Football
Barometer
New normal Why have so many people started saying ‘normalcy’ rather than ‘normality’? — Normalcy has been traced back to…
Trump’s exit is an opportunity to ditch the nuclear ‘football’
Among the most alarming episodes during Donald J. Trump’s tumultuous final weeks in the White House was an announcement by…
Pig in the middle
It’s the Portuguese piglet you feel really sorry for. The diminutive (ready cooked) porker — a festive delicacy all over…
Dear Mary
Your problems solved
The year of living obediently
I wonder if British universities will follow Cornell’s innovative approach to ensuring students are protected from wretched viruses? The American…
In defence of Millwall fans
It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of…
Rugby must try harder
Remember those lazy, hazy, crazy days of last year’s rugby World Cup, when as perfect a performance by England as…
Quite smitten
As his biographer, I feel obliged to quote John Updike’s wise sayings — among them the first rule in his…
Farewell to four of the finest
So the Good Lord really wants to fill out his team: how else to interpret the passing in recent months…
Gifting
Boris Johnson, the Telegraphsuggested last week, is understood to have a personal interest in rewilding, ‘recently gifting his father beavers…
Low life
Everything is happening so fast. First we were put under a night curfew. A few days later M. Macron announced…
Sit back and enjoy the spectacle ahead
‘At least there’s sport,’ said the woman in the supermarket queue. True enough, and in a welcome sop to an…
Singing the blues
A second lockdown won’t cause me much suffering. I don’t have a shop selling ‘non-essential’ goods (e.g. books) that will…
Thanks for nothing, Pickford
You might hate the Premier League for its determination to suck all the money out of football, but at least…
Football without the crowds is a winner
The Liverpool defence might have decided in a rare show of togetherness to demonstrate what the word ‘appalling’ means, and…
A scene with Harry and Son
José Mourinho, it was surprising to read, recently said how relieved he was that the Amazon Prime cameras were out…
In praise of today’s young footballers
You suspect that a bar of duty-free Toblerone, no matter how supersized, wouldn’t really do the trick when hapless England…
Sport as a TV event
Crowds, Covid and sport: could it get any crazier? I don’t mind about golf: no idiots yelling ‘Get in the…
Letters
Masking the truth Sir: Matthew Parris is right to laud the importance of embracing the scientific method (‘Why should opinion…
Diary
I’ve been a regular runner for 40 years, pounding my way across Hampstead Heath to Kenwood House and back. This…
Diary
A rare illness has broken out in Westminster. Last week a case of what was known before Brexit as ‘consensus’…
The ugly side of the beautiful game
So all that sound and fury about Manchester City’s sins signified precisely nothing. Well, a €10 million fine isn’t nothing,…
Hats off to Liverpool
Where were we? Oh yes, Liverpool were running away with the Premier League and a mere three months later have…
Letters
Deterring crime Sir: Rod Liddle is right to highlight the politicisation of the police as a source of their inadequacies,…
Pinch and a punch
The National’s bizarre livestreaming service continues. On 7 May, for one week only, it released a modern-dress version of Antony…
