Had they heard it, it might also just have sparked a moment of reflection in two of the leading knights of English football: Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Vermeil said: “Well, I’ve got 11 grandchildren so I guess I still have quite bit of coaching to do.” A little late, some might have thought, for such philosophical distancing from the obsessional tides of a sport which was handed its workaday mantra by the ultimately hard-driving Vince Lombardi more than half a century ago – at least those who remember Vermeil weeping publicly over the vicissitudes of his job when he was leading the Philadelphia Eagles back in the Eighties.Lombardi declared to his players, notoriously or gloriously depending on your viewpoint: “Winning isn’t the important thing, it’s the only thing”, and one of his team reflected many years later: “To be fair, he never played favourites … he treated us all like dogs.”Such macho attitudes in professional sport have rarely been under such a high-powered microscope as in the last few days here in North America because if Vermeil is exiting the stage Tony Dungy, the brilliant coach of Indianapolis Colts, has decided to remain at the centre of it, despite a crushing personal tragedy that suddenly makes the second of his season’s ambitions – the chance of a perfect, historic 16-0 season ended a few weeks ago – to win the Super Bowl in Detroit next month seem like the pursuit of one of the more overrated baubles on the periphery of real life.Dungy returned to duty this last weekend to lead his Colts to victory over the Arizona Cardinals and complete a dazzling regular season record of 14-2. For those who’d prefer piecemeal boxes, Warners’ Mozart 250th Anniversary Edition provides a goldmine of musical quality. At about £99, it’s an extraordinary bargain, generally well engineered, and while you might eventually feel prompted to supplement some of the recordings with stronger alternatives, there are quite a few that I’d be quite happy to live with. So no question that we’re talking quality, though the piano concertos (Derek Han) and symphonies (Jaap ter Linden, period instruments) are, in general, more worthy than distinguished. Salvatore Accardo and Bruno Canino perform certain of the violin sonatas, Emmy Verhey the violin concertos and the Wind Soloists of the COE under Alexander Schneider, the great Wind Serenade, Kv361. Quite an achievement, cramming Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete Works (Brilliant Classics 92540, 170 discs ) into something less than the size of a shoebox, but Brilliant has managed it, and included a Mac-compatible CD-rom of texts and libretti into the bargain.
The three-star rating isn’t consistent: some performances warrant less, others more. In terms of opera alone, we’re given Sir Charles Mackerras wielding a lively baton for Die Entf?ng and Die Zauberfl? Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt leading a fine Idomeneo (with Nicolai Gedda), then Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro with period instruments under Sigiswald Kuijken, all with good casts.
Nicol Matt, a Brilliant mainstay, is responsible for the sacred music, the Orlando Quartet (with the violist Nobuko Imai) for the String Quintets. That she was wearing a photographer-friendly sequinned Saltire dress was testament to the fact she’s played the game to get it.. The newly established second stage of the New Year’s Eve mini-festival, outside Waverley station, showcased the slightly more obscure acts, with the 2005 Mercury Music Prize nominees Hard-Fi representing the only major non-Scots band, alongside Glasgow’s Sons and Daughters.
This gothic country-rock quartet – who released their second album, The Repulsion Box, on Domino last summer, which is also the home of their friends and sometime tourmates Franz Ferdinand – were perhaps the biggest reason for more alternative-minded concert-goers to get excited, although the slightly contrived but still punchy blend of ska and anthemic guitar rock offered by Hard-Fi meant that this stage was a more credible alternative to what was happening in Princes Street Gardens’ nearby main arena.Although their presence on the recent John Peel tribute cover of the Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen In Love” was mystifying, in terms of their commercial style clashing with Peel’s alternative slant, El Presidente make all the right moves required of larger-than-life rock idols.The Glasgow-born lead singer Dante Gizzi’s self-styling as the figurehead of his own fictional banana republic complements the mutely stylish poses thrown by his backing group, although the music is a hook-filled throwback to Gun, Gizzi’s former band.In contrast, Hard-Fi’s fellow Mercury nominee KT Tunstall is someone who promised huge amounts at the start of her career, yet who has seen her critical reputation slip in comparison with her stratospheric commercial rise.That, prior to “Suddenly I See”, she described this gig as “the very big cherry on top of my year”, was acknowledgement of her well-earned success. The nation’s recent tendency for producing somewhat bland radio singers was thrown into focus, at least in terms of the main stage acts.
Most studies have been unable to draw a true association with sexual problems.”. It speaks volumes for the strength of Scottish music in the past year that the organisers of Edinburgh’s by now firmly established Hogmanay Street Party were able to fill the bill across two stages almost entirely with big-name homegrown acts, most of whom either made their debut or consolidated their position within the UK music scene substantially in 2005. But Toni Belfield, director of information for the UK Family Planning Association, said: “Sexual relationships are very complex. How we feel and what we do all relate to what we feel sexually. The pill does have side effects in some women and may affect their mood.”But women on the pill may be going through other things – the break-up of a relationship, leaving home for the first time – that affect them. No wonder so many women have had symptoms.”Claudia Panzer, an endocrinologist in Denver and co-author of the study, said: “Physicians prescribing oral contraceptives should point out to their patients potential side effects.”She added: “If women present with these complaints, it is crucial to recognise the link between sexual dysfunction and the oral contraceptive.”Several studies in the past 30 years have suggested the pill may cause problems.
