Sunday evening

Well, that's the Football World Cup gone to Spain, who beat Holland 1-0 in the last twenty minutes. Disappointing game, in which about 8 yellow cards were doled out and one player sent off after a second yellow. The game was pretty physical, as demonstrated by the number of bookings. I did not really enjoy it, and am naturally a bit sad that Holland did not get it - again. However, in all fairness, the Spaniards played better and got that all deciding goal after 116 minutes of play.

In the early hours of Saturday, the discharge from a sawn-off shotgun ended the troubled life of Northumberland man Raoul Moat. This 37-year old had previously shot his former girlfriend, killed her new partner and shot a police constable in his patrol car. Moat then went into hiding near the village of Rothbury, 30 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He issued threats against the police, the media and the general public. Moat had serious psychological problems, and the police appeared to have been aware of that, judging by the way they addressed him through the media, and through letters. On Friday evening, he was spotted on the bank of a river at Rothbury, and quickly surrounded. After a six-hour stand-off, with police within 20 feet of him, Moat received two shots from a Taser-gun. He then shot himself in the head.
Leaving the over-exposure in the media to one side (which did not help the situation), the family are claiming that the police declined offers of help from them. It's always easy to see the (perceived) right path with the benefit of hindsight. But questions are being asked from more impartial quarters as well with regards to the handling by police.