Quintin Jardine's blog

Jesus Christ, Jim. There can be no nit left unpicked in your house if that’s the level you’re at. You have too much time on your hands, man.

That’s a perfectly reasonable question. What does happen to the money that criminals stash out of sight of the authorities? In the case of Jewish assets lodged in Switzerland by the Nazis, its banks managed to hang on to them, tenaciously, for sixty years after the fall of Hitler. If nobody comes looking, I guess that cash might stay were it is forever, or until an enlightened government decides to confiscate assets that have lain dormant for a certain period.

Walking the streets of Edinburgh is just about all anyone can do these days. With tram works, gas mains and frequent redirections of traffic, every other means of transport has become a complete shambles.

Favourite character? It has to be Bob, natch, but just lately I’ve been warming to a guy called Xavi. You’ll hear a lot more of him next year.

I wasn’t planning that Margie, until right now. But, on the basis that when you’re me, all things are possible . . . I may well change the name of that hotel, but not for the reason you suggest.

Yes, John, I know. My pal lives straight across the road. But since it is so lavish that it is something of a joke locally, it seemed  quite reasonable (and still does) to extend that by borrowing it for the stated purpose, in a work of fiction. When the French translation appears, I’ll change it to the George V, or something similar, but until then, let the ex-pats have a chuckle.

I’m working on the third in the series right now. And yes, I am.

The first time I went to Canada, I was told that I’d never meet a Canadian. I’d meet lots of people with Canadian passports, but they’d all say they were Irish, Welsh, Ukrainians, etc, but not Canadian. The person who told me that was Ukranian, by the way. From your email address I see that you’re a Scot. You may be a new immigrant, you may be umpteenth generation, I don’t know. But I do know that what you are suggesting is of no importance to those of us who actually live in Scotland today. It is also, with respect, utter bollocks. (See the following link http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/misc/macvsmc.html)

BUT . . . I thank you for your Scottishness, for flying the Saltire so proudly, even if only figuratively, for your sheer enthusiasm, and for your interest.

You’re dead right; I am asked that question often. And the answer is ‘Yes’.

Lethal Intent touches down there, and so does Screen Savers, but it isn’t the location of either.

Thanks for that. I’m glad you agree with me, but I don’t see a vacancy arising for another year or so, although a defeat in an early Euro 2012 qualifier and Don Fabio might be on his bike.

Watched Spain beat Germany last night. Thank God for Paul the psychic octopus correctly tipping the winner, yet again. Spain played them off the park, but until Puyol scored, I didn’t think they ever would. Pobolski just didn’t turn up, and Schweinsteiger spent all night chasing, rather than being chased. So Klose, the danger man, rarely saw the ball. As Low, the German coach, said after the match, Germany couldn’t keep up with them. We watched the game in a favourite place called L’Esculapi.    http://www.esculapi.com/ When it was over, I told the owner that I don’t expect to see Amanida de Pop (octopus salad) on the menu any time soon.

Can’t give you an exact date, but A Rush of Blood will be out on ebook very soon.

Great to hear from you again. You’re a Chelsea fan, like several of my other friends? So tell me, don’t you ever, in your heart of hearts, wish that Ken Bates was back, and  that you were a football club again, rather than a plutocrat’s plaything? That said, as a committed wearer of the green and gold, I’d rather Roman than any of those American tossers who know nothing of football, and see clubs as profit centres.

I note what you say about Tim Henman’s comment to Andy Cotter (his uncle is a pal of mine, BTW); that is the sneer of a serial loser if ever I heard one. As things stand, England and Scotland are both in the next European championship. We’ll see who goes further.

Now tell me, who would you rather have as your coach? A dictatorial Italian who is inarticulate and illiterate in the language of the country he manages and who never played there during his active years, or a sound home-boy with a track record who’s able to command the respect of his players without imposing schoolboy discipline?

Isn’t it strange that 23 Englishmen should be confined to a camp and ordered around by Italians?  Seventy-odd years ago it was the other way around. My dear old pal, the late Sid Burr, had fascinating memories of those times.

Worry not, Norah. In sport, everyone has to take a turn at being crap . . . unless you’re Germany. Australia managed to come back in the last two games vs England, even though they did fold against Pakistan after that. It’s good for the soul. Our turn at being crap has lasted since 1978, but we keep the faith. One day, one day . . .

No, Oz has not been killed; Oz is dead, but he died off page, and that gives a certain flexibility to a man of my imagination. Not that I’m thinking of resuscitating him, you understand.

Latest from my friend Scott. ‘The England team are planning to fly back to Glasgow, so they can have a heroes’ welcome.’

Yes, they were shambolic. We’re better than that at the back, even with a 40-year-old at the heart of our defence. The England fans are always victims of their own unrealistic expectations, fuelled by their media. That said, such a catastrophic defensive collapse couldn’t have been predicted. What could have, was a lack of creativity in midfield which led to Wayne Rooney being nullified. To an extent the same is happening to Messi and Cristiano, but the Argentinians and Portuguese have other quality players to compensate, plus they’re capable of tactical variations. England lack such class in depth, and their manager proved himself inflexible and unusually blinkered. When you have a forward  (Crouch) who scores two goals for every three games that he starts for England and another (Heskey) who averages a goal every nine, and you opt persistently for the latter, you are a tactical genius if it works, and an idiot if it doesn’t. The media should all have smelled a rat when Gareth Barry suddenly became indispensable. Any team that needs him can’t be much ******* good. Manchester City didn’t exactly carry all before them last season, did they?

To be fair to Capello, England suffered badly from the loss of Rio Ferdinand, who organises the defence on the field.  To offset that fairness, he replaced him against Germany with Upson rather than Carragher, another choice that defied all logic. Ledley King should never have been let out of rehab, far less on the plane.

However, for me it was the absence of Becks that was the most significant. Even at 35, he has an ability to change the direction of the game with a single pass that no other player in the squad can match, plus, he is a massive authority figure, without being remote from the rest of the players. If I ran the FA … having been appointed to replace the idiot who gave Capello a  new contract just before he boarded the plane for South Africa … I’d beg him to take on the manager’s job. I am not kidding. It’s time for a different English approach. As the Germans did with Jurgen Klinsmann, and the Dutch with MvB, give the job to someone who’s played at that level recently and who’ll put passion and instinct before rigid theory. Becks is the man, and his love of his country might not allow him to refuse. Klinsmann did the job while living in the US so . . . why not?

Why did England do so well in the qualifiers and so badly in the World Cup? IMO, it was because Capello only had the squad together for ten days, max. Six weeks of military discipline left them demoralised, uncertain of their own individual ability and pissed off.

In their other national sport, England are currently engaged in a five match series against their other arch-enemy, Australia. While the ritual humiliation was under way, the cricketers were in the process of beating the Aussies to take a winning 3 — 0 lead. Nobody noticed.

You know the classic speaker’s metaphor about all the darkness in the world not extinguishing the light of one small candle? Why is it that losing one football match seems to reverse that?

For years now, I’ve had an unpublished manuscript sitting around on my desk-top. It’s a labour (or should that be Labour?) of love, drawn from my days in politics, not a crime novel of any sort, just a pure fantasy. Nothing autobiographical in it, ahem.

I’ve offered it to Headline several times, but they don’t want to break me out of genre. I’ve even thought of publishing it in book form myself, but I’ve never quite been able to commit the time.

So, step forward Amazon, and its new desktop publishing platform. Someone told me about it a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t believe it could be that simple, but it was, and as a  result, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow‘ is now available, through the Kindle store on Amazon.com, for wireless delivery anywhere in the world.

This doesn’t mean that it’s only available to those with Kindle readers. There is free software available from Amazon, downloadable in minutes, that will let you access Amazon e-books, on PC, lap-top, Mac, iPhone, iTouch or iPad.

It’s up the flagpole at last; now let’s see who salutes.

Thanks. It’s good to have you flying the Saltire in New England.