Tim Walker: Will Dave and George kill ping pong's allure?
Tales From The Water Cooler: Nobody in Britain will be able to strike a ball without imagining Dave and George knocking up in the games room at Chequers
![](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/10/04/15/tim-walker.png?quality=75&width=137&auto=webp)
Your support helps us to tell the story
In my reporting on women's reproductive rights, I've witnessed the critical role that independent journalism plays in protecting freedoms and informing the public.
Your support allows us to keep these vital issues in the spotlight. Without your help, we wouldn't be able to fight for truth and justice.
Every contribution ensures that we can continue to report on the stories that impact lives
![Kelly Rissman](https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/support-us/kelly-rissman.png)
Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
What a terrible week for table tennis. For the past couple of summers, tables have proliferated in parks across the country; hipster nightclubs have been holding ping pong nights instead of karaoke ones; men have been meeting for weekly late-night games, where once they would have played poker.
But then Barack Obama went and gave the visiting Prime Minister a customised Dunlop tennis table. Now, nobody in Britain will be able to strike a ball without imagining Dave and George knocking up in the games room at Chequers.
Within 24 hours of this unfortunate occurrence, the now-famous former Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith bragged in his resignation letter of having won a bronze medal in the sport at Israel's Maccabiah Games, also known as "the Jewish Olympics". This, he wrote – in the resignation letter that, with a colossal vanity surely worthy of his ex-profession, he published in the New York Times – was one of his "proudest moments in life". Ping pong: sport of Conservative politicians and investment bankers. Shall we all just agree to take up jai alai instead?
On a side note, a friend of mine once competed in the baseball competition at the Maccabiah Games. After reading Smith's letter, I recalled said friend explaining that certain US states would send what he alleged were "ringers" to the contest: skilled sportsmen of suspicious lineage. I emailed him this week to ask if I'd recalled his anecdote correctly. I had, he replied: "It was Team California. They beat us in the Gold medal game. At shortstop, the least Jewish person you've ever seen – one 'Felipe Tettleboin'."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments