By the time you read this I will have a pretty good idea whether my 70-and-over judo world title will belong to some Mongolian monster or be retained by yours truly. Unpredictability is to sport what lying is to Clinton and Blair — a compelling stimulus — but my chances in Brussels are beginning to resemble those of the Belgian army facing the invading Germans back in 1940. Having trained hard all spring in the Bagel, it all went down the drain in two weeks living the high life in London and Devon. As good an excuse as any, and fun to boot.
Speaking of Blair and Clinton, I am reliably informed that Arpad Busson’s ‘Diary’ in the 14 June Speccie is up for a Pulitzer Prize. And it makes me very proud. Only a Pug’s Club member would have the insight to find greatness in those two bull artists, hence a prize is well deserved. Ditto for the hedgies being a force for good in the world. That they are — for luxury goods, that is. Working for others is what hedge funders do, and God forbid that anyone would accuse them of greed. Mind you, there are those who suffer from Spenglerian pessimism and believe hedgies are pretty grabby and have driven the economy south with their greed, but now that Arkie has set us straight everything is hunky-dory.
Pug’s Club, incidentally, has just voted in our 12th member, George Livanos, the Erwin Rommel of Greek shipowners, as he’s known among us cognoscenti. Which means the club is now one fourth Greek, and as Heinrich von Fürstenberg has just been elected a member of the world’s Best-Dressed List, Pug’s can claim that a quarter of its members are among the earth’s best-dressed people.
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