An analysis of the leaderboard at the Vendée Globe site today identified the group of ten leading the pack, and commented that over the course of the race, some would inevitably drop out ‘like the Agatha Christie Novel’.
It turns out that the novel I read when it was called Ten Little Niggers, after the old nursery rhyme, is on its third title thanks to modern ‘political correctness’. First, it became ‘And Then There Were None’ (the last line in the nursery rhyme Ten Little Nigger Boys) and now it is Ten Little Indians, which people seem to think is an innocuous title whatever your race. If I were what is now called a Native American, I might beg to differ.
However, it turns out that the ‘nigger’ of the rhyme referred at the time to dark-skinned Asians – real Indians. Looks as if the PC zealots have been making fools of themselves again.
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I believe that Jonny Malbon chose to go through the gap west of Gran Canaria in search of the ‘venturi’ of higher wind speeds funneling between the two high land masses. Anyway, he succeeded: he had to cut short today’s radio session as the wind climbed quickly to over 30 knots.
