Apparently Clare Balding is being targeted for going to the Sochi Olympics. Should she have gone?

[Neil]

If she's openly against the anti-homo law, no she shouldn't have, if she made a point, that the Olympics are about Sports, not Politics, she should be there.

The very modern, and NAIVE reasoning: 'You make more of a statement by being there' is RUBBISH.

Because you're basically making a point to Russia/Putin, who will 'listen', 'reassure you', and then do NOTHING(because that's what a great politician does, and Putin is a SUPERSTAR Politician).

If you want to make a statement STAY AWAY(most Russians still remember the boycot from the 1980 games, and still feel bad about it, I doubt 'showing up, and protesting' will hardly an impact as deep as that one), because Putin is too good a politician to get cornered by 'reason'.