The pollutants combine with water vapour sunlight and oxygen to produce a dilute

The pollutants combine with water vapour, sunlight and oxygen to produce a dilute soup of sulphuric and nitric acid which then falls as rain, often hundreds of miles from where the pollutants were originally emitted.Nearly a quarter of Sweden’s 90,000 lakes have been affected, 4,000 of them so badly that no fish could survive Thousands more lakes in the eastern USA were “killed”. Researchers in Germany concluded that acid rain was to blame for an alarming sickness of the country’s forests, giving rise to its Green party.Britain came in for particular censure. Its pollution blew over the North Sea to become one of the main causes of the damage in Scandinavia. Yet for years successive governments and the electricity generating industry refused to accept that the problem existed.

In the early Eighties Margaret Thatcher’s government repeatedly refused to join an international agreement to cut emissions by 30 per cent, yet the report – by a group of British, Dutch and Scandinavian scientists, to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – says that Britain has now cut emissions of sulphur by 80 per cent and those of nitrogen by 40 per cent since their peaks and that these are still falling.The cut in sulphur was largely brought about by switching electricity generation from oil and coal to less polluting gas and nuclear power, and by saving energy. Nitrogen emissions went on rising for much longer because of the growth in traffic – the main source of the pollution – but then fell, partly because of the introduction of catalytic converters on car exhausts.Much the same has happened across Europe, where emissions of sulphur have been cut by 41 per cent and those of nitrogen by 21 per cent since 1990. The Continent has consistently beaten the clean-up targets it set itself.But the report concludes that acid rain has been cut far less in western Britain – the most affected region – than in other parts of the country, because it is receiving pollution on the winds from the US and ships in the Atlantic.. As in past years, I have been asked by the International Sooth-sayers and Clairvoyants’ Association not to ruin their livelihoods by forecasting exactly what is going to occur in sport during 2002.

I feel bound to agree with their four representatives who visited my home the other midnight that by using the full force of my famous prescience I would make sport as predictable and boring as the rest of life.It would spoil the fun of millions, not to mention theirs. Accordingly, I have mixed a great deal of imagination with the reality, and the consequence is that only some of the following will turn out to be true. I would be risking my life by indicating which is which.January: Interactive football on digital TV kicks off the new year with a rush. Already, the BBC have announced that their coverage of the FA Cup third round creates “a powerful new formula” for viewers.

By pressing buttons on their zappers, viewers can watch the live action at the same time as reviewing edited highlights of the drama and updated match statistics. They can also choose to listen to John Motson et al or a radio commentary instead. Gremlins get into the system and Leeds fans watch in horror as their team lose to Cardiff City with a commentary and match facts in Welsh. David O’Leary resigns and announces that he is to take over Man-chester United at the end of the season. Leeds advertise for a new manager – “preferably one who can’t write”. Wembley decision expected next week.February: Six Nations gets off to a shock start when Scotland beat England at Murrayfield on the first Saturday. “We’re sick and tired of waiting until the end of the season before failing to win the Grand Slam,” explains Clive Woodward.