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Wales 32 Fiji 26

Wales’s victory over Fiji was the best World Cup game so far. I had watched South Africa beat Scotland but I find the Boks to be a boring bunch of behemoths. Scotland play attractively but are over-reliant on the mercurial Finn Russell and frankly it was a pea-shooter against a Panzer tank. [...]

September 11, 2023 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on a great England victory

In the Great Debate of Farrell v Smith George Ford was marginalised. He was not yesterday: with some glorious kicking he personally amassed 27 points.  The drop kick is an effective but underused weapon. I was there in the Stade de France when the South African fly half Jamie de Beer  destroyed [...]

September 10, 2023 // 0 Comments

Music Review: Hackney Diamonds (the Rolling Stones)

The Rolling Stones have now been together for sixty years – of the “originals” (Brian Jones) died aged 27 in 1969 and another (Charlie Watts) died in 2021 aged 80. On 26th July Mick Jagger turned 80, a milestone that Keith Richard will also pass in December if he makes it that far; the other [...]

September 7, 2023 // 0 Comments

Review: The Sound Of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre)

Last weekend – somewhat out of the blue – I received an invitation to attend the penultimate evening performance of the Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s musical The Sound of Music and was only too happy to accept. There can scarcely be a Ruster unaware [...]

September 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

A Nazi Conspiracy/Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch

This is an account of an alleged Nazi conspiracy to assassinate the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) at the Tehran Conference in 1943. I say “alleged” as there may have been no conspiracy but a ruse by the Soviets to scare President Roosevelt into staying not at the US [...]

September 6, 2023 // 0 Comments

Classic Cinema/The Third Man /Sky Arts

This was a tribute to the recently passed film critic Derek Malcolm – a keen admirer of Carol Reed’s 1949 classic. For most cinema buffs this would be high on the list of their favourite films, justifying the praise that – however many times you have seen it – you start watching [...]

September 2, 2023 // 0 Comments

Artist talking about themselves

My late father – no mean watercolourist but above all a fine preceptor of humanity – once observed of a painter he knew: “I don’t think he is much good but he is very good at talking about his art “ Talking about art and doing it are two different skills. Picasso mixed with a [...]

August 30, 2023 // 0 Comments

World on Fire/BBC 1

In best Rust traditions we review a series after – not before – the final episode. The drama is set in 1941 and there are several independent plot lines. (1) Robina (Lesley Manville) is a snobbish, bossy Englishwoman of a certain type who has billeted with her Kasia, the Polish lover [...]

August 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

Rugby union: England go from bad to worse

As England’s women’s team prepares to play Spain in the Women’s Football World Cup Final in Sydney, Australia later this morning UK time, one is reminded of just how big a moment this is. England – no, let’s make that UK – sports teams don’t often make World Cup Finals (or indeed, any [...]

August 20, 2023 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/foodie travelogues

Cooking and television have a productive relationship. Before Big Brother, Peter Bazalgette made his name and the start of his fame and fortune with Ready Steady Chef. This launched the celebrity chefs like Pierre Marco White , Jamie Oliver and Keith Floyd. The phase has now moved onto travelogues [...]

August 16, 2023 // 0 Comments

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