‘Beyond the winning and the goal, Beyond the glory and the flame, He feels the flame within his soul, Born of the spirit of the game’. In his poem, The Great Competitor, Grantland Rice articulated better than anyone that sport is about so much more than winning or losing. And listening to the Lioness’s composed […]
There is more than meets the eye to the saga of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, whose chair, Baroness Falkner, is currently under investigation following accusations of bullying and bias. The latest episode occurred last weekend, when equalities minister Kemi Badenoch intervened to make it clear that any probe must ensure she receives scrupulously […]
The Lionesses have kicked off their World Cup campaign with a victory – albeit somewhat laboured – over Haiti. The tournament, being held in Australia and New Zealand, features more teams and better known players than ever before – and ticket sales Down Under have gone through the roof. It’s a huge moment for the women’s […]
If the modern Royal Family can be understood as a maker of mass media, few of its products have proved as enticing as the spin-offs focusing on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. And as with a long-awaited season finale, few payoffs will have felt as deserved as the axing of a $20m deal with Spotify […]
What does the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota have to do with cricket in England and Wales? A great deal, according to a new independent report, which has concluded that racism is ‘widespread’ within the sport. According to Cindy Butts, Chair of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), the inquiry was set […]
I boycotted the Qatar World Cup. It was a small and meaningless gesture, but nonetheless one I wanted to make. I was surprised, though, when at a friend’s party I mentioned this to a stranger. He was furious, and raged at me about my ‘little moral stand’, done only to make myself look good – […]
It will be Manchester’s day at Wembley on Saturday. City and United, the two biggest footballing tribes in the city, are no strangers to cup finals, but their 140-year rivalry has never seen them meet in a cup final before. It will be another occasion that again demonstrates the incredible, sustained depth of footballing identity […]
The men have had a lot to say about Martin Amis. His obituaries have tended to fall into two categories: tender reminiscences from other male novelists who knew and admired him, and tributes from male critics whose praise is always qualified by mentioning that he was, of course, a misogynist who fell out of fashion. […]
Love them or loathe them, the royal family are up there with red telephone boxes and scones when it comes to images of Britishness. Souvenir shops are full of their faces, newspapers across the world discuss them, and television dramas based on their lives have never been more popular. Whenever people are critical of the […]
The Coronation was one of those historic moments that reminded us of how traditional institutions can act as the social glue that helps to bind together modern Britain. The ceremony itself was a glorious celebration of both our country’s Christian traditions and our proud status as a confident multi-faith democracy. It was the embodiment of […]
There he is again, striding across the windswept landscape of rural Wales, untamed hair and beard fluttering in the gentle gwynt. It’s his voice that draws you in of course, those lilting, sing-song vowels, the drawn-out cadences, the rolled Rs, the honeyed images he conjures so effortlessly from the autocue, the blending of the two […]
It is the talk of British political Twitter and second place on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Professor Matthew Goodwin’s new book Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics is hot property. I should start by saying that I’ve long admired Goodwin as both an insightful author and a trendsetting ‘entrepreneurial academic’, combining his scholarly […]
Twentieth century advertising was created by two titans, both with a background in door-to-door sales. One became the darling of Madison Avenue, wrote successful books, is still routinely quoted as an authority in the industry, and inspired Mad Men. That was David Ogilvy, who went from Aga salesman to advertising mogul, via a stint as […]
For all the many evils of the Prohibition Era, as a drinker there was something to be said for the American model of joylessness. By banning alcohol in one fell swoop, Washington ensured both that there would immediately be a huge black market to tempt entrepreneurs and crime lords, and that public attitudes would not […]
It would be easy to attack as pure philistinism the BBC’s decision to abolish the BBC Singers and to sack some 20% of its orchestral musicians. Easy, because that’s what it is: philistinism. But that doesn’t get us very far. Philistinism has a long history as one of the most influential forces behind arts policy […]
This weekend, I was out of London visiting a friend in the Nimby-haunted depths of Gloucestershire. Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous farm lay a short-distance away; a very happy 48 hours was spent walking the dog, eating excellent food, admiring ancient pubs, and commiserating over his personal collection of insane council decisions. I was already disinclined to […]
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