Russian athletes escape ban from Olympics.

Well, what a surprise. Despite strong and plausible allegations about state-sponsored doping affecting the whole squad, the IOC has decided not to ban them. Which suggests that the Russians may be as adept at bribery as they are at doping. Though I’m all in favour of allowing athletes to ingest unlimited quantities of performance-enhancing drugs. Who wouldn’t want to see the 100m run in three seconds and high jumpers leaping as high as pole vaulters? No such strictures are applied to musicians. Because this track and countless others would have been unimaginable without performance-enhancing drugs.