Willi's News Review 2.1

The story that has dominated the headlines this week shows no signs of going away as the media continue to pick over the carcas of John Terry's England career. The revelations surrounding Terry's private life have seen the England captaincy taken away from him by manager Fabio Capello and awarded to defensive partner, Rio Ferdinand. For those few who are unaware of the finer details of the controversy and ensuing media frenzy, it was revealed last week that married father Terry had an affair with French model, Vanessa Perroncel. Miss Perroncel also happened to be the ex-fiancee of former team-mate Wayne Bridge and it has also been claimed that Terry arranged for his mistress to have a back-door abortion.

Apparently Terry believes he can return as captain 'once the dust settles' and was also quoted as saying that he didn't think that the armband would be taken away from him when he entered the room with the England manager. Perhaps this is testament to the ingrained arrogance of a man who seemingly has little regard for the consequences of his actions, unless he is caught. Or maybe he, along with a few other commentators, believe that his transgressions off the pitch and moral lapses should have little influence on his position in the England team. If the latter is the case, Terry is certainly one thing-deluded.

The hype and vitriol directed towards Terry has been in overdrive and naive in its condemnation of the football fraternity and its material, sexually charged atmosphere. Though despite some of the overally pious critiques, there do remain valuable points behind some of the arguments to relieve Terry of his position of responsibility. The majority of the England squad have no doubt performed some kind of sexual macchination or other transgression so they probably won't be too bothered by the news of an affair. As a team, the national side are only together for a fraction of the year so keeping matters professional and minds focused on the game shouldn't be too much of an issue. The fact that Terry crossed a line in wronging a team-mate and friend will be the main cause of tension. Until Terry and Bridge reconcile in person, preferably with the squad in attendance to mediate or at least witness any potential act of forgiveness, there will surely be an underlying sense of unfinished business, a dark cloud of ill-feeling puncturing a thin veil of team spirit. Let's hope such a meeting occurs as soon as possible to offer footballing closure. In the meantime, let everyone else worry about the universal wrongs and truths of the lives of professional footballers and peform their own psychological evaluations in the vain hope of achieving moral equillibrium.

John Terry hasn't been the only newsworthy item this week. One lucky lady found half a dozen eggs, each with two yolks. Didn't you hear? Yes, this groundbreaking piece of news was found on page three of the Daily Mail just the other day. Fiona Exon, an art galley owner from Cumbria was astounded to find the batch of eggs when preparing breakfast. Although one can snigger at this seemingly trivial anecdote, the odds of such a find are an incredible one in a trillion. This golden nugget was verified by Kevin Coles, a spokeman for the British Egg Information Service. Yes, such an organisation does exist. One of their press releases even espouses the useful part eggs can play in helping to cure a hangover. Such an invaluable source of information deserves the exposure afforded by this cracking yarn.

Away from eggs, there was fishy business involving the 10 American missionaries from a church in Idaho who have now been charged with criminal conspiracy and kidnapping. The group were attempting to traffic 33 children, including some who weren't orphans but were left homeless following the recent earthquake, back to the United States. Allegedly some of the children's parents had offered their children to the group in the hope that they would receive a better quality of life and an education. The group could now face 15 years each multiplied by the amount of children kidnapped. They remain unrepetent with group leader Laura Silsby expecting them to be released with 'God's will' ensuring them a swift return home.

So what to make of this? It's a hugely sensitive issue in the first instance, even more so since the United States is the main driver of the relief effort. Should the group's intentions reflect on the whole of their country? Anti-US Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has already labelled America's leadership of the aid effort a form of covert colonisation. The Baptist group's intentions aren't intrinsically linked to the US mission in Haiti to provide relief and shouldn't be viewed in the same context. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already distanced the US government from the case, admitting that it is now in the hands of what still exists of the Haitian judicial system. This would appear a wise move with criticism not only coming from Socialist dictators directly opposed to the US but also from figures like Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. Although Mr. Frattini stated that he wasn't speaking in his official capacity, he did say that the 'U.S. military wasn't adept at co-ordinating a civilian humanitarian emergency.' The missionaries will now anxiously await their trial with bail unlikely to be granted.