
Jannik Sinner's three-month drugs ban from tennis felt all too convenient, too light on the fading principle of strict liability... excuse those of us rooting for Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
I miss that dog, a good boy mostly, but I also wonder what those teachers might have brought to the arbitration of doping disputes in elite sport.

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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
The Interview Captain Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander.
Captain Jim Lovell, commander of the doomed Apollo 13 space mission to the Moon. Jim, who died this month at the age of 97, tells how he helped guide his stricken craft safely back to Earth after it suffered a near catastrophic explosion in an interview first broadcast in April 2020 on the BBC series 13 Minutes to the Moon. He talks to Kevin Fong about the doomed Nasa mission, from the shocking moment of the explosion to the enormous relief of splashdown. Lovell shares the story of the lunar landmark he named in honour of his wife. And he reflects on survival, the global impact of Apollo 13, and what it meant to finally come back to Earth. (Image: Jim Lovell, Credit: Nasa)


The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Why scientists believe an ALIEN spacecraft could be hurtling towards Earth
A MYSTERY object tearing towards Earth at break-neck speed has raised fears that ALIENS are on their way here. Boffins warn that the odd entity, which astronomers are calling 31/Atlas, could be an ET craft set to launch probes on our planet. 4 4 Estimated at more than 12 miles wide, it is whizzing through our solar system on a trajectory that will bring it within about 170million miles of us on December 19. A trio of scientists from Harvard University in America, led by astrophysicist Avi Loeb, have published a paper speculating whether it could be 'hostile' extraterrestrial technology. Nick Pope, a retired Ministry of Defence UFO investigator, said: 'It is not beyond the realms of science fiction that 31/Atlas could be an alien spaceship of some kind. 'Unusual behaviour' 'It's an unusual size, unusual acceleration, unusual course and unusual behaviour — those things combined very closely match a sort of mapping or survey mission. 'Of course, this could turn out to be just a comet or an asteroid — albeit an interstellar one, so interesting and incredibly rare. 'The good thing is this is a testable hypothesis. 'The clock is ticking down. We will know soon enough whether we're dealing with first contact . . . or just a big rock.' 4 Here, Nick sets out the six key theories proposed by Harvard experts. 1. It's too large to be an asteroid. We do know asteroids in our solar system range in size but this is much bigger than average 2. Its rate of acceleration seems unusual for a natural object. The European Space Agency and Hubble space telescope calculate it is travelling at about 130,000mph. Nasa says at that speed, it is the fastest solar system visitor. 3. We spotted it very late. This was because it was coming in from the centre of the galaxy, where there are a lot of obstacles, light and stars. If you wanted to covertly send a probe into our solar system, this is exactly the course you would choose. 4. Its course makes it very hard to intercept. At critical points where it might do something technological, such as perform a non-natural manoeuvre, it is blocked by the sun. 5. Passing close to Venus, Mars and Jupiter. This is like a mapping or survey mission. There is a very low probability of that happening naturally — the report suggests close to 0.005 per cent. That is statistically minute. 6. We won't see it. At its closest approach, the sun will be between the Earth and Atlas so we won't be able to see it. Again, this is exactly the course you would choose, as it can do all its sneaky braking manoeuvres and changes of course without us seeing it. It might do one of two things if this is technological. It could change course and come to Earth itself. Or it could, if it's a mothership, deploy some probes that would come to Earth.


Telegraph
21 hours ago
- Telegraph
Girls expected to outperform boys again at GCSE
Boys will be outperformed once again in next week's GCSE results, despite them triumphing over girls at A-level, expert analysis has suggested. Prof Alan Smithers, an academic at the University of Buckingham who forecasts exam results every year, said the chronic underachievement of boys at GCSE should be treated as a ' matter of national concern '. He said girls' dominance in last year's GCSE results was likely to continue this summer, meaning around 24.7 per cent will receive top grades this year compared to 19.1 per cent of boys. Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their GCSE results on Thursday, a week after A-level results were handed out. Boys exceeded girls in this year's A-levels for only the third time on modern record, reversing a stable trend of female pupils securing the lion's share of top grades in recent years. But that turnaround is unlikely to be repeated for GCSEs, according to Prof Smithers, who has called for an official inquiry into the under-performance of boys. Girls were ahead in 42 out of 47 subjects in last year's GCSEs, with boys leading in just five – maths, statistics, economics and 'other sciences'. Prof Smithers said: 'The chronic under-performance of boys in education should be treated as a major issue. It appears that we are not developing the talents of half the population as fully as we could. This can only lead to a decline in the nation's economic competitiveness and ultimately loss of its standing in the world.' The Centre for Social Justice, a social mobility think tank, has repeatedly warned that a generation of 'lost boys' is falling behind in education, particularly those from white working-class backgrounds. 'Written off' Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said last week that the demographic risked being 'written off' by society, with the Government planning a series of measures to tackle the issue. Plans include publishing more data on how white pupils are performing, as well as harnessing artificial intelligence to identify schools falling short. Prof Smithers said he called last year for ministers to investigate the poor performance of boys at GCSE but was met with a 'complacent view' from some critics that 'since men usually came out on top anyway, what's to worry about?'. He added: 'Our policy-makers seem to be content for the hard evidence of the exam results to be over-ridden by fashionable narratives.' 'Ineluctable force of nature' The academic expects this year's overall GCSE results to be broadly similar to those seen last year, when more than a fifth – or 21.8 per cent – of all entries were awarded the top grades. This remained higher than the year before the pandemic in 2019, when 20.8 per cent of GCSE entries scored a grade 7 or above – equivalent to an A in the former marking system – despite efforts to curb grade inflation. Prof Smithers warned that grade inflation appeared to be becoming baked into the system after top A-level results leapt to a record in a non-pandemic year on Thursday. 'These grades, of course, are not determined by some ineluctable force of nature, but by human decisions,' he said. Education experts have called for the Government to crack down on creeping grade inflation to stop formal exam results losing their value. 'Soul-destroying' Prof Smithers also called for an urgent rethink of 'soul-destroying' compulsory re-sits for those who fail their English and maths GCSEs, since figures show those who retake them are likely to be doomed to fail them again and again. Around a third of pupils fail their English and maths GCSEs each year, and those who choose to stay on for sixth form are required to retake them until they either pass or turn 18. Just over a fifth of pupils who resat their English GCSE passed last year, while 17.4 per cent did the same in maths. 'This puts a big question mark over the efficacy of the re-sit requirement. Although well-intended, it looks to be utterly demoralising to pupils who find difficulty with these GCSEs, whose purpose is different from ensuring the basic grasp of words and numbers that is necessary to cope with life as it is lived,' said Prof Smithers. Ministers are understood to be considering abolishing mandatory resits for the two subjects as part of Labour's review of the national curriculum. They have faced calls to replace it with a driving license-style certificate showing pupils are competent in the basic skills in English and maths.