25 A born winner: Sebastian Coe wins the 1,500m at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Below: as Games master for this year’s London Olympics
Horoscope
BY SALLY BROMPTON
ARIES Travel plans and social activities are under stressful aspects so don’t expect everything to go your own way this week: in fact, don’t expect anything to go your own way. But even March 21 - April 20 if you experience delays and disappointments now, you’ve nothing to worry about long term.
TAURUS What you start over the next few days could make you a lot of money, or lose you a lot of money - maybe both! If you’re smart you won’t start anything new at all but will finish what you’ve already begun. You’ll finish it quicker, of course, April 21 - May 21 if you join forces with other people.
Once more around the track with Seb S
ebastian Coe may be the closest thing modern Britain has to the classical statesman: an Olympic hero, a sharp-elbowed politician, a wealthy businessman and - as ringmaster to the London 2012 Olympics – a disinterested public servant. Although he professes no interest in political leadership, the 56-year-old Coe is a member of what we might call the Branson-Sugar League: the rollcall of men whom most ordinary punters would identify as a good candidate for Mayor of London. Nothing in his new autobiography is likely to alter that, as all it tells us is pretty much what we already knew: Coe is an exceptionally driven man of the best kind of conservative instinct, with an analytical mind and a strong heart. He is a virtuoso performer but not a maverick. The sort of man you want in charge. Coe was moulded by his father, Peter, an industrial manager who ran his son’s athletic career like a well drilled peanut factory. By adopting training techniques from the communist bloc during the 70s, Team Coe reinvented middle-distance running. Their glory years began in 1979 when Seb broke three world records in 41 days, at 800m, 1,500m and the mile, and they were crowned in 1984 when he won his second Olympic gold medal at 1,500m, in Los Angeles. Along the way there were rivalries with Steve Ovett and, later, Steve Cram, as well as spats with most of athletics’ governing bodies and the
New autobiography is light on the parts that should be the juiciest says DAN JONES
press. All these helped thicken Coe’s already thick skin, developed during his upbringing in Sheffield, which aiders as polied his subsequent careers nd Games tician, businessman and master. Coe has approached everything entality he has done with the mentality of a miler. His book is called Running My Life, but since the race is his founding metaphor, a more accurate title ing: would have been Running: My Life. (When I inter-viewed him three yearss his ago he agreed to this nd point: “The race is the end ryproduct,” he said. “Everything else is what you do to ed get there - the bite-sized ble chunks, the manageable us, training, the hourly focus, the big picture.”) ble Some uncharitable writers have called Coe hat boring, and it is true that gly his book is tantalisingly ave light in what might have been the juiciest places. Of ith his personal rivalry with Ovett there is little. Of his 002 marital history (in 2002
Coe was divorced from fi rst wife Nicky following a long affair) there is virtually nothing. Likewise, readers of previous Coe works will recognise plenty of what is written here. Many of the greatest hits from Coe’s pre-2012 life story were bundled up in his 2009 book, The Winning Mind, a short business text that fused memoir with management consultancy. Nevertheless, athletics fans will enjoy the fi rst half of this, and 2 London 2012 junkies will be satisfied se by the second half. The only thing real grates is Coe’s tendenthat really t sporting platitudes and cy to ma managementese. “The tecto tonic plates of our sport were s shifting and, in large part, the genie was already out of the bottle,” he writes, at one point. But this is nitpickery. Co may not be a modern CaeCoe b he presents himself well sar but enou as a sort of Cincinnatus enough m called to his duty, if not - a man from his plough then from his running club. He says he has not the faintest interest in becoming London Mayor, but I doubt that will stop the clamour for his canRunning My Life didacy next time Runni By B Seb Coe around.
GEMINI Don’t be too hasty in dealing with relationship issues this week. A Lunar Eclipse in your sign will make you a lot more emotional than usual and that could cause serious problems May 22 - June 21 in the not too distant future. Be aware that not everyone sees things the same way as you.
CANCER If someone lets you down this week, and according to the planets they will, you must resist the urge to say something that might be hurtful - both to them and to you. In a week or two you will look back and wonder how and why you got June 22 - July 22 so worked up about it.
LEO It might be wise to take nothing for granted this week because even friends and family members will let you down. It’s not what they want to do, of course, but the Lunar July 23 - Aug 23 Eclipse will play havoc with almost everyone’s plans, so take life as it comes and don’t expect too much of anyone.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sep 23
LIBRA
Sept 24 -Oct 23
Ian Rankin is a canny devil. A master of subverting expectations - Rebus is back (in Standing in Another Man’s Grace) after five years, hurrah! - he treats the reader to the most downbeat of beginnings: the bleak, mechanical funeral of a dead cop. His death isn’t even a mystery: cancer. Of course, this doesn’t stop Rebus lighting up and wondering how long it will be before he’s wearing a wooden suit.
Anybody who hasn’t read Rankin before will wonder what all the fuss is about and, alas, the rest of the novel will not change their mind. Rebus is now a civilian member of the Cold Crimes Unit - which means any skulduggery is long in the past - and forced to rely on the strained goodwill of his former sidekick Siobhan Clarke as he slowly decides that a serial killer has been operating along Scotland’s longest road, the A9. There is more intrigue
November 25, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL
than excitement as the cast also includes Big Ger Cafferty, Rankin’s erstwhile archenemy who seems keen to help for some reason, and Malcolm Fox from internal affairs, who also doesn’t like Rebus’ maverick methods. It must have been interesting for Rankin to have all his characters rub shoulders, but the resulting friction produces few real sparks. The novel - it would be misleading to call it a thriller – is long on talk and short
on action. This may be what real police work is like but, compared with such masterpieces as Black and Blue and Fleshmarket Close, Standing in Another Man’s Grave is a minor work. What saves it for Rankin’s legion of fans is the quality of the writing. Office colleagues are differentiated with skill, Scotland’s dramatic landscapes are described in all their fear and gloaming and, most important of all, the trademark pawky humour is ever present.
News from afar will be anything but music to your ears this week and you may be tempted to reply with sarcasm or even anger. Don’t! With a Lunar Eclipse focussing on communications if you say the wrong thing, or even the right thing in the wrong way, you will regret it.
SCORPIO Listen carefully to what other people say this week even if they are not saying it directly to you because you might get lucky and hear something that could make you some Oct 24 - Nov 22 money. It’s not immoral to pick up useful information just by being aware of what’s going on around you.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov 23 - Dec 21
Partners and colleagues will be either over-secretive or over-emotional this week - whichever one it is they will go to extremes, thanks to the Lunar Eclipse in your opposite sign of Gemini – the relationship area of your chart. You are no stranger to extremes yourself, of course, but this time it will be you who tries to find the middle way. Whatever happens, you have nothing to fear.
CAPRICORN
Rebus returns but it’s not Rankin at his finest By Mark Sanderson
Something you’ve been working on for the past six months or so has reached the stage where you must decide whether to carry on to the end, be it triumphant or bitter, or call it a day and move on to something else. Think long and hard before making your move.
Dec 22 - Jan 20
Your work and health are all important and if you can’t see the link between them you will by the end of the week. Don’t push yourself because you’re not as strong as you seem to believe. Your powers of recovery may be remarkable but why risk making yourself ill?
AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19
This is no time to be reticent or to entertain thoughts of failure because almost anything is possible for you now if you act on your hunches and believe in yourself and your mission. There’s nothing wrong with the world at large that cannot be put right by people like you.
PISCES Because this week’s Lunar Eclipse highlights your family life there are sure to be some emotional ups and downs on the home front. What you must remember is that no matter Feb 20 - March 20 what might be said or done none of it is to be taken seriously. Forgive and forget and move on.