U.K. Government Pledges £1.5m for Scouts' Centenary

Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, today put almost £1.5million behind plans to host 40,000 scouts from 216 countries at this summer's Centenary World Scout Jamboree.

The Office of the Third Sector, in the Cabinet Office, will give the UK Scout Association £1.495m to support the event in Hylands Park, Chelmsford, between July 27 and August 8.

However, when you compare £1.5m to how much the government are funding other projects with it puts the whole thing into perspective!

£1.5 million is quite a hefty amount from a government that doesn't give us much normally.

Anyway, we should be grateful for anything, so thankyou UK government for your backing, it is very much appreciated! For anybody else interested there is a petition over on the number 10 website which says throwing money at us simply isn't enough we need senior politicians making big statements as to how much Scouting means to the UK and the world. So please do sign it!

Hull City loose Craig Fagan!

Hull City's Craig Fagan will join Derby County this week in a deal that could be worth £1m. Peter Taylor originally snapped him up for the tigers in March 2005 for a undisclosed sum, which I think was probably around the £500,000 mark at the most. So not a bad return overall, in that we probably doubled our money in two years!

Hull City 1 - Middlesborough 1

Nicky Forster poured more misery on Premiership Middlesbrough after he came off the bench to force a replay as Hull earned a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup third round. Australian international striker Mark Viduka seemed to have given beleaguered boss Gareth Southgate some cheer as he slotted home in the 73rd minute to give the visitors the lead.

But Hull, who sit one place above the Championship relegation zone, were not to be denied and Forster scored with 11 minutes remaining, just three minutes after replacing Stephen McPhee. By that stage Boro should have been over the hill and out of sight but Nigerian forward Aiyegbeni Yakubu was at his wasteful worst, missing two glorious chances before the break.

He could yet have made amends with three minutes left and an opportunity to win the game, but once again his finishing let him down. Yakubu found himself clean through on 22 minutes but even after rounding Boaz Myhill, the goalkeeper managed to get enough of a touch on the Nigerian's shot to slow the ball and allow Danny Coles to get back and clear the danger.

Two minutes later Yakubu ended up in the net but he had failed to take the ball with him after Myhill missed Stewart Downing's left wing cross. Middlesbrough were dominating as expected with Downing to the fore in much of their attacking work, but the absence of Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and on-loan Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate left them vulnerable at the back.

And that proved decisive as Boro's defence went absent in the 79th minute, allowing Forster to head David Livermore's free-kick past stand-in keeper Brad Jones.

**WELL DONE HULL CITY**

Happy New Year!

Just writing a quick post to wish all my readership a happy New Year, have a good one!