Spectator's Notes: The essence of sport

Columnist Edward Pearce, former Darlington Grammar School old boy and Telegraph and Guardian political writer, now retired to Yorkshire, writes of a cricket match he recently witnessed between Easingwold and Acomb.

It was a real humdinger, decided on the last ball and had Mr Pearce entralled from the first delivery. Regrettably, he writes, the drama was only recorded by one newspaper, the D&S. He used his enjoyment of the local cricket match to emphasise his disenchantment over the media obsession with which channel covers which sport, the most recent kerfuffle being the BBC's 'loss' of Match of the Day.

Mr Pearce makes the point that real sport, like the titanic struggles enacted on village playing pitches week-in, week-out, is much more compelling than anything seen on television.

Out of the blue

It is difficult to know what to say about the pretty flower arrangments which have sprung up on Darlington's inner ring road green spaces. Fresh from the town's French twin, Amiens, they are imaginative floral arrangements growing out of oil drums.

The problem is their position, seemingly dumped in their allotted spaces overnight from Mars. Perhaps they work well in the context of their home town. In Darlington they look sadly out of place.

The true centre

Spectator read somewhere this week that if the political capital of the UK was to be moved away from London, the most central place for it to be located would be Hawes.

Depending on how you calculate it, Hawes is said to be the nearest settlement to the centre of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Spectator has also heard it suggested that Hexham and Harrogate are the centre points but we'll let their respective claims pass).

A nice idea but with the benefit of further reflection, it definitely would not work. Apart from the planning problems with the national park, Yorkshire dalesfolk would not put up with the silliness of politicians.