Armstrong, It was really nothing

So Lance has come clean, a bit. Kind of washing his hands, without soap. The grime remains,visible to anyone who cares to look.   Consensus seems to be that it was too little too late and his performance was not enough. Maybe redemption in the Oprah sense was never on the cards. With a Tiger Woods it is all about a disastrous personal life tainting the sporting legend. This kind of cry for forgiveness works because what we loved them for still kind of exists.
To the extent anyone loved Lance it was about his sporting achievement with the backdrop of his battle with cancer. Tear away he sporting triumph and what is left to care for? A charmless driven man?

Part of his battle with the press especially the cycling press reminds me or Morrissey's travails with the NME. A star so huge he dominates a genre, that like Morrissey front page, a Lance front page will shift units in way nobody else will. But like with Morrissey the relationship is tainted, largely due to the actions and words of the icon themselves.

A Dip in the Nostalgia Bath

I felt moved to say something more about the demise of HMV, something about buying a record by Adam and the Ants, maybe commenting how you can down load a David Bowie album for the same price I paid in 1981 or reflect on how eclectic these stores were in their hayday.

But Alex Petridis says all this so much better in The Guardian today and even manages to work in a reference to The Cash Pussies proving that he was a hip young gunslinger even aged 9. Over 40? Alex is running a nice warm nostalgia bath for you.

Goodbye Cookie

Sad to hear today that Nicole Cooke is retiring from procycling at just 29. For an Olympic gold winning, former world champion she seems to have missed out on most of the limelight that has fallen on cycling this year.

She was responsible for one of the most exciting wins I have ever watched. In the 2008 world championships she was in a select group in the final laps. With two Germans in the group they should have been able to work the others over. But they couldn't make it stick. Cookie, all over her bike, looked like she was just fighting to stay in touch. Crucially the super dutch rider, Marianne Vos, burned to much energy chasing down the German attacks. By rights she should have been able to take Cookie in the sprint but not this time. Fresh from her Olympic gold Cooke as too strong.

Despite winning the gold in Beijing she had to play a supporting role this year. I always sensed she was something of an outsider, making her way in road racing when for British Cycling it was all about the track. Then when the BC machine turned its attention to the road, they chose the talent they had groomed from the off. Cooke was not about to be Yoda to Armitstead's Skywalker.

She seemed to fall out with teams a bit to easily, end up in squabbles with team mates. When interviewed she could not shine like Pendleton or provide the atriculate commentary of Pooley.

But lets be honest, Cav likes a good row, Wiggins is often lousy in front of the press and Hoy is not the most exciting presence off the bike. If Cooke was a bloke, with her palmaris she would be a household name.

Good luck Nicole and thanks for everything.

Ill Fares the land

Tony Judt took this as the title for his final book. It is a reference to a society where some prosper while their neighbours rot. I was so pleased to hear David Milliband echo those sentiments. In saying 'I do not want to live in a society where we can pretend we enjoy the good life while our neighbours lose their life chances' he makes that very point.

If we continue to portray the poor as the architects of their own misfortune, and allow that to be a justification to further stigmatise and marginalise then we are all damaged. From the top to the bottom.

We are in this together. Ill fares the land where we fail to understand what that truly means.

I am Reliable

After my stint with Croydon Radio yesterday it was starting to look like a pretty decent weekend, and that continued this morning with the West Kent RC Reliability Ride. A misty if mild morning, the Red Guard of the Old Portlians was there in force. With ten riders entered a minor miracle took place. We actually rode together as a group! Not the usual devil take the hindmost attitude.
It is mostly on good roads but with a couple of tough old climbs. It was Carters Hill, famous as the great leveller at the end of the Circuit of Kent that was looming large in our minds. With that out of the way we cracked onto the finish, getting there in around 3 hours for the 47 miles.
Exhilarating stuff. Great start to the 2013 season.

Thanks to the WKRC for putting on a cracking event once again.

Croydon Radio - a biased interview

I have been talking on and off to Croydon Radio about interviewing writers for them. I have finally got my act together to kick things offat 11am this Saturday. Thanks to Tracey at the radio station it is going to be a bit of a treat.

Chris Winter,  the author of Crystal Palace FC A Biased Commentry is coming in. Given that Palace are probably playing the best stuff we have in years it is a great moment to chat with man who has produced two wonderful books on the Club's history.

If you fancy taking a look - follow the link.
http://www.redpost.co.uk/

Chris was asked to pick a few of his favourite tunes. If you are a Palace fan you won't have any trouble guessing what at least one of them will be.

Morning after the night before worth Jools

Years ago Jools Holland's show was a much needed blast of not always fresh air in the New Year's Eve TV schedule however by last year it felt like it a long since run out of gas. This year was made merrier by an intriugingline up. With no disrespect to Emile Sande, Paloma Faith or Jake Bugg the show seemed to be about erm older talent, much of which was clearly coming back from some dark places.
The spectacle of Adam Ant was a sad reminder of the problems he has faced and Dexy's annoying jaunty reworking of Geno a reminder of what a frustrating git Kevin Rowland can be. But emerging, looking like the 3rd bloke in the queue at the Post Office, was Roland Gift and what is still an absolutely incredible voice. He went at his material like it mattered, a quality that he shared with The Dubliners who despite being more that one member short of their classic line ups tore into the stuff with a zest.
There is a gift that some artists have of always being in the picture even if it is not about them. Billy Bragg was the master at this. It is clearly a gift that Paloma Faith shares, her teeth and eyebrows were barely out of shot all night ,and in huge disproportion to her rather low key formal contribution.