"those Who Come To The Uk Must Abide By Our Laws." A Home Office Spokesman Said.

[Orderlimit]

The protester jailed for disrupting the 2012 Oxford-Cambridge boat race has been ordered to leave the UK.

Trenton Oldfield, 37, has been told by the Home Office his presence in the country would not be "conducive to the public good", reports the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/23/boat-race-protester-trenton-oldfield-ordered-leave-uk

[New Judge]

Sorry chaps, but rowing is not an “elitist” sport.

It is true that not many State schools offer rowing. I don’t think many ever did. I was fortunate enough to have attended a Direct Grant Grammar school (an animal, alas, long extinct) and we had a boathouse on the Thames. However, I also belonged to a rowing club, which still exists, and its fees for youngsters are very reasonable:

http://learc.org.uk/the-club/membershipfees/

I believe their fees are typical of run-of-the-mill clubs (we’re not talking about Leander here).Student membership, as you can see, is two quid a week, equivalent to one outing to MUFC according to mushroom’s figures. All sports cost money if you want to participate. Any youngster interested in rowing can do so for a very moderate outlay. A Big Mac or two may have to be forfeit in order to do so. Apart from the membership fee there are no ongoing costs apart from a bit of PE kit.

The main reason why few youngsters take part is that the sport requires a bit of application and it is seldom available on one’s doorstep. A son of one of my work colleagues belonged to a similar club when school age. He was bright and made it to Cambridge where he gained a place in the “Goldie” boat (the reserve University Boat Race team). He was not a toff, neither was his father, but he was determined and applied himself to what he wanted to do. That may be the drawback which prevents “working class” youngsters from rowing. They prefer to kick a ball around instead as it is more convenient. He is among the people to whom the undesirable Mr Oldfield directed his attention last year.

[New Judge]

How do you define "elitist" then steve?

I have just demonstrated that youngsters can take part at a weekly cost of two Big Macs (or probably far less than most kids spend on their mobile phones). Not many children (or more specifically their parents) have less cash than that to spare.

There are hundreds of rowing clubs across the country which offer facilities at similar cost and they have members from across all "classes" (for want of a better term). The only difference between access to rowing and access to Big Macs is there are fewer rowing clubs than there are McDonalds. But that's because there are fewer stretches of water suitable for rowing than there are roads. It's quite true that fewer youngsters want to take up rowing than football, but it is a matter of popularity rather than affordability and that does not make it elitist.

[mushroom25]

//Big Mac is affordable to all, some of which is their only decent meal. But that is another issue. //

Big macs may be affordable to all - but so are fresh food ingredients, in fact they're even more affordable. There's absolutely no reason why a big mac need be "their only decent meal".

[SeaJayPea]

And it is decidedly arguable whether a Big Mac falls into the category of 'a decent meal' at all.

[New Judge]

Sorry, I should not have raised "Big Macs" :-)