Category: “Sport”

Another example if I may of this coalition’s tendency toward cannabilibistic policies. Exhibit 1 comes from the Camden New Journal, where I read of the professional demise of a man mamed Mike Jackson, not the singer, nor the General, but a man who has for 27 years worked to promote the sporting activities of children [...]

Ten days ago I posted this blog about two young men from Northern Ireland setting out on a remarkable challenge to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. Jez Davison and Gareth Crockett had lost a close friend, John Erwin, to leukaemia and the Beldon Challenge was their way of trying to raise £10,000 in [...]

Despite the OTT tweet activity yesterday, I can assure you I am not on the payroll of the Barcelona Tourist Board (though I would happily be so if it meant more time spent there). Actually, though I say OTT, if anything my tweets extolling the beauty of the airport, the stylishness of the city, the [...]

Geoff Boycott was one of my childhood heroes. Growing up as a sports nut in Yorkshire, I loved his technique, his attitude, his cussedness, and the focus he brought to Yorkshire County Cricket Club, whose players back then all came from the county. So taken was I with his brilliance that I started a Geoff [...]

I don’t know for sure that Euan Ferguson of the Observer does teeline (the form of shorthand in which I was once, many years ago, 120 words a minute proficient). But I think he might. Either that or I mumble – I know I do sometimes, but I thought I was speaking reasonably carefully when [...]

Come on, be fair, it is ages since I did a blog on football. There is only so much I can say about David Cameron’s muddled foreign policy, his failure to explain the Big Society, or the ideological drive behind the cuts, which takes George Osborne into The Guardian today, rather defensively peddling a variation [...]

Just back from seeing West Ham sneak a 5-1 win over Burnley, allowing us to concentrate on the League while they concentrate on relegation. Depending on who goes up and who goes down, it could be the last time I visit Upton Park before West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium. Burnley fans were excellent [...]

Just as politicians say that terrorist attacks won’t change the way we go about our business – they do – so the media will always allow a major bombing to shift its agenda. That is not a criticism. An outrage of the kind we saw in Moscow yesterday is clearly genuinely newsworthy, and a reminder [...]

Well, that was an enjoyable 0-0, even if it meant I missed hearing how the Beeb edited down my Open Book interview with the lovely – sorry, but I find it impossible to say Mariella without that prefix – Mariella. Someone even lovelier (in the eyes of many though not me) was sitting just in [...]

Just back from a celebration of Ralph Coates’ life  at St Stephen’s Church in Enfield, followed by a nice do at White Hart Lane. Big turnout and some terrific tributes from Dave Merrington and Martin Dobson (Burnley), Alan Mullery and Phil Beal (Spurs) and Frank Clark (Orient). Lots of former Spurs players there, including some [...]