Africa
How John Egan has stayed in the saddle
Pop stars rock on nowadays into their seventies. And jockeys too – despite the physical dexterity and instant-decision-making required –…
Labour is risking the future of racing
The only political party with a serious chance of winning office I will ever vote for again is the one…
Remembering the horror of Rwanda’s genocide
Rwanda It had been more than 30 years, yet I recognised the church and its surroundings instantly. Superimposed on the…
I’m losing the will to hunt
Laikipia, Kenya When I was eight I used to go fishing in the Indian Ocean beyond Vasco da Gama’s pillar…
The inside track on racing syndicates
Billy Connolly once declared that Scotland had only two seasons: June and winter. Perversely, though, just as the northern swallows…
The fun of the Shergar Cup
Gary Lineker once summed up football as ‘a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at…
Has there ever been a jockey like Oisin Murphy?
We are blessed these days with a rare stream of jockey talent including the likes of William Buick, Ryan Moore,…
The hunt for the next Messi: Godwin, by Joseph O’Neill, reviewed
A video file of an African teenager with legendary ball skills is circulating far from his homeland – wherever that is. How hard can it be to track him down?
My father vs the killer lion
Laikipia, Kenya This month, in broad daylight on our Kenyan farm, a lioness mauled one of my bull calves. Before…
My battle with the dreaded ‘black cotton’
Laikipia, Kenya By the time I set off from the farm before dawn we’d had 22in of rain in the…
Am I having a heart attack?
Nairobi Some of our medical practitioners in Kenya advertise their services on street corners. ‘Bad omens, lost lovers, broken marriage,…
Fin du jeu
The death of Françafrique
Wild life
Laikipia Some are saved by Jesus and they are sober. For others, drunkenness is as natural as love-making, roasted meat…
Wild life
Laikipia The principal of the local polytechnic was waiting for me in the kitchen. Frequently in the kitchen there is…
Continental drift
When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?
Wild life
Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…
Letters
Soft ground Sir: We have heard much over the years from the overseas aid lobby about the value of soft…
Russia’s special relationship
Why so many African leaders support Putin
Has Putin outplayed Macron in Africa?
While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali. Last weekend, thousands of…
The four billion people question
Demographers are attached to their theories. The field’s most enduring is the ‘demographic transition’, whereby modernisation inexorably lowers a society’s…
Wild life
Kenya Wondering what this year will bring, at dawn this morning I stood in the waves in front of our…
The problem with ‘vaccine equity’
‘A stain on our soul’. That was how Gordon Brown, in his latest missive on the subject, described the failure…
The Omicron variant: what we know so far
Will the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, be the black swan that pulls the world back —…
Wild life
Kenya Each time I sit in St Bride’s on Fleet Street during the memorial of another friend, I look around…
