Grassmarket

One Alpine win per season for Ester, that is the law.

Ledecka takes the lead!

Lara Gut first out in Crans: scratches early.

Search on YouTube for a clip of one of the greatest races of all time, the 1954 Miracle Mile with Bannister & Landy going head-to-head in the Empire Games in Edmonton.

You’re missing the point a bit, mate. They’ve got plenty time to reorganise the event, they’ve got a volunteer host & they’ve still messed it up.

Early summer ski jumping for the ladies.

Told you so. Putin cannot afford to be humiliated & will kill as many as necessary to prevent it. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10552743/Furious-Putin-prepares-use-father-bombs-brave-Ukrainians-hold-advance.html

Hot news from 1999: Slettemark has just beaten Bjoerndalen. . Also, good news for & .

Twitter shut down Donald Trump, but the Russians are free to use it to threaten all their neighbours.

Many goats.

Western Ukraine was never part of Russia from literally the Mongol invasions until 1939 & the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Strangely enough, we hear a lot from Putin about Ukrainian Nazis, but not so much about the glorious Nazi-Soviet alliance of August 1939-July 1941, which gave the Western Ukraine to Russia for the very first time.

Salami tactics, an old Russian speciality. Ask a what “salami tactics” are. Another old tactic. “Frightened citizens in neighbouring country ask brave Russian troops to fraternally intervene”. First used in 1920.

Very good coverage of the Scottish Champs at the moment on the BBC - pictures, commentary etc. There’s also coverage on the Scottish Curling YouTube channel but it’s in the supermarket car park tradition. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/scotland/60481706

The Russian economy has always been weak, but its army is usually strong. They see a unique, probably never to recur, opportunity with a weak & divided Europe, a senile man and a corrupt oligarchy running America and a China with whom they share a common interest in overturning the post-Cold War state system.

Exactly. To a certain kind of Russian nationalist - which does not remotely mean all Russians, or even all Russian nationalists, but does include important Russians like Nicholas I, Stalin & Putin - everything that was once Russian is still Russian. And that their historical legacy will be defined by how much of it they get back. There is even a Russian name for it - государственная школа - the School of the State, the people for whom the welfare of the Russian State itself is the supreme goal of politics.

Not so much a joke as an agent, I'm afraid. As I said the other day, Putin had everything on everyone who had been remotely involved in German politics, East & West, from the 60s to the fall of the Wall. I'm quite sure that Merkel, like anyone who had a decent career at the mid levels of the SED, had done things that she would not wanted to come into the harsh spotlight of modern opinion.

I don’t think this is good news at all. If Putin’s attack starts to go seriously off-timetable he’s simply going to retaliate with massive bombardments on civilians. Like the Kaiser in Belgium 1914.

There's also an Aerials scheduled for Yaroslavl' at the weekend. Obviously & will not be boycotting...

So just & then. Quite the reunion.

Back in the 1980s it was my theory that the West could swiftly defuse any Russian invasion just by leaving crates of vodka & porn by the side of the road. Worth a try now.

They’ve been bribed or blackmailed. Putin knows what they all did back in the days, both sides of the Wall. Schröder should have been flung in jail for life. The fact that he wasn’t convinces me many others are on the golden ruble. Plenty of ours too, btw, it’s not just Germany.

Oof for a nightmare second looked like Zubarev was going to win. Ivarsson 20/20, but down on ski speed. Mareček surely won now.

Campbell Wright might have blown his win 0 0 0 2. Maybe he’s OK. His early speed is still the best & no-one else is shooting better. And of course as soon as I type it Uldal goes faster. Mareček also on the case. Ski race between him &

Don’t really support one. I’m not from the heartland. In general, the underdogs.

Still weeks behind, but can recommend the four stages of the Tour de Provence if you’re looking for something to watch.