Olympian of the Day

There is an argument rumbling on about elitism in Olympic sports. Rowing and sailing are castigated as pursuits for toffs; even the Prime Minister says it is shocking that so many of our athletes come from public schools. The toffiest of all is, of course, the equestrian. Horses are often seen as posh by default, the province of the huntin' and shootin' classes, ridden by red-faced imperialists, dreaming of the golden days when people knew their place.

This has enough anecdotal truth in it to harden into stereotype. And horses are a much more expensive article than a bicycle or a pair of boxing gloves. My fear is that, as the show-jumping enters its final, nail-biting phase, this argument, which should be had, risks taking away some of the gloss of achievement. So just to show that not every person who achieves equestrian excellence is born with a perfect canteen of silver spoons, my Olympian of the day is the young Scott Brash.

He is twenty-six years old, and he is a builder's son from Peebles, a small town in the borders of Scotland. As I write this, he has one of only six clear rounds in the Olympic final. He came not from green acres and high privilege. He is where he is through his own marvellous effort. (He is also very funny. When asked what winning the team gold meant to him, by Clare Balding, live on BBC1, he said, drily, that he hoped it might improve his pulling power with women. The quote went viral as the best line of the games so far.)

Wherever he finishes today, he has delighted a whole community. Peebles is currently en fête, fired with pride in its native son. I know the town well, having friends who live just down the road. I have shopped in its chemist and eaten chips in its chippy. I love the idea of it hanging out more flags.

There is a lovely article about him in the Daily Record here - http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/other-sports/london-olympics-scots-showjumper-wins-1229983.  It is really worth a read.

So here is to Scott Brash, and his lovely, brave horse, Sanctos:

Photograph by Markus Schreiber for AP.

The true Olympic spirit; or Britons find their underdog

Over on the excellent BBC Olympics website, the most watched video is entitled: 'Plucky rower wins hearts of home fans'. If you click on it, you see a rower out on his own. For one second, I thought that perhaps he was winning by a distance, which is why one can see no other boats. In fact, he was losing by a mile. The crowd, who this morning were whooping and cheering for the British men's and women's pairs, who won their heats, were now roaring for a brave loser, from a distant country with which few of them will have had any connection.

Hamadou Djibo Issaka, from Niger, apparently only took up rowing three months ago. He looked so tired that it would not have been a surprise if he had stopped short of the finishing line, but the happy British crowd, who love nothing more in the world than an underdog, had found their new hero, and almost lifted him over the line with their yells of support.

It's lovely to see the champions excel. It's especially lovely if one of them is from your home country. But this little moment was a delightful example of chauvinism literally stopping at the water's edge. Britons adore an underdog, but what they love even more is a trier, and this fellow was trying his heart out, against all the odds. When all the medals are counted, and the world records smashed, and the triumphant pack up their golds and go home, I bet you any money that one of the people who shall be most remembered from these games is the rower from Niger, for whom that most British of adjectives, plucky, could have been invented.

You can watch him here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/19036792

I can't guarantee much in life, but I guarantee that it will bring a tear to your eye.




Photograph by Darren Whiteside for Reuters.

Team GB: equestrian

For those of you who are getting excited, as I am, about the Olympic three-day-event, Will Connell of the equestrian team is, rather amazingly, taking the time and trouble to write a blog. Considering the pressures that must be on him as he works with the riders, and the amount of work that it takes to get horses to their crest and peak for a competition of this nature, I think that really is something to be applauded. It's very well written, and gives a candid and fascinating insight to what is happening behind the scenes at Greenwich. If you want to cheer on the British riders, you can leave a comment of support.

You can find it here: http://equestrianteamgbr.blogspot.co.uk/

Here is William Fox-Pitt on the absolutely glorious, and wonderfully named Lionheart, who will be going for gold, starting tomorrow:

Photograph uncredited, from the official Team GB website.

Best of British to the entire squad: William Fox-Pitt and Lionheart, Mary King and Imperial Cavalier, Tina Cook and Miners Frolic, Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz, and Zara Phillips and High Kingdom. And do not forget the people behind the scenes who make it all possible: the grooms, vets, farriers, coaches, and the families too.

You can find details of the full competition, which starts with dressage over the weekend, goes to cross-country on Monday, and finishes with the show jumping on Tuesday, here: 

http://www.equestrianteamgbr.co.uk/news.aspx?strArticle=fei-release-2012

A riveting insight into American politics

So sorry I have been neglecting this little blog. I return with a blast. Even if you know nothing of American politics, this episode of the Rachel Maddow show, guest hosted by Ezra Klein, is is fascinating on a pure human level. Plus it has excellent graphs. And two of the loveliest experts I've seen in a long time.

Sixteen minutes of pure fascination:

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Photograph of the day

Wow. This really is something. President Obama on the Rosa Parks bus, from the White House website, picture by Pete Souza.

Listen of the day

I'm a bit late to this, as I am not particularly fascinated by the Titanic. But Radio Four Extra are running a serialisation of Walter Lord's A Night to Remember. It is quite, quite brilliant, and beautifully read by Martin Jarvis. Because I'm used to him doing comedy, I had no idea he was so good at reading straight pieces. Regular readers will know I get hysterical about people who murder talking books by overdoing it, putting in too much expression, odd pauses, general drama, so getting between the prose and the listener. Jarvis is pitch perfect. I could listen to him all day. Also, the book is very, very well written, which I did not know.

The first three episodes are off the iPlayer, but you can find the rest here. It's really worth it.

Easily the best thing on the internet today

This will really, really cheer you up. I don't know quite why it is so pleasing and cheering, but it is. Except, as Andrea Gillies, through whose link I found it, pointed out, for the horse the hole. (Sorry, that really was a bit of a convoluted sentence, but my blood sugar is crashing, which makes my brain malfunction.)

It is called Thirteen simple steps to get you through a rough day.

Since one of the steps involves adorable or comical dog pictures, I use the excuse to put up a pretty damn good dog of my own:

Perfect one minute twenty-seven seconds of the day

This is quite funny and oddly sweet. That man has a great smile.

Most elegant thing of the day

This is absolutely brilliant. It is calm, clean, elegant, and powerful. I love the women in it. I love the sweet, serious reason with which it is presented.

When I say clean, I mean that there is nothing extraneous. It is just women, and some quite extraordinary words. There is  no need for anything else, and the film-maker cleverly knows that less is so much more.

There is also a very clever juxtaposition thing going on, as you shall see.

It's one of those videos where I want to say: tell all your friends.



By the way, if you don't know about the forced ultrasound thing, I do recommend that you look it up. It is one of the most shocking and inexplicable things done by a political party in my lifetime.

Ever since I have been conscious of politics, Republicans have been talking of making government small. Grover Norquist wanted it small enough to drown in a bathtub. This is what makes the whole thing so strange. In this case, government has become so enormous and intrusive that it can go into your vagina. That's wicked big. It's so big it makes your own doctor perform an unnecessary and invasive procedure, against her wishes or advice, because the law tells her to. Government, that thing which should be hardly visible to the naked eye, is making medical professionals stick vaginal probes up your jacksy.

But the good news is: you can always CLOSE YOUR EYES.

I wish I could be ironical and funny about this, but I can't. It makes me too cross. This should not be happening to American women in the 21st century. It's the kind of thing that makes me want to take to the barricades in support of the sisterhood. But what I really wonder is: what is it in women which makes some people on the right hate and fear them so? It's a genuine question. I like to think I'm a bit of a student of human nature, but I have absolutely no idea.


If you want to read more, there is an interesting piece about Governor Bob McDonnell here, and the mighty, mighty Rachel Maddow on the subject here.

Test of the day

Susan Cain's book about introverts is getting more and more attention. As a true introvert, I find this rather gratifying.

Here is an interesting test which accompanied an excerpt from the book in one of the papers today. Remember that it is generally agreed that introversion is graded on a curve. I scored 17 out of 20, which is pretty curvy. Oddly, even though one of the points of the book is that society is geared for extroverts, I have always felt oddly proud of my introversion. (Which should not be confused with shyness.) I have no idea why this is, since it was born in me, and is not my own work.

1. I prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities.
2. I often prefer to express myself in writing.
3. I enjoy solitude.
4. I seem to care less than my peers about wealth, fame and status.
5. I dislike small talk but I enjoy talking in depth about topics that matter to me.
6. People tell me that I’m a good listener.
7. I’m not a big risk taker.
8. I enjoy work that allows me to dive in with few interruptions.
9. People describe me as soft-spoken or mellow.
10. I prefer not to show my work or discuss it with others until it is finished.
11. I like to celebrate birthdays on a small scale with only one or two close friends or family members.
12. I dislike conflict.
13. I do my best work alone.
14. I tend to think before I speak.
15. I feel drained after being out and about, even if I’ve enjoyed myself.
16. I often let calls go to voicemail.
17. I’d prefer a weekend with nothing to do to one with too many things scheduled.
18. I don’t enjoy multi-tasking.
19. I concentrate easily.
20. In classrooms, I prefer lectures to seminars.

The more true answers you have, the more likely you are to be introverted.

 

Picture found on the Quiet Girl, Loud City blog.

Ducks of the Day

This is funny, and sweet, and really rather surprising.

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Song of the day

This is the song I sang to my horse in the woods today.

Don't ask. Really. There's no telling, as my old dad used to say.

Thoughtful man of the day

A few days ago, in the Guardian, Sam Waley-Cohen, who rides the favourite in the Gold Cup today, gave one of the most interesting and humane and thoughtful interviews I have read in a while. I am putting it here in honour of Gold Cup day, but even if you have absolutely no interest in racing or horses, you should still give it a look.

I want Kauto Star to win this more than I can say. But Waley-Cohen is a Corinthian and I salute him.

The interview is here.

Photograph by Getty Images. 

Good News of the Day

Is here. You can guess what it concerns. I shall be thinking of nothing else all week.




Lovely photograph of Kauto Star schooling this morning, with a very serious look on his face, by George Shelton for Racingphotos.

Horse of the day

Today is all about Kauto Star, as his Gold Cup bid hangs in the balance. You can listen to a nice song here. Or read an excellent piece in the Telegraph here.

Lovely old photograph from Getty Images. 

Attempt to not editorialise of the day

Usually, when I put things up here, it is because I have very strong views about them. But sometimes there are things which are so difficult and complicated and combustible that they don't really need me pontificating. You will know what conclusions you wish to draw. I just want to bring the thing itself to your attention.

Today's story I think is interesting for about eight different reasons. Jenny Tongue, the Liberal Democrat peer, has said some things about Israel. She has form on intemperate and unfortunate and odd remarks.

As always, there is the bashing up of free speech against the yelling of fire in a crowded theatre. How much should politicians be punished for speaking their true mind? Is it just cheap grandstanding for leaders to dismiss members of their party who say the wrong thing?

And yet, the free speech defence can go too far. Humans self-censor all the time, usually from politeness. I wonder, quite apart from anything else, whether this is just an example of really, really bad manners.

Also: I am interested in the role of context. It is context and history, I think, which make some remarks much more inflammatory than others.

Generally, though, I tend to agree with the Chief Rabbi. He is such a thoughtful and moderate man. If he thinks something is beyond the pale, I am inclined to think it is so.

Read it here, and see what you think.

Soothing picture of a Nubian Ilex in the Negev Desert:

Oh dear. After all that, I did seem to pontificate a bit. The more I think of this, the more I think the oddity and wrongness of Tongue's statements were to do with a conflation of two different things. Surely it is possible to question the policies of a government, as people do with many different countries, without questioning whether the state itself should or will exist in the future. It is that, with its horrible echoes of past and current prejudices and hatreds, which strikes one as extreme and sinister.

Horse of the day

This should also be called Apology of the Day. I have been neglecting this blog shamefully. I am in the south, away from my desk, desperately trying to combine an enormous amount of work with family life with my cousins. I am used to living alone, where I have the luxury of great expanses of time. As a result, I get hopelessly behind when I am in a different environment.

Anyway, I do not love the Daily Mail website, but sometimes I have to look at it for my work. As I went there today, I found this rather enchanting equine story. I don't know if it because there are horses here, and I have been riding, but it touched my my heart in a keen way.

Have a look; it really is incredibly moving. And the photographs are astonishing. You can see it here.

Picture is of the three horses I have been spending time with today. They are a little woolly and muddy after being in the field all winter, but very charming, nonetheless:

Jaw-dropping thing of the day

If I had my way, I would put up Rachel Maddow clips every day. She has a particular genius for teasing out the astonishing stories that the rest of the media gloss over. She has been on about the really strange and alarming vaginal probe law that is being passed in Virginia for a few days now. Yesterday, she brought that together with  Bob Dole, Viagra, and Rick Santorum. For anyone interested in politics and morality and hypocrisy, it is a brilliant mix. Also, you get the bonus of watching the very professional Andrea Mitchell actually lost for words, live on air. It's fourteen minutes, which is long in internet terms, but it is worth every moment of your time:

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Funniest thing on the internet of the day

I think I come rather late to this; I have a suspicion it has been flying about for a while. But it is the kind of thing that is so funny it makes tears come out at right angles, as my old Irish godmother used to say. I really would not listen to it in a public place, for fear of embarrassment.

Dog of the day

Sometimes, it is important to have something uncomplicatedly lovely on which to rest your eyes:

Yes yes yes YES of the day

I have long loved Eugene Robinson, most excellent and wise writer for the Washington Post. Interestingly, the spat about religion vs secularism is being played out in America at the moment in a very similar way to here, mostly because of the Republican primaries. (I have written about my bafflement over Rick Santorum on this blog before.)

Robinson nails this nuttiness much, much better than I ever could, and with humour and lightness of touch, where I get grumpy and earnest. I take off all my hats. You can read it here.

Uncredited picture of Mr Robinson:

Odd religious argument of the day

I genuinely do not understand today's broadside against Richard Dawkins by Stephen Pollard. It made me fretful and cross, and I blogged about it at awful length on the other blog.

It's not the specific Dawkins thing; he can look after himself. It's the wider fury at secularism. Have a read here and see what you think.

Because all this religious fighting is making me so grumpy and sad (see Baroness Warsi yesterday), I'm going to put up a beautiful picture of a horse instead of anything germane. Although you could say that equine loveliness is very close to godliness, if you were so inclined. It is transcendent, anyway.

Here you are - my absolute favourite fellow, Kauto Star, whose name I shall be shouting up the hill at Cheltenham in March:



Absolutely ravishing photograph found on the BBC website; photographer sadly uncredited. But very talented, whoever she or he is.

Dog of the day

My own little canine star:

Awards ceremony of the day

I did not know there were awards for best film dog. I do now. They are called the Golden Collars. Very funny slideshow from The Guardian here.

Adorable picture by Gus Ruelas for Reuters.

Inexplicable statement of the day

I try not to get cross about my atheism. I think of it as a quiet, personal thing. My default mode is: each to each is what we teach. (Which of course originally came from from each according to his ability etc etc, but which I have bastardised into everyone must think what they will, as long as it is not cruel and unusual.)

The weedy liberal in me thinks: there is good and ill in the religious and the secular. It really is not four legs good, two legs bad. Religion does horrifying things - child abuse, blowing people up, oppression of women - and marvellous things - charity, solace for the afflicted, needed human ritual. Secularists may be anything from the selfless carer to the homicidal maniac.

Then Baroness Warsi comes along and compares me to a totalitarian regime. (Yes, I damn well am taking this personally.) Militant secularism, she says, is taking over society, and demonstrating traits last seen under totalitarians, by which she must mean Stalin, Mao, the Jong-ils, or similar. At which point, the muscular liberal in me stands up and starts shouting about freedom of expression and thought. The pedant starts yelling about intellectual laziness.

I really do try to avoid ad hominem, but this is such a stupid thing to say. It is simplistic, offensive, and empirically incorrect. Why would anyone in public life think this is an interesting or useful thing to state? Quite apart from being provably wrong, it has no utility.

You can read all about her very odd speech here, and see why it made me quite so grumpy. If anyone says anything else like that, I shall have to start going about invading places and getting the populace to perform daily leader worship. Because that is what we secularists really, really like.

The Guardian also covers it here.

Rather brilliant photograph sadly uncredited.

Dog of the day

Last dog for a while, as I am away from my desk for a week, and there shall be no blogs. Back to business as usual on the 12th.

Lovely sound of the day

Dog of the day

Taken in the late afternoon, in a fading, rose pink light that suddenly appeared after an unremittingly black day:

Riveting political hypocrisy of the day

Rick Santorum, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, will soon disappear from public consciousness, as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney duke it out. But before he does, it is worth contemplating something interesting about his candidacy. He has, from the very beginning, wrapped himself in the cloak of piety, religious belief, and general godliness. Whenever challenged about his policies on homosexuality and abortion, he always states that he stands where he stands because his bible tells him so. Christianity, in this case, is automatically conflated with goodness and kindness. His policies might sound harsh, but they cannot be, by definition, because of the milk and honey of his devout belief.

The little-observed oddity about Rick Santorum is that he does not seem to be a very nice man. I very rarely do ad hominem in politics, because I think it is often cheap and unfair. If you present yourself as good and kind and faithful though, you must expect those claims to be examined. There are numerous video clips from the campaign trail where Rick Santorum becomes impatient, dismissive and even aggressive when faced with dissent. I noticed this in particular with a group of bright, engaged university students, who were asking him about gay marriage. Instead of debating with them, he hectored and talked over them, in a most unChristian fashion.

Rachel Maddow, who goes where the rest of the press pack do not, has picked up on this, and had a brilliant segment on it in her show this week. She shows two really shocking moments, where Santorum loftily ignores, even mocks, the concerns of a brave little boy who asked him a question (I am always incredibly impressed by children who are bold enough to do this; it must be so nerve-wracking) and a mother with a child suffering from cancer. These are not hardy political opponents or toughened hacks. They are very ordinary members of the public, in some ways the most vulnerable among us: a worried mother, a young child. Santorum acts as if they count for nothing.

I don't know quite what I take from all this. But I was shocked. The Maddow segment is quite long, sixteen minutes, but if you have any interest in politics, morality, and people acting on their beliefs rather than just mouthing them, it's really worth a watch.

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Dog of the Day