Mumford vs Babel vs Europe vs USA

The wait for a second album is a nerve wracking one. The stakes are high – will it be a drift into obscurity? Or a glistening triumph? This week saw the ending of such a wait as Mumford and Sons finally released ‘Babel’, the follow up to 2009’s ‘Sigh No More’. My biggest fear was not for the overall quality of the album (the verdict is still out), but that following the phenomenal success of the past three years Mumford & Sons would lose their lyrical ambition and musical passion and become a watered down cliché of themselves. Happily that fear is smashed to smithereens within seconds as a pounding bass drum, urgent banjos and Marcus Mumford’s yearning vocals let you know that they mean business. The lyrical gems are plentiful too: ‘Like the city that nursed my greed and my pride, I stretch my arms into the sky, I cry “Babel, Babel, look at me now”, the walls of my town they come tumbling down”. However high or low the album ends up in their portfolio, there’s no doubt that Mumford still ‘have it’. Happy listening!

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I love the Ryder Cup. It is by far my favourite golfing tournament, and the only time when golf approaches the upper echelons of my passion scale. The intense rivalry and matchplay format suggest that this isn’t so surprising. But what is surprising is the Europe factor. Europe, if you haven’t noticed, isn’t doing so well - regions in Spain have run out of essential medical supplies, Christianity is being squeezed out of every corner of public life and Germany is wielding the kind of power that a Union was meant to prevent ever happening again. In the UK, the EU flag has probably never been held in lower regard. And yet, for three wonderful days every two years, Les Douze Etoiles flies with pride and the old world lion roars down the fairways with glory. There are, of course, historic golfing reasons why Europe as a continent competes in this event, but that its popularity continues to grow in these troubled times is noteworthy. For the Ryder Cup has succeeded where a political union, legal integration, a single currency and even the presidency of George Bush failed – to create an emotionally united Europe. Not that it will stop me voting to get the hell out of the EU as soon as possible– that is, if we’re ever given the chance express such sentiments in the ballot box…

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I’m about to do something dangerous and endorse a book which I’ve barely read a quarter of so far. The book in question is John Maxwell’s life@work. John Maxwell makes the unusual junction of being both a sought after business guru and a evangelical megachurch pastor. The contention of the book is, essentially, that such a portfolio shouldn’t be unusual – that to separate God and faith from work and success is a huge mistake. But this far more than a ‘let’s be nice to everyone at work and try hard’ but a tight theological argument that work itself is central to who God made us to be (Genesis 1:26-31). Maxwell then proceeds to examine various elements of work and identify their spiritual integration. I eagerly await reaching his conclusions – let me know if you get there first.

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EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW Make sure you check into Words of 50 next week, where an American Election FACEoff ™ between myself and good friend, fellow blogger and published journalist Mark Summers will take place. Need I say more…

Clegg, Cavendish and Cricket

Words of 50 is back! After what can only be described as an accidental hiatus, I’m looking to return to at least weekly posting. As you will see from today’s offering, the style of posting is going to move away from dedicated posts on a particular topic (lack of inspiration has been one factor in the recess) towards a more random diary like collection of various thoughts I have had during the week. Something along the lines of Simon Hoggart’s diary (Saturday Guardian) or the Evangelical Alliance’s Friday Night Theology. Hope you enjoy…

It’s been a rocky few weeks for Nick Clegg. Facing a likely hostile Liberal Democrat autumn conference, we’ve had all kinds of aggressive plays coming out of the deputy prime minister’s office – an apology over tuition fees, new zealousness for the ‘equality’ agenda (somewhat overshadowed by ‘bigotgate’), a call for higher taxes on the super rich and an open declaration that the party would be willing to work with Labour in the future. Are these the actions of a renewed political force or the desperate thrashings of a dying beast? Time will tell, and whilst there may be enough political ‘meat’ here to satisfy the braying conference hordes, it’s going to take far more to win back anything near the popularity Clegg enjoyed during the 2010 election campaign. For that to happen, it would be nothing short of a political miracle.

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Talking of political figures of dubious substance, I find myself ever more saddened at the presence of Mitt Romney in the presidential election. Over the months I have seen nothing come from the Republican candidate that speaks of genuine political vision and value, or that there is a coherent centre to his policy. Regardless of one’s views on President Obama’s policies, he remains the most compelling candidate by a country mile and can only have himself to blame if he loses to a man best described as a political opportunist.

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Amidst the bottomless triumphs of British sport in 2012, two things sadden me: firstly, I have not been any near as enthused about cricket as I usually am. I would suggest a few potential causes of this: boredom over the Pietersen affair, the continued absence of test cricket on free television and not having played or made it to a game this summer. Either way, I feel a poorer person for this, and hope the enthusiasm returns during the winter series.

Secondly, the continued talk of Mark Cavendish leaving Team Sky distresses. While not upset at Cavendish for wanting to maximise his success, I find his calculation that leaving Team Sky will achieve that a little odd. For a start, 2012 has been a successful year for Cavendish – 13 stage wins (including 3 in the Tour de France), 1 one-day race win (Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne), 1 stage race overall win (Ster ZLM) and missing out on the Giro D’Italia red jersey by just one point. This is arguably a stronger return than that of 2011 when he had an entire team built around him. The only exception to that is the Tour de France, where he has been winning 5 stages on a regular basis for a number of years and picked up the Green Jersey last year. If Cavendish were to move to a team where he again picked up 5 stage wins a year in the TdF (which is far from a certainty), he would surpass Eddy Merckx’s stage win record in 3 years time; yet if he stayed at Sky and won at a rate of 3 stage wins a year that timeframe would only expand to 4 years. Besides this odd calculation, Team Sky have come close to ‘total cycling’ this year – i.e. on any given stage of any given race a Team Sky victory has been a realistic prospect. It is an exciting philosophy of racing, and one which would be very badly damaged with the loss of Cavendish. Finally, the thousands who lined the streets of Guildford on the final stage of the Tour of Britain roaring Cavendish home to victory in his Team Sky rainbow Jersey will forever be an iconic moment in British cycling – it would be a real shame if there were no more of those. So Mark, if you are reading this, please reconsider!