The Mill Pond and the Granta pub at dusk.
Daily Archives: April 17, 2005
Running crazy
My friends Sean French and Nicci Gerrard are running in today’s London marathon. I get tired just thinking about it. Nicci is one of the wonders of the world. She manages to combine being a terrific mother, a generous host, a great journalist, a best-selling novelist (in collaboration with Sean) and an inspired cook. Two years ago, she broke her back in a riding accident. Now she’s racing round London. Ye Gods!
Update: They both finished in just under four hours (3:58:50)!
The Rover fiasco
From Frank Kane’s admirably robust commentary on the disaster.
The number of politicians hand-wringing their way through Longbridge on Friday – including the Prime Minister – almost made you think MG Rover’s collapse was some great natural disaster that had engulfed Birmingham.
But there is nothing ‘natural’ about the Longbridge scandal; it is no act of God. It is an entirely man-made catastrophe, which can be blamed on a relatively small number of individuals. They can and should be made to pay.
He also points out that Patricia Hewitt, the Cabinet Minister ultimately responsible, has to explain
why she wasted another £6.5m of taxpayers’ money last week – apparently acting on orders from the Prime Minister – when the Chinese had told her in writing more than two weeks ago they were not interested in Rover. As one adviser says, ‘Which part of “no” did she not understand?’
Political remixing
My Observer column about last week’s surge in political PhotoShopping is here.
On this day…
… in 1961, 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a laughable attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. In the process, they also taught Jack Kennedy an important lesson about the CIA. 45 years later, the Cuban factor still poisons US politics, especially in Florida, where the next Bush presidential candidate presides as governor.