Tennis: Murray on top of the world
The moment when Andy Murray became world No. 1 will go down as “a glorious anticlimax”, said Barry Flatman in The Sunday Times. He didn’t do it with a “spectacular winner”; he wasn’t even on a tennis court. Instead, he won his Paris Masters semi-final by default: Milos Raonic pulled out with an injury, giving Murray the necessary ranking points to overtake Novak Djokovic. The next day, he beat John Isner in straight sets to win the tournament. At 29, the Scot is the oldest firsttime No. 1 in more than four decades, and the first British player to top the ATP rankings since they were introduced in 1973. Murray’s latest feat “must go down as his greatest”, said Pat Cash in The Times. His three grand slam victories were certainly sweet, but the big tournaments only require a two-week “hot streak”. The world rankings, by contrast, represent a year’s effort – and that makes them the “truest test” of quality and consistency.
“The wonder is that barely seven weeks ago, Murray had looked spent,” said Oliver Brown in The Sunday Telegraph. He was knocked out of the US Open in the quarter-finals, and showed “creeping signs of listlessness”. Yet since then he has made an emphatic comeback: he has won his last four tournaments, taking his total to eight this year. Even after 12 years as a pro, Murray is still improving his game, said Simon Briggs in the same paper. Last year, he decided to rebuild his second serve – “the most important shot in the game” and, until then, his biggest liability. Few players “would have the appetite” to do that in their late 20s. Just as importantly, he has shaken up his back-room team whenever necessary. In May, he parted ways with his coach, Amélie Mauresmo, and reunited with Ivan Lendl. Yet while Lendl has been “a powerful inspiration”, he has taken a hands-off approach; the “guiding” presence has been Jamie Delgado, Murray’s assistant coach. “If anyone has provided the subtle but significant pointers that help a contender become a world-beater, it is he.”
More than anything, Murray has been helped by Djokovic’s travails, said Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. On his day, the Serb is still “the biggest threat in the game”. But he is “a man beset with problems”, said Flatman. In June, he “experienced his greatest moment of elation on a tennis court” when he won the French Open for the first time. At that point, he held all four grand slams – but it left him with little more to achieve, and he has “struggled for motivation” since then. He was knocked out of Wimbledon in the third round, the Olympics in the first round. Last week, when he lost his Paris Masters quarter-final, he seemed “almost resigned” to his fate. “Having climbed the peak” just five months ago, “he is in danger of falling down the other side”.
Prisons are failing us all To The Guardian
It isn’t just bleeding-heart Guardian readers who want prisons to rehabilitate rather than punish those who are let down by the understaffing of prisons. The “bang ’em up” brigade who demand security are being let down, too.
Contraband is being delivered to upper cells in Pentonville Prison in London by drone. All it needs is a warder outside with a phone to call the staff inside and say: “It’s the end cell on The Twos”, or whatever, and it stops. But there aren’t enough staff to do this. The result is a rampaging, drug-fuelled and illicit economy on the wings that engenders criminality rather than deters it.
There is scant scope for reform and rehabilitation inside today’s prisons, but staff cuts ensure ever more prisoners are released with experiences that ensure they will fail again. This is a fraud perpetrated on the victims of crime by the state, and it must be stopped. Nik Wood, London
Respect rule of law To The Times
For several newspapers to cover their front page last Friday with lurid headlines, innuendoes of bias and the ludicrous allegation that the judges in the Article 50 case were denying the legitimacy of the Brexit referendum would have been laughable if the matter were not so serious.
For present and former government ministers to try and jump on this ill-balanced bandwagon was deplorable.
For the Lord Chancellor to neglect her statutory duty to defend the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law by merely issuing, more than 24 hours later, a brief, bland assertion of principle without any reference to the court’s decision, or the misconceived and vitriolic press coverage of that decision, or the importance of proper judicial process was, at best, inadequate.
May I venture to suggest that when she returns from India, the Prime Minister takes a grip of this matter in recognition of the fundamental importance of the rule of law to her and to all law-
abiding inhabitants of the United Kingdom. Sir Christopher Rose, High Court and Court of Appeal judge 1985-2006, chief surveillance commissioner 2006-15
Negotiating nonsense To The Times
I would like to point out the practical impossibility of the Government revealing its EU negotiating stance to Parliament. The negotiations will deal with many different attributes, such as regulations and tariffs (both In and Out) on different sectors, as well as different aspects of immigration and visa arrangements.
Even assuming that Theresa May is able to provide unambiguous rankings among the infinitely many possible arrangements, I cannot see a way in which the complicated trade-offs involved could be easily represented. The calls to do so are clearly disingenuous. That to attempt to do so would dangerously reveal our hand to the EU negotiators is almost beside the point. Stewart Hodges, professor emeritus, Cass Business School, London
Lay off Lord Chancellor To The Daily Telegraph
The Lord Chancellor is to be applauded for what she is reported as saying about the media reaction to the decision of the judiciary about Article 50. Those who really understand these constitutional matters, and clearly the chairman of the Bar Council does not, will appreciate that if the Lord Chancellor made any further comment, she, as the most senior member of the judiciary, would herself be open to a similar attack.
The major constitutional conundrum is the tampering by one Tony Blair with the position of the Lord Chancellor as the head of the judiciary, when the role was changed for absurd political reasons. The current Lord Chancellor really is making the best of a bad job and has my sympathies. His Honour Ian Alexander, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Election fever To The Times
You say of the court ruling in your leader that “parliamentary sovereignty has been confirmed with a simple driving logic”. Unfortunately, since the 1972 European Communities Act, this has not been true: superior law has been made by the EU without the consent of Parliament but usually with the consent of the Crown. It does not advance on parliamentary sovereignty to postulate that European laws can be made without Parliament but cannot be unmade in the same fashion.
You correctly state that there is no constitutional requirement for a general election, but you urge one anyway. This may be necessary if it is impossible for the Government to get business through the Commons, but in the absence of this obstacle, an election would appear opportunistic and would risk creating further uncertainty around the Article 50 negotiations. The PM has a higher duty above political convenience to the good governance of the country, which is currently best served without a general election. Jacob Rees-mogg MP (Con), House of Commons
Back to nature To The Guardian
Greenham Common is “completely unused”? Funny, this morning when I was walking the dog there, I could have sworn there were lots of other people walking, cycling and generally enjoying the area, which is now managed by the local Wildlife Trust. That this former site for US weapons of mass destruction is now a haven for rare birds and other species is a rare example – and therefore all the more to be treasured – of swords being turned into ploughshares. David Marsh, West Berkshire Green Party