I was just reading about Nick Blackman, a Derby County striker who is currently on loan at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Bit of a culture shock, you’d think. And it is. Although Blackman is in fact Jewish. His father is a West Indian Christian but his mum is the daughter of a concentration camp survivor from – Read More-
It was so warm this morning (relatively speaking) here in London that for tennis I decided to wear shorts. Yesterday was definitely a ‘long trouser’ day but today I feared overheating. Again, relatively speaking. What I hadn’t accounted for was the ‘rain’. Not Rain. Or RAIN. Or FUCKING RAIN!!!! Just ‘rain’. In that there was – Read More-
No Lila today. She’s had to give way for this rather amusing little ‘thingy’ that arrived on my phone last week. And amidst all the furore about Damien Green, (momentarily suspended, possibly soon to be ‘ex’), deputy leader of the parliamentary Conservative party, its achingly appropriate. Because all the ladies on his parliamentary computer need – Read More-
Or TO Russia actually, as today is the draw for next summer’s World Cup in that lovely country. How the Russians won the bid to host the tournament would be something of a mystery, a bit like Russia itself. But now that FIFA has been totally dismantled because of institutional corruption at all levels, also – Read More-
Guy on my tube train last night; had the look of a professor of anthropology at SOAS about him; about 50, too long grey hair, grey beard, duffle coat and a non-leather (vegan, obvs) shoulder bag on his lap. Which had a red badge on it. I mean, badges are fine. On your school blazer. – Read More-
I should be used to it by now. In 1962 I was 6 years old and have my first memories from then of football scores and results. Its blurry, but its there. I’d missed, by just one year, our ‘glory season’, winning the league and cup ‘double’. I was alive for it, just not aware. – Read More-
Well, it had to happen. The Ashes started and then, just a few days later, it finished. The first test. Failed. Miserably. Leading, inevitably, to a national gloat-fest by the Aussies. Fair. We’d do the same. Just not as horribly. So now our only hope, as it always has been really, lies with Ben Stokes. – Read More-
“Ich bin ein Spurs fan!!” Everyone remembers exactly what they were doing when JFK uttered those famous words. No-one knows why he said them, but just lived in that moment. And if JFK represented, in 1963, everything that was great about the West, that was good, honest, adorable, loveable, peaceful (ish) and wondrous, then by – Read More-
I’ve been to Berlin. Went 2 years ago. Totally brilliant city. More interesting than Romford, more beautiful than Wigan, more history than Milton Keynes, better vibe than Aberdeen and Wandsworth combined. That good. More than good; wonderful. But that’s not why we’re here again. This isn’t just a ‘weekend break’, nor a ‘city mini-holiday’, no. – Read More-
Football’s ruling ‘elite’ really are a bunch of tossers. Their belief in ‘the status quo’ is so overwhelming that they seldom, if ever, actually do anything. They don’t have to, they’re part of football, the biggest gravy-train there is. But sometimes even the FA and their partners in crime simply have to yield to pressure. – Read More-