| July was changeable between wet, grey and sunny right to the end. This first weekend in August is the same. In France, the Olympic weather has been changeable too. Already Northern Ireland has its best ever medal haul - five, including three golds. Will that tally increase this weekend? With the swimmer Daniel Wiffen, the athlete Rhys McClenaghan and the golfer Rory McIlroy all in contention people across NI hope so. There is controversy too in the Olympics with the Ulsterwoman former UK sports minister Kate Hoey calling for Olympic criteria on gender to be made tougher after a boxer whose gender is in doubt easily beat a woman contestant. Church leaders have condemned the possibility that anti immigrant protests will spread to Northern Ireland. In my latest Cyprus report, here is some of the Greek Cypriot view of what happened on the island 50 years ago. My column is on why I think unionists have inadvertently helped reinstate a legacy process that will turn against the security forces. And here is Neil McCarthy on why he thinks the Drumcree decision is "fundamentally unfair" in light of the growing presence of nationalist culture in unionist areas. The reports on John Bennett say that he taught at Strandtown Primary until he joined the BBC. But was he not there long after that? After moving to a post-11 school in the 1980s I recall that some kids had been taught by this already famous broadcaster. To a boy such a teacher sounded very cool. He is missed by so many people.
Enjoy your reading and your Saturday,
Ben | 