Health secretary attacked after calls to smoking, drugs and lifestyle helplines plunged following spending freeze The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has been forced into a major U-turn on funding for public health campaigns, after evidence emerged that the spending freeze had cost lives. An extra £15m has now been set aside for promoting the government’s anti-smoking website and £14m will be made available for a campaign promoting healthy living. The decision has come in response to a damning Department of Health (DoH) report on the consequences of the government’s decision to “all but cease” publicly-funded advertising last year. The DoH found that the number of people ringing the drug abuse support helpline, Frank, had fallen by 22%, that visits to the Smokefree website had fallen by 50% and that the number of people joining the government’s lifestyle website was down by two-thirds. Most worryingly, the report said, there was evidence that “the cessation of marketing activity [had] resulted in declining quit attempts, and subsequent loss of life from smoking-related illness”. It added: “Following the coalition government’s freeze on non-essential marketing expenditure, all social marketing programmes were reduced and expenditure on advertising all but ceased. “We have now had the opportunity to learn from the freeze and to assess where the loss of mass communications had a negative impact… We now recommend that some advertising, and other forms of mass communication such as sponsorship, paid media partnerships and PR, be resumed.” The revelation follows savage criticism of the DoH decision last year to axe the £1.5m awareness campaign for flu vaccinations. Figures released this month showed there had been a rise in deaths from 474 in 2009/10 to 535 in 2010/11 and that a disproportionate number had been among the young. Lansley justified the freeze on marketing spending last year as a departure from the “lecturing” attitude, which he said characterised some previous government’s interventions. But shadow health secretary John Healey said Lansley needed to publicly apologise for his mistakes: “Mass publicity must play a part in good public health. This report shows that Andrew Lansley made the wrong judgment in axing anti-smoking promotions, just like he did on the flu-jab adverts last autumn. “The health secretary needs to tell people that he’s learnt the lessons and won’t make the same mistake again.” Key evidence for the loss of life caused by the government’s policy was provided in a submission to the all-party parliamentary group on smoking and health by Professor Robert West, director of Tobacco Studies at Cancer Research UK. West told the group: “Evidence shows that total spending on government mass media campaigns in a given quarter is associated with smoking cessation activity in that quarter. If, as seems likely, this association is causal, the recent suspension of mass media campaigns will lead to significant loss of life, and with every month that passes without further activity the death toll will grow.” West told the Observer that the most recent figures on giving up smoking confirmed his fears: “For smoking, most of the population are in a state of motivational tension, they are a bit dissonant about it and what the marketing does is tip them over the edge into activity. So if you stop doing that they carry on being dissonant. “We looked at a number of objectives – markers of cessation activity, attendance at clinics, hits on the website and the quit line – and the correlation is very striking. The association between marketing activity and spend was very strong. “It [lack of marketing] will have cost lives. For every year that someone over the age of 35 carries on smoking they lose three months of life expectancy. So if you just lose a year of significant activity you have already lost lives. That is the inescapable logic of it.” Research by the DoH suggests smokers’ motivation to quit is in decline, with the number of people saying they do not want to quit at all at 30%, its highest level since tracking began in 2007. Over recent years, there has also been a year-on-year decline in people trying to stop smoking, from 43.5% in 2007 to 35.8% in 2010. On top of the spending on anti-smoking and the healthier living campaign, Change4Life, a further £4m will be spent on marketing targeted at young people, and £11m on advertising issues related to older people. Professor Geof Rayner, an adviser to the Change4Life programme, said he was delighted: “I am pleased the civil service has put this in front of the politicians and that the politicians have seen some sense. They should be pragmatic, not ideological, about public health.” However, the total spending is still less than half the £93m spent by the Labour government in 2009/2010. A DoH spokesman denied the decision to start spending again was a U-turn but claimed that the freeze had been an opportunity to test the efficacy of previous spending. “Our campaigns have a high impact,” he added. “A study found that two-thirds of the public think advertising is vital to the success of government campaigns.” Health policy Andrew Lansley Health & wellbeing Smoking Drugs policy Daniel Boffey guardian.co.uk
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If South African president Jacob Zuma’s peace mission fails, Nato will deliver its heaviest blow to Libyan leader’s forces Nato has only one question as it prepares to unleash Apache helicopters against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi this week, and Captain Ali Mohammed, one of the defenders of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, can supply the answer. If, as most pundits predict, tomorrow’s peace mission to Tripoli by South African president Jacob Zuma fails, Nato will hit the Libyan leader harder than it has ever hit him before. British Apaches, together with French Tiger attack helicopters, will launch surgical strikes on Gaddafi’s forces besieging Misrata. They have the ability to destroy individual gun positions in the town of Zlitan, west of Misrata, with less risk to the civilian population kept there as human shields. But there is a problem. This kind of war takes time, and time is the commodity Nato does not have as critics complain it has extended the original United Nations no-fly zone mandate into what is regime change in all but name. The big question is whether the defenders will crumble under the onslaught, or fight with the same tenacity shown by their rebel enemy in Misrata. “If you use Apaches, it is sure they will run away,” said Mohammed. “There is a big difference between Gaddafi’s men and ourselves. I am defending my home, my family, my city. But Gaddafi’s forces do not believe in what they are doing.” The captain has led a band of fighters in this shell-scarred city, not just surviving the onslaught but pushing pro-Gaddafi forces back to the outskirts. Yet Gaddafi’s troops continue to rain death on the city outskirts, which shuddered under a bombardment of hundreds of mortars and missiles on Friday, fired from launchers too far back for the rebels to counter. To respond, they need the Apaches, four of which are on the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, cruising somewhere beyond the horizon visible from Mohammed’s position. A second vessel, the French amphibious assault carrier Tonnerre, has four equally ferocious Tiger attack helicopters, plus a dozen of the more elderly Gazelles. All are armed with Hellfire missiles which have the ability to be launched from five miles off with pinpoint accuracy, precisely destroying gun positions and machine gun nests, leaving the local civilians unharmed. It is these weapons that the alliance hopes will finally break the will of Gaddafi’s forces. Fast jets continue pounding targets in both Tripoli and behind the front lines. In the skies across Libya, British and American Reaper drones, which can stay on patrol for 14 hours, circle endlessly. They watch the few highways out of Tripoli day and night, using their own Hellfire missiles to destroy any vehicle they see, in effect making it impossible for Gaddafi to reinforce or supply his units at Misrata and those further west near Benghazi. But his firepower has its limits. The UN resolution mandating Nato’s action prohibits the use of ground troops, leaving the alliance needing to win with only the lightly armed rebel troops to actually take and hold ground. Additionally, Apaches are vulnerable; slow and ponderous, they dare not venture over enemy territory for risk of being shot down by machine gun fire. Instead they are likely to linger over rebel lines, engaging only Libyan positions in the immediate vicinity. Given enough time, the Apaches can take out gun positions one by one, but time is not on Nato’s side. Many members, notably Germany and Turkey, were reluctant partners from the start and at the United Nations China and Russia have complained that the western alliance did not consult over the extension of a mandate designed to protect civilians into what is a full-scale war. Nato needs victory quickly by breaking the will of Gaddafi’s troops. “Sixty per cent of Gaddafi’s army do not want to fight,” says Abdulla Ali, a rebel army spokesman in Misrata. “They are forced there. If they do not fight they are shot.” Mohammed says Nato has instructed his forces to stay behind a “red line” marked out along the Misrata front, allowing Nato to kill anything it sees west of that line. It is an instruction he intends to obey. His dark eyes betray the strain of fighting through the streets of his city for the past 70 days. He stands, clad in a green shirt, pale jeans and black sandals amid a sand-encrusted checkpoint of corrugated iron and a few battered plastic chairs. Around his chest is the shoulder strap of a battered AK-47 machine gun, on his shirt a small badge with the picture of Ramadan Swehli, hero of the city’s resistance against Italian occupation nearly a century ago, superimposed over the rebel red, green and black tricolour. However, before the Apaches are unleashed, Nato has decided to give diplomacy a final shot. The key part of this plan fell into place on Friday when Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev announced – possibly through gritted teeth – that he now supported Nato’s demand that Gaddafi step down immediately and unconditionally. That message will be delivered by Zuma in Tripoli tomorrow, coupled with the threat that if the Libyan leader refuses, Nato will unleash what will be the heaviest attack the alliance has mounted. Yesterday brought a clear sign of its increasing impatience with the regime as a rare daytime air strike was launched on the capital of Tripoli. For diplomats, the problem is not with Zuma’s negotiating skills, but with the fact that the message he conveys to Gaddafi offers no carrots, only sticks. Capitulation means he faces certain death if he stays in Libya. If he flees, any country willing to take him will shortly receive demands from the UN to hand him over to the International Criminal Court, whose judges are expected to issue an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity within weeks. The chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has already called for one of his sons, Saif, to be indicted, and more charges against three more members of the regime are expected to follow later this year. In Misrata, few rebels expect the Libyan dictator to agree to step down, even in the face of Nato’s bolstered firepower. “He will not listen – he will stay and fight,” said Osama Alfitory, a fighter from Benghazi who volunteered to come and help in Misrata, for him a brother-city. “This guy is insane. I think he believes he will win in the end.” Nato hopes that if its renewed assault begins – which could happen as early as Tuesday night – Gaddafi’s army will start to think differently. Muammar Gaddafi Nato Libya Jacob Zuma Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …If South African president Jacob Zuma’s peace mission fails, Nato will deliver its heaviest blow to Libyan leader’s forces Nato has only one question as it prepares to unleash Apache helicopters against the forces of Muammar Gaddafi this week, and Captain Ali Mohammed, one of the defenders of the besieged rebel city of Misrata, can supply the answer. If, as most pundits predict, tomorrow’s peace mission to Tripoli by South African president Jacob Zuma fails, Nato will hit the Libyan leader harder than it has ever hit him before. British Apaches, together with French Tiger attack helicopters, will launch surgical strikes on Gaddafi’s forces besieging Misrata. They have the ability to destroy individual gun positions in the town of Zlitan, west of Misrata, with less risk to the civilian population kept there as human shields. But there is a problem. This kind of war takes time, and time is the commodity Nato does not have as critics complain it has extended the original United Nations no-fly zone mandate into what is regime change in all but name. The big question is whether the defenders will crumble under the onslaught, or fight with the same tenacity shown by their rebel enemy in Misrata. “If you use Apaches, it is sure they will run away,” said Mohammed. “There is a big difference between Gaddafi’s men and ourselves. I am defending my home, my family, my city. But Gaddafi’s forces do not believe in what they are doing.” The captain has led a band of fighters in this shell-scarred city, not just surviving the onslaught but pushing pro-Gaddafi forces back to the outskirts. Yet Gaddafi’s troops continue to rain death on the city outskirts, which shuddered under a bombardment of hundreds of mortars and missiles on Friday, fired from launchers too far back for the rebels to counter. To respond, they need the Apaches, four of which are on the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, cruising somewhere beyond the horizon visible from Mohammed’s position. A second vessel, the French amphibious assault carrier Tonnerre, has four equally ferocious Tiger attack helicopters, plus a dozen of the more elderly Gazelles. All are armed with Hellfire missiles which have the ability to be launched from five miles off with pinpoint accuracy, precisely destroying gun positions and machine gun nests, leaving the local civilians unharmed. It is these weapons that the alliance hopes will finally break the will of Gaddafi’s forces. Fast jets continue pounding targets in both Tripoli and behind the front lines. In the skies across Libya, British and American Reaper drones, which can stay on patrol for 14 hours, circle endlessly. They watch the few highways out of Tripoli day and night, using their own Hellfire missiles to destroy any vehicle they see, in effect making it impossible for Gaddafi to reinforce or supply his units at Misrata and those further west near Benghazi. But his firepower has its limits. The UN resolution mandating Nato’s action prohibits the use of ground troops, leaving the alliance needing to win with only the lightly armed rebel troops to actually take and hold ground. Additionally, Apaches are vulnerable; slow and ponderous, they dare not venture over enemy territory for risk of being shot down by machine gun fire. Instead they are likely to linger over rebel lines, engaging only Libyan positions in the immediate vicinity. Given enough time, the Apaches can take out gun positions one by one, but time is not on Nato’s side. Many members, notably Germany and Turkey, were reluctant partners from the start and at the United Nations China and Russia have complained that the western alliance did not consult over the extension of a mandate designed to protect civilians into what is a full-scale war. Nato needs victory quickly by breaking the will of Gaddafi’s troops. “Sixty per cent of Gaddafi’s army do not want to fight,” says Abdulla Ali, a rebel army spokesman in Misrata. “They are forced there. If they do not fight they are shot.” Mohammed says Nato has instructed his forces to stay behind a “red line” marked out along the Misrata front, allowing Nato to kill anything it sees west of that line. It is an instruction he intends to obey. His dark eyes betray the strain of fighting through the streets of his city for the past 70 days. He stands, clad in a green shirt, pale jeans and black sandals amid a sand-encrusted checkpoint of corrugated iron and a few battered plastic chairs. Around his chest is the shoulder strap of a battered AK-47 machine gun, on his shirt a small badge with the picture of Ramadan Swehli, hero of the city’s resistance against Italian occupation nearly a century ago, superimposed over the rebel red, green and black tricolour. However, before the Apaches are unleashed, Nato has decided to give diplomacy a final shot. The key part of this plan fell into place on Friday when Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev announced – possibly through gritted teeth – that he now supported Nato’s demand that Gaddafi step down immediately and unconditionally. That message will be delivered by Zuma in Tripoli tomorrow, coupled with the threat that if the Libyan leader refuses, Nato will unleash what will be the heaviest attack the alliance has mounted. Yesterday brought a clear sign of its increasing impatience with the regime as a rare daytime air strike was launched on the capital of Tripoli. For diplomats, the problem is not with Zuma’s negotiating skills, but with the fact that the message he conveys to Gaddafi offers no carrots, only sticks. Capitulation means he faces certain death if he stays in Libya. If he flees, any country willing to take him will shortly receive demands from the UN to hand him over to the International Criminal Court, whose judges are expected to issue an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity within weeks. The chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has already called for one of his sons, Saif, to be indicted, and more charges against three more members of the regime are expected to follow later this year. In Misrata, few rebels expect the Libyan dictator to agree to step down, even in the face of Nato’s bolstered firepower. “He will not listen – he will stay and fight,” said Osama Alfitory, a fighter from Benghazi who volunteered to come and help in Misrata, for him a brother-city. “This guy is insane. I think he believes he will win in the end.” Nato hopes that if its renewed assault begins – which could happen as early as Tuesday night – Gaddafi’s army will start to think differently. Muammar Gaddafi Nato Libya Jacob Zuma Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Sarah Palin is launching her East Coast bus tour tomorrow during a motorcycle rally to honor veterans, but some organizers aren’t happy about it. “She wasn’t invited,” Rolling Thunder organizer Ted Shpak tells MSNBC. “She’s not invited to speak. We’re not endorsing her … (but) we can’t stop her from coming…
Continue reading …After a four-year blockade, Egypt today permanently opened the Gaza Strip’s main gateway to the outside world, bringing long-awaited relief to the territory’s Palestinian population and a significant achievement for the area’s ruling Hamas militant group. The reopening of the Rafah border crossing eases an Egyptian blockade that has prevented…
Continue reading …Gil Scott-Heron, the spoken-word artist and musician often hailed as the godfather of hip-hop and made famous by “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” has died at age 62, reports NPR. Scott-Heron was held up as a major influence by many in the hip-hop community, including Kanye West, who closed…
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Fifa’s ethics committee due to deliver a verdict on claims of backhanders and bought votes in world football On Sunday night the 12 members of Fifa’s ethics committee will deliver a verdict that could decide the future of football’s governing body, amid growing calls for fundamental reform and fresh criticism from politicians and major sponsors. As the 208 member nations gather in Zurich to choose Fifa’s president for the next four years, there is growing pressure for the election to be suspended, given that both candidates, the incumbent Sepp Blatter and Mohamed bin Hammam, face serious corruption allegations. The calls come as Jack Warner, Fifa’s vice-president, who is also appearing before the ethics committee to deny bribery claims, predicts a “football tsunami” will hit the organisation in the next couple of days that will “shock” the world. “The time has come when I must stop playing dead so you’ll see it, it’s coming, trust me you’ll see it by now and Monday,” Warner told newspapers in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. Meanwhile the British sports minister, Hugh Robertson, is to speak to his foreign counterparts in an effort to form a consensus that action needs to be taken to reform Fifa. Robertson feels this crisis could be Fifa’s “Salt Lake City moment”, referring to the bribery scandal that forced the International Olympic Committee into reform in 1999. While Blatter’s supporters believe he holds the upper hand and will claim a fourth term as president on Wednesday, many think he has underestimated the strength of feeling outside the Fifa bubble. “This happens to people when they do jobs for too long,” Robertson said. “They live in an ivory tower and lose any connection with the world outside. They probably think people will dismiss this, without realising how serious it is.” Much will depend on the outcome of today’s deliberations by the ethics committee, which could suspend either or both men. Alternatively, it could provisionally suspend both Blatter and Bin Hammam while it deliberates further. Blatter, whose 13-year tenure at the top of world football has been marked by recurrent scandal, became the 10th of its 24 executive committee members to face corruption allegations last Friday. His opponent, Bin Hammam, who is charged with attempting to buy votes in Wednesday’s election, has claimed that payments made to Caribbean Football Union officials were for legitimate expenses and that Blatter knew all about them, having been told by Warner. It was Warner, who has held a powerful position in Fifa for 28 years by virtue of controlling Concacaf’s bloc of 35 votes, who arranged Bin Hammam’s special conference with 25 voting members of the CFU on 10-11 May, at which bundles of $40,000 (£24,000) in cash are alleged to have been distributed. The claims are documented in a dossier collated by John Collins, a Chicago attorney who was asked to investigate by Concacaf general secretary and Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer when he was approached by concerned CFU members. Bin Hammam, a Qatari who has spent 15 years on Fifa’s executive committee, claims the allegations are a plot to undermine his chances in the election, and accuses Blatter of “tawdry manoeuvre” amid “increasing evidence of a conspiracy”. For his part, Blatter insists that he knew nothing of the allegations until Wednesday morning. Last week’s events have shown the folly of the continued insistence from both men that they will overhaul Fifa’s tarnished image. They were once close, with Bin Hammam helping Blatter to victory in the 1998 and 2002 elections, but fell out when Bin Hammam felt that Blatter had reneged on a promise to stand down this year. Blatter is likely to dismiss calls for reform from Britain, Australia and the US as sour grapes over their World Cup bid humiliations, and will take heart from the support of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, whom he helped to victory in the 2014 race. But he will find it harder to dismiss the concerns of the major sponsors who have bankrolled Fifa, which is now sitting on reserves of $1.3bn a year thanks to television and advertising deals. “I have to say that in general we have had a good relationship with Fifa for a long time,” Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer told the Observer. ” But obviously all that has happened in the past few days is neither positive for sport nor for Fifa.” It was partly Blatter’s desire to turn the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups into a twin-track circus that created the climate for corruption and turned the spotlight on Fifa’s inner workings. The FA has passed its own file of evidence to Fifa collected in the wake of allegations made by the former FA chairman Lord Triesman against four executive committee members – Warner, Nicolás Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi – of soliciting inducements during the 2018 World Cup bidding process. A claim that Warner asked for financial help to build an education centre has been backed up by Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, while the file also includes an email from Warner to Triesman asking the FA to pay for Haiti’s World Cup TV rights through him. Two other Fifa executive committee members, the Nigerian Amos Adamu and Oceania’s representative Reynald Temarii, were suspended by Fifa in October following a cash-for-votes investigation by the Sunday Times . Two more, Jacques Anouma and Issa Hayatou, were accused by an anonymous whistleblower of accepting bribes of $1.5m (£910,000) from the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid according to evidence submitted by the paper to a parliamentary inquiry. Hayatou, Leoz and Teixeira were also accused by a BBC Panorama documentary of accepting bribes from a $100m slush fund administered by ISL in the 1990s. All have denied the allegations. Sepp Blatter Fifa Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk
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Bomber in police uniform targets provincial governor’s office killing a police chief and injuring several others A Taliban suicide bomber attacked a provincial governor’s compound in Takhar, killing the police chief of northern Afghanistan and seriously injuring a top Nato commander. Two other Afghan officials were also reported to have died in the attack. Several international servicemen were reported injured by eyewitnesses. German officials confirmed to Spiegel magazine Major General Markus Kneip, who commands Nato forces in the north Afghanistan, had received wounds that were “severe” but not life-threatening. A Nato spokesman in Kabul confirmed western casualties but was unable to provide details. The Taliban, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for the attack and pledged that “killing high ranking officials will continue.” Mujeebullah Rahman, the deputy director of the local council in Takhar province, said the attack took place at about 4pm when a meeting to discuss local security operations was ending. “The bomber was waiting in the corridor, wearing the uniform of an Afghan policeman,” Rahman said. The attack capped a bloody 48 hours in which seven Americans, two British and two other Nato servicemen were killed by roadside bombs or by insurgents in the south of the country. So far 44 Nato soldiers have been killed this month, and .nearly 200 have died in the year. The British servicemen, from 42 Royal Marine Commando, were on patrol when a hidden explosive device was triggered. However, the Takhar attack was more audacious. The German general may have been specifically targeted as he commands a zone which has seen a high number of special forces operations against insurgents in recent months. But the main target may have been General Mohammed Daoud Daoud. He served as a deputy interior minister for narcotics before being posted as police chief in the north, and was also the former bodyguard of the legendary guerilla leader Ahmed Shah Massod who was killed by suicide bombers in 2001. Targeting high profile figures has long been an aim of the insurgents, for having a major propaganda impact overseas. The fighting this year is seen as a key test of strength as it comes against a background of US decisions about troop withdrawals this summer, the death of Osama bin Laden and tentative moves to find some kind of political settlement to the conflict, now in its tenth year. Afghanistan Nato Taliban Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …North Korea freed an American it held for a half year for reportedly proselytizing, handing him today to a US envoy who said Washington had not promised to provide aid in exchange for the man’s release. The envoy, Robert King, accompanied Eddie Jun on a flight from Pyongyang, and told…
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Robert Daley had been clinging to the hope of watching the teenage diving champion compete in the 2012 Olympics The father of Tom Daley, the teenage British diving champion, has died aged 40 following a battle with brain cancer. Robert Daley, who followed his son’s career around the world despite his illness and became a familiar figure at the poolside and press conferences, died peacefully late on Friday with his family by his side. Although his health had been deteriorating since February, after it was confirmed that a tumour had returned five years after he was first diagnosed with cancer, Robert Daley had been clinging to the hope of seeing his son compete at the 2012 Olympics The 17-year-old diver, who lives with his family in Plymouth and is currently the world platform champion, paid tribute to his father on Twitter, saying: “If I could be half the dad that my Dad was to me then that would be my best achievement! I love you!” Mr Daley had attended all of of his son’s events until last year’s Commonwealth Games, when he was forced to remain at home after a tumour returned. However, he remained determined to support his son and he made a late dash to Sheffield with his family last month to watch Tom and synchro partner Peter Waterfield claim their first gold medal together in the World Series. Before the final of that competition, Tom was pictured in the crowd hugging his sobbing father, who had been determined to watch his son dive at next year’s Olympics in London. Mr Daley was wearing a T-shirt that night, which read: “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.” His son said after the event: “I am his oil.” A statement from British Swimming said: “Tom Daley’s father, Rob Daley lost his battle with cancer yesterday 27 May at 21.35 hours. “Rob Daley, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2006, passed away peacefully with his family at his side. “His health has been fluctuating since February but he continued to fight until the last day, defying doctors’ expectations. “The family have asked for respect to their privacy during this very difficult period.” Jamie Cunningham, one of the diver’s publicity team, said: “When Rob and I walked into Tom’s post-victory press conference at the 2009 World Championships, there was a slight feeling of embarrassment mainly because Rob had a very private moment with Tom in front of the world’s media. “However, it was actually not about ego. Rob had just watched his 15-year-old son become Britain’s youngest ever world champion. He had not been able to congratulate him for nearly an hour… Rob was just being Rob, passionate and proud. “Tom Daley is without doubt the most impressive teenager I have ever met – both as a sportsman and a human being. That is the biggest compliment that I can pay Rob. We will miss you Rob, but we will cherish your memory.” Mr Daley leaves his wife, Debbie, and three sons Tom, William and Ben. Tom Daley Olympics 2012: Diving Diving Olympic Games 2012 Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
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