When second is nowhere

Super Sunday too?
Well if not super, surely very satisfactory? Not if you saw BBC's legion of pundits in Beijing (I'm sure they're breeding - there seem to be more and more of them every day)this morning. More golds to celebrate, but DISASTER - our four women rowers brought shame upon the nation by finishing only second! Silver simply isn't good enough for 'Team GB' and there were enough tears to start another regatta. Meanwhile in the studio there was the sense of stunned bereavement that is only normally evident when a great national figure has died or there has been a great natural disaster. Let's get this into perspective - our women finished second best in the world in the rowing fours; that's not really too bad, is it? Yet with targets to be hit and everything geared towards London 2012 it's all about winning. One commentator, probably unwittingly, summed it up this morning: "There's only one colour that matters - and that's the gold". As one who used to live by the 'it's not the winning, it's the taking part' creed when trying to encourage my own kids to enjoy sport, it made me feel quite queasy.
Judging by the BBC's coverage - where the gold medal tally is everything - is the Olympics now really only about winning? It certainly looks like London 2012 will be no place for losers. I can heardly wait ...

O ye of little faith
Yes, I got it wrong about Hibs yesterday. A goal inside fifty seconds did help, and what an enjoyable game it was (and still would have been even if HIbs had lost their lead, as lokked likely late on. There were a lot of positives on show at Easter Road and both sides played open, attackign football. To use another fottball cliche (this blog will be liberally sprinkled with them over the coming months) it was a great advery for Scottish football.
I was impressed by Falkirk's football, and their striker Higdon in particular. A big brutal battering-ram in the mould of the old-fashioned centre-forward, he shoved, pushed and battled away all game and was rewarded with two goals. A cross between Viduka and Hartson without the touch. But two goals, a couple of near chances, more than a few warnings from the ref about his 'over enthusiasm' - yes, I'm sure he'll be delighted with his day's work, if not the result.
However the mighty Hibs have started their inexorable rise up the SPL table - let the others quake!

Oh no! Not another one!
The death of the sitting Labour MP in Glenrothes has given Gordon Brown another headache he could have done without. In normal times Glenrothes would be solidly Labour but as we have seen over recent months these are not normal times, and the bookies have already installed the SNP as long odds-on favourites.
The dilemma for Brown is timing - whether to call the by-election before or after Labour's Party Conference. Go early, don't give the SNP any time to organise, take the defeat on the chin if/when it comes and then use the conference speech to relaunch the Party? Or use the conference speech to galvanize what's left of the party faithful, show strong leadership and issue a call to arms to members to come to the aid of the Party? What to do, what to do?
The added complication of Henry McLeish's 'constructive' suggestions - and his being mooted as a possible candidate by some (surely mischievious elements) - won't be doing Gordon's blood pressure much good, and Milliband's manoueverings and lukewarm support haven't been exactly helpful either.
Internationally, there's the Caucasas problem still festering away and all the doestic economic indicators are dire. Oh Gordon, what to do indeed?

Picture: Your humble scribe offers Gordon Brown some words of wisdom. It was a long time ago.