Ecclestone way off the mark on Hamilton abuse

It seems that Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has never been the victim of racial abuse because his comments on the recent treatment of Lewis Hamilton are woefully wide of the mark.

Hamilton was subjected to vile abuse by a small section of the Spanish crowd during testing with McLaren last month.

And Ecclestone has claimed that the FIA's launch of an anti-racism campaign is unnecessary.

"All it does is give attention to people who want attention," he told the BBC.

"I don't think they're fans, and I don't think they were supporting [Fernando] Alonso in particular. They just like to abuse people."

Ecclestone did claim, however, that if the incident occurred again than launching an official campaign would be worthwhile.

But why should Hamilton have to accept such treatment as "an isolated incident".

The unsavoury scenario is unfortunately common across Europe's sporting arenas, with the black players of both England and England under-21 football team subjected to taunts, as well as Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o.

This would never be allowed to stand in other aspects of modern living, such as the workplace, so why should our sports stars be expected to just shrug it off.

It is only when we firmly tackle racists that they will begin to understand that their behaviour is unacceptable.

Why have corporate criminals got it so cushty?

The recent plight of Societe Generale and rogue trader Jerome Kerviel have only served to highlight the disparity between the treatment of corporate criminals and blue collar criminals.

The French banker lost his bank, and subsequently the shareholders of the financier, £3.7 billion - a staggering sum of money even for a global bank.

But what will be the fate of this untrustworthy crook?

If he follows in the footsteps of fellow swindler Nick Leeson who lost Barings bank £827 million back in 1995, relatively little.

His actions left the firm insolvent and he was sentenced to six and half years in a Singapore prison, serving just four and being released in 1999.

What does Leeson do now?

He's a minor celebrity, who is a well-known face on the after dinner circuit and has also been the subject of a major motion picture.

So is this what awaits Kerviel?

Imagine the different treatment that Kerviel and Lesson would have received if they weren't bankers and they weren't on salaries in excess of £50,000 a year.

What if they simply went in to their local bank in balaclavas and demanded the money in unmarked bills – I'm sure that Leeson would not be out of jail now if he had.

The Kent five found guilty of a £53 million pound raid on a Securitas depot, which admittedly involved a kidnap – but no injuries to their victims, will be sentenced tomorrow.

I bet they serve more than four years each.

Rant of the week: Casual xenophobia

Whoever said hooliganism was the English disease had obviously never heard the good folk from ol’ Blighty talking about the French...

Or the Germans, the Italians, the Australians and those fortunates from the other colonies - just what is it with the English and casual xenophobia?

It’s bizarre to think that the utterance of the odd sly comment about race, religion and gender are all frowned upon but taking someone to task about their country of origin is deemed perfectly acceptable and in most situations considered funny.

Anyone who has born in England, like I was, was raised on a diet of Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman jokes, the crude observations on foreign motoring of Jeremy Clarkson and the historical nationalistic misconceptions of Blackadder.

Everyone form these shores knows the old adages about Scots being tight with money, Irishmen being stupid, anyone from the Mediterranean being greasy and Austrlians being criminals.

The real question is that while we taunt the krauts with two World Wars and one World Cup are we making fatal mistakes?

Are we breeding the divine right of an Englishman into future generations? Mocking other countries for age old conflicts that will soon die form memory?

Maybe as a nation we suffer form illusions of grandeur.

Britain was once had a ‘great’ empire with a naval fleet the envy of the world but while the influence of the small island has died it seems in many ways the infernal arrogance still lives on.

Casual xenophobia is surely the national disease - perhaps this is the reason nationalistic slurs just roll of our tongues.

Rant of the week: Pedants

There is nothing wrong with striving for accuracy, after all if something is worth doing, then it was worth doing right.

And there is nothing wrong with correcting mistakes - if it is done in the right spirit.

However, putting someone right isn’t about humiliation. Pointing out a simple mistake in an attempt to be witty is the trademark move of the pedant.

But who cares if Nike is pronounced Niekey, who is bothered whether the line ‘Play it again Sam’ is actually uttered in Casablanca and why can‘t I just refer to myself as me rather than I?

If you know what I mean, then why correct me?

Is there anything more irritating than those who love being technically correct?

Rant of the week: Tube paper readers

At the best of the times using the tube network means leaving your manners on the platform.

It’s a curious place where usual British codes of conduct are left by the wayside oftening resulting in chaos.

The underground killed chivalry; young men refuse to give up seats for old ladies and women in pushchairs are shoved aside by businessmen trying to get on at Canada Water.

But this week I noticed a new breed of tube commuter - the paper reader.

Seemingly innocuous the paper ready keeps quiet and rarely peers over the top of the Financial Times to even be noticed.

However, their pattern of behaviour changes dramatically as the train gets busier.

Despite not having enough room to take my hands out of my pockets on the Jubilee Line this week, optimistic newspaper readers have been trying to maintain their habits.

And it was bloody annoying.

I stood in front of one woman who tutted, sighed and moaned every time the train lurched and I brushed against her copy of The Metro.

At one point the train stopped and I knocked the paper clean out of her hand and almost failed to stifle a chuckle as she didn’t even have the room to bend over and pick it up again.

From Monday, I’m going to make it my mission to nudge any idiot who thinks that they have the space to read a broadsheet on a packed train.

And when they react with Superman eye lasers - I’ll pretend it wasn't me.

Flood, fire, Farepak and financial distress

If we ever needed further proof that western governments only care about their wealthy citizens this was it

Sections of Los Angeles are currently ablaze and, keen to help the good folk of the region, the US government has extended aid to the area almost immediately.

Compare that to the plight of the victims of the New Orleans floods. A delayed government reaction. Accusations of looting and rape. No immediate airborne response.

Could that be anything to do with the difference between rich, successful white people and poor, working class black people?

And for those who think the British government are any better, look at the treatment of the Northern Rock and Farepak cases.

Last year thousands of citiznes, who had to save throughout the year for a plentiful Christmas, were devastated by the collapse of Farepak.

The government did nothing. The victims will only receive a few pence out of every pound they saved and will not see any money until 2008.

And the Rock savers got their money guaranteed. The Bank of England put more than £10 billion to help keep the bank afloat.

Surely a few million could have saved Christmas for the Farepak unfortunates.

Lets face it people. It's not what your country can do for you, it's what you can do for your country.

Is freedom of speech suffering a slow death?

Who would have though that freedom of speech was no longer an unalienable right?

First there was the situation in Burma where, although the nation's regime is oppressive, resistance was crushed so violently and so brazenly while the world looked on and did nothing.

Then there was the trouble Copenhagen where left-wing groups, punk rockers and anarchists protested the closure of the Youth House, a popular hang out where concerts and parties were often staged.

Protests in the Danish capital resulted in violence as police prevented protestors from reaching an abandoned building they hoped to make the new Youth House.

More than 400 people were arrested.

And today four members of an anti-war protest group were jailed for their efforts in London.

Hundreds of protestors made the march to Trafalgar Square after police, who had threatened to use a 100 year old law to prevent the demonstration, finally gave in to people power.

Surely, in a world where communication is key, we should not be barred from reaching out to our governments in the most effective way imaginable.

It is strange to think, that in a time where most countries have, or crave, some form of democracy, that the leaders we elect to represent us can repress us by not letting us having the most fundamental of all rights.

The right to stand up and speak our minds.