If the ethics of that don’t appeal, perhaps the fact that more money can be made might edge them towards the charitable view. I trust Tom Pendry won’t be deflected from his intention of opening a debate on the subject.STILL they come, the multi- millionaires attracted by the new glitter of football And they get more unlikely by the minute. Michael Tabor, a horse-racing and property tycoon, is offering to invest pounds 30m in West Ham but he might struggle to match the impact that Peter Boizot has had on Peterborough since he acquired his home-town club last week. Boizot, a jazz enthusiast, was pictured playing a saxophone on the pitch He doesn’t play sax but he made a good job of pretending. He was also pictured eating a pizza – an obvious snap considering that he made his fortune by founding the Pizza Express chain.The enterprising photographer who had the idea sped off to get a sample of Boizot’s product but encountered a snag There isn’t a branch of Pizza Express in Peterborough So he bought one from a place called Deep Pan Pizza Boizot didn’t mind biting into a rival for the cameras.

Let’s hope the Peterborough team don’t pretend when they get on the pitch.THE TORY MP David Martin has been attempting to set up a new worId record for back-tracking after his gaffe in a House of Commons committee investigating bingo hall advertising. Martin compared bingo halls to “soul-destroying betting shops and the dregs of humanity” to be seen in there.A number of us dregs have been quoted as taking extreme umbrage at such a slur. But the majority of those who inhabit such places in search of a fortune will know that in every event there is a hidden suggestion for a winner. The good Lord always chooses odd ways in which to send us tips.

Thus, when they heard the utterances of the wretched Martin the real punters would have turned to the racing lists to see if there was any horse running with the word prat in its name.. Every new-born baby is a little bundle of hope, especially in Green Bay where the first thing mom and dad do after obtaining the infant’s birth certificate is put him on the waiting list for a season-ticket to the Packers’ home games

The list stands at 27,000 and rising. Season tickets are renewable each year and such is the devotion of the fans that new ones become available only when a person dies, or becomes terminally incapacitated. Compounding the likelihood of junior ever seeing his parents’ dream come true is a clause in the Packers’ founding statutes which allows the 56,111 season- ticket holders to pass on these most prized of all possessions in their wills. At the start of the present National Football League season 12 season tickets went up for sale.

One of the lucky buyers had been on the waiting list for 26 years.
For the 97,000 inhabitants of Green Bay, Wisconsin, their American football team is not a religion, it is more important than that. If that sounds like Shanklyesque hyperbole, consider this: during the NFL season Sunday services at the town’s predominantly Roman Catholic churches are rescheduled from week to week to ensure the congregants will not miss a precious minute of play.Today, Packers fans are in heaven. Their team is playing in the Super Bowl and they are the overwhelming favourites to win. No one outside Boston believes that the New England Patriots have a prayer in New Orleans tonight. Barring a stunning upset, the Green Bay Packers will be bringing the Super Bowl trophy home.