One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – Edinburgh Festival
The Scottish tabloids were full of Christian Slater’s 35th birthday. Big Daddy O’s lap dancing club had thrown him out for ‘swearing’. ‘Hellraiser’ Slater […]

Notting Hell
This weekend is the Notting Hill Carnival. Luckily I’m going to Scotland and will be shielded from dancing policemen, incessant steel drumming and ear-killing whistles. Warm cans of Red Stripe are available at inflated prices from […]

Womens Pole Vault Final
It had everything; intense competition between two Russians who can’t stand each other, a world record and a contestant knocking off the bar with her boob. It’s a strange looking, unnatural event and I think a clea[…]

The correct use of tomatoes
Begins tomorrow, Bunol, Spain. You haven’t lived until you’ve been hit in the face from point blank range with a ripe tomato.[…]

Bistrotheque
No really, that’s its name. Used to be a clothing factory in Bethnal Green. Still looks like a clothing factory too. Cross the Regent’s Canal heading away from Hackney and swing a left down a side street with a Jasmine Allen […]

Football Against the Enemy
It’s ten years since Simon Kuper’s book was first published. Football books often probed no further than player’s memoirs or tournament histories (Fever Pitch excepted). Football Against the Enemy created […]

London Conclusions (thus far – 64 posts in 20 days)
London is expanding and vanishing at the same time. There is dogging in Green Park and strange characters in Epping Forest, Pete sort of designed a logo, rivers are fascinating (The Thames, Th[…]

Bobby Robson
I felt a little for Bobby Robson last night. The Sky cameras had cornered him at what looked like a racetrack. Recorded live to air, he was asked about Newcastle’s rather unusual week.
The trouble with Bobby is he can’t stand[…]

Darts for the Big Guys
I mean, of course, the Shot-Put. The highlights made this event look exciting. No doubt in real time it lasted hours, but the BBC shoe-horned it into ten minutes.
It had everything that defines the modern Olympics; Grunting, a […]

Phil Ball is indulging himself. First was Morbo, a terrific book on Spanish football, then he narrowed his focus to Real Madrid with White Storm (indulgence levels up a notch) now, he’s narrowed it further still.
Good writer, needs new topic.[…]