The courage before your convictions

"You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank."

So said legendary golfer Bobby Jones in 1925 when he was lauded for calling a two-stroke penalty on himself at the climax of the US open, despite his infringement having gone unnoticed by anyone but himself. Jones went on to lose because of the penalty. This act of moral decency was echoed last week when English golfer Brian Davis also alerted officials to an unobserved infringement, losing the Heritage Classic in South Carolina into the bargain. Sadly, this was not the main story occupying the mainstream press last week. Apart from Cleggmania and the election, the news Goldman Sachs was...