Yes, I know, another of my indecipherable headings but you see they are carefully composed to ensure that you have to read the post to find out what the hell I'm dribbling on about. Anyway, in this case it is bar-room brawls, or to be precise, the dirtiest, cruellest, most vicious form of bar-room brawl anywhere - an argument between two public intellectuals! In the red corner (and I use the color classification carefully), we have 'Krugtron the Invincible' which is the self-chosen title by which the 'economist', Paul Krugman, likes to be called - and which alone proves him to be a total plonker. In the blue corner, we have Niall Ferguson, a Glaswegian and an economic historian. He looks fairly tough and fit in his photos but I am sure that despite his Glasgow background he would not be so brutal as to employ the favoured fight technique of that great city which involves head-butting anyone who gives you grief because that way they go down and you don't spill your beer!
Now, you may remember that the other day I went all soppy and felt the need to get in touch with my feminine side over the subject of shooting wild animals. But today I have 'manned-up', and not only am I thoroughly enjoying this cruel sport, I have offered to hold their coats whilst the two of them kick six bells out of each other. Whilst I like to think that my readers are exceedingly civilised and properly disdainful of blood sports, actually, I know damn well that most of you, like me, can never get enough of it - so long as we're not involved! So, I urge you over to The Coffee House where they have a slightly edited version of Ferguson's original piece written for The Huffington Post. It is on the long side but just settle down with a coffee and nice glass of single malt (to show your solidarity with Ferguson) and enjoy the spurting blood. No one does it better than two eggheads having a go at each other.
