I am sure that, like me, tens of thousands of Glaswegians will have been glued to their TV screens last Sunday afternoon to watch our fellow Scot and Glasgow-born British No.1 Andy Murray compete in the Wimbledon final.
After his emotional words following the match it is clear that Andy may not have won the final, but he certainly won the hearts of the nation.
He is a tremendous role model for young people across the United Kingdom and his success I am sure will inspire many young Scots to take up sport.
As we look forward to the start of the Olympics and the build- up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014, I am incredibly proud to support Glasgow City Council's bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in our great city.
If we are given the honour of hosting the Youth Olympics, it will be a fantastic chance for us to build an even bigger and greater sporting legacy beyond 2014.
It would also, in the words of Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, "be an incredible way to kick-start the careers of the next generation of athletes".
But what is frustrating is that at a time when we have so much to look forward to, our excitement is being over-shadowed by the eruption of another major scandal.
The shocking conduct of those involved in the manipulation of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor) has outraged people across the country. Many have seen their mortgage or business affected by the greed and irresponsibility of a few.
The Libor scandal comes on top of the appalling news that small and medium sized businesses have been miss-sold specialist loan insurance.
Over the last two weeks I have had a number of constituents write to me calling for an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of not just these issues, but also the wider problems around the culture and professional standards of the banking industry.
That is why I stood up in the House of Commons last week and asked the Prime Minister for a full, independent judge-led inquiry instead of the Government's preferred option of a restrictive parliamentary inquiry into LIBOR rigging.
The scale of the crisis, and the degree of public anger over what has been going on at the top of our banking industry, has shown that this is the only way we will rebuild public trust in the banks on which we all rely.
Like on so many other issues, by refusing to allow an independent judge-led inquiry, the Prime Minister has shown how out of touch he is with the gravity and scale of this crisis, and the views of ordinary people up and down our country.
I will keep pressing the Government to take action against the vested interests, but while we wait for the Tories to act, let's recognise the immense talent that we have in Britain and look forward to winning gold at the Olympics and beyond.
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ANAS SARWAR - Scottish Labour's deputy leader writes exclusively
ANAS SARWAR - Scottish Labour's deputy leader writes exclusively
I am sure that, like me, tens of thousands of Glaswegians will have been glued to their TV screens last Sunday afternoon to watch our fellow Scot and Glasgow-born British No.1 Andy Murray compete in the Wimbledon final.
After his emotional words following the match it is clear that Andy may not have won the final, but he certainly won the hearts of the nation.
He is a tremendous role model for young people across the United Kingdom and his success I am sure will inspire many young Scots to take up sport.
As we look forward to the start of the Olympics and the build- up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014, I am incredibly proud to support Glasgow City Council's bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in our great city.
If we are given the honour of hosting the Youth Olympics, it will be a fantastic chance for us to build an even bigger and greater sporting legacy beyond 2014.
It would also, in the words of Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes, "be an incredible way to kick-start the careers of the next generation of athletes".
But what is frustrating is that at a time when we have so much to look forward to, our excitement is being over-shadowed by the eruption of another major scandal.
The shocking conduct of those involved in the manipulation of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor) has outraged people across the country. Many have seen their mortgage or business affected by the greed and irresponsibility of a few.
The Libor scandal comes on top of the appalling news that small and medium sized businesses have been miss-sold specialist loan insurance.
Over the last two weeks I have had a number of constituents write to me calling for an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of not just these issues, but also the wider problems around the culture and professional standards of the banking industry.
That is why I stood up in the House of Commons last week and asked the Prime Minister for a full, independent judge-led inquiry instead of the Government's preferred option of a restrictive parliamentary inquiry into LIBOR rigging.
The scale of the crisis, and the degree of public anger over what has been going on at the top of our banking industry, has shown that this is the only way we will rebuild public trust in the banks on which we all rely.
Like on so many other issues, by refusing to allow an independent judge-led inquiry, the Prime Minister has shown how out of touch he is with the gravity and scale of this crisis, and the views of ordinary people up and down our country.
I will keep pressing the Government to take action against the vested interests, but while we wait for the Tories to act, let's recognise the immense talent that we have in Britain and look forward to winning gold at the Olympics and beyond.
Commenting & Moderation
We moderate all comments on Evening Times on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.
Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.
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