We wish him a speedy recovery.”Shearer’s lengthy lay-off raised doubts about Ferdinand’s move to Tottenham, but the club fought off a last-ditch attempt from Newcastle to hold on to Ferdinand.In the end, it was too late to stop the 30-year-old England striker joining the club he supported as a boy in a move which sees him team up again with his former manager, Gerry Francis: the pair were formerly together at Queen’s Park Rangers.Ferdinand met Alan Sugar at the Spurs chairman’s Essex home yesterday afternoon and agreed personal terms. Dictionary of
Indian English
Sir: In reply to M Riaz Hasan (Letters, 26 July) there is no doubt that the use of “prepone” as the opposite of “postpone” (a meeting, etc.) is well established in Indian English; but it would not be true to say that Oxford dictionaries have ignored it.Following its treatment by Paroo Nihalani’s Indian and British English (OUP 1979), a work which I reviewed at the time in the journal Asian Affairs, the use has been included in the New Shorter Oxford English 1993. The noun “preponement” is also known.G CHOWDHARAY-BESTLondon SW3. Regulation of nanny agencies
Sir: Your recent report on the establishment of a new pressure group, Playpen, for a nanny register (“Fear that stalks the working mother … can I trust the nanny?”, 25 July) ignores two important points .
Firstly, there is already legislation in place regulating nanny agencies. The Employment Agencies Act Regulations apply to all nanny agencies as well as to other types of recruitment firms.
The Regulations specifically provide that agencies must make sure that candidates are suitable for any job for which they are put forward. For nannies this would include taking up references.The Department of Trade and Industry has powers to investigate complaints about agencies and can ask an Industrial Tribunal to prohibit them from operating if they have broken the law.Secondly, there is a well established organisation for nanny agencies. The Federation of Recruitment and Employment Services has a specialist childcare section with almost 100 members, who all comply with a Code of Practice on placing nannies. This Code of Practice covers reference checking, interviewing and qualification checks.Any member who breaches the code is subject to disciplinary procedures.CHRISTINE LITTLEChief ExecutiveThe Federation of Recruitment and Employment ServicesLondon W1. Newcastle lost two strikers in one day yesterday when manager Kenny Dalglish revealed that Alan Shearer will be out of action “for months rather than weeks” and Les Ferdinand completed a pounds 6m transfer to Tottenham.
Shearer, the pounds 15m Newcastle striker, had an operation yesterday to repair damaged ankle ligaments after being carried off after suffering the injury seconds from the end of Saturday’s Umbro International tournament match with Chelsea at Goodison Park.
He was rushed by ambulance to Liverpool’s Fazackerley Hospital where the injury was diagnosed and was transferred to a Newcastle hospital to undergo surgery yesterday morning.Dalglish said: “He has had an operation to repair torn ligaments and without putting an exact figure on it, he will be out for a wee while. And, if the non-religious option was more openly publicised by funeral directors, crematoria, hospitals and other social agencies, we would surely find ourselves on the brink of an enlightened social revolution where funeral rites are concerned.NIGEL COLLINSCeremonies Registration SecretaryBritish Humanist AssociationLondon WC1. Happy truth
about Oxford
Sir: Accepting in full measure the tragedy of individual cases, we have been presented with no evidence that Oxford’s suicide rate is any different from the general rate in Britain’s universities.I don’t believe there is any such evidence. Unless you can produce some, may I suggest that, in future, you refrain from treating student suicide as though it had some peculiar connection with Oxford or its examination system. It is ironic, incidentally, how opportunistically the enemies of Oxford have switched from the Pimm’s and punts image of sybaritic laziness to the entirely contradictory, and equally false, allegation of draconian pressure to overwork.The truth may be a happy – and I mean happy – medium.RICHARD DAWKINSNew CollegeOxford. British Humanist Association accredited officiants presently conduct more than 2,000 non-religious funerals each year, and a further unquantifiable but significant number are undertaken by families or friends on their own behalf.It is telling that such growing numbers should seek alternatives to the standardised, quasi-religious, and often cursory funeral approach, described memorably in 1988 by Ken Livingstone MP as “about as moving as the checkout at a supermarket”.
The Lord Mayor must have served both as one of the City’s 25 aldermen and as one of two sheriffs.The aldermen are chosen by an electorate mostly made up of partners in City firms, but even here there is a catch. More than 18 months after Dayton, the bulk of the accords’ provisions are unmet. Reintegration of previously warring communities has been fitful. From phone systems and property laws to flags and the symbols of state, ethnic divisions prevail. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, the favourite civilian alternative, and choice of the international community, gained only 15 per cen.
So, in spite of, or even because of, his record of death and destruction, Charles Taylor has achieved his ambition to be president of Africa’s oldest republic.
The elections mark the end of the civil war, fought by up to seven different factions, for domination of the valuable resources of the hinterland. “He who spoil it, let him fix it”. Concern over the latest El Nino has already driven up tea prices, as the end-of-year rains in east Africa and the monsoons in India and Sri Lanka are tamed by its effects.Even if Britain escapes the worst effects this winter, experts predict a rise in the price of coffee, cocoa and sugar as tropical crops suffer from droughts or heavy rains.. For most of the year, Peru’s coast is washed by cold, nutrient-rich waters that sustain a mighty fish population. As Europe braces itself against more floods, could we be looking to blame a small child named after Jesus? El Nino, the Southern Pacific Ocean phenomenon, has reappeared this summer, one of the greatest climatic disturbances for 50 years, affecting both the stability of Peru’s economy and the global climate. No one could use a mobile phone from the hold of a plane at 40,000ft.President Clinton has also said that “to his knowledge” the plane has no “escape pod” – a detachable unit resembling a space capsule allowing a president to eject.Yet Air Force One, the film, has all the excitement and entertainment expected from Hollywood. But the term has come now to describe a more sinister occurrence – exceptionally warm currents that remain in the Southern Pacific for months or years at a time, occurring every two to seven years, decimating the regional fish population and threatening storms, droughts and high winds around the world.
El Nino coincides with heavy rains in Peru and in the southern United States, with droughts hitting Brazil and eastern Australia; and normal weather patterns becoming more unpre- dictable around the world.The mechanics of El Nino are understood, though the cause is a mystery.