Inside Lines: Sweet talk as schools press chocolate button

Ciggies, we know, can seriously damage your health and are not be be advocated as a promotional vehicle for sport, whatever Bernie Ecclestone might say. But how about sweets? In particular chocolate, whose principal UK manufacturer, Cadbury's, this week launch a government-approved scheme in which schoolkids will be encouraged to buy their chocolate products and exchange the wrappers (minimum 750 per school) for sports equipment. Cadbury's-sponsored Audley Harrison and Paula Radcliffe admit to being chocoholics, and look well enough on it; so does the athletic Milk Tray man. But there are those in the medical profession who reckon that scoffing handfuls of chocolate buttons can be almost as harmful as a quick drag behind the bike sheds. The £8m deal has been brokered via Downing Street by the Government's influential school sports adviser, Sue Campbell, and no doubt the Youth Sports Trust, of which she is executive director, will benefit substantially. This may be perfectly in order, yet there is unease that the campaign, called "Get Active", has been endorsed without question when many doctors believe that products high in fat, sugar and salt are major contributors to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Concerns have now been aired in the House of Lords by several peers, including Lord Clement-Jones, who query the direct marketing to schools, linking chocolate to sport "when there is a currently a virtual epidemic of obesity among children". The Government's sweet-talking response is to suggest that kids are always going to eat chocolate, so when it comes to the Crunchie, they might as well do so in the context of healthy exercise. A bit Flakey, perhaps.

Olympic minister? No, Prescott's in charge

Thursday 22 May, around four o'clock, is when the white smoke is now expected to emerge from 10 Downing Street, signalling the launch of London's Olympic bid for 2012. All the portents are that the Prime Minister will formally give the go-ahead at that day's Cabinet meeting, the first when the subject can be placed at the top of the agenda again. Although the mood is decidedly upbeat, with work already under way on a masterplan for the bid, the British Olympic Association say that, while optimistic, "we are not counting our chickens". Neither, we hear, is Tony Blair, though in his case it is poulets. His nagging worry is being beaten in a head-to-head by the French President, Jacques Chirac. Like London, Paris has yet to declare, but should it do so it will be as favourites. Blair still has to be convinced that bidding, and perhaps losing, would be tolerable. Which is why an Olympics minister would only be appointed in the event of a successful bid. In any run-up, Government interest will be spearheaded by John Prescott, a strong bid advocate who is currently chairing the Cabinet committee with Jack Straw otherwise engaged.

Brooking going down? On one knee, perhaps

Nothing short of canoninsation would be good enough for the already saintly Trevor Brooking, according to West Ham supporters, if he saves them from the hellhole of the First Division. More realistic, though, is the prospect of the knighthood he should have received after his stint as chairman of Sport England materialising. Much pressure has been brought to bear at Westminster and Whitehall by influential voices who believe he was treated churlishly. The overdue accolade could be coming his way in the Birthday Honours. And how about a gong for Michael Watson, whose London Marathon achievement moved the nation?

The Football League may think they are flexing their muscles under the new chairmanship of ex-Tory bigwig Sir Brian Mawhinney, but when it comes to getting really tough on miscreant clubs, perhaps they should be taking Greek lessons.

Football League clubs which go into administration or commit financial irregularities in future could face possible points deductions. But you can bet it won't be more than a handful, as in the case of Boston. Meanwhile, the Greek First Division club Ioanina have been handed a massive 56-point deduction, dooming them to relegation and at least two seasons in the lower leagues by the Greek Football Federation as punishment for failing to pay their players. They have also been banished to a Peloponnese island to play two home games on neutral grounds for crowd violence. Two miscreant second-division teams have been deducted 48 and 51 points respectively. No slapped wrists there, then.

Sadly, we record the passing of an old friend, who was one of British boxing's great characters. Though never a bill-topper himself, Freddie Hill trained plenty who were. He died last week aged 82 after being out of the ring spotlight for many years.

The archetypal Cockney geezer, Freddie ran a lively gym above a pub in Battersea, south London, where the motto was " Win or lose, drink your booze". Some of his fighters endeavoured to live up to that, not least world champion Chris Finnegan. Others in his famed "Lavender Hill Mob" included Billy Walker, Frankie Taylor, Alan Rudkin and Johnny Pritchett. The funeral takes place at Streatham Crematorium on Wednesday (11.30am).

insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

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