Football
Spectator letters: What might have been for young Boris and Dave
What might have been Sir: Harry Mount points out that Boris Johnson is two years older than David Cameron (Diary,…
The angry young bowler who could take the West Indies back to the top
In the north of Antigua, just by the medical school, is a neat little cricket ground. It was a bit…
John Terry’s ‘farewell’ is a load of hypocritical old tosh
Just when you were thinking that the Premier League had become a much nicer place without José Mourinho in it,…
This could be the year that sport starts to die
If sport loses the public’s faith – and it’s starting to – then all its power and glory will fade
There are three sides to success at Oxford United
In the middle of Oxford is a socking great cinema: once the Ritz, it’s now an Odeon multiplex. Back in…
2016 will be a vintage year for tech billionaires and jihadis
This is going to be one hell of a year, hell being the operative word. It will be the year…
Musical maestros and football managers have more in common than you think
You don’t have to be a follower of Liverpool Football Club, or football at all, to spot the difference. Two…
The Davis Cup will be one final flourish for Andy’s Barmy Army
There’s nothing quite like a sporting celebration, but the lash-up after Britain’s (almost) inevitable victory in the Davis Cup tennis…
Should the first modern Olympic drug cheat get to keep his gold?
A marathon of cheats Russian athletes may be stripped of the medals they won at the 2012 Olympics, but what…
Angela Merkel will survive – but will the soul of post-war Germany?
The migrant crisis is testing the country’s post-war idea of itself
Was BBC1’s Rooney show more scripted reality than documentary?
Close to the Edge (BBC4, Tuesday) feels very much like an idea conceived during a particularly good night in the…
I've loved football for decades. Now I dread the start of the season
I’ve spent years defending football from middle-class disdain. But I can’t do it any more
Listen: the gaffe from Nicola Sturgeon that everyone missed
It’s not surprising that politicians have such an on-off relationship with the broadcast media. One slip. One casual comment. One…
Patrick Marber’s Red Lion at the Dorfman reviewed: ‘the woman next to me yawned a lot’
For nine years Patrick Marber has grappled with writer’s block (which by some miracle doesn’t affect his screenplay work), but…
Charles Moore’s notes: A warning from Prince Charles’s lost speech
Two beautiful volumes in a cloth-bound case reach me. They are Speeches and Articles by HRH The Prince of Wales…
After the initial shock of my cancer diagnosis, I’ve never been happier
On Sunday morning, I was kicking a football in the back garden with my grandson. I had bought him his…
Football’s elite deserve the foulness of Fifa
My favourite moment in the crisis engulfing football’s governing body, Fifa, came with the intervention of a man called Manuel…
Football in front, infibulation behind
I’m watching Manchester City being taken to the cleaners by Barcelona on the telly, while at the table behind me…
Like Arthur Daley playing Garry Kasparov: why I won’t miss Harry Redknapp
I can’t say I’m surprised by the departure of Harry Redknapp. Since I started supporting Queens Park Rangers in 2008…
The changing meaning of 'prolific', from Orwell to the Premier League
I read somewhere recently of a Soho artist who was a ‘prolific drinker’. The meaning is clear, but hasn’t the…
The myth of Steven Gerrard
‘As a leader and a man, he is incomparable to anyone I have ever worked with.’ Obviously quite some guy,…
Five of the best celebrity biographies of 2014
Cilla Black has become a strange creature during her 50 years in showbiz. When her husband Bobby was in hospital…
What football can tell you about Jim Murphy (and what Jim Murphy can tell you about football)
The author of a rather brilliant little book about football could just hold the key to Labour’s otherwise negligible prospects…
London’s real Olympic legacy: paying to build the stadium twice
Giving London’s Olympic stadium a ‘legacy’ is proving to be a very costly business
‘Like Superman stopping a runaway train’: when Bobby Moore tackled Jairzinho
Nothing illustrates the transformation in the working lives of professional footballers since the end of the maximum wage better than…
