Bruce complained, justifiably, of a flawed decision to award Gerrard a free-kick in the prelude to the offence, but after surviving the kind of pressure he may have expected earlier, he could joke about his team being “the entertainers” who provided “value for money”.It was instructive to listen to Mikael Forssell, who was on Jose Mourinho’s bench when Liverpool and Chelsea collided last spring. Warnock’s headed own goal and Walter Pandiani’s follow-up after a frightful spill by Reina put victory within reach.Djibril Ciss? penalty, awarded for a sleight of hand worthy of a Harlem Globetrotter, disabused Birmingham of such notions and saw Neil Kilkenny’s debut end in dismissal. But his impact in the second half served only to highlight the inexplicable waste of his talents as he operated deeper during the opening 45 minutes.Even after Garcia’s opener, an exquisite way for Liverpool to score their first League goal from open play since May, Birmingham exploited poor judgement by Jose Reina in goal and the fallibility of Jos? and Stephen Warnock at full-back. Having bought a tall target man, Peter Crouch, they might have been expected to deploy someone, anyone, to feed off him.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Bolo Zenden were so detached they could have been in a corporate-hospitality suite.The introduction of Luis Garcia and a more advanced role for Gerrard eventually helped them connect to Crouch, Gerrard showing how dynamic he can be when seizing on lay-offs near the 18-yard area. This time, with their manager a proven winner now acquainted with the football culture of his new habitat, Steven Gerrard committing himself to the club and a clutch of new signings, things would be different.At St Andrew’s, however, they still resembled a side fumbling for a style, unsurprising considering that the starting 11 contained only four of the side that achieved the miracle against Milan. Yet Liverpool appeared satisfied to be level at the break, with the home manager, Steve Bruce, speaking tellingly of feeling “comfortable”.When domestic shortcomings surfaced in Benitez’s first season, contrasting starkly with Liverpool’s progress in Europe, it was argued in mitigation that the Spaniard understood continental competition better. The same attitude, a glorified version of taking each game as it comes, had informed Liverpool’s approach to Birmingham, he insisted, making their performance in this error-strewn stalemate all the more puzzling.
If they really spent the week focusing on Birmingham, why did they play so cautiously for so long? Their opponents had lost their previous three games in the worst home start since 1911 and were deprived of all six senior central midfielders They should have been there for the taking. Not that Benitez will countenance talk of Chelsea’s League visit until the Champions’ League group fixture is out of the way.

A sobering thought for Rafael Benitez as he prepares his European champions for Wednesday’s re-run of last season’s semi-final with the English champions. By next Sunday, Liverpool could trail Chelsea by 17 points in the Premiership, a position from which even the comeback kings of Istanbul would struggle to capture their first title since 1990. However, Eto’o hit the post with his penalty-kick.They went in front, though, in the 20th minute when Dutch midfielder Van Bommel, in the starting line-up for the first time this season, headed past goalkeeper Toni Doblas from a Xavi free-kick.Betis suffered another setback almost immediately when the striker Ricardo Oliveira was sent off for insulting the referee, who had waved play on after the Brazilian appealed for a free-kick.The home side still managed to equalise before half-time, however, when defender Juanito got in between two defenders to steer a header past the Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes from a Marcos Assuncao free-kick.Bar?eventually took advantage of their extra man early in the second half, Eto’o hammering the ball into the roof of the net after substitute Andres Iniesta had slipped a neat pass into his path.The Cameroon striker fully atoned for his earlier penalty miss when he grabbed a second, drilling home from close range after stealing the ball off the toe of team-mate Maxi Lopez.Ezquerro got the visitors’ fourth with a pin-point finish from 20 yards out two minutes from time.Bernd Schuster’s Getafe returned to the top of La Liga after beating neighbours Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon stadium despite being reduced to 10 men early in the second half.The midfielder Mario Cotelo was sent off on the hour for a wild challenge on winger Martin Petrov.But the Argentinian defender Mariano Pernia struck the winner 10 minutes later when he fired a free-kick through a ragged Atletico wall.The victory left Getafe leading the standings with 11 points from five games.Valencia moved up to third with a 2-1 win at home to Real Sociedad, striker David Villa joining Eto’o at the top of the scoring charts after hitting his fifth of the season at the start of the second half.Pablo Aimar had given Valencia the lead in the first half, while Nihat Kahveci struck to pull one back for Real Sociedad in the 62nd minute.Villarreal finally recorded their first victory of the season and moved off the bottom after a 2-1 win at Espanyol, courtesy of goals from the midfielders Josico and Marcos Senna.. The Bar?striker Samuel Eto’o took his tally for the season to five with two second-half strikes, and Mark van Bommel and Santiago Ezquerro weighed in with their first goals for the club. The victory lifted them into fifth place in La Liga, three points adrift of the leaders.
Barcelona, who rested both Ronaldinho and Deco, were handed an early chance to take the lead when awarded a penalty after Henrik Larsson was brought down by David Rivas. Champions Barcelona got their season back on track after picking up just one point in their previous two games with an emphatic 4-1 win over 10-man Real Betis in Seville on Saturday.

In the 62nd minute Sergei Barbarez slid a pass through to Trochowski, who stroked a shotinto the top corner of the net.Third-placed Werder Bremen won 2-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen, with goals from Miroslav Klose and Ivan Klasnic.. Trochowski played a ball towards the Bayern goal and a lunge from Ali Karimi deflected the ball into the path of Van der Vaart, who calmly beat Kahn.Bayern had the Germany captain, Michael Ballack, back in midfield but, with Roy Makaay once again looking well short of his best, they rarely troubled the Hamburg goal keeper Stefan Waechter and wasted chances when they came. Subtitutes not used: Poole (gk), Holdsworth.Referee: M Pike (Cumbria).Booked: Sheffield United Unsworth; Derby El Hamdaoui.Man of the match: Unsworth.Attendance: 22,192.. Substitutes not used: Geary, Tonge.Derby County (4-1-4-1): Camp; Kenna, Davies, M Johnson, Whittingham; Idiakez; Bisgaard (Fadiga, 73), Bolder (El Hamdaoui, 46), S Johnson, Smith; John (Peschisolido, 46).

“I had no idea he was ill,” said Howell, who was a remarkable 35-under for his five matches in Tees Valley. His humiliation of Thomas Bj?yesterday was the mere confirmation of a player at the very peak of his game and the Dane’s absence from the prize-giving with a sore throat had no bearing at all on the result. “This is the best team I’ve been involved with in the five years it has been going.”His MVP would undoubtedly have been David Howell, who is a Ryder Cup superhero in the making, with a ready-made Robin in Paul Casey. Severiano Ballesteros was quoted in the morning newspapers as saying “he was not impressed” by any of the modern golfers, but even he must at least have nodded his head in acknowledgement at the courage of the Montgomerie fightback from the opening day’s 4-1 fourballs reverse.Courageously, they won 15 and a half of the next 23 points and seven out of yesterday’s 10 singles “Thursday brought us closer together,” said Montgomerie.

For if ever an event proved once and, he can only pray, for all, that he has what it takes to be a future Ryder Cup captain then this was surely it. Not only did his Great Britain and Ireland side prevail by a record score of 16 and a half points to 11 and a half, as Olazabal’s Continentals were scattered to every far-flung corner of Europe, but he also managed to keep his and, more importantly, his side’s composure in scenes that made this the perfect warm-up for the K Club next September.
Yes, the Seve Trophy was the Ryder Cup a year early as it had everything that had previously made that biennial match so unique, namely: controversy, controversy and more controversy.If Ian Poulter’s four-lettered spat with his own captain on the first day raised the pulse, and his petulant performance in a “gimme” row with his opponents on Saturday made the blood pressure follow suit, then the comments from the legend this event is named after made the heart miss a whole Ashes series of beats. Some of the players have taken the comments with a pinch of salt, while others have their own views.”. Even though Jose Maria Olazabal had just reprised his 1984 Amateur Championship trample all over Colin Montgomerie, it was still little wonder to find the defeated Scot flashing the grin of a winner as he lifted the Seve Trophy for the third consecutive time here last night. These include next month’s Madrid Open in which the 48-year-old is due to make his long-awaited comeback from a back injury that has kept him out of competition for almost two years.George O’Grady, the Tour’s chief executive, said: “In our view we have some excellent players, but Seve is entitled to his opinion The timing isn’t great, though. And even in public the anger was evident.Thomas Bj? for one, said before venturing out for his singles: “There’s 10 very good matches in prospect here today, featuring 20 very good players, no matter what Seve says.”Meanwhile, even more tellingly, there were rumblings emanating from within the European Tour, for whom Ballesteros’ Amen Corner management company runs a few events.

Substitutes used: Ain, Vowels, Fletcher, F Watene.Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).. The great Andrew Johns experiment concluded as Warrington’s attempt to reach the Super League Grand Final by bringing in the world’s best player ended in failure. It was hardly Johns’ fault: the Australian scrum-half tried everything in his vast repertoire on Saturday night; though, like a few others, he was sometimes guilty of trying a little too hard. Hamburg beat the leaders Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday to end the last perfect record in the Bundesliga and close to within a point of the champions. The Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart put Hamburg ahead in the 10th minute, and a strike from Piotr Trochowski clinched victory just past the hour. Bayern went into the game on a 15-match winning streak – nine games on the run-in to the 2004-05 title and the first six this season – but only a series of saves from Oliver Kahn spared them a heavier defeat.
Hamburg enjoyed a slice of luck to take the lead while the sides were still settling. Substitutes used: Rudd, Summers, Chambers, Jackson.Castleford: Platt, Pryce, Eagar, Hepworth, Blanch, Davis, Henderson, A Watene, Smith, Huby, Haughey, Crouch, Bird.

“We played as we trained in the first 20 minutes,” their coach, Dave Woods, said “In the second half we played dumb football. I can’t understand the transformation.”Whitehaven: Broadbent, Calvert, Seeds, Nanyn, Wilson, Joe, Penny, Pandy, Site, Fatialofa, Miller, Hill, Lester. Now the momentum was all with Haven and, after Bird was sent to the sin-bin for time-wasting, Aaron Lester made up for a handling mistake by sending Nanyn over.As time ran out, Cas were opened up again down the same flank and Nanyn exchanged passes with Wesley Wilson for his second.Castleford must beat Halifax to reach the Grand Final and will spend much of this week wondering how they lost. Nanyn’s second goal made it a six-point gap, stretched to eight when the same player was caught offside going for an interception. Whitehaven got the scent of blood when they capitalised on a period of pressure through Craig Chambers charging on to Leroy Joe’s short ball.The scores were level when Joe’s pass allowed Craig Calvert to squeeze in at the corner. Even when Haven prevented a third try soon after, it was at the cost of Joel Penny being sent to the sin-bin forhanging on in the tackle after getting back to stop Tom Haughey.Craig Huby put over the penalty for his second goal and Castleford were even more firmly in control when Davis’ superb pass sent Michael Eager through a yawning gap.But from a knock-on by Michael Platt, Whitehaven finally made the breakthrough that gave them some hope at half-time.Again it was a clever kick, this time from Penny, that did the trick, with Carl Sice following up to touch down The same combination struck straight after the interval. Brad Davis was at the heart and it was his perfectly weighted kick into the corner that brought Waine Pryce their first try after just two minutes.Andy Henderson put through the kick for their second after 10 minutes, a convenient deflection off a defender setting the ball up for Deon Bird.

On the other hand, Bristol’s resilience reinforced the suspicion that they are nobody’s patsies.Their next home league fixtures are against Saracens and Leeds, and Hill will want a bare minimum of five points from them He would prefer eight. They redoubled their efforts in the scrummage, stayed with it at the line-out and, with their captain Matt Salter in the most cussed of moods, plugged away to such effect that their 21-9 deficit was down to 24-22 with nine minutes left on the clock. Indeed, Brian Lima’s individual finish under the posts very nearly gave them the momentum they needed to complete the job.The fact that they came up just short – quite literally, in light of Jason Strange’s marginally underclubbed penalty from well over 50 metres as the game moved into stoppage time – may yet turn out to be costly, for it is an unwritten rule of Premiership rugby that whenever a newly promoted side comes within a single kick of winning on the road, they should ensure they close the deal if they are serious about staying up. They did not, however, disappear in a cloud of structureless na?t?s they had against Gloucester the previous weekend. The second of Paul Hodgson’s first-half tries, scored at an important moment shortly before the break, was the inevitable consequence of this experiment in blind-eye officiating, coming as it did directly from a colleague’s illicit intervention while loitering with intent on the Bristol side of a ruck.For the second time in six days, Bristol found themselves on the wrong end of a sickening seven-point injustice as the interval refreshments were being wheeled out. Why? Because the exasperating Maybank washed his hands of the offside law and permitted anarchy to reign.

There were those at the ground – namely 7,000 supporters, 30 players and two directors of rugby, plus anyone else in the vicinity with a full set of irises and retinas – who would have red-carded Magne on the basis that he did not connect with sufficient force, but that is a story for another day.Suffice to say that this would not have been one for the connoisseur, even had the combatants been in sufficiently good shape to show the best of themselves and allow their more creative spirits – Delon Armitage and Mike Catt, Bernardo Stortoni and Geraint Lewis – the kind of free expression they crave. The game should have been held in a Big Top.Strange to relate, Maybank also found himself on the wrong end of Olivier Magne’s elbow, and took such a dim view of this second assault on his dignity that he pointed the stylish French flanker in the direction of the sin bin. Saturday’s match at the Madejski Stadium went right down to the wire – Bristol might easily have pinched it during the fraught and frantic last knockings – and there was even the sight of dear old Roy Maybank, one of the less authoritative referees on the circuit, getting in the way of a visiting pack on the rampage and being dumped on his derri? in the most spectacular fashion Aaaah, bliss. “When you have two teams playing a rush defence, it’s pretty frustrating for the spectators because nothing much happens.”Unlike the round-ball version, the poverty of which has unleashed a pandemic of paranoia amongst the radio phone-in fraternity, rugby’s ?te league can be wildly entertaining irrespective of the standard. “Did I offer some choice words at the break? Of course I did.

He’s got one of the strongest minds for somebody of that age. I think he’s very mature.”Murray is due to play Bastl in the first round in Bangkok on Wednesday, the Scot having defeated the Swiss on his Wimbledon debut, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.”I played well against him the last time,” Murray said, “but since Wimbledon he’s played really well and had some good wins He beat [Dominik] Hrbaty in Indianapolis So it’s going to be a tough match. I’m going to have to play well.”Should Murray prevail, a win in the second round, against either Robin Soderling, of Sweden, or the Czech Robin Vic, would guarantee Murray a place in the world’s top 100. Rusedski lost his temper over a couple of net-cords that did not register, and Murray drew admiration with his returning and his touch play, although too many of his first serves landed low in the net.This is all part of the learning process, of course, and Murray is learning fast. As Jeremy Bates, Britain’s captain, said: “You see a lot of talented 18-year-olds, but the thing that makes a difference is the mind. The plan was to counter Federer’s superiority by attacking the weaker Wawrinka, who proved to be stronger than Murray on the day.Federer, having spat out Alan Mackin, the morsel tossed to him in the opening singles, then partnered Yves Allegro to victory against Greg Rusedski and Murray in the doubles, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.It was a lively affair.

We now wait for Thursday’s draw to see where the Euro-Africa Zone takes Britain next year.Wawrinka, aka Stan the Man, put the kibosh on Britain’s strategy by beating Murray in straight sets on Friday. A decent bet for the pot of gold next May? Definitely.Saracens: Tries Sorrell, Chesney, Powell, Scarbrough; Conversions Jackson 3; Penalties Jackson 2. Sale: Tries Seveali’i 2, Chabal, Cueto; Conversions Hodgson 4; Penalties Hodgson 4.Saracens: D Scarbrough; R Haughton (A Powell, 31), T Castaignede, K Sorrell, P Bailey; G Jackson, A Dickens (M Rauluni, 72); N Lloyd (K Yates, 52), S Byrne (M Cairns, 52), B Broster, I Fullarton (K Chesney, 52), H Vyvyan (capt, S Raiwalui, 67), T Randell, A Sanderson (D Seymour, 40), B Skirving.Sale: D Larrachea; M Cueto, M Taylor (R Todd, 59), E Seveali’i, J Robinson (capt); C Hodgson, V Courrent (R Wigglesworth, 48); A Sheridan, A Titterrell, S Turner (B Stewart, 47), C Jones (I Fernandez Lobbe, 65), D Schofield, J White, M Lund, S Chabal (C Day, 52).Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).. This was the eighth consecutive try-scoring Premiership match, a record he now shares with one of his distant predecessors in the red-rose team, Chris Oti.Saracens, armed with a former Sale coach and sundry playing refugees from Edgeley Park, scored four tries of their own, but the visiting pack, with Andrew Sheridan to the fore, ruled the roost from start to finish. He was barely involved in the cut and thrust of a wonderfully entertaining contest, for the very good reason that nothing came down his wing.Mark Cueto, his fellow England strike-runner, was rather busier, both in defence and in attack, where he distinguished himself with a blinding wrap-up try from distance late in the second half.The man seldom misses. From my point of view, I very much hope he will continue for another two or three seasons, at least.”Robinson will continue for another three decades if his weekend rides are as easy as yesterday’s. “It’s wonderful for us,” said their director of rugby, Philippe Saint-Andr?”Jason is our leader, our captain, our example Fair play to the man.

By our unguarded linguistic displays shall we be known.’Agobilles’ to ‘zhengrong’ and lots in betweenTHE BODY MATA EGO Rapa Nui, Easter IslandEyes that reveal that someone has been crying.NYLENTIK IndonesianTo flick someone with the middle finger on the ear.KUCIR IndonesianA tuft of hair left to grow on top of an otherwise bald head.DIDIS IndonesianTo search and pick up lice from one’s own hair, usually when in bed at night.PANA PO’O HawaiianTo scratch your head in order to help you to remember something you’ve forgotten.NGAOBERA Pascuense, Easter IslandA slight inflammation of the throat caused by screaming too much.O KA LA NOKONOKO HawaiianA day spent in nervous anticipation of a coughing spell.ANGUSHTI ZA’ID RussianSomeone with six fingers.PAPAKATA Cook Islands MaoriTo have one leg shorter than the other.AKA’AKA’A HawaiianSkin peeling or falling off after either sunburn or heavy drinking.KARELU Tulu IndianThe mark left on the skin by wearing anything tight.LOVE AND BEAUTYMAHJ PersianLooking beautiful after having a disease.ZHENGRONG ChineseTo improve one’s looks by plastic surgery.BAKKU-SHAN JapaneseA girl who looks as though she might be pretty when seen from behind, but isn’t when seen from the front.MAMIHLAPINATAPEI Fuengian language, ChileA shared look of longing between parties who are both interested yet neither is willing to make the first move.POMICIONE ItalianA man who seizes any chance of being in close physical contact with a woman.QUEESTING DutchAllowing a lover access to one’s bed, under the covers, for a chit-chat.GHALIDAN PersianWallowing, tumbling or rolling from side to side as lovers do.NARACHASTRA PRAYOGA SanskritMen who worship their own sexual organs.KORO JapaneseThe hysterical belief that one’s penis is shrinking into one’s body.SENZURI JapaneseMale masturbation (literally “a hundred rubs”). He made lists of his favourite “words with no equivalent in the English language” – like, say, tsuji-giri, a Japanese word from samurai days meaning, “to try out a new sword on a passer-by” (thanks a bunch, Toshiro), or the stoic German term Torschlusspanik, meaning “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older”.
His book is destined to be the Eats, Shoots & Leaves of the autumn. Where else could you discover the gradations of bowing in Japan, from eshaku (a slight bow of about 15 degrees) to pekopeko, “bowing one’s head repeatedly in a fawning or grovelling manner”? Or find that there are 18 words for “you” in Vietnamese, depending on whether you’re addressing one person or several, young or old, formally or informally? Or learn that the French invented the word ordinateur in order not to have to say “computer”, because con is slang for vagina and pute slang for whore, the combination of which is literally unspeakable in haunts of the chivalrous.Most intriguing of all, however, are the words whose meanings seem ludicrously over-precise – like the Persian word nakhur which means “a camel that won’t give milk until her nostrils have been tickled”, or the meaning of tingo itself.These are more than funny foreign vocabularies; they are tiny windows into the way other people live, and the obsessions that drive them. Adam Jacot de Boinod first became entranced by language when he discovered 27 words for “moustache” in an Albanian dictionary – and another 27 for “eyebrows”. A world of bushy machismo and stolid dignity sprang to life before his eyes. He began hanging out in second-hand bookshops, looking for foreign dictionaries and the tiny revelations contained therein. It’s iktsuarpok – “to go outside often to see if someone is coming.”

Learning a foreign language is, of course, the surest and fastest track to becoming familiar with another culture.

There is, thank God, a word that sums up that annoying thing you do when your taxi is 20 minutes late and you’re too restless to wait for the doorbell to ring. Everyone knows that Inuit-speaking races can call on 30-odd words for snow. But the words themselves offer hundreds of revealing clues to the preoccupations of that culture. There is a word for the ring you put in the nose of a calf in order to stop it suckling its mother (oorxax, and, as you know, it’s from the Khakas region of Siberia). There is a word for the fold of skin under your chin (alang – it’s Nicaraguan).

“The Greeks had a word for it,” we used to say, when stumped for the precise way to describe something. Refusing Mrs Alving, the pastor swings her around and over his shoulders, much as Captain Alving swings the maid.Mrs Alving is split in two, becoming younger and older versions of herself, danced by Clemmie Sveas and Charlotte Broom Both watch the action, lurking in corners – the ghosts. Now, thanks to Adam Jacot de Boinod and his collection of bizarre foreign words, we discover that the Malays, Hawaiians and Sumatrans had, and still have, words for it too. The pain of Captain Alving’s fits is conveyed almost entirely by the dancer’s face; Christopher Akrill looks anguished. Matthew Hart, as the ill son, does his best to look innocently happy before being blighted by syphilis. Sveas and Broom are grim-faced throughout, but they dance fluently.. The liveliest scene is a bread-making dance for the maid and her daughter, who prod dough with their elbows.Most of the expression comes from the dancers.

Mrs Alving, dress padded with a pregnant bump, rejects her husband and is rejected by the visiting pastor. The husband seduces the maid (more pregnancy padding) before collapsing in fits Marston uses the same kind of steps for all these events. Bausor’s costumes are less than successful; the heroine wears unflattering period costume.Peter Anderson’s film is puzzling. It sits in the background, footage of ice freezing or melting, without adding much. Most of the music in Dave Maric’s score, conducted by Thomas Blunt, is for strings, clarinet and marimba.

Chocaholics Isabel Coe, part Swiss and part Italian, learnt how to make desserts from both sides of the family, and so La Dolce Vita: Sweet Dreams and Chocolate Memories (Simon & Schuster £12.99) is quite a head rush. As is The Chocolate Connoisseur by Chloe Doutre-Roussel (Piatkus, £9.99), a hymn to the cocoa bean by Fortnum and Mason’s chocolate buyer. Fans of comfort food Nigel Slater’s food-diary-turned-recipe-book The Kitchen Diaries (Fourth Estate £25) Common-sense yet luscious seasonal-based recipes. Roast Figs, Sugar Snow (Mitchell Beazley £20), by Diana Henry. Subtitled “Food to warm the soul”, this features dishes from northern climates to banish the chill from the dark months. Children The River Cottage Family Cookbook (Hodder, £20) by Fizz Carr and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Easy to follow and makes it sound fun too Get ‘em slaving in the kitchen and then you won’t have to.

Drinkers Larousse Cocktails (Hamlyn £20) by Fernando Castellon Nice-looking book, and authoritative too. Or there’s The Simple Art of Marrying Food and Wine by Mark Hix and Malcolm Gluck (Mitchell Beazley, £20), the lowdown on how to match food with plonk. Cheers! Those with a social conscience Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (Ten Speed Press £23), by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, is an intriguing book that takes 24 families from around the world and offers a photospread of what they eat for a week, plus a recipe and food statistics on the country they come from Eye-opening … and those without It has to be The Bush Family Cookbook (Scribner $30; available through Amazon). Sophisticated offerings from your favourite presidential dynasty, like Fabulous Noodle Canoodle (tagliatelli with cornflakes). Yum! Those who are fed up with the English winter already Damascus: Taste of a City (Haus £12.99) by Marie Fadel. Part family history, part cookbook, part cultural walk through the ancient city.

The French Market (Doubleday £20) by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde. Nothing too new in this tribute to the rural markets of Gascony, but it certainly looks appealing. Climbing the Mango Trees (Ebury, £18.99) by Madhur Jaffrey: not a cookbook so much as a memoir of Jaffrey’s childhood but offers family recipes and succulent tales of the food she grew up with. History buffs Making a Meal of It, by Sue Kelleher (English Heritage £14.99), takes us from Roman times through to the Victorian era Hugely informative and with some way-out dishes to try.

It offers protection for a borrower’s ability to make repayments in the event of accident, sickness or unemployment.But concerns over sales methods, policy exclusions and product complexity have persuaded the OFT that a study is needed. These factors point to a “potentially high risk of consumer detriment” said John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT.Major issues include the difficulty of comparing PPI policies, lack of transparency of charges, high profit margins and low numbers of claims.”PPI is a complex product, often bought almost as an afterthought,” added Mr Fingleton.”Borrowers may shop around for credit, but the complexity of PPI and a lack of choice mean they are less likely to shop around for PPI. Instead, you will be able to contribute huge sums annually – up to £215,000 in the 2006-07 tax year.And you will still be able to invest in residential property through Reits.. Insurance sold to cover loan, mortgage and credit card repayments is to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The “market study”, starting early next year, is an official response to a “super-complaint” lodged in September by consumer support network Citizens Advice about the cover, which is also known as payment protection insurance (PPI).
Possible outcomes include imposition of a code of practice; enforcement action against firms suspected of breaching competition law; or a full investigation by the Competition Commission.PPI is generally sold with mortgages, loans, and credit and store cards. Today’s pension saving limits, which restrict your investments according to age, salary and pension type, will be thrown out. Anyone who was advised to do so probably won’t have any comeback for mis-selling because Sipps and their sale are unregulated investments.Despite the let-down, the popularity of Sipps will continue to grow, predicts Tom McPhail of independent financial adviser Hargreaves Lansdown. These include a likely knockdown price for a quick sale and money that is now stuck in a Sipp unable to invest in residential housing.Other unfortunates include those who have set up the plans for investing in property next year, and those who have already bought bricks and mortar ready to put into a Sipp, says Jonathan Davies, a partner at law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain. If these people can sell their unbuilt flats before they actually become residential properties, they will still qualify for tax relief after A-Day.However, there are downsides. But no one is banking on much in the way of flexibility.For now, the real concern is for the thousands who took steps to invest in a Sipp with residential property in mind.The worst-off are likely to be those who had put down deposits on new flats yet to be built and were relying on Sipp tax breaks to make the full purchases affordable next year.The money will now have to be found elsewhere, although R&C has set up an “exit” of sorts. That’s a pure business venture and so doesn’t apply.”It appears there are still hopes of a second Treasury change of heart.

Tony Blair’s credibility as a leader in Europe is on the line and a failure to agree an EU budget could push Britain to the “periphery”, Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president has warned. Mr Barroso told The Independent that this week’s summit on EU finance is a defining moment for Britain’s relationship with the EU and, particularly, its newest member states.. You do not have to have been to an independent school to become a Labour minister – but it helps. The surge in support for the new Conservative leader, David Cameron, has caused panic among allies of Gordon Brown who are renewing pressure on Tony Blair to hand over power at next year’s party conference. Government departments to pay into a carbon offset fund invested in green technology in developing countries for all ministerial trips by plane from April next year. Serious health risks also come from toxic nitrogen oxide emissions. At the moment much waste goes to landfill sites, space is running out and waste tonnage continues to rise.

The current position is not sustainable and urgent action is needed to reduce waste growth and recycle more.* ENERGY: The energy White Paper committed the Government to ensuring that every home is adequately and affordably heated. Britain’s emissions have increased by 9 per cent since 1999.* WATER: Reducing water use has been agreed as a priority across Whitehall and government offices but the report criticises the Government for lack of progress. The Watermark project claimed that every £1 invested in water-saving measures could yield up to £10 in savings. But the Cabinet Office is still using the equivalent of 70 kettles of water per person per day.* WASTE: England produces 375 million tons of waste each year, with 90 per cent from commercial and industrial activities. The latest report has been audited by a respected accounting company, PricewaterhouseCoopers.Downing Street said Mr Blair would keep up the momentum for an extension of the carbon emissions trading scheme within the EU beyond 2012.

According to Amnesty International, it is the first time Chinese authorities have fired on protesters since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 4 June 1989.
Villagers in Dongzhoukeng, near the coastal city of Shanwei, said hundreds of camouflage-clad members of the People’s Armed Police confronted the protesters, before using automatic weapons to fire on them at around 8pm on Tuesday evening. His capture was separate to that of Mr Kember.Mr Kember, from Pinner, north-west London, was seized in Baghdad on 26 November, with James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both Canadians, and an American, Tom Fox, 54.Mr Loney’s younger brother, Ed, said yesterday: “We’re hungry to hear something. Iraq’s interior ministry said it had no information about the hostages.
The group threatened to kill all four on Saturday if its demands for all Iraqi prisoners to be set free from US and Iraqi jails were not met.The Foreign Office in London said there had been no further developments.Meanwhile, the body of Egyptian engineer Ibrahim Sayed Hilali was found, a day after he was seized by gunmen in Tikrit. The deadline for the threatened execution of British hostage Norman Kember in Iraq has passed without word from his kidnappers.

The 74-year-old peace campaigner is being held with three other Western hostages by The Swords of Righteousness Brigade. An anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker, Gibran Tueni, was killed today in an explosion that targeted his convoy, the leading Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt said. “God have mercy on Gibran and An-Nahar will remain the beacon for freedom,” Jumblatt told LBC television, referring to the An-Nahar newspaper that Tueni headed.
LBC and Future television channels, which are allied with Tueni, said he was one of three people killed in the bombing in an industrial suburb of Beirut Police did not immediately confirm. “This is a new terrorism message,” Jumblatt said of the killing, referring to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February and a mysterious series of subsequent bombings that have targeted mainly Lebanese opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon.. General Bachelet was arrested by army officers on the day of the coup. He was sent to Santiago’s Public Prison, where he was tortured daily for almost six months.

He died at 50, after suffering a heart attack in his cell on 12 March 1974, one of more than 3,000 victims of Pinochet’s early rule, when an estimated 30,000 citizens were arrested and tortured.. She has always said she was not an “avenging angel”, despite her own torture, her father’s death in prison and the permanent “disappearance” of Jamie Lopez, her boyfriend at the time.The Pinochet saga is less of a legal wrangle and more of a deep social schism among Chileans, an unhealed wound left over from the 17 years of the general’s military dictatorship.With the country still split between those who despise him and those who revere him for his opposition to Communism, Ms Bachelet has said that she wants to be a “bridge” between the two sides.Family’s troubled history* Alberto Bachelet, Michelle’s father, was a general in the air force, who supported the socialist government of Salvador Allende and opposed the coup by General Augusto Pinochet which ended Allende’s rule, and life, on 11 September 1973.General Bachelet, who almost certainly knew that his student daughter was a member of the Socialist Youth, was appointed by Allende the previous year to head a government department Pinochet did not waste time in exacting retribution. The current Socialist President, Ricardo Lagos, was legally barred from running again. He is leaving with his approval rating at 60 per cent, and with the economy booming.Ms Bachelet has pledged, if elected, to split her cabinet evenly between men and women, a breakthrough in a country where sexual harassment at work was made illegal only this year. On the issue for which Chile has most often been in the headlines recently – whether or not General Pinochet should be tried for human rights abuses – she has been ambiguous. General Pinochet’s dreaded secret police blindfolded the two women, took them to the Villa Grimaldi detention centre and tortured them for 21 days.