Love Fifteen

Roger Federer's win at Wimbledon makes him the most successful tennis player of all time and confirms his status as a global sporting icon. Not only is he a tremendous tennis talent he also comes across as an all round nice guy and very humble despite his wealth and success.

I can't help feeling very sorry for Andy Roddick who actually possibly played the better tennis through much of the match. His rocket of a serve did not hit the 75%+ success record it did in dismissing Andy Murray on Friday but it proved impossible for Roger to break this lethal weapon until 15-14 in the fifth and final set, demonstrating just how hard he is to overcome on grass.

But today belongs to Roger Federer and his incredible achievement of 15 Grand Slam titles in a little over 6 years. At the age of just 27, Roger has a long time left in the game if he remains fit and motivated he must surely now be gunning for Jack Nicklaus and his 18 major Grand Slam titles.

Only time will tell but until then the Nike advert commemorating today's victory is fitting praise to a sporting hero. The advert includes John McEnroe, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods praising his talent and achievement and fittingly ends with the tennis analogy of his achievement as - "Love Fifteen".

Well done Roger. You have earned and deserve all your success!

The SNP should call it Quits on LIT

News that HM Revenue & Customs are to write to John Swinney to inform him they do not have the power to collect Local Income Tax on behalf of the Scottish Executive should surely consign LIT to the political dustbin!

The Scotland Act allows the Scottish Parliament to vary the level of income tax set by Westminster by 3%, up or down, but it does not make any provision for HMR&C to collect any other form of taxation on behalf of the Scottish Parliament.

I am, in principle, opposed to a Local Income Tax replacing Council Tax for a very great number of reasons. Not least of these is that it will be yet another disincentive to work, alongside many of the current UK governments schemes.

What Scotland, and indeed the UK, needs is government that makes people pay for the services they receive and leaves the public with as much of their own money as is possible. Ordinary people can then decide whether they want to save their money or to spend it on their own personal priorities.

It has been the policies of politicians and the personal greed of individuals that has got us into this recession and it will be the actions of individuals that will get us out of it. For me politicians must now facilitate the role of the individual and not make matters worse for generations to come by consigning them to never ending debt in the form of permanent tax increases to pay for the folly of endless state spending in the good times while keeping nothing back for bad times!

A British Winner In An International World

During Wimbledon I wrote about Andy Murray's need to keep on winning if he wanted to make Britain proud of his achievements when everyone else was writing he needed to smile more to become a national hero.

By winning the Cincinnati Masters last night, (a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Novak Djokovic), Andy proved himself a winner of the very biggest grade of tournament on the planet short of a Grand Slam and someone the whole of Great Britain can be proud of at a time when we have very little to be thankful for.

With the Olympics and the US Open to look forward to over the coming month I don't expect to see a smiling Andy Murray on the international stage, nor do I want to see that. What I and the whole of the country want is gold medals and a British Grand Slam champion and if Andy can deliver that he can be as sultry as he wants with our blessing!

A "BRITISH" Wimbledon Champion!

Well done Laura Robson!

Going in to this years Wimbledon fortnight none of us really expected to be talking about a British victory on Finals weekend unless we were appending the surname "Murray" to the victor, and yet today it is Laura Robson who has us celebrating a British win in terrific style!

Laura's 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win in this afternoons Girls Singles Final showed grit, determination and a typically British "never say die" spirit. Watching her composure and professionalism, both during the match and even after having won a Grand Slam tournament, I couldn't help thinking this young lady has what it takes to go all the way in the game.

It takes a unique blend of talent and dedication to breed a champion and I believe Laura will be a true British sports star for a very long time to come. So come on Britain, let's get right behind Laura, the Murray's and all our other elite sports men and women in the hope that they provide our young people with the inspiration not to waste their talents preferring instead to put them to good use!

Winning Is Better Than Smiling!

Andrew Murray is constantly being given advice by our national newspapers about how to win over the English public during this years Wimbledon championships. Unbelievably one daily newspaper even claims he need only smile more to ingratiate himself to 'Joe Public'.

Having beaten Richard Gasquet in a five set thriller tonight I think it is fair to say the best way to win over the great British public is pretty simple - WIN!


We love an underdog and a good loser, but what we really want to follow and support are determined winners.

So "some on Andy" keep up the good work and win one for Great Britain and make us all, including the English, love you as the British treasure you undoubtedly are!