The tabloids often stumble across a decent pun (I remember the Freund or Foe headline for a Spurs vs West Ham game some seasons back that sadly can never happen again). But for each of these there is a counterpoint in Chop Souey and Kieran Dire. Over[…]
I’ve been giving a little thought to what I like and dislike about football match reports. The best ones translate like an impressionist painting; expressing the feel of a game without becoming bogged down in the minutiae of corner counts and p[…]
I knew I was the target market for this book by page 10, “have you ever wondered why TSV Munich have 1860 as a suffix when the German game didn’t get off the ground until the 1890s?” It’s precisely the sort of thing I have pon[…]
I didn’t realise how much I liked Kirsty MacColl’s music until she died. I sometimes feel sad listening to her voice, it carries weariness even in the happy songs. An anthology released earlier this year captures it well, all the heartbr[…]
Reasons to vote Official Monster Raving Loony Knigel Knapp (Knight of the Unknown) is standing in Hackney North. If elected he will: Ban the bendy bus (they’re too big and too bendy) Install Stocks instead of Asbos The rest of it is silly, but […]
To cash in / celebrate its 70th birthday this month, Penguin have published 70 slim titles. The range is eclectic; short stories, essays, travel writing, Borges! Um, Nick Hornby. They are cheap at ‘1.50 each, although I was expecting a cover pr[…]
Our first encounter was in Trieste. Back in the days of empire this city port belonged to the Habsburgs and later became the southern pin of the iron curtain. Most of the surrounding coastal towns are Venetian in character, with tall campanile towers[…]
I lived above the sandy chines of Bournemouth and election eve was sunny. John Major had visited the south coast about a week before. He stood on a soapbox that was no longer an endearing quirk and tried to speak. I couldn’t hear him, everyone […]
Mike’s Pop Pilgrimages No.5 – Wayne Hussey’s willy, London I used to be a bit of a goth. No, that’s not true, I used to be a lot of a goth; a suede-booted, black-haired, cross-in-ear, bangle-wristed embarrassment to my parents[…]
Mike’s Pop Pilgrimages No.4 – Rachel and James, Manchester A different sort of pilgrimage this time. Rachel was a college hanger-on. One of those lost souls who drifts about campus, knows everyone, but doesn’t technically belong the[…]