Quintin Jardine's blog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/05/nick-cohen-cheating-authors-journalists?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

I never take the word of a Guardian journalist at face value. That said, whatever the facts of the case, I had never heard of sock-puppets until all this crap started. Some people seem to think that their use is legitimate promotion and marketing. To me it’s cheating of the very worst sort.

RIP Neil Armstrong, one of the great heroes of my life-time. I say ‘one of’ because he shares that status with his crew mates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and with every other person, in the Apollo programme and beyond who has been brave and crazy enough to sit on top of a bloody great rocket and be blasted into space.

Like much of the world, I sat up waiting for Armstrong to step out of that capsule; by the time he did, the next day had dawned in Scotland, but none of us cared for we weren’t going to miss that moment. When  think about it now, I’m staggered by the realisation that it all happend 43 years ago, way back in the days when a computer filled a room, and my next door neighbour who worked for IBM has a sales target of one a year. That was the greatest human achievement of my lifetime, and I’m proud I was around when it happened.

I don’t follow cycling all that much, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never heard of Lance Armstrong. What do I know about him? In 1998 he returned to professional road-racing after surgery and chemotherapy for testicular cancer that had metastasized into his brain and lungs. I know that in 1999 he won  the first of seven successive Tour de France, a feat which may well remain unequalled for ever. I know that he is the most decorated cyclist ever, by a country mile. I know that he left his wife and had a fling with Sheryl Crowe. I know that since then he has fathered two children by his current partner, a notable achievement for someone who has had chemotherapy for testicular cancer. I know that throughout his career he never failed a drug test, in a sport where doping is endemic. Finally I know that for the second part of his career lesser men have been out to get him.

Now it seems  they have succeeded. For some time now Armstrong has been hounded by the US Anti-Doping Agency, on the basis of allegations made against him by a convicted doper and former team-mate, backed up by some other cyclists with doping records. There still have been no positive drug tests from that period, and a two-year Federal criminal investigation found no case to answer, but the USADA will not give up.

If Armstrong  was a doper when he won all those tours, then one of the most rigorous testing systems in world sport failed to produce any physical evidence against him, and without that it’s hard to see how any proceedings can be valid. That’s the basis of Armstrong’s case, and to many it might seem incontrovertible, yet what he describes as a witch-hunt goes on. Now he says that is no longer prepared to participate further in a process that he regards as one-sided and unfair and is walking away.

That’s the story, as it stands. The truth of it all will never be known, but . . . I have always been a little suspicious of the zeal with which athletes are pursued by the doping police. They must train and prepare for events knowing that at any hour of the day or night someone with a badge is likely to turn up on their doorstep demanding that they piss in a bottle. They work under conditions  that would not be tolerated in any other industry, other than those where public safety is an issue, and if they do not accept them then they are assumed to be guilty. Any sport which does not accept the full rigours of  the World Anti Doping Agency finds its integrity questioned. This happened to professional football, and to golf.

Lance Armstrong’s case may or may not have been a witch-hunt, but there is always a Witch-finder General somewhere around. Dick Pound would have been an obscure Canadian lawyer but for WADA, but he became one of the most quoted men in global sports media. I had never heard of Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the USADA, but I have now, because of his pursuit of Armstrong. History is full of people who have built their fame around pursuit of individuals and issues. Joe McCarthy comes most readily to mind, but most nations have them. The venal public, always too ready to pull down the idols it has created, will always them a hearing without pausing to consider what they are actually saying. For example, John Fahey, Dick Pound’s successor at WADA, is quoted thus:

“He had a right to contest the charges. He chose not to. The simple fact is that his refusal to examine the evidence means the charges had substance in them.”

If that is Mr Fahey’s definition of a fact, then God help every accused sportsman in the world. For an example of the injustices such an attitude can throw up, examine the situation of a golfer named Doug Barron.

So what’s my take on the Armstrong case? Well, it’s this. If the guy managed to fake those countless drug tests then sure as hell he wasn’t alone. If he was a doper in that sport at that time, he’d have gained no unfair advantage over most of his competitors. If he wasn’t, then he was all the more remarkable. There was a man called Alan Hardaker, Secretary of the English Football League, who said, notoriously, that he would not hang a dog on the word of a professional footballer. As I look at the people who are accusing Armstrong, I find  myself recalling that tongue in cheek quote. Bottom line is this; the USADA can scratch his name out of the record books if it chooses, but everyone will still know who won those seven Tours de France.

I’d like to thank everybody who turned out for my event yesterday at EIBF. I hope you all enjoyed it for I sure as hell did.The event was made all the more fun by my excellent chairperson, my good friend Peter Guttridge, no slouch himself as a crime writer. If you haven’t sampled his Brighton series, you should. Those who were there will know because I told them and those who weren’t are learning now, that he and I will be on stage again on September 15, at Bloody Scotland, out nation’s first dedicated crime-writing festival, where we will be joined by the great Anne Perry, a genuine international bestseller.

Thanks also to Nick, Roland, Esme and everyone else in Charlotte Square for making the world’s biggest book festival a success for yet another year.

Songs that famous/notorious  people should have recorded:

‘You made me love you‘ — Julian Assange. (On the basis that he always blames somebody else)

Another link:

(http://www.onlinephdprograms.com/10-most-noteworthy-right-wing-professors-in-america/)

Thanks for that Katheryn. I suspect that a similar compilation in the UK would be on the other side of the spectrum.

Tomorrow is one of my big days of the year: 3pm, in the Main Theatre at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, I will be doing my thing, chaired by my good friend Peter Guttridge. They tell me there are still tickets left, so anything you guys can do to make it a sell-out would be appreciated. EIBF costs a lot to stage; small wonder as it’s the biggest Bookfest in the world.

For many years now, four or five of us, long-time friends, have gathered in a certain hostelry at around 10pm on a Friday evening. Through those decades and centuries, our discussions have touched on countless topics, but mostly, football, rugby, cricket and the village hot topic of the day.

Last Friday we found ourselves discussing Inheritance Tax Planning. That, guys, is when you know you’re getting old.

I appreciate your problem; fact is, large print books mostly go to libraries, and since I seem to be popular there, that may be the reason. I wasn’t aware of that site until you told me, but now I am, I’ll explore other supply options. Meantime, if you have an iTunes account, you can buy downloadable unabridged audio versions there for around the same cost as a paperback. They’re also available in that format on Audible.com. but tend to be more expensive. Would that be an option for your father?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19323783

George Galloway has redefined rape.

So England are no longer the world No 1 Test cricket side. Bad news. Even worse news, Strauss says he’s carrying on as captain. Maybe the selectors will take a different view, as his batting, captaincy and man management skills have been shown to be inadequate. But I doubt it; England will need to be done over in India this winter before that happens. (They will be.)

Further on the Assange issue: The President of Ecuador, who has come to the rescue of the alleged rapist, on grounds of protecting free speech, has a pretty shady record himself in this area. A South American free speech watchdog, the kind of organisation you;d think Julian Assange would support, claims that recently his government published in the state-run media, photographs of several journalists who were described as its ‘enemies’. It reports that it has also closed twenty media outlets, including radio stations and a TV channel, and has punished others for anti-government lines.

Assange is a brilliant media manipulator, no doubt about that, but he is also a fugitive from Swedish and UK justice, no doubt about that either. Would a parallel situation be tolerated in Ecuador? (That was a rhetorical question.)

The season is under way, and as always the focus is on The Sack Race . . . that is, Who will be the first Premier League manager to lose his job? There is a web site of that name, and at the moment, Nigel Adkins, of Southampton is bookies’ favourite for that ignominy.  I will say at the outset that I believe it is morally wrong to bet on a man’s employment, any man, but having watched his side put up a decent show against Manchester City, I do not agree with that forecast. Instead, having seen on MoTD QPR’s debacle against Swansea (Yes, Andy, I may have been premature in tipping them for the drop, but we’ll see what the winter brings.) I reckon that  without a big turn-around a certain dour, grey-headed Welshman may be seeking a new career as a pundit, come November.

The highlight of my weekend telly football binge . . . bless you, Eileen, for putting up with it . . . for all the hype about the English Premier League, was Barcelona’s season opening fixture, the first game in charge for the new coach, Tito Vilanova, a Bellcaire boy whose parents own a bodega in L’Escala. He got off to a good start, with a 5 — 1 win over Real Sociedad, with you-know-who having a quiet game yet still scoring a couple. Very few people transcend their own sports to become global figures, and it may be that Lionel Messi’s lack or fluent English will be an obstacle to his ever being up there with Ali, Bolt, Michael Jordan or Pele. If so that will be a pity. It’s impossible to put a definitive label on ‘the best player ever’, in any sport, but even with half a career ahead of him Lio belongs in the mix.

You work in Infirmary Street baths? I hope they cleaned up properly after that unfortunate incident a few years ago.

Today can only get better.

This summer, our garden has been colonised by two wood-pigeons, Mr and Mrs, no doubt, them being loyal and monogamous birds. Pigeons are in general early risers, and they can be bloody noisy, especially when you sleep with the window open. Their other characteristics include being strong flyers, and not being very bright. Ours were quiet this morning. When we got up, we discovered why. Sadly, Mr Wood-pigeon had seen his reflection in  the glass of the garden room, and had flown straight towards it, with the inevitable, fatal result. Mrs Wood-pigeon was perched on the house next door, wondering why he didn’t get up.

So my day began with an informal funeral.  Like I said, it can only get better.

As a supporter of the mighty Man U, how do I feel about van Persie?  Pleased, but mildly astonished that SAF paid that amount of money for a 29-year-old with one year left on his contract. As he said, you have to hand it to Arsene Wenger; over the years, his dealing in the transfer market has been exceptional.

It will be interesting to see how RvP is fitted into the side; having been a student of Sir Alex (He poured me a pint once, in a pub near Hampden) for more than a few years now, I suspect that it might not be as expected. However he lines up, he and Rooney can’t win the league on their own, but the left back can lose it, as he did last year, and that’s where more cash needs spending. Go and buy Baines from Everton, Fergie. They will always need the money.

My tip for the title? Sadly, Man City again, from Chelsea, United and Arsenal, not necessarily in that order. For the drop? Reading, Swansea, Norwich.

And in Scotland. Celtic, of course; below them, who cares?

I’ve been following the Julian Assange saga, and see one large hole in his argument. If the US were desperate to get their hands on, it would have been very easy to have him extradited from the UK, given that we have a recent track record  of handing over our own citizens to American justice on the basis of little more than a text request. The Ecuadoreans are protecting an alleged rapist on spurious human rights grounds. They seem to have no regard for the human rights of his alleged victims. Go in and get him.

Let’s have a selection of your least favourite clichés. Mine has to be ‘rollercoaster’. I have nothing against the devices themselves, but oh, how I wish that the word could be bleeped out every time it was used as an analogy by an interviewee or his inquisitor. I have no idea how many times it was used in the media during the Olympics, but I’d be surprised if the total was anything under three figures.

People have been talking about the London Olympics as a once in a life-time event. Not for me, it wasn’t. Mind you, I don’t remember the first one. My memory only goes back to the time when our only gold medal was won by a horse.