Toddler disappears from vacation home; allegedly found dead 12 miles from the location hours later

“I never really opened my mouth to sing before I was about 17, I didn’t even know what I sounded like Being the frontman happened by default In the early days I only used to sing one song Then it became two, three, until I ended up doing them all I hated it. Over the years people have said, ‘oh, it sounds like the Cure,’ and what they’re really saying is, it’s me, it sounds like my voice. We’ve done loads of different things, and in fact on the new single, if it wasn’t for my voice you would have no idea it was the Cure But as soon as I open my mouth … It gives me an advantage, because I can be instantly more intimate, I don’t have to fight for attention But the drawback is that it never varies. Whatever baggage the name of the Cure and my voice brings with it, I’m stuck with.”There are a number of myths that Smith is keen to dispel, not just the tricky question of image.

One is that the Cure’s line-up has been subject to bewildering changes, due to his own petulance. Three years ago, founder-member Lol Tolhurst took Smith to the High Court in a blaze of ugly publicity about drinking binges and bullying. “I’ve got this reputation of having a high turnover; in fact there’s only six or seven ex-Cures abroad in the world, and over 20 years that’s not too bad. The group has always been about what people are like, it’s not to do with how they can play. Very few members of the Cure have been anything more than proficient No virtuosos. I’ve really liked everybody who’s been in the group, and I’m still on speaking terms with all but one of them. It’s just that if you feel uncomfortable crying in front of someone, you can’t really do work with any emotional depth.

I can still go for a drink with them [the ex-Cures] but I can’t cry in front of them. They become acquaintances rather than friends.”Those with long memories will recall that Smith was the Banshees’s guitarist for 18 months in the early Eighties, playing, most memorably, on the single “Dear Prudence”. Asked if there was any ego clash between himself and the famously spiky Siouxsie Sioux, he permits himself a brief explosion of mirth, a sort of wheezy snigger. “It caused quite a bit of friction at the time, because the Cure were actually selling more records than the Banshees. We did ‘Love Cats’ and it was a big hit! When I was with the Banshees, I refused any payment It meant they couldn’t make me do anything. Sioux found it difficult; she’s unused to males saying no to her.” There’s a long pause after this statement.

“I’ve not seen or spoken to her but I’m not sure that Sioux and I would be on very good terms. She’d probably hold a grudge.”With the Banshees, he relished the chance to step back from the limelight for once. Not one of the world’s natural performers, Smith needs a drink before venturing on to the stage, but he plays down the allegations of frantic, excessive boozing which made the Tolhurst case so entertaining for pop-watchers. “The group has a reputation for excess, and it has been justified. We were drunkards for quite long periods of time and the group has always been sociable, which doesn’t really fit in with what we’re supposed to be like.

But there have been members of the group who’ve drunk to excess too often, and it’s reduced them to jelly, which is what happened with Lol I had one last fling in 1989, the year I turned 30. Everybody just enjoyed drinking and it’s better than getting involved with hard drugs. I suppose I set the tone; if I smoked a lot of dope, then the band would too.”Sociable? The Cure? Smith seems almost suicidally keen to shoot down all the stereotypes now, revealing that he’s a fan of audiobooks (“they’re good to listen to in the garden when it gets too dark to turn the pages”), that he re-reads one of the Narnia books every Christmas, and that he’s going to buy himself a potter’s wheel “I went to a craft show in the summer. I hadn’t been on a potter’s wheel since I was at school and it was so brilliant. There was this line of kids behind me going, ‘Can you tell that man to finish?’ I was on it for about 15 minutes just making the same pot. It was excellent!”When he’s out and about in Brighton, near where he lives, people often think he’s a lookalike “They go, ‘You’re not him, are you?’ and I say no. Then they come up again and say, ‘Can you sign this anyway?’” Smith is famous for his uxoriousness, having married his childhood sweetheart a few years ago Mary does voluntary work.

And that they do so with a sprinkling of star names.Chelsea are understood to have offered Carlos a three-year deal with wages of around £88,000-a-week. If the 33-year-old left-back signs for the Premiership champions it will be the second major transfer this summer, afterthe arrival of Andriy Shevchenko, which was also conducted by Abramovich.
It is understood that the Chelsea owner, who attended a lot of matches at the World Cup, is taking an increased role in the club’s dealings and is determined that they win the Champions’ League next season as well as retaining the Premiership title. Chelsea are to push ahead with their interest in signing Roberto Carlos from Real Madrid – with the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, rather than the manager, Jose Mourinho, emerging as the driving force behind the deal. Linked to: Real Madrid, Man UtdZlatan Ibrahimovic 24Sweden, Forward Approx value: £18m Contract expires: June 2008 Linked to: Spurs, MilanDavid Trezeguet 28France, forward App value: £15m Contract expires: June 09 Linked to: Lyon.Marcelo Zalayeta 27Uruguayan, Forward Approx value: £5m Contract expires: unknown Linked to: No one as yet.Emerson 30Brazilian, Midfielder Approx value: £12m Contract expires: June 2009.

Linked to: Real Madrid (loan), Inter, MilanRobert Kovac 32Croatian, defender Approx value: £2m Contract expires: unknown StayingPavel Nedved 33Czech, midfielder Approx Value £5m Contract expires: June 2008 Staying. Linked to: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, Bayern Munich, Valencia, Atletico MadridPatrick Vieira 30French, midfielder Approx value: £7m Contract expires: June 2010. Linked to: Real Madrid, ArsenalLilian Thuram 34French, defender, Approx value: free Contract expires: June 2007. Linked to: Arsenal, Fulham, Man Utd, Barcelona, retirementGianluca Zambrotta 29Italian, defender, Approx value: £12m Contract expires: June 2010. Linked to: Real Madrid (loan), Barcelona, InternazionaleMauro Camoranesi 29Italian, midfielder, Approx value: £7m Contract expires: June 2009. “First of all he will wait for the sentence and then in 15 to 20 days he will decide his future,” Damiani said.Vieira’s future is, perhaps, the most intriguing.

He is unwanted by Capello at Real, even though he only bought him for Juve last summer, and is unlikely to stay in Italy should his club be relegated. That opens up a return to the Premiership and the intriguing possibility, for example, of him finally ending up at Old Trafford. It may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.A squad up for grabsJUVENTUSGianluigi Buffon 28Italian, goalkeeper Approx value: £12m Contract expires: June 2009. Linked to: Arsenal, MilanFabio Cannavaro 32Italian, defender Approx value: £10m, Contract expires: June 2008. Ars? Wenger will also be taking a keen interest in Thuram.Yesterday, his agent, Oscar Damiani, said that the 34-year-old will end up in “England, Spain or Italy, everything is possible but nothing is decided”. That will disappoint Barcelona who had hoped to strike an early agreement with the defender, who is currently on holiday in Guadeloupe and may not decide his future until the beginning of August.

Juve are hoping a number of such deals can be agreed while Nedved has already held talks with Monaco.Buffon is also greatly in demand. Again both Milan clubs have expressed interest while Arsenal would consider a bid even though the asking price – in excess of £12m – may prove prohibitive. The latter, who is comfortable on either flank, is in particular demand. Bar-celona have tried to secure him while Milan are putting together a strong bid.

Chelsea are also said to have made a tentative approach.Capello’s interest in Ibrahimovic has cooled. Indeed, the Swedish striker is now close to agreeing a deal to go to Internazionale although Premiership clubs, such as Spurs, may still be keen to try to propose a loan deal instead. They have just hired Juve’s former coach Fabio Capello and have already all but signed up Cannavaro – talks are said to be at “an advanced stage” – while they remain confident that Emerson and Zambrotta will follow him. Most of the players have expressed interest in going to Spain, staying in Italy or – in the case of Trezeguet who is linked to Lyon – returning to France rather than moving to England.Real Madrid are undoubtedly in the strongest bidding position. To make money now is not our priority.”We will decide on each individual case alongside the new coach, Didier Deschamps.

Gary Gerber of Sun Light & Power is a veteran of the Solar Power business going back to the industry’s roots

Dutch soccer legend Edgar Davids is confident that South Africa can make a good job of hosting the World Cup, and that the Rainbow nation will benefit from the continent’s first staging of football’s showpiece tournament.

And then there are those other dogged loyalists who still believe that Mr Blair will hold a referendum on the euro during this Parliament.”You knew just where you were with Errol,” a Hollywood friend of the libidinous swashbuckler once said. “He always let you down.” In that respect, Tony Blair is the Errol Flynn of contemporary politics.And yet of all those who have been let down by Mr Blair, none has more reason for bitterness than David Trimble. His resignation as First Minister a week ago left Northern Ireland in crisis (a condition the province knows well), and any confrontation today at the Garvaghy Road is unlikely to ease the atmosphere at tomorrow’s all-party talks in Shropshire. But then nor is it likely that Mr Blair will examine his own responsibility for the latest impasse.Republicans have rather successfully spun a line that decommissioning is a figment of Unionist imagination and was not originally considered a necessary part of the peace process.

This is simply untrue, as can be seen in tonight’s penultimate episode of Endgame in Ireland on BBC2, the latest of Norma Percy’s outstanding documentary series. Here is the contemporary evidence that what Sir Patrick Mayhew called “the actual decommissioning of some arms as a tangible confidence-building measure” was repeatedly required of the IRA.Last week The Guardian called decommissioning a red herring. But in 1995 two of that paper’s own correspondents wrote: “What is not in doubt is that prior to and immediately following the IRA ceasefire the political parties in the Irish republic shared London’s view that guns would have to be handed over before substantive talks got under way.” Quite so: in 1993, Dick Spring as deputy prime minister told the Dublin parliament: “We are talking about a handing up of arms. There can be no equivocation.”We are now told that any demand for disarming was always absurd. Or as Kevin Toolis writes: “There is not going to be any IRA decommissioning of weapons this side of a united Ireland Not one bullet, one gun Full stop. Final.” All I would say to that is that in May 1998 I covered the referendum campaign on the Belfast Agreement, and if what Mr Toolis says had been spelled out then in those terms, the referendum in Northern Ireland would not have passed. Full stop.What mattered to Mr Trimble was less what was said by Dublin politicians or republican apologists than what was said by Tony Blair.

He not only personally told the Ulster voters that “prisoners will be kept in unless violence is given up for good”, but he privately assured Mr Trimble that there would be some measure of IRA disarmament before the formation of an Ulster executive.It may be genuinely difficult for a man with Mr Blair’s own tenuous hold on truth to understand that others think he might mean what he says. But he could at least try to see that, by doing what he did to Mr Trimble, he left him – in a hallowed phrase of Irish politics – with his arse hanging out of the window.Whatever happens to him – whether he somehow comes back to office, or returns to academic law, or joins the British shadow cabinet, as has been quaintly suggested – he remains one of the most interesting politicians of the age. Alan Watkins once wrote that he was the most capable party leader at Westminster. More fascinating than Mr Trimble’s latest manoeuvrings is his much longer political evolution, something for which he has not been given enough credit. The Orange extremist of the 1970s became the Nobel prize-winner who could acknowledge in his acceptance speech that Northern Ireland had been “a cold house for Catholics”.Even when he had disavowed the wilder shores of loyalism, Mr Trimble long remained less a “Unionist” in a literal sense than an Ulster nationalist This is something quite misunderstood in England. Twenty years ago found David Trimble actually advocating an independent Ulster. Now he has moved well away from that position also, and wants to find a way “of involving the province much more in British political life”.

This change itself suggests a certain detachment on his part from his Ulster Unionist Party, or perhaps disenchantment with provincial politics, and the devolved government which was for so long his obsessive goal.Nor would that be odd. The latest result of what John Bruton, the last Irish prime minister, wearily used to call “the f—— peace process” has been the squeezing out of the centre parties. Sinn Fein overtook the SDLP at the general election, and the Democratic Unionists are rapidly overtaking the UUP. In London dismay and astonishment are expressed at this, but nothing could be more predictable. Nationalist voters turn from the SDLP to Sinn Fein on the principle, why vote for the monkey when you can vote for the organ-grinder?And Unionists – those grim, unloved, literal-minded protestants – abandon the man who was abandoned by Tony Blair when he gave promises he had no intention of keeping.

The technologyrepresents a new step for us towards the creation of ubiquitous mesh wirelesssensor networks,” said Dr John Peeters President & CEO Gentag. Virtutech Simics allows for arevolutionary change in the product development process at a full system levelrather than a component level and is the only commercial solution that deliversthe four most important criteria for successful deployment of hardwarevirtualization in the electronics equipment development process: speed,scalability, model availability, and control. To limit the length of the list and being an SEC guy, I included only teams, which equal or exceeded the recruiting of the SEC’s top six teams.Since all teams are limited to 85 scholarship players, I think the average star rating is better indicator of team talent than average annual ranking. Billy Beane historically asks for a lot for his players, and considering the deals he got for guys like Danny Haren or even Mark Mulder before that, you can just imagine what he would want for this guy.I’m guessing that Cabrera, Kennedy, and a couple of lower to mid-level guys would do it, but I don’t think we want to spend on a guy who although good, is probably not Johan Santana (we offered that package for Santana, so..)  5. Creditors will have the ability to vote to accept or rejectthe proposed Sterlite plan, according to court documents. This research further reinforces that withABRAXANE`s nab® technology, SPARC binds to the albumin-bound medicine; insteadof delivering nutrients to the tumor, it delivers chemotherapy, killing cancercells and halting tumor growth.

consultants Andy Clark and Patsy Kanter will beon hand to introduce this groundbreaking program to conference attendees. Aimco common shares aretraded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AIV and areincluded in the S&P 500. The Chicago Cubs wanted to nail a guy called Bartman to a cross in 2003. Christian has already had a cup of coffee with the Yankees this season and could see more time if the injuries to Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon are as serious as we are being led to believe (surgery for Matsui is likely).Christian is another player that could grab and produce steals for you in a hurry and will provide a decent average moving forward. The PCL has a few names that you might already know Dallas McPherson is one of them. UMB Financial CorporationMandie Nelson, 816-860-5088orAbby Mayer, 816-860-1685Investor RelationsCopyright Business Wire 2009.

Crowe hit .323/.404/.485 in 198 at-bats with Akron this season He also chipped in four home runs and 13 stolen bases. Guys like Jason Giambi or Ryan Howard come to mind because they swing for the fences every single time.Given the current offensive situation with the Yankees and their quest for their 27th World Series, A-Rod needs to be focused and produce runs. Hanna, RN, MSN,COHN-S, FAAOHN, is Northeast Region Director and Director of Integrated Healthand Productivity for the Hershey Company in Hershey, Pa. “This is just the latest example of AFGE’s strong representation on behalf ofTSOs,” said AFGE President John Gage. The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 9-4 on Saturday afternoon.Darrell Rasner pitched for New York today. You know the chicks who want him and the kids who idolize him Undertaker is respected by “real” wrestling fans. Major improvements in Solidify 5.1 include:* SEC.Once a design`s functional goals are achieved, engineers use sequentialoptimization techniques to improve power and performance.

Merling probably won’t start right away, but it would not surprise me to see him take over for Roth as the season progresses. Peace Arch Entertainment Group Inc.John Flock, Copyright Business Wire 2009. He must be able to market his player and make him appear to be the player every team has to have.Then, there’s the underbelly.The best agents in the world of professional sports are the ones who never tip their hand. Jim Clark (SCO) – The dominant driver of his era, he was the predecessor to Jackie Stewart, winning the World Championship in 1963 and 1965.He died in a crash in 1968 while racing in Germanyafter just eight years of racing. Thedeath rate for bicyclists, ages 5 to 14, is still nearly twice the rate for allother bicyclists.

Desktop Client 6.0 extends the security of RMS to PDF documentsand drawings and files produced in the most popular CAD applications toprotect a major source of valuable corporate intellectual capital.It alsohas the ability to stop hundreds of screen scraping and PC sharingapplications while protected documents are being viewed and in the processenhance the security for your enterprise.GigaTrust’s Desktop Client 6.0 technology offers users advanced EnterpriseRights Management upgrades exclusively for Microsoft’s Rights ManagementServices (RMS). BRIDGEWATER, N.J., April 20 /PRNewswire/ — XStreamHD, an emerging leader inthe delivery and distribution of Full High Definition (HD) entertainment tothe home, has selected R&J Public Relations, LLC of Bridgewater, N.J., as itspublic relations agency of record. More information about the company may be found at , SAP NetWeaver and all SAP logos are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. This draft landed the Leafs two big parts of the burgeoning young squad that would be dismantled by Ballard before reaching its potential.Dave “Tiger” Williams needs little introduction.

Nigerian footballer Stephen Worgu has been sentenced to 40 lashes after he was convicted of drinking alcohol in Sudan where he plays for first division side Al-Merreikh of Omdurman.

I imagine a large percentage of my regular readers is drawn from the membership of that estimable club; for them, White’s: the First Three Hundred Years will prove a most engaging companion as the nights begin to draw in and as the servants pull-to the shutters at an ever earlier hour.
Having been a highly respected member of that illustrious institution for over 30 years now – 33 come August, to be exact] – I must confess to a shred of disappointment that my name was to be found nowhere in the index, nor in the chapters on ‘Bon Viveurs’, ‘Literateurs’ or ‘Raconteurs’. Compared to Arthur Scargill’s responsibility, my role was rather limited. He said the BBC and ITN were taking broadcasting restrictions ‘to the limit and perhaps beyond’. Mr Nelson’s provincial tour indicates some government interest in smaller firms, but the fact that his visits are not planned to finish until next spring indicates there is little sense of urgency.High on the list of Budget options being pushed by the small business lobby are a decent replacement for the BES and tax relief on investments of up to pounds 250,000.The first of these is a reference to the much-vaunted business angels – private investors willing to act as one- man venture capital funds and invest in growing businesses. My parents were always going on about how hard work was central to success, that you had to be self-reliant, make something of yourself.

On the face of it, the case looks reasonably compelling.For 56 per cent of last year’s cash flow and 46 per cent of proven reserves, Lasmo shareholders are being offered only 40 per cent of the equity and initially just 11 per cent of the dividends of the combined group.Nor does Lasmo need Enterprise’s money – it is quite capable of funding its pounds 800m of planned expenditure from internal resources, the document claims.Scratch the surface, however, and you find a considerably less convincing case The argument about finance is all so much tosh. At stake in a case which for months has electrified the genteel and languid city of Charleston is a vestige of the Southern military traditions forged during the Confederacy: the right of a military college called the Citadel, funded by the taxpayers of South Carolina, to bar female students from its Cadet Corps.
In the past few years, one male redoubt after another has crumbled before the feminist tide. Mr Ullstein said the challenge happened after about 12 minutes when Mr Saunders made a two-footed jump into a tackle. Return on capital rose to 48 per cent from 31 per cent last time, compared to an average of 23 per cent for the City’s four other largest investment banks.The balance in SNC’s business has shifted since Big Bang in 1986, with income from international business increasing from 20 per cent in 1986 to 57 per cent. Shapiro offered an alibi defence: that Simpson was elsewhere at the time of the killings. Since almost the beginning of Victoria’s reign, the 50,000 acres of Scottish Highland forest, water and greensward, have offered a retreat from maddening repetitions of the National Anthem; a place where members of the Royal Family might climb crags, kill wild animals and play golf, deaf alike to the prayers of friends and the menaces of foes.

Now, at last, we know what is right and what is wrong.THE FOCUS of General Morillon’s achievement is Srebrenica, a Muslim town in eastern Bosnia which has been under Serbian siege for 11 months. These could be invaluable in Russia’s mining industry – it has vast mineral deposits and coal reserves which are under-exploited.A 90-pound piece of tank ammunition, for example, could yield 20 pounds of brass and explosives, steel and propellants.Although these could all be re-used, the programme would have to be funded by Western aid. So much so that many people, myself included, can hardly bring themselves to read about it. Inspirations sells about 170,000 holidays a year.Some money will also be used to develop the travel agency business, which has only five outlets.

—————————————————————– BEST-SELLERS / TOP 10 STAINS —————————————————————– 1 Grease / oil 2 Ballpoint pen 3 Paint / tar 4 Mould / ink 5 Coffee / tea 6 Rust / iron mould 7 Glue / chewing gum 8 Fruit / wine 9 Felt-tip pen 10 Sauce / spice —————————————————————– Chart supplied by Stain Devils, Watford, Herts —————————————————————–. Spitzer’s drawings, which were hardly worth framing, show that he has had difficulty in becoming an individual artist. The real debate was about the back row and whether to stand by Dean Richards. Lloyds’ fees are 0.9 per cent a month on the outstanding overdraft, an APR of 11.3 per cent.Unauthorised overdrafts are punished by higher charges. As this indicates, the editorial apparatus is up to the Olympian standard of the previous volume. Archer’s first biographer, Jonathan Mantle, tells us that he died in Weston- super-Mare in 1955, when Archer was 15. Other measures include crash-activated belt tensioners, front belts that automatically adjust to the wearer’s height, and anti-lock brakes, all included in the 2.0 GLT’s price of pounds 18,695.The 2.0 GLT is comfortable, quiet and smooth-riding, but nothing about the conservative cabin raises driver expectations, even allowing for well-placed controls, clear instruments and a fine driving position (the steering wheel adjusts for height and reach).The 2-litre, five-cylinder engine is smoother than some six-cylinder rivals But fast it is not.

There are some clever ways to generate a little cash online as well as get your holiday shopping done.

Woods goes for the flag with a two from 246 yards but ends up in a gulley on the right half of the green.May putts too firmly to 15 feet wheras Woods takes the wrong line but is only six feet away. May holes his tricky downhill putt and Woods, knowing that a miss will give May the title, rolls in his six-footer to force a play-off.The pair went back to the 16th hole for the first play-off hole Woods hit with a one iron while May chose a three wood. For his second shot of 201 yards, May chose a seven iron and Woods chose the same club for his197 yard shot. May needed a pitching wedge and left himself inches from the hole but Woods downed a difficult putt for a birdie three.On the second play-off hole at the 17th Woods used a driver but slipped well off the fairway. May also used a driver but ended on the outskirts of a bunker.

Woods chose a pitching wedge from 123 yards whereas May used a nine iron from 155 yards from the hole.Woods opted for a putter and left himself within inches of the hole on his third shot. May chose a sand wedge and got closer than Woods both players putted for par.On the final hole Woods teed off on the 542 yard hole using a three wood whereas May opted for a driver again. Woods got himself out of trouble using an iron whereas May chose a three iron and landed to the right of the hole. Woods was 150 yards from the hole and chose a pitching wedge but landed in the bunker May chose a nine iron and just hit the green. An excellent bunker shot using a sand wedge saw Woods land inches from the hole, and May needed to successfully putt but missed by an inch.Woods holes out to make history.. Ford is easily the most successful manufacturer in the history of the British Touring Car Championship, but the last few seasons have been bleak for the Blue Oval. That is all set to change now; with six rounds of the 2000 title race to run, the top three drivers in the points are the three works Ford drivers.

Ford is easily the most successful manufacturer in the history of the British Touring Car Championship, but the last few seasons have been bleak for the Blue Oval. That is all set to change now; with six rounds of the 2000 title race to run, the top three drivers in the points are the three works Ford drivers.
Vauxhall’s Yvan Muller and Jason Plato are still in the frame, but the odds are on a Ford driver – Anthony Reid, Alain Menu or Rickard Rydell – to take the title.The turnaround in Ford fortunes started with a change in approach from the Ford executives who sign off the budgets. Reid saw it when he chose to leave Nissan at the end of 1998 and join them. It looked a pretty disastrous decision last year, when Reid watched the man who had replaced him at Nissan, Laurent Aiello, win the title, but Reid always felt he had made the right decision, saying: “The way the Ford marketing people looked at it was that they were not going to spend the money any more unless it was to win.”It was a big change from the way Ford had appeared to be going about their BTCC business in the years immediately before. A succession of seasons were spoiled when budgets were committed too late and over-complicated programme structures were set up – with one company responsible for building cars, another for running them through the season and a third for buildingengines.At the end of 1998 the approach changed. Responsibility for both building the cars and running them was handed – crucially for a continuous two-year period – to Prodrive, the Banbury firm which also runs the immensely successful Subaru world rally championship programme that took Colin McRae to the top and is currently giving Richard Burns his run at the drivers’ championship title.Last year the Mondeo won twice – it was a nearly car, but not a top contender. The Prodrive technical director, David Lapworth, the man responsible for both the Ford and Subaru programmes, explained how his team have transformed the Mondeo into the best car on the grid in 2000 “The real secret has been hard work Last year it had to be right first hit.

The deal was put together relatively late so there was no time for deliberation. When we look at the ‘99 car they had done a very, very good job, but it just missed the mark in a few areas. Over last winter the combination of a very methodical scientific approach and a serious amount of hard work just meant that lots of little details and one or two significant changes completely transformed the car.”In simple terms there has been a slight improvement in the chassis, a bigger one in aerodynamic efficiency and a really significant one in the performance of the engine, which Prodrive took responsibility for at the end of 1999.A series of run-ins with the BTCC technical scrutineers leave it open for detractors to say that Ford and Prodrive have pushed too far in the universal motorsport quest to take technical rules to the limit. Reid denies that.”They’ve played the rules to the limit, but in my view haven’t overstepped them. We had no problems last year, but then we weren’t real players. It’salways the leading team thatattracts the flack.”He adds: “When Ford puts its mind to something, it’s got the resources make it happen.” The snipers would say that a vast budget is foremost among those resources, but Lapworth says not. “It [the budget] is less than it has been and it is less than the budget that we know big teams have operated on in the past.

What I suspect we have got more of than anyone else is man-hours and effort. I don’t think I have ever seen a group of people work as consistently hard as the race team did in the last six months.”One thing that most involved in the BTCC, including Reid and Lapworth, do agree is that they would put money on the winner of the drivers’ title this year being a man wearing Ford overalls. Reid, Menu and Rydell are close together at the top of the standings. They all badly want to win it, but Reid has his own particular reason, centred on the late, great, Jim Clark. Clark won this title in a Ford Lotus Cortina in 1964 (between his two Formula One World Championships in ‘63 and ‘65) “He went to Loretto school and so did I,” explains Reid.