“We don’t go where we’re not wanted,” my mother used to say.
It was one of those family things, a survival of long-forgotten rows. But the principle still holds good.
And it comes to mind as Olympic bosses insist that the Tokyo Games must go ahead. Should they?
That’s what more than two-thirds of Brits want, according to a survey conducted by the British Olympic Association, which has a vested interest in bolstering public opinion.
Opinion is very different in the host country.
Japan is currently in a state of emergency over a resurgence of Covid-19, and 80% of Japanese people say the event should be cancelled or postponed.
It looks like we’re rarin’ to go where we’re not wanted, in pursuit of gold for Team GB. “Is it worth it?” asked badminton silver medallist Gail Emms on the news channel Al Jazeera.
I’m not sure it is. Even if there are no spectators, the event will bring together many thousands of athletes, organisers, broadcasters, hospitality business people and hangers-on in Tokyo, from more than a hundred Covid-ravaged nations round the world.
All crowded into the Olympic village and media centres – a venue for the mother and father of all super-spreaders. No wonder the Japanese are jittery.
Remember what happened when a few hundred skiers gathered in the Alps last winter. Some of them brought coronavirus back to Britain, and it ran rife through the population.
Sport is vital for public morale, say executives of an Olympic industry heavily reliant on tens of millions of public money. They would say that, wouldn’t they?
The world flourished without Olympics between the time of the ancient Greeks and the nineteenth century. I dare say we might get by without a Tokyo Viralathlon.
Instead of being glued to our TV screens for the beach volley-ball, we could go out into the summer sunshine. Or just outdoors, whatever the weather, as long as we are together.
That’s real gold, not just podium pride.
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Homecoming Brits, “Welcome to the Hotel Quarantino! It’s a lovely place, such a lovely place...” as the song nearly says.
The noise you can hear in the background is Boris Johnson closing the door after the horse has bolted.
Shutting Britain’s borders to visitors from countries in the southern hemisphere is too little and 10 months too late.
But take heart. We’re promised a “road map” out of lockdown, presumably featuring U-turns, cul-de-sacs, roundabout policies, private toll roads and dumb motorways.
The dreaded R-level of infection is falling, but dithering Bojo’s Er-Er-Er level is shooting up. He should be retitled the Prime Minist-er-er.
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Driverless cars, airborne drone taxis – and now trains without drivers, if loony-Right Tory policymakers get their way.
They want to introduce totally automated trains within seven years, under secret plans leaked to the drivers’ union Aslef.
Given the age and complexity of our rail system, the idea is as unworkable as it is unappealing.
All aboard the sci-fi Algorithm Express please!
If there are no feet on the footplate, this railwayman’s son will stop at 'ome.
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Danish scientists say butter is good for you. Good. Toast is simply an excuse to spread it thick. It’s equally delicious on well-browned pikelets, which some people call crumpets. A word with another, very different, meaning.
