‘A lovely sweet kid’: tributes paid to John Cooney after Irish boxer’s death
John Cooney, the young Irish boxer who has died after a title fight in Belfast, has been described by the former world champion Barry McGuigan as a “lovely sweet kid” whose life was “snapped away”.As a condolence book was opened at Belfast’s Ulster Hall, his manager Mark Dunlop said the death was “a complete tragedy”.McGuigan told BBC Ulster it was “terrifying that this could happen to a 28-year-old kid who was looking in the prime of his life”.“He was just a lovely, sweet kid.Ambitious, determined and driven.
To have his life snapped away like that is just tragic.”Cooney, from Galway, was defending his Celtic super-featherweight championship title against the Welsh boxer Nathan Howells on Saturday 1 February when he suffered an intracranial haemorrhage.The fight was stopped in the ninth round and, following a medical assessment, he was taken to Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital where he died a week later.His promoters, MHD Promotions, announced his death on Saturday, saying it had caused “complete devastation” that would take “a lifetime to forget”.Dunlop told the BBC that Cooney had a “great character” and “a big future” ahead of him when tragedy struck.
“As much as it is a dangerous sport, the fatalities are rare, but they are there,” Dunlop said,“Boxing is a dangerous sport,Every fighter knows the dangers but like everything no one thinks it’s going to come to their door,” he added,“It enhances more lives than it destroys or takes,“One of John’s sayings was ‘tomorrow is not promised’ and he certainly lived for the day, so he deserves this attention.
”Cooney’s death will renew questions about the dangers of boxing and repeated blows to the head taken by fighters.Colin Doherty, a consultant neurologist and head of the school of medicine at Trinity College, Dublin expressed concern about all sports – including rugby – in which players suffer “head injuries, subconcussive and concussive blows”.He called for a joint effort to make such sports safer.“Let us get people together, let the government bring people together, including people like myself and the sports people and players and fans, and let’s make these things safer, because they aren’t as safe as they could be, and that’s just a simple fact,” he told RTÉ.Fellow Galway boxer Kieran Molloy described Cooney as “a fantastic boxer, a young man just chasing his dreams”.
“He was on the verge of some very big fights.He has a huge future ahead of him and he was a very proud Galway man,” Molloy told RTÉ.The former double WBO European champion Conrad Cummings wrote on X: “John Cooney the warrior gave up his fight & passed away this evening.I am deeply saddened, I can’t begin to think of the hurt his poor fiancee & family are going through.I pray they find the strength.
”On Saturday, the Galway Amateur Boxing Association described Cooney’s death as “the worst possible news”.“John lost the battle for his life today having spent the past week in intensive care following a professional bout in Belfast,” it said in a statement.“There are no words to convey the magnitude of this tragedy or that can lessen the grief of his family.”
Asil Nadir, Polly Peck tycoon turned fugitive, dies aged 83
Asil Nadir, the Turkish Cypriot who built Polly Peck International, once Britain’s fastest-growing company, before going on the run after it was discovered he had stolen millions from the conglomerate, has died. He was 83.Tributes poured in on Monday in the Turkish-held north of Cyprus, where the one-time fugitive businessman was regarded as a hero and for many years had lived in exile and isolation.“Every person is as long-lived as his works. Asil Nadir is immortal with his works,” wrote Hasan Hastürer, a columnist in Kıbrıs Gazetesi, the newspaper once owned by the tycoon
Asil Nadir obituary
Asil Nadir was the stock market poster boy of the 1980s who conned City bankers and private investors, not to mention the Conservative party, then staged a dramatic escape to spend 17 years as a fugitive before returning to the UK to face trial.A Turkish Cypriot immigrant, Nadir, who has died aged 83, was for many years feted as a success in the UK and Turkey. A 1991 biography of him was entitled The Sultan of Berkeley Square. Charismatic, charming and stylish, with playboy looks and lifestyle, plus an air of Midas mystery, Nadir had gone from running a family “rag trade” business in the East End of London to a £2bn global business empire, offices and homes in Mayfair filled with millions in art and antiques, a Palladian mansion in Rutland and another country estate.Few queried how Nadir made his millions – certainly not Tory party fundraisers
Feeding frenzy: how army of advisers is making millions from Thames Water
Sewage floating down Britain’s rivers has become a pungent political symbol. But a recent court case over Thames Water’s debts was not concerned with the flow of water and effluent so much as the flow of money.Thames Water stands out amid the turmoil of the privatised water industry in England and Wales. Loaded up with about £19bn in debt, the company sought court approval to borrow as much as £3bn more from a group of existing creditors in a desperate attempt to avoid temporary nationalisation at the end of March.That process, known as special administration, would preserve the supply of water to 16m households and businesses in London and south-east England
UK Steel warns that Trump tariffs would be ‘devastating blow’
UK steelmakers have warned that the imposition of new US tariffs would be “a devastating blow” to the industry, after Donald Trump said he would announce 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US.Gold reached a record high and aluminium prices rose as financial markets were rattled by the US president’s comments, which caused concern in the UK and the EU.Gareth Stace, the director general of the trade body UK Steel, said: “The US is our second-largest export market after the EU. At a time of shrinking demand and high costs, rising protectionism globally, particularly in the US, will stifle our exports and damage over £400m worth of the steel sector’s contribution to the UK’s balance of trade.”Stace said it would be “deeply disappointing” if Trump decided to target UK steel, given its “relatively small production volumes compared to major steel nations”
UK halves subsidies for Drax and says it must use 100% sustainable wood
The UK government has halved subsidies for the Drax power station and ordered it to use 100% sustainable wood after sustained criticism over its business model.The large power plant in North Yorkshire would play a “much more limited role” in future, operating less than half as often as it currently does, the government said.The plant is an important generator of electricity for the UK but has been criticised for burning wood pellets sourced from forests in the US and Canada.The government has agreed a new deal with the power producer that will halve subsidies between 2027 and 2031, saying that Drax will provide power only when it is “really” needed. It estimates that this will save consumers £170m a year
BP shares jump after feared US hedge fund Elliott takes stake
Shares in BP jumped 7% on Monday after it emerged that the activist investor Elliott Investment Management had taken a stake in the UK oil company.The stock rose as investors bet that Elliott, a feared New York hedge fund known for its attempts to shake up listed companies, would push for an overhaul of BP’s strategy, along with a revamp of its board.Elliott’s arrival could lead to the departure of BP’s chair, Helge Lund, and put pressure on its management to shift back more decisively towards fossil fuels, analysts said.Shares in the 120-year-old company rose by more than 8% in early trading on Monday, before closing up about 7% at 465p, the highest since last July and helping the FTSE 100 to hit a new record high.Elliott, led by the billionaire Paul Singer, has amassed a significant holding in the British energy company, Bloomberg reported on Saturday
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