MPs’ report on Covid crisis states 37 people died unnecessarily because of Champions League match – it was not an event staged in ignoranceIt has been the way of the last 18 months that each week seems to bring some new moment of double-take. Horrors, failures, bodge-jobs. They just keep on looming up into view like icebergs in the fog.It happened again this week. Perhaps we all have outrage fatigue by now, or just a shared sense of being beaten down, lassoed by whataboutery and tribalism. But this really did happen, and it happened in sport. Continue reading...
It goes against my natural instincts to consider something so draconian but dressing rooms are strange placesI’ve been wondering how Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s mate’s testicles are getting on. In a now deleted tweet in September, the singer announced that her cousin wouldn’t get the Covid vaccine because his friend got it and his testicles swelled up. Not only that – he became impotent, and his fiancée called off their impending wedding. Quite the run of bad luck.Coincidentally, shortly after I was vaccinated my wife became pregnant, and without wanting to go into too much detail, my testicles remained the same size throughout. You win some you lose some. Continue reading...
Stereotypical Covid sceptics are a kind of fringe lunatic but elite sportspeople are reared to keep total control of their bodiesA few years ago, I was in India on an England cricket tour, watching net practice. It was a baking hot day at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi, and for the observing media the only available shade was next to a small marquee – really, just a glorified tent – that had been erected for the batsmen to pad up and the bowlers to take a breather. It was while perching in this very spot that I became aware of the surreal conversation taking place on the other side of the canvas.“Have you guys heard of Julian Assange?”...
Stereotypical Covid sceptics are a kind of fringe lunatic but elite sportspeople are reared to keep total control of their bodiesA few years ago, I was in India on an England cricket tour, watching net practice. It was a baking hot day at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi, and for the observing media the only available shade was next to a small marquee – really, just a glorified tent – that had been erected for the batsmen to pad up and the bowlers to take a breather. It was while perching in this very spot that I became aware of the surreal conversation taking place on the other side of the canvas.“Have you guys heard of Julian Assange?”...
Brazil is unsure whether to host the Copa América and attending Euro 2020 will be arduous but it is the way for nowIt was one of the more remarkable episodes in a PGA Tour season. Jon Rahm, having stepped from the 18th green on completion of his third round at Muirfield Village, put head in hands after being spoken to by tournament officials. His caddie batted aside a camera crew as they pursued what was evidently a breaking story. The simple inference was that Rahm had been told that someone close to him was seriously ill; or worse.As it transpired, Rahm had tested positive for Covid‑19. It had been a complex process, instigated by him being identified as a contact...