The statue of Brighton's second greatest sportsman

Rather to my surprise I found myself enjoying the World Athletics Championships from China. Track and field used to be one of my favourite sports. 

Along with most of country I was gripped by the rivalry between Coe and Ovett, and TV coverage of the Dream Mile from Bislett, the Ivo Van Damme meeting and the Emsley Carr Mile achieving massive viewing figures.

From the late 80's onwards though a sport so old and simple as running lost much of its lustre, tainted by doping and corruption.

The Olympics excepted, TV coverage diminished, and every great performance after Ben Johnson's exposure always left me wondering.

I admit I only tuned into the final day of the World Championships by accident. I should have realised there is no Sunday Politics in August!

This was high class sport and - judging by the characters in the high jump and the darts style 'walk-ons' for the relay runners - the sportsmen and woman were having fun.

And there was even for me some nostalgia, seeing Britain take a bronze medal in the men's 400 metre relay by a beard. Frank Clement all over again (although I think he was 4th).

Anyway it all prompted me to go and have a proper look at the newish statue of Brighton's greatest athlete (and second greatest sportsman). The original statue honouring Steve Ovett was in Preston Park but was stolen by scrap metal thieves. Its replacement is on the seafront, between the Volks railway and the recently closed Madeira Drive arches.

Yes it is wonderful that Steve has been honoured in this way by his home town and may be this is just me, but I do think it's a shame that the sculpture does not look like him.

Tony Blair just cost me £200

If, like me, you can hardly go one hour without thinking about the Labour leadership contest, then you will have seen the latest attempt in the Guardian by Tony Blair to ensure Jeremy Corbyn wins.
The piece is written in that folksy style which made Tony's autobiography surprisingly readable, and perhaps goes to explain why he got on so well with 'Yo Blair' Dubya.
Of course I actually agree with much of what Blair has written but sadly for him, and my pocket, I do not have a vote.
I like to think that I am pretty shrewd when it comes to betting on politics, and I had confidently laid Jeremy Corbyn (a form of words that must be read in context obviously) for a reasonable sum, sure that when it came to the time to actually mark their cross number Labour members and assorted £3 registered supporters would not actually choose electoral oblivion.
Yet it seems my faith in the good sense and patriotism of the Labour electorate was misplaced. They really are going to choose a man who advocates leaving NATO, Zimbabwe style money printing, Venezuelan price controls and cosy chats with friends from Hamas and Hezbollah. 
Part of the reason for this has been the dreadfully poor fight put up by JC's three rivals. The inexperienced Blairite candidate, Liz Kendall, has adopted a campaign strategy almost entirely based  on telling Labour supporters why they are wrong - a kind of electoral version of suicide by cop.
Andy 'I like footie and live in a coal mine' Burnham has feebly said whatever he thought would appeal to whoever he was speaking to at that moment, even if it directly contradicted whatever he said to a different audience the day before.
In fairness to Yvette Cooper she has done a bit better, finally taking the fight to Corbyn (if a month too late). She strikes me as efficient, dependable and competent, but dreadfully cautious and yes, a teeny bit boring. Unlike the big defeat which faces Labour under JC, I suspect a Cooper led Labour Party would perform respectably enough without ever threatening to win.
Two weeks to go then before Corbyn becomes Labour leader, and I lose £200. Thanks Tony!

Women's test cricket is dire but tonight's 20/20 is a chance to make amends

Tonight, starting at 7pm, England's women cricketers play Australia in a must win match for them at Hove.  If they lose then Australia regain the women's Ashes.
The match is covered live by Sky, and there is also full commentary on test match special. Most encouraging of all, the match is a sell-out. It obviously helps that it is on a Friday evening at the beginning of the Bank Holiday weekend, but it is to the credit of the two teams, and Sussex County Cricket Club's marketing department, that there will be a capacity crowd.
The shortened version showcases women's cricket at its best. There will not be as many boundaries but there should be good entertainment and that atmosphere that only a capacity cord can generate. 
Sarah Taylor, the England (and Sussex) wicketkeeper is superb behind the stumps, standing up to the medium pacers and bravely (madly?) not wearing a helmet. Meg Lanning, the Australian captain, is the best batsman in the world, and there are echoes of Dennis Compton in Ellyse Perry - not only does she open the batting and bowling for Australia, but in the winter she plays for national football team as well.
Any comment which suggests that women's sport lacks a certain merit in comparison to the men's version risks being misinterpreted. Nowadays though I do not have to be quite so careful. I am genuinely looking forward to tonight's match but if it was a test match that was scheduled I would give a wide swerve. 
As part of the Ashes series the women played a test match at Canterbury. It was also covered - for the whole 5 days - by Sky and Radio 5. Australia won the game in the final session on the 5th day, which suggests an entertaining match. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The world watching paint dry competition would have been more interesting. The run rate was consistently less than 2 runs an over. The batters made Geoff Boycott look like a reckless dasher.
I cannot believe that anyone apart from relatives of the players, or someone with a bet riding on the result (my excuse!), could have stuck it out for more than 2 hours.
Women's cricket is on the up. Lots of money has been put in. The coaching has been professionalised (they are all men funnily enough - as are the umpires?) but this could backfire if the product is rubbish. The test match was a dire backwards step but the one day matches have been good.
Under lights in a packed ground at Hove is a real chance for the women to showcase the game. I am looking forward to it.
Oh and if you want a financial interest I recommend backing Australia. They are the 20/20 world champions and until Wednesday's defeat at Chelmsford had beaten England 16 games in succession. It's unpatriotic I know but you can back them at a generally available 4/5 which seems good value to me. I am pretty sure that is what Farringdon would do.

Fanny Craddock gets me blogging again

Having confirmed in record time that all political careers end in failure with my defeat at Hove in May, I have spent the last 3 months watching some cricket, lots of horse racing, doing some digging and generally loafing about.

A few friends have suggested that I should restart blogging. I had a reasonably successful blog back in the days before my entry into politics. It was called Public Bar Wisdom and it garnered a few hits having been highlighted by Iain Dale a couple of times - once I recall for a mildly amusing post about someone silencing the caff by asking for a vegetarian breakfast, realising their cultural error and quickly ordering black pudding on the side (no it was not Andy Burnham).

Sadly I had to suspend and then delete those musings when I got involved with politics as a few of the posts might have 'given cause for embarrassment' (I think that was the phrase). Cowardly I know but political ambition has this effect.

Anyway I have now decided to write again from time to time. It will be a random, inconsistent, and illogical take on whatever catches my attention. Politics, sport, show-business, films, telly, books, tips (what would Farringdon do?) may all get covered. With no (ok little) political ambition left I can be indiscreet, forthright, frank, rude and of interest only to myself. If anyone else enjoys it that will be a bonus.

And as for Fanny Cradock? I vaguely remember her from my childhood, lots of make up, smoking when interviewed on Parky and giving hopeless Johnny a hard time. Mention of her this morning brought back some memories and a brief bit of research revealed what an interesting life she led. So why not write about it? Her story would make a great subject for one of those films BBC4 like doing.

Not only is she credited with inventing my favourite starter (prawn cocktail) but she married 4 times (twice bigamously) and got sacked by the BBC for being rude. Oh and Fanny is still racing slang for the the place where the horses parade before a race, although sadly for reasons which are probably obvious Nick Luck never hands over to Jim McGrath 'to have a look at the horses in the fanny' - even on Channel 4.