GARETH THOMAS admitting he is gay made headlines in the British press but in Toulouse yesterday the news was regarded as trifling when compared to the serious business of a Heineken Cup match. Thomas came off the bench for eight minutes as his Cardiff Blues team went down 23-7 in their Pool Five match -- a result that provides a serious blow to their hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the competition. David Young, Cardiff's director of rugby, was quick to dismiss the suggestion that the issue would distract his team. "The story has had no impact," Young said. "It has absolutely nothing to do with his rugby. What he does behind closed doors is his own business. We really don't care about that. As both a man and a rugby player he has done great things." It is the sort of support one would hope and expect to get from one's boss, but what was most heartening were his final words, which suggest rugby union, like the rest of the world, has left homophobia behind: "I am surprised that in 2009 there are people who think this is a big deal. To us it is no deal."
GARETH THOMAS admitting he is gay made headlines in the British press but in Toulouse yesterday the news was regarded as trifling when compared to the serious business of a Heineken Cup match. Thomas came off the bench for eight minutes as his Cardiff Blues team went down 23-7 in their Pool Five match -- a result that provides a serious blow to their hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the competition.
David Young, Cardiff's director of rugby, was quick to dismiss the suggestion that the issue would distract his team. "The story has had no impact," Young said. "It has absolutely nothing to do with his rugby. What he does behind closed doors is his own business. We really don't care about that. As both a man and a rugby player he has done great things."
It is the sort of support one would hope and expect to get from one's boss, but what was most heartening were his final words, which suggest rugby union, like the rest of the world, has left homophobia behind: "I am surprised that in 2009 there are people who think this is a big deal. To us it is no deal."
The deal, announced on Friday night after weeks of speculation, will consolidate the lead of Telecinco, Mediaset's stock market-listed Spanish unit, in a market which has been hit hard by the advertising downturn. It will also help Prisa pay down heavy debts accumulated when it was forced to buy out minorities in Sogecable, its television holding company, about two years ago. ... Prisa has for more than a year been selling parts of its radio, television and publishing interests to pay down about €1.8bn in short-term debt linked to the buy-out of minority shareholders in Sogecable. It recently agreed the sale of a 21 per cent stake in Digital Plus to Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications giant.
It will also help Prisa pay down heavy debts accumulated when it was forced to buy out minorities in Sogecable, its television holding company, about two years ago.
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Prisa has for more than a year been selling parts of its radio, television and publishing interests to pay down about €1.8bn in short-term debt linked to the buy-out of minority shareholders in Sogecable. It recently agreed the sale of a 21 per cent stake in Digital Plus to Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications giant.
As for comments in Italy, there is speculation that this operation creates favourable conditions for a merger of Telecom Italia with Telefonica. Mediaset's (ergo the Italian government's) propaganda campaign would like to see Telecom "relieved" of its tlc network on "patriotic" grounds. Exactly who would eventually get their patriotic hands on the tlc network is left to the imagination, however the government would certainly have more say in its management.
"People are not going to just roll over and let their livelihood be regulated out of business," said Beckley coal truck supplier Carl Hubbard, who bemoaned "limp-wristed greeniacs" in a recent newspaper column. "God put that coal here for us to mine, in my view." Read more...
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It's a pity the reporter's own editorializing passed into publication. ("The environmentalists see them as divine and irreplaceable creations.") What with real economic issues like public health, financial externalities, and systemic degradation driving the disruption of mining operations by protestors in many states.
Possibly related news:
"The TVA Ash Spill One Year Later: Lessons Learned " Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
