Cheltenham day 2
Ballymore Novices Hurdle (4000m): Just 10 go to post and only four are from the home side. That said, this isn’t the penalty kick for the Irish it might first appear. HERMES ALLEN won the Challow at Newbury, the credential middle distance novice hurdle at Christmas and is clear second favourite at 3s. Favourite is IMPAIRE ET PASSE, but he hasn’t been seen since winning the Moscow Flyer at Punchestown on heavy ground in mid-January. I wasn’t that taken with…
Sunak’s investing too much political capital on “stopping the boats”
I sometimes wonder whether having both a Prime Minister and a Home Secretary who are of immigrant origin is a big reason why the government feels it has to take such a high-profile on being seen to be trying to control numbers. It is as though they believe they need to be extra tough on this particular area. Is immigration an issue that will win or lose elections and making such a big deal of current developments opens them to…
Stodge and MoonRabbit’s Cheltenham Preview
Weather & Going (according to MoonRabbit) the week will be wet and windy at times, if you are going your wind resistant waterproof is essential. Put some heatpads in pockets too. The course and famous hill are always a stamina test, wet tracks add jeopardy, but will rain actually make for much soft going – just not been business as usual under turf all winter after last summers heatwave, what falls just absorbs so quick. With thirsty water table despite…
Lineker gets his job back with the BBC bosses conceding
Why the BBC Lineker dispute could get a lot worse
The row that is going on at the BBC is very familiar territory for me because it was at Broadcasting House that I worked as a news editor in the early years of the Thatcher government. At the time I was also very active in the National Union of Journalists and was Father of the Chapel (head of union branch) at Broadcasting House. I later became head of BBC corporate PR. Unless Gary Lineker can be restored to his role…
Is it Scötterdämmerung for the SNP?
One of the reasons many of us haven’t felt comfortable on heavily backing a Labour majority at the next UK general election is Scotland, up to quite recently it seemed that the SNP hegemony at Westminster elections would continue, now I’m not so sure. Ever since the 2014 referendum Labour have ruined their brand in Scotland, it became Ajockalypse Now for Labour in 2015 when they were reduced from 41 MPs in Scotland to just 1 MP in Scotland. A…
A hollow victory for the hollow crown?
If it wasn’t for the stramash over Gary Lineker there would be a lot more focus on Rishi Sunak’s deal with Emmanuel Macron on migrants crossing the Channel. If Sunak was hoping for a polling boost from the deal he may be disappointed. More people, including Tories, oppose giving France money to deal with the migrant crossings. The voters opposed are a bit like Trumpites who expected Mexico to pay for the wall. But this polling is disappointing for Sunak…