Eish!

I’m not often intimidated by the animal kingdom.

Actually, this is a blatant lie. There are many species that I that I am afraid of: dodgy Thai prawns for a start; stingrays; dogs with orange eyebrows; most snails and belligerent tortoises.

It is the latter that drew my attention this weekend. As a student of Esop and with an Ephebian flair for practical philosophy I can say with some certainty that there is a subtle fallacy involved in the story of the  Tortoise and the Hare.

The tortoise is commonly regarded as the underdog in this fable. Yet when compared to the hare on a purely zoological scale, there is not much of an advantage that the hare can expect.

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