Drugs

The news, reported by the New York Times, that Lance Armstrong is preparing to confess his sins reminds me of this passage from the Book of Daniel: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Remember, however, that golden-sunned afternoon in Paris in the summer of 2005. On the Champs-Elysees Lance Armstrong, the undisputed titan of his era, stands

In one sense, I have some sympathy for Lance Armstrong. He has been hounded by the American anti-doping agency USADA who, like other federal agencies, are remorseless foes. Once they have their hooks in you they never let go. The usefulness of their investigations is another matter. Even so, Armstrong’s declaration that enough is enough and that he will no longer bother to defend himself against doping charges will doubtless be seen as a capitulation. Most people, I suspect, will take his silence as an admission of guilt. So it really wasn’t just about the bike, was it? Apparently not. The evidence against Armstrong may still – as far as

The Chinese have excelled at London 2012, much to the annoyance of their Western rivals. In this week’s issue of the Spectator, Ross Clark argues that the claims against swimmer Ye Shiwen reflect irrational suspicion of her country. Here is an edited version of Ross’s article (you can read the full version here): The story of London 2012 has been that of a country which was once an underachiever in the Olympics but which, through sheer hard work on the part of its athletes, has hauled itself to the top of the medals tables, producing in the process one of the most dramatic world records in Olympic history. I refer,

I like Ken Clarke. He remains a Class A act in a government that could do with more heft and bottom. So there’s that. And his candid admission that the War on Drugs is a failure is welcome. Alas, even Ken can’t quite bring himself to acknowledge that the only thing madder than continuing a mad policy is continuing a mad policy even after you’ve admitted it’s mad. Still, here’s Ken: ‘We have been engaged in a war against drugs for 30 years. We’re plainly losing it. We have not achieved very much progress. The same problems come round and round. I have frankly conceded that policy has not been

What is the best way to describe families who hitherto have been known by the horrible and demeaning term &”problem” families? These are families full of either psychotic, bad or simply anti-social people – kids who play truant, or smash stuff up, or stab people, skaghead parents who burgle and thieve, that sort of thing. How about Dysfunctional Monkeys? Or Hopeless Bastards?  Hertfordshire County Council has come up with the answer – henceforth these fine people will be known officially throughout the county as ‘thriving’ families, instead. Yes, that’s right – ‘thriving’. Excellent. A council spokesman said that the name change was intended to ‘achieve a more positive and aspirational

Just the thing to liven up a slow news day: a response from the Tory backbencher Louise Mensch to a series of insinuating points put to her by “David Jones Investigative Journalists”. The points were all about her time working at the record company EMI in the 90s; about her drug use, night-clubbing habits, that sort of thing. And she has answered them in marvellously unapologetic fashion. You can — and should — read the whole exchange here, although Mensch’s response to the question of whether she “took drugs with Nigel Kennedy at Ronnie Scott’s in Birmingham, including dancing on a dance floor, whilst drunk, with Mr Kennedy, in front