Guess who hates Man U

Someone who may rejoice in a Man City Premier League triumph is Israeli writer Edgar Keret. In a lighthearted interview with the Forward, he confessed his dislike of Manchester United, suggesting the team had "something fascist" about them.

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Game over for hockey man

Argentinian hockey player Fernando Zylberberg, star of the provocative Olympic ad for his country which showed him training in the Falklands, may now miss the Games, after all. I can't tell you if he is Jewish, though many bearing the surname on Google seem to be.

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Legal hero honoured

Solicitor Frances Goodman was due to be feted by the Law Society last night as one of its "unsung heroes".

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Belovski on the menu

A number of rabbis - Orthodox, Reform and Masorti - are down to speak at Gefiltefest, the food equivalent of Limmud, on Sunday week, including a leading home contender for the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi Harvey Belovski of Golders Green (who has never been to Limmud).

He will be explaining why that troublesome fish, the turbot, even though once served to a Chief Rabbi at a communal banquet, is not

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Olympics' Jerusalem problem

The diplomatic status of Jerusalem is a source of endless dispute and this week it was the official website for the London Olympics which found itself caught in the middle.

In its profile of participating countries, the site listed Jerusalem as capital of "Palestine", while Israel's capital city was left as a blank space.

"After the error was pointed out to them, they then switched it on the

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How Shapps rapped it up

Housing Minister Grant Shapps likes to take the mike, he revealed to the Guardian. He said he had done a karaoke turn in the local pub the other night. His choice: the Sugar Hill Gang's Rappers Delight. Oy gevalt!

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The US goes to Gateshead

United Synagogue president Stephen Pack recently went up to see Gateshead Rav, Shraga Faivel Zimmerman. Could the Tyneside Torah leader be moving south, to St John's Wood, by any chance? Not on the cards, I am told.

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Lieberman in London

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will be making one of his rare visits to these shores later this month. His schedule includes an interview with commentator Douglas Murray for JNF UK.

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Sorry, says Scots office

The Crown Office in Scotland apologised after it referred, in a report (later corrected) of student Paul Donnachie's failed legal appeal, to the desecration of a "Jewish" - instead of an "Israeli" - flag.

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Happy Chanucah Yossi

Two of Israel's hottest young talents used Twitter to wish each other happy holidays. Supermodel Bar Refaeli jetted back to Tel Aviv for Passover, but wished fellow Israeli Chelsea footballerYossi Benayoun a happy "Hanuka". Realising her error, she wrote: "The modeling is effecting [sic] my brains." Mr Benayoun responded, "Happy Pesach to you and your family ."

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Ozick oldest orange nominee

And then there was one. Out of five American Jewish writers longlisted for this year's Orange Prize, just one has made the shortlist. Octogenarian Cynthia Ozick is the oldest writer to be shortlisted for the prize.

She is on the shortlist of six for her seventh novel, Foreign Bodies.

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Free the Glasgow coffee

Coffee lovers at the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Glasgow were disappointed on Tuesday when they discovered the café had been shut.

The reason? Around 20 Palestinian protesters had occupied the lobby of the building demanding mainstream media coverage for the 2,400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons who started hunger strikes this week.

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Award for Brit abroad

A mazel tov is in order for expat Brit Russell Zeid, who will receive a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for scientific contributions to the Royal Canadian Insitute. Proud parents Monty and Dolores told the JC about their mechanical engineer son's achievements in Toronto

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Archive of a genius

Picking the brains of the world's most famous physicist is a popular pastime, according to the Hebrew University.

The university has launched an expanded archive of 80,000 Albert Einstein-related documents – which received 21 million hits in just five days, from 160 countries.

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Labour Succot, Simchat Tories

Somebody ought to take a mobile synagogue around the party conferences this year. The last day of the Lib Dems' coincides with Yom Kippur, Labour's covers the first two days of Succot, while the Conservatives will be doing business over Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

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