Sport & Leisure
Rainy Dog Walks and Sunday Mornings Make me Smile
Before I ventured out with the dog this morning, I made up my own lyrics to Blur’s ‘Parklife’. “I pull my waterproofs on ‘av a cup of coffee and fink about leaving the ‘ouse”, I sang, as Jennifer became increasingly annoyed about my existence. As the rain cascaded down on the window, I asked Jennifer if she would like to join me. I did this knowing the answer. It was a bit like Jacob Rees-Mogg asking the mother of a 4-year-old ...
Open Wallet Surgery at The Vyne in Sherborne St John
I took my dad to the hospital today for a minor procedure. I knew I would have to wait around for a while, so I went to The Vyne, a National Trust place just outside Sherborne St John. The dog needed walking, so it seemed a good idea. Runaway Prices As I pulled up, I got the same feeling I always get at these places. I knew that the cost would be just enough for me to say, “fuck me!”, under my breath. Sure enough, as I approached, I ...
Cricket & Retrospective Racism
As a cricket chairman, one of the most thought-provoking events of the last few weeks, has been the racism scandal at Yorkshire. Is there an inherent racism problem in the game and can people be forgiven for remarks allegedly made a decade ago? My opinion, which is not necessary the right one, is that if someone can see what they were in the past and have learnt from it, they should be able to move on. We are evolving all the time and many ...
The Month of Joy the Enabled Tried to Ruin!
As I looked around the dejected faces of the cricket club on Sunday night, I felt sad for the young people feeling what I did 31 years ago after a dramatic night in Turin. The sick part of me also felt glad that these people should be subjected to the misery I once endured. But mostly, I felt empathy. I felt miserable too, but like many of my age group, I am battle hardened, so it didn’t last more than an hour. I have witnessed no fewer ...
Footballers and Covid-19
If the ageing process, Brexit and Covid have taught me one thing, it’s that making impulsive assumptions can result in public shaming and not learning about the devil in the detail. It also allows people like Toby Young, Julia Hartley Brewer and Laurence Fox to make money for being the voices of lunatic reason. So, with that in mind, I decided to not pay much attention to the outrage directed at footballers who had broken Covid-19 ...