Shamik Das


Friday, June 27, 2008

Worst year ever: Gordon Brown "celebrates" twelve months of ignominy by getting humiliated by the BNP

"Worst Prime Minister ever. Now make like my pants and split"

THE facts speak for themselves.

Fifth place in the Henley by-election, coming in behind the Greens and the BNP.

The Labour party candidate couldn't even keep his deposit.

Only three per cent of the vote. Pathetic.

An approval rating of just 14 per cent, lower even than John Major's 15 per cent fifteen years ago.

Just 16 per cent believe he can win the next election, down fifty percentage points from a year ago.

He's managed to lose half the population in a year.

And the most damning figure of all? 74 per cent, three-quarters of the electorate, believe his ascent to power was a change for the worse.

Come back Tony; save us from this clown.

On this day: Gordon Brown takes the reins
Tony Blair bows out

Thursday, June 26, 2008

More lightning please!

Viennese waltz: Rain-soaked fans run for cover in front of the historic Rat Haus in Wien

A PLAGUE of locusts, aliens from the Rigellian constellation and floods of Biblical proportions were all blamed by the BBC for last night's temporary loss of pictures during the second half of Germany's semi-final with Turkey.

Pandemonium! Not just in this country but worldwide. You can imagine the scenes in bierkellers from Baden Baden to Bad Bentheim and harems from Hakkari to Kirklareli.

Some of us, however, were prepared, and as soon as BBC One started to go haywire, I switched on the wireless to listen to Radio Five Live's superb glitch-free commentary.

Big John Murray, Chris Waddle and Alan Green all outperformed Motty and Lawro with embarrasing ease. All well and good. Apart from the fact I couldn't see what was happening.

Then, on the tele, the BBC big-wigs switched on the radio feed, which arrived faster than on Five Live, and then the pictures returned, still with radio commentary, but the sound was quicker than the pictures, so you heard what happened, commentary and crowd reaction, before seeing it.

So I mute the TV and switch the radio back on; even then, the sound came faster than the pictures, though not as fast. Finally, the TV commentary resumed, which was even quicker than both radio feeds, by at least a half-second.

Confused? You aren't the only one! The order goes a little like this: TV commentary, radio commentary on the box, radio commentary on Five Live, vision. Reminds me of England's tour to South Africa a few years ago, when the Sky Sports pictures and commentary arrived about two seconds after the radio feed.

Now my head's in a spin. Still, it begs the question of why coverage of a match in Basle should be affected by severe storms in Vienna. Or why the Match of the Day team have stubbornly stayed put in Austria, not once venturing across the border to Switzerland. Maybe they couldn't get visas.

"Save me Gary, save me, for I am the prodigal son!"    "Do not adjust your set"

Now I've got that off my chest it's time for some humility. Two weeks ago, you may recall, I placed BBC Sport's Jake Humphreys on the
short-list for worst broadcaster at Euro 2008.

I was both harsh and premature. The boy's come good, and his performance last night was nothing short of brilliant! Cold, wet and tired, and looking like he'd just been whacked, his despatch from the front line was journalism at its best.

Shaking with fear, or was it fever, he gave us the lowdown on the night's events in the UEFA "fan zone", which was struck by lightning, after which the screens went dead and literally thousands of angry Turks and Germans ran for cover, cramming into local bier hauses to watch the action.

He is replaced on the short-list by ITV Sport's highlights show presenter Craig Doyle, the affable Irishman who knows sweet FA about football, but at least he is Irish, unlike cockney geezer and ITV ever-present Andy Townsend.

Back to last night, where after the match the beeb showed the scenes at St Jakob-Park, the desolation of the plucky young Turks, the elation of the Germans, instead of cutting back to the studio.

How refreshing it was to see Lukas Podolski jumping into the crowd and joining in the celebrations, to be able to soak up the atmosphere, to really feel like one was there, rather than watching Gary Linekar, Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer and Martin O'Neill kiss each other's butts.

Sadly the technical problems abated and there we were in the studio, witnessing the cosy love-in between the quartet of international failures. Quite why the BBC thinks we'd rather watch two boring Englishmen, a dour Scot and an over-excited Northern Irishman pat each other on the back I do not know.

Here's to more thunderstorms, more power cuts that silence the gormless four, more post-match pictures of the players celebrating and more exciting matches like last night's.

Watch extended highlights of Turkey v Germany
Jake Humphreys shivering in the rain

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Question: who's the odd one out?

In sync: "Ahll keel yew Mista Bush! Ah spit on your noshon of de-moc-ra-see!"

ANSWER: trick question; they're all mad!

You'll recognise three of them, the founder members of Scum Re-united - one dead, one in hiding and the other planning to unleash nuclear armageddon on the Middle East - while the fourth is one of Mr AhMADinejad's staunchest defenders.

Never mind that the Iranian despot has vowed to obliterate Israel and denied the existence of the Holocaust, nor that he is enriching uranium in clear violation of United Nations resolutions, Canadian scribe Gwynne Dyer believes he's done nothing illegal.

And, in keeping with the Robert Fisk/Paul Routledge/Mark Seddon school of discredited left-wing hackery, he refuses to condemn the tyrant, choosing instead to lay into President Bush.

We've been here before. Whether it be Kosovo, Iraq or Afghanistan, some people will always side with evil, criticising the democratically elected leaders of Britain and America rather than the murderous extremists responsible for millions of deaths.

Thankfully the Israeli Government isn't run by the likes of the Michael Moore wannabe, and is prepared to strike if Tehran fails to suspend its efforts to build a nuclear bomb.

It's time for action; for all our sakes.

Israel ups the ante
Gwynne Dyer-Dinejad

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ian Smith says goodbye

Who ate all the pies? Ex-Kiwi keeper Ian Smith    "Don't move or I'll shoot, you feckin' kaffir!"

NICHT! 'Tis not the tubby New Zealand wicket-keeper turned commentator that I'm talking about, nor the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, the late, lamented Ian Smith, predecessor to neo-cannibal despot Robert Mugabe and sorely missed by all and sundry.

It is Ian Smith the actor to whom I refer.

Harold Bishop    Gary Newbon

Harold Bishop has left Ramsey Street.

But fear not, his lookalike Gary Newbon continues ranting unabated. Following United's scalping of Chelski the other day, I really did think Harold Bishop was presenting the post-match phone-in on Sky Sports. What a night!

Neighbours
Movement for Democratic Change

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

When reverse-sweeps go wrong

World Cup final, Eden Gardens, Calcutta, November 8th, 1987: Mike Gatting mistimes a reverse-sweep off Allan Border as England crash to defeat

AS the debate rages on over the legality or otherwise of Kevin Pietersen's superb left-handed sixes on Sunday, minds are cast back to a time when England's batsmen had yet to master the fine art of unorthodox batting.

The setting is Eden Gardens in the heart of old Calcutta, the world's biggest cricket ground with a capacity of 120,000, the game is the World Cup final against Australia, and England are cruising to victory at 135 for 2 chasing 254 to win, more than half way there less than half way through their overs with eight wickets remaining.

The match slipping away from him, the World Cup seemingly heading towards England, Australia captain Allan Border decides to shake things up and brings himself on.

His opposite number Mike Gatting plants his front foot forward, twists his bat around and attempts to steer the ball down to third man. However, failing to land a clean strike he merely chips the ball up and into the gleeful hands of Aussie wicket-keeper Greg Dyer.

Five wickets and 27 overs later and England fall agonisingly short, losing by seven runs in the closest and best World Cup final to date as the world champions won the first of their four World Cups.

Fast forward two decades and one-day cricket is a very different beast, with present-day England batsmen adept at a whole range of strokes that the great WG would never have dreamed of playing, from the scoop-shot over the wicket-keeper's head to Pietersen's outrageous maximums against the Kiwis.

We have left-off: Kevin Pietersen swaps wrists to slap Scott Styris over the boundary for six    KP goes nuts: The South African celebrates his first one-day century on "home" soil

First, he switched grips to launch New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris over deep cover for six, and then, four overs later, he not only switched to a left-hander's grip but a leftie's orthodox stance as well, waited what seemed an age and lashed the hapless Styris over long-off for an almighty six to move into the nineties.

It isn't the first time KP's hit a left-handed six, having smashed the great Murali, off all people, over point in the second Test at Edgbaston two years ago, when he scored an incredible 142 of England's 294 runs as England cantered to a six wicket victory.

And, having branded critics of his unorthodoxy "ridiculous" and "absolutely stupid" yesterday, the world's number eight one-day batsman will have been delighted to learn that the Marylebone Cricket Club have decided not to ban switch-hitting after all.

"MCC believes that the 'switch-hit' stroke is innovative and exciting for the game of cricket," read a statement on the MCC's website this afternoon. "Indeed, the stroke conforms to the Laws of Cricket and will not be legislated against.

"While noting the superb execution of the stroke by Kevin Pietersen for England during the recent One Day International against New Zealand, MCC had already acknowledged its existence in the 2000 Laws of Cricket - Law 36.3 - relating to the stance of a batsman.

"Law 36.3 defines the off side of the striker’s wicket as being determined by the striker’s stance at the moment the bowler starts his run-up. MCC accepts that the use of a 'switch-hit' may have implications for other Laws of the game, principally Law 25 (Wide ball) and Law 36 (LBW), and will continue to research and discuss these implications."

The statement added: "MCC believes that the 'switch-hit' stroke is a difficult shot to execute and that it incurs a great deal of risk for the batsman. It also offers bowlers a good chance of taking a wicket and therefore MCC believes that the shot is fair to both batsman and bowler.

"Furthermore, MCC acknowledges that while bowlers must inform umpires and batsmen of their mode of delivery (Law 24), they do not provide a warning of the type of delivery that they will send down (for example, an off-cutter or a slower ball).

"It therefore concludes that the batsman should have the opportunity – should they wish – of executing the 'switch-hit' stroke."

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Revealed: Britain's worst commentator

David Pleat: Doesn't know his Austria from his El Salvador    Steve McClaren: The wally with the brolly

FOLLOWING this morning's Euro Fighting Talk, brilliant as ever, in which they asked who the best broadcaster of Euro 2008 has been, I thought I'd answer the question of who's been the worst.

While the Golden Mike award undoubtedly goes to ITV's Gabriel Clarke for his incisive, humourous and well-researched reports that take us behind the scenes at the top teams' training camps and onto the streets of Austria and Switzerland where he chills out, James Richardson style, perusing the hot sheets over a cappuccino while chatting to the fans.

Motty's been his usual excitable self, full of cliches and stats, his courtship of Mark Lawrenson continuing apace, though Jonathan Pearce seems to have gone down a decibel or two, more than likely caused by England's Alpine absence.

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for: Here are the nominations for the Gormless Mike award:- Mark Bright, Gordon Strachan, Garth Crooks, Andy O'Townsend, Jake Humphrey and the overwhelming favourites David Pleat and Steve McClaren.

Bright's voice is just plain annoying, as annoying and as McTownsend's is chavvy, while Strachan remains as whiny as ever, face contorted with rage as he rails against the world and everything in it.

Humphrey, meanwhile, is way out of his depth presenting the Match of the Day highlights show, which begs the question of whatever happened to Manish Bhasin, who looked so calm and assured when presenting highlights of the Ashes and cricket World Cup a year ago.

As for Garth Crooks, well, at least he's entertaining, in a laughing at him not with him kind of way. Perhaps he should go to the barbers and ask for another three-inch wide mohican, or maybe a William Gallas.

Enough frippery, onto the top two we go. The runners-up award goes to David Pleat, ITV's star summariser, for his frankly baffling inability to remember players' and even countries' names, a problem dating back to the 2002 World Cup, where he kept confusing Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Romario. And Romario wasn't even there.

Romario  Rivaldo (left) and Ronaldo  Ronaldinho

This time round, with no Brazil present, it is the Czechs who've flummoxed the former Luton Town boss. He's taken to calling Petr Cech "Pet-ra Cech", the female version of the Chelsea goalkeeper's name.

More worryingly, though, he refers to the Czech Republic as "the Republic of Czechoslovakia". Wrong on every level. Even Big Ron - the man Pleat replaced after his racist rant against Marcel Dessaily - knows that Czechoslovakia, like the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, no longer exists.

The winner, however, is England failure Steve McClaren. By a country mile. A unanimous decision and the only award the loser will ever win.

Where to begin? England's worst manager ever lecturing Europe's finest on how to win after his team failed to qualify, finishing joint third in the easiest qualifying group of all.

It's not just that he's a pathetic, cheesy-grinned Mike Baldwin wannabe, it's that he's being paid a cool £300,000 of licence-fee payers' money to spout his rubbish on the BBC. Whenever he's on the radio I just have to turn it off, lest I throw the wireless out the window after smashing it up.

But enough about McClaren, how about last night's action? Didn't I say Holland were the team to watch?! ;)

In another display of beautiful, attacking football they beat France 4-1 to qualify for the quarter-finals, Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder making it seven goals in five days against the two World Cup finalists, Thierry Henry's solitary strike the only downside.

France are now joint-bottom of Group C with Italy, their fates out of their own hands, though the world champions could have been eliminated had Adrian Mutu not missed a late penalty for Romania after Christian Panucci had cancelled out his earlier strike.

Watch extended highlights of Netherlands v France
Watch extended highlights of Romania v Italy

Thursday, June 12, 2008

"My advice to people is to tell the truth because it always comes out anyway" - Gordon Brown

"I think people should tell the truth"

SO, how long will it take for the deal with the Democratic Unionists to come out, my dear Prime Minister?

A £1.2 billion sweetener for Northern Ireland to get the Anti-Terror Bill passed, on top of the £2.7 billion bribe ahead of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

A cool four billion quid that could have been ploughed into public services or used to cut fuel duties.

Had it not been for David Davis's implosion this afternoon, Mr Brown would have been facing a renewed attack on his leadership; as it is, Tory leader David Cameron is the one under the microscope.

Conservative MEPs forced to quit after fiddling their expenses, his own party chairman using her Parliamentary allowance to pay her nanny, and now the capitulation on terror followed by Mr Davis's inexplicable act of political hara-kiri.

"This cannot go on, it must be stopped, and for that reason, I feel that today it's incumbent on me to take a stand ... a CCTV camera for every 14 citiziens, a DNA database ... consider one of the most fundamental issues of our day - the ever-intrusive power of the state into our lives, the loss of privacy, the loss of freedom and the steady attrition undermining the rule of law"    "I keeled all those fuckers for laughing at my moustache! Shamone, mother fucker! Hee-hee!"

A crusader for liberty indeed! This is a man who not too long ago called for the reintroduction of hanging, a man described by Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics as "Genghis Khan on speed".

If a man is released without charge after 42 days he's still alive; if someone is executed and is subsequently exoneratered, there is no recompense, no way to right that wrong - he's dead.

To show this man up for the self-aggrandising, pompous bore he is, Labour should join the Liberal Democrats in boycotting the Haltemprice and Howden by-election.

Do the opposite of what everyone expects, leave him with a clear run unopposed.

That'll leave the phoney with egg on his face!

Watch the Prime Minister's monthly press conference
Relive the Shadow Home Secretary's moment of madness

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Ruud's goal WAS onside, capisce?

On side and on target: Ruud van Nistelrooy fires Holland ahead

Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Berne,
European Championships, Group C:

Netherlands 3-0 Italy


THE Italian conspiracy theorists were out in force today, with everyone from Fat Tony to Luca Toni accusing Swedish referee Peter Fröjdfeldt of Dutch favouritism.

The reason for their ref-rage was the failure to disallow Ruud van Nistelrooy's 26th-minute opener for offisde, the prelude to last night's crushing defeat for the world champions.

Though common sense dictates that the Italians are right, the rules of the game suggest otherwise, with article 11.4.1 of the refereeing code stating that "an opposing player cannot be offside when one of the last two defenders has left the field of play".

The rule is in place to stop defenders deliberately stepping off the pitch to cynically play an attacker offside, although in this case Cristian Panucci was bundled off the pitch by keeper Gianluigi Buffon, lying prone behind the goal as van Nistelrooy turned home Wesley Sneijder's fierce 20-yard strike, in no way interfering with play.

To his credit, Italy boss Roberto Donadoni refused to blame the defeat on the officials. "We had an off-day," he said. "The game started badly and finished terribly for us.

"Our intention was not to start this tournament and concede a 3-0 defeat. I was not surprised by Holland's display, they played as we expected them to play.

"The first goal complicated our lives and I thought we were very naive in the second goal. We reacted well in the second half and despite having chances, it was not to be."

The controversy is the latest in a series of incidents at major tournaments to have enraged the Azzuri, in spite of the fact they only have themselves to blame for their failures.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

USA '941994 WORLD CUP: Runners-up

Conspiracy:
Gianfranco Zola's early 2nd round sending off v Nigeria, who led until the 88th minute.

Cock-up:
Roberto Baggio and Franco Baresi missing their penalties as Brazil triumphed in final.

Euro '96EURO 96: Group stage

Conspiracy:
German keeper Andreas Köpke wasn't dismissed for conceding a penalty.

Cock-up:
Zola missing the spot-kick as Italy failed to beat Germany in decisive group match.

France '981998 WORLD CUP: Quarter-finals

Conspiracy:
Hosts France given preferential treatment by officials.

Cock-up:
Baggio's wayward extra-time volley and Luigi Di Biaggio's penalty miss.

Euro 2000EURO 2000: Runners-up

Conspiracy:
Too much injury time was played, enabling Silvain Wiltord to equalise.

Cock-up:
Allesandro Del Piero missed a hatful of chances to put Italy 2-0 up.

Japan and South Korea '022O02 WORLD CUP: Second round

Conspiracy:
Some bizarre pro-host refereeing decisions which resulted in a golden goal defeat.

Cock-up:
Francesco Totti, later sent-off, missing a gilt-edged opportunity at 1-0.

Euro 2004EURO 2004: Group stage

Conspiracy:
Sweden and Denmark cooked-up a 2-2 draw in their final group game to progress.

Cock-up:
The Italian defence allowing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to back-heel an equaliser.

Germany '062006 WORLD CUP: Champions

Conspiracy:
Italy's controversial 2nd round win over Australia ensured they had no complaints.

Cock-up:
Marco Materrazi getting himself butted by Zinedine Zidane in the final.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To dwell on van Nistelrooy's opener, however, would not do justice to Holland's performance, as the European Championships burst into life in the tournament's best game so far.

Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored two of the great counter-attacking goals, a combination of searing pace, pin-point passing and deadly finishing inflicting upon the world champions their heaviest defeat since the 1970 World Cup final.

The Dutch evoked the spirit of Carlos Alberto, Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and co, as well as their own past masters van Basten, Gullit, Cruyyf and Neeskens in the biggest match played in Berne since the 1954 World Cup final, when the "mighty Magyars" of Kocsis, Hidegkuti and Puskás were stunned by Josef "Sepp" Herberger's Germany.

First, on 31 minutes, van Bronckhorst cleared off the line, then ran the length of the pitch to latch on to Rafael van der Vaart's 40-yard cross-field pass before steadying himself to cross to Dirk Kuyt, who laid off his header for Sneijder to smash the ball past Buffon on the half-volley.

Then, after Edwin van der Sar had brilliantly saved Andrea Pirlo's 80th-minute free kick, Sneijder, van Bronckhorst and Kuyt again combined to launch a lightning end-to-end break, this time Kuyt crossing for van Bronckhorst to head home.

"It was an historic feat," drooled Holland coach Marco van Basten. "This was against Italy, the world champions!

"To win 3-0 against Italy, a team with so much experience and quality in their team, we didn't expect that. It was a truly good performance from everyone. I am happy and proud, but this is only a first step."

"They fought like a team and if the spirit is like it was tonight, with all the quality we have, we can have nice dreams."

Star Man: Sneijder (Netherlands); Entertainment: *****
Watch extended highlights of Holland v Italy

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Austria and Switzerland set for festival of football

It's time: The Euro 2008 logo

• Wating over • Germans favourites • Dutch looking good


ALL eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo tonight as Euro 2008 kicks off with Portugal playing Turkey and co-hosts Switzerland taking on the Czech Republic in Group A.

The Manchester United winger will look to put the will-he-won't-he Real Madrid row behind him as he leads out his country, hoping to go one better than the runners-up medal he received four years ago.

In Luiz Felipe Scolari, dubbed Big Phil by the tabloids, they have the only manager to have won the World Cup, and he will be hoping to complete the double by winning the European Championships before leaving Portugal at the end of the tournament.

The favourites, however, are Germany, who have arguably the easiest group of all, Group B, pitted against Austria, Croatia and Poland, with perennial under-achievers Spain also tipped to do well, having been drawn against holders Greece, Sweden and Russia in Group D.

Here we go: The Euro 2008 mascots    Euro Pass: The official Euro 2008 match ball

Group C is the inevitable "group of death", with world champions Italy facing France - who they beat to win the World Cup - the Netherlands and Romania, who finished above the Dutch in qualifying.

My choice is Holland. With several players set to quit after the tournament, this is a last chance for success for the likes of Manchester United legends Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Edwin Van der Sar.

They also have some good, young players in Ajax's Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Real's Wesley Sneijder, while many more are approaching their peak, such as Hamburg's Rafael Van der Vaart, Arsenal's Robin van Persie and former Chelsea midfielder Arjen Robben.

All they have to do is beat Italy, France, Romania, Greece, France again and then Germany. Failing that, they can just chill out on the banks of the Danube, sipping a pint of Grolsch while watching the world go by...

Watch Switzerland v Czech Republic live on BBC1 at 5:00
Watch Portugal v Turkey live on ITV1 at 7:45

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Ever-present England set sights on series victory

Ready, aim: James Anderson and Kevin Pietersen get ready to fire while taking a break from England training in Loughborough

Trent Bridge, third Test: England v New Zealand (5th - 9th June)


ENGLAND named an unchanged team for the fifth match in succession as the final Test got under way under clear skies and glorious sunshine in Nottingham this morning.

Not since England's maiden away Ashes success in 1884-85, 123 years ago, have they fielded the same XI for five Tests in a row, though they came close during the 2005 Ashes, Simon Jones's injury on this ground denying him a place for the Oval finale.

Though there have been no changes since England's last defeat, in Hamilton - after which Stuart Broad replaced Matthew Hoggard - there remain problems that need to be addressed.

The middle-order has failed to fire this summer, with Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Tim Ambrose mustering a paltry 80 runs between them all series. Ambrose's form will be particularly worrying, adding only three runs at Old Trafford to his golden duck at Lord's.

"It is a side that has won three out of the last four games," said England captain Michael Vaughan before the start, as he stood by the faltering Collingwood. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a hundred from him this week.

"He's not under too much pressure from me, but he's probably under more pressure from himself as he is desperate to score runs."

For New Zealand, reserve keeper Gareth Hopkins comes in for James Marshall, with Brendon McCullum - playing purely as a batsman - bumped up the order to three.

Live text commentary of the third Test on Cricinfo
Live audio commentary on Test Match Special
Highlights of each day's play at 7:15 on Five

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

History beckons as Obama begins long walk to Washington after finally beating Hillary

We're on our way to Washington: Jubilant supporters hug Barack Obama at a victory rally in Minnesota

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA made history today by becoming the first black candidate to win the Presidential nomination of a major US party.

To scenes of wild jubilation, Mr Obama proclaimed himself "the Democratic nominee for President of the United States". It was pure theatre, history in the making, a day many of us never thought we would live to see.

Half a century on from Rosa Parks's courageous act of defiance and 40 years after Martin Luther King's assassination, the son of a Kenyan Muslim father and white American mother passed the magic 2,118-delegate winning post late last night following the South Dakota and Montana primaries.

He now has an unassailable lead over Hillary Clinton – 2,154 delegates to 1,919 – but his biggest challenge lies ahead, against the Republican candidate John McCain.

To those watching on this side of the Atlantic, the Illinois senator's success begs the question of whether or not Britain will ever vote for a black or Asian Prime Minister.

Victor: Barack Obama  Vanquished: Hillary Clinton  Challenger: John McCain

At present there are only 15 black and Asian Members of Parliament, a mere two per cent of the 646 MPs in the House of Commons, none of whom are in the Cabinet or anywhere near to challenging for the leadership of their party.

Of these, three are Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State – effectively the third rung of the Ministerial ladder – one is a whip and one a Parliamentary Private Secretary, the lowest branch of the Ministerial tree.

The three Parliamentary Under Secretaries are David Lammy (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills), Parmjit Dhanda (Department for Communities and Local Government) and the first Muslim Minister ever to serve in the British Government, Shahid Malik (Department for International Development).

Ashok Kumar is PPS to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn while Sadiq Khan probably has one of the most important jobs of all; as an assistant whip he is tasked with building consensus on new legislation, which at present involves him working flat out to reach a compromise with backbenchers on the Government’s controversial proposals for 42 days detention without trial for terror suspects.

However, as with Benjamin Disraeli and Margaret Thatcher in the last two centuries – Britain's first non-Christian and first female Prime Ministers – it may well be to the Conservatives that progressives turn this century for the first non-white Prime Minister of Britain.

Adam Afriyie    Barack Obama

In Adam Afriyie, Member of Parliament for Windsor and shadow Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, they posses a man with whom there are many parallels with Senator Obama.

For one, they share the same birthday – August 4th – with Mr Afriyie four years younger than Mr Obama. They also share a similar background, the Windsor MP having an African father, from Ghana, and English mother.

Both of them have tremendous academic credentials and political acumen, possess charm and charisma by the bucket load and, crucially, come across well in the media, in newspapers and on television, have broad appeal and do not "scare" white voters either in mid-America or middle Britain.

For Windsor's finest his time is yet to come, but for Barack Obama the hour is now, destiny is in his hands, history there to be written as the sands of time tick away and November draws ever near.

He's won the battle but will he win the war?

List of black and Asian MPs
Adam Afriyie