Quintin Jardine's blog

My letter to the Telegraph on sock puppeteering does appear in today’s edition. I’m glad I posted the full version, since they chose to emasculate it by deleting all the best bits. In the dim and distant past, when I was an editor, we never did that, but published readers views as expressed, if we judged them worthy of a burgh-wide audience. Okay, we might have corrected the odd spelling error, and omitted the customary Motherwell sign-off, ‘Yours, and oblige,’ but that was all.

‘Writing is a struggle against silence.’

Carlos Fuentes

. . . and at this moment, silence is winning

Sir

That was some hat-trick RvP scored yesterday, but it should not deflect from the truth, that until Scholes, and to an extent Rio, took hold of the game in its death throes, it was one of the worst performances by a Man U team in living memory. The only consolation is that they weren’t as bad as Liverpool vs Arsenal. (. . . he wrote, then sat back and waited for Paul Johnston’s furious Facebook reaction.)

I’m sorry to read that Oscar Pistorius, a real hero, has sullied his reputation by complaining about the length of his rival’s blades. I don’t really understand it either. Yohan Blake is five feet eleven inches tall. Usain Bolt is six feet five.

For those who visit my website and blog but don’t do Facebook: this deserves as wide an audience as possible.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197294/The-author-caught-praising-books-Amazon–writing-disparaging-reviews-rivals-works.html

Most people who know me know also that I never read Amazon reviews, good or bad. This is why.

Who said that the Scottish Premier League would disappear up its own arse without Rangers? Instantly it’s more competitive, since eleven clubs now have a Champions League slot in their sights, whereas before they were both swallowed up by the Old Firm. Not only that, but Motherwell are top of the league. It will not last, probably not beyond next weekend, but let the Steelmen enjoy it while they’re there.

Enjoyed a pleasant siesta yesterday, in the garden with Brad Paisley on the Shuffle. This may cause my good friend Paul Johnston to mock me, should he read this, but I freely confess to being into Country music, and to Mr Paisley being top of my list. Yes, I know that some of his lyrics are banal and schmaltzy, but they come with the genre, and the fact that Brad is one hell of a guitar player more than makes up for them.

Historically, that is quite correct. However, in this case, the unfortunate Stevie was issued with a weapon that had been modified, the cylinder latch having been adapted to double as a trigger lock, similar to that found in the Dan Wesson BB gun.