Marion Jones

If only more people were as dignified in any moment as Marion Jones was yesterday when facing jail. No recriminations, no self-justification, no complaints. And yet, if she had wanted to, she could have said a lot in her own defence; chiefly, that she was operating in an American athletics world that was plainly and universally corrupt, in which everybody cheated. If she wanted to say that she had been made a scapegoat, she could have done so with some credibility. But she did not. "I respect the decision of the judge", even though the judge sent her to jail. Period. I used to be a fan, and though the revelation of her cheating disappointed me severely, her behaviour yesterday means that, in spite of all her crimes, she is entitled to say what she said: "I stand for what is right". And never mind that she called them "mistakes": everyone does these days, it's more or less contemporary jargon - but she clearly meant that what she had done was wrong and that people should "learn from" it. It seems to me that this woman may have got as much from discovery and humiliation as many good people get from blameless and useful lives. Good luck to her.

I am tempted to do a "name and shame"

Minutes after I had posted about dignity and honesty, I meet with the exact opposite. A (former) friend had posted that the current writer's strike in Hollywood seemed "Ayn Randian" to him, because the writers had brought the industry to a halt by withdrawing their brains. Now that seemed like nonsense to me. I reminded him that what was going on was called trades-unionism, and that Rand did not have much time for that sort of thing. Yes, you know, unionism - the kind of thing that Reaganthatcher was supposed to have consigned to the dustbin of history?

And that was it. Nothing personal; no insults; only a disrespectful reference to a few conservative idols whom everyone knows I have no time for.

So I wake to find my comment deleted and myself banned.

Wow, laddie, that is really brave. That shows integrity, belief in your convinctions, and confidence in your ability to defend them. That absolutely does not suggest that you are terrified that all your ideologies may be built on sand.