ITV's Ascot coverage was cloyingly over-enthusiastic - its role is not promotional but to entertain, inform and comment

I don't suppose Harry Kane had the time or inclination to tune into live televised coverage of Royal Ascot last week. Had he done so, I can imagine him shaking his head and thinking ruefully, 'If only I had become a jockey . . .'

Kane finds himself in the time-honoured role of 'beleaguered England captain'. It's a fate suffered by his many illustrious predecessors since the year Scobie Breasley won the Derby on Charlottown in 1966. 

Habitual criticism is given a harsher edge these days amid a welter of aggressive social media commentary. Meanwhile, pundits and ex-players on a crowded mainstream media stage are easily tempted into strident opinions to justify a place in the critical commentariat team.