ferdinand has announced his retirement from international football.

The Manchester United player, 34, who won 81 caps, said he wants to concentrate on his club career.

“After a great deal of thought, I have decided the time is right to retire from international football,” he said.

England manager Roy Hodgson said: “To have captained his country, and to play at three World Cups, marks him out among a very special group of players.”

As Ferdinand’s last game for England was nearly two years ago, even if he’d carried on he would have found it hard to maintain the fitness levels needed to play for both club and country, so you felt this was coming.

Particularly after Ferdinand was called up for the recent World Cup Qualifiers only to withdraw citing a recuperation process he was on meant he couldn’t play, and then turned up in Qatar as a pundit and criticised the team, all this despite pleading to be brought back into the fold.

Hodgson in right Ferdinand is a quality player with 81 caps and three World Cup campaigns to boot,  but he, like a lot of others, was part of that infamous ‘golden generation’ who promised so much yet delivered so little.

Full life terms for police killers

Criminals who kill police officers in England and Wales will face compulsory whole life sentences, Home Secretary Theresa May is to propose.

She will unveil plans for a change in legislation at the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth.

The current minimum sentence for a police murder is 30 years.

The Police Federation said: “We support any move that means a true life sentence will be applied to anyone who murders a police officer.”

This proposal should be supported but there is an obvious question that has to be asked, if the government are planning to introduce a full life sentence for those who kill police officers, why not make it full life for anyone who kills?

How can you have a system where two people could commit the exact same crime but because one killed a police officer they get full life, and because the other killed a civilian they get whatever the judge decides.

I would like to hear the explanation as to why the law will change for some and not for others.  

UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger

Eating more insects could help fight world hunger, according to a new UN report.

The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution.

It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.

However it admits that “consumer disgust” remains a large barrier in many Western countries.

I think this report has made a couple of glaring oversights, starting with the fact that in the Western world we are fortunate to have low levels of food shortage and don’t need to top up on grasshoppers or caterpillars.

I also fail to see how, if we were to start eating bugs, people in other parts of the world would suddenly magically have enough food to eat, if anything if we starting eating bugs as well they’ll have even less.

I hope the UN will show their support to this report by serving up a giant bug buffet at their next get together, I can see that going down a storm, not.    

4-year-old becomes mayor of Minnesota town

A 4-year-old boy from Minnesota is the new mayor of his town.

Robert Tufts was elected for the position last year and will now run Dorset for the next 12 months.

Tufts was selected as mayor after his name was drawn at the ‘Taste of Dorset’ festival.

Dorset is a small town with a population of 22 and is considered as ‘Restaurant Capital of the World’ as it has the largest number of restaurants per capita.

This is the story that keeps on giving, first you find out that a 4-year-old has been made mayor, then you find out that he got the job via a raffle, then you find out that the town has just 22 people living in it, and, finally, has the most restaurants per capita.

I’m guessing this town has one restaurant, or it will be something stupid like every adult in the town has a one and the real number is actually 15.   

Also I’d very much like to know exactly what duties the mayor is required to do in such a small place, make the tough call as to which restaurant everyone in town dines at for the evening.

I bet there is a couple in Dorset who have just had a baby and are thinking enjoy your term while it lasts Tufts because next year our child will be mayor and steer this town back to the good ol days when there were just 9 of us, we cursed the day when resident number 10 showed up and it’s been downhill ever since.

Please don’t ask where I’m getting these numbers from because I have no idea.   

Wayne Rooney wants to leave Manchester United

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed Wayne Rooney has asked for a transfer away from Old Trafford.

Rooney, 27, was not in United's squad for the 2-1 win over Swansea on Sunday in Ferguson's final home game before retiring at the end of the season.

“We have refused it,” said Ferguson about Rooney’s transfer request.

For the first time in a long time there’s some uncertainty seeping out of Old Trafford, Ferguson going and now Rooney wanting out.

When Moyes comes in could he sell Rooney for the second time?

Funny thing is given the form Rooney has shown for the last 6 months, I can’t think who would want him.

There was a rumour that he wanted to go to Bayern Munich, but they don’t need him, and they’ll probably get Lewandowski instead.

I highly doubt Real or Barca want him, the Italian league has been hit by one too many match-fixing scandals and is a mess, so he probably won’t go there.

The only team left really is PSG, but that means playing in the French league.

This could be quite amusing a player who clearly wants to leave but has nowhere to go.

If he does find somewhere to go I hope he succeeds, just to shut the pie-holes of all the ex-united players, who are now pundits, who come out with biased crap like: why would you want to leave, going anywhere else is a step down, everyone who leaves Man United doesn’t have the same kind of success and blah blah blah.   

I would like to point out to all of them that there are other teams out there who players who leave United can join and be successful at, there are plenty of examples but the most notable one has to be Gerard Pique.  

He left United in 2008 to join Barcelona, and at the weekend made it trophy number 15 with the Catalan club so it can be done.