For the first time in a long time we are getting some genuine summer weather. I spent yesterday sitting outside, following various developments in the sporting world. Barring a ‘Van de Velde’ moment Adam Scott will be crowned Open Champion tomorrow evening as he leads by four strokes going into the final round. Brant Snedeker who equalled Scott’s course record 64 on the second day fell away in the later stages of the third. Having been bogey free for the first 40 holes (an unprecendented achievement at the Open) he dropped four shots in the last 14 holes of his third round.
South Africa have had two very good days in the test match and at 403-2 are almost certainly secure against defeat (there is no certainly in cricket – remember Headingley 1981). However, as this score suggests, the pitch is showing precious few signs of mischief, and the last time England faced a large first innings deficit on a pitch of this nature, at Brisbane in 2010 they responded with 517-1 in the second innings to save the game. With a possible 196 overs remaining in the game there is still time for all sorts of things to happen.
Returning to the Saturday at Marxism, the fourth meeting I attended featured Panos Garganas from our Greek sister organisation the SEK talking about “Can Greece beat the Troika?” This was remarkably upbeat given the situation in Greece. As the speaker pointed out, not only did Siriza gain the highest percentage of the vote for a left organsiation in a Greek election since 1958, they did so in the face of open intimidation from the major European powers.
After the two hour break I attended a meeting titled “Defend the right to protest”. This featured three main speakers, Nina Power who runs Defend the Right to Protest, criminal defence lawyer Matt Foot and Alfie Meadows. Alfie Meadows is a victim of police brutality, and a piece of doublethink that Orwell would never have dared to make up. Having been battered to within an inch of his life (he needed emergency brain surgery to save hime) he then found himself charged with violent disorder, a case that is still ongoing (comes up for retrial in October).
At the end of the day I met up with the Norwich comrades and we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours talking about our respective days (although the bar, which I have already kvetched about, ran out of ale that night – and did not bother to restock) before heading to our accommodation.
Enjoy a selection of photos…
aspiblog 