Editorial Intelligence: Daily Bulletin on Comment Pages
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Stories dominating today's comment pages...
LONDON OLYMPICS: The Sun's Frankie Boyle thinks everyone is so positive because for two weeks the papers have not been showing us the real news. The Independent's Owen Jones says it's not competitive spirit that poor kids lack, but fields on which to compete. Only state intervention can counter the massive advantages the most privileged schools have. In The Times Philip Collins notes that David Cameron has said that sport in school is declining because some lazy teachers won’t join in and because too many of the rest are ideologically opposed to competition. Every bit of this is wrong. The substantive claims in it are wrong. Not for the first time, Mr Cameron was playing fast and loose with the facts. Derek Wyatt, a former Lab our MP who founded the Women’s Sports Foundation (UK), believes the International Olympic Committee is not fit for purpose. To avoid its own Arab Spring it needs a radical restructure. It has not backed equal rights for more than half the world’s population, even though its own charter says it must “encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women”. Anushka Asthana's favourite moment of the Games was the response of Mo Farah — who came to Britain at the age of 8 — when a journalist asked if he would rather be representing Somalia.“Look mate, this is my country,” he said. “This is where I grew up, this is where I started my life ... And when I put on my Great Britain vest I’m proud.” The Daily Mail's Martin Samuel thinks it does seem rather contradictory that, having lauded the goodness and commitment of the British public throughout these last weeks, when the Games stop we again need the Government to hold our hands and lead us to the nearest place of recreation. The Daily Mirror's Paul Routledge is looking forward to some peace and quiet after the Olympics but is not optimistic of getting any.