Sport
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…
Own goal
BBC sports coverage is becoming unwatchable
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…
Tennis racket
How grunting helps players win
Test of character
You are, shall we say, a famous commentator, one of a tiny elite in the British media. You are paid…
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,…
Cricket balls
The Prime Minister recently blamed the delay in the resumption of amateur cricket on the ball itself, calling it ‘a…
Hats off to Liverpool
Where were we? Oh yes, Liverpool were running away with the Premier League and a mere three months later have…
The turf
Horse racing, it turns out, wasn’t the first sport back in post-lockdown action: that distinction went to pigeon racing when…
Wrestling with ideas
One of the delights of going to stay with my grandparents in the 1970s was that my grandmother was a…
Anyone for a self-isolation Olympics?
In Mr Alton’s absence, I thought readers might want a column about sport. The problem is that I’m largely indifferent…
Knuckling down
Why do we box?
Testing times
Imagine rooting for the Australian cricket team. If you’re Scottish, Welsh or Irish — or Australian obviously — it might…
Race relations
Some years ago I was invited to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone courtesy of a watch manufacturer. As freebies…
The joy of a day spent bagging almost no birds
The highlight of my country calendar is when I’m lucky enough to be invited to what even the host describes…
Letters: How to squash a Speaker
No special protection Sir: Rod Liddle’s joke that the election might be held on a date when Muslims cannot vote,…
Labour thinks that its trump card is Trump
On Wednesday morning, I was hoisted into the air of Whitehall on a cherry-picker. A century ago the proto-Cenotaph appeared…
Seven things we’ve learned from the rugby World Cup
New Zealanders can teach the world a lot about sportsmanship. Steve Hansen after last Saturday’s All Blacks defeat by England…
It’s not just hooligans – hipsters also love a football shirt
When I was young, from about the age of nine to 13, I went through what my parents recall with…
Are childhood vaccination rates dropping?
Who speaks what The Chancellor, Sajid Javid, included a little Punjabi in his speech to the Tory conference. How many…
How many people have swum the Channel?
Journey’s end Holidaymakers are being flown home after travel company Thomas Cook failed. The idea might have horrified the company’s…
Bring out the biltong for Labuschagne, an Ashes hero
Funny, the things cricketers put on their bats. England’s Jos Buttler has ‘Fuck it’ written at the top of his…
Why nail-biting sports matches are good for mental health
Why do we need tie-breaks and photo finishes? If competitors have been nip-and-tuck all the way, why can’t they just…
