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Michel Houllebecq and Jane Austen

I have just finished Lanzarote by Michel Houellebecq. It’s a novella of less than 80 pages and contains his normal themes of sex obsession and mass tourism. The story – such as it is – is that Michel, refusing to go to a Muslim country, decides on Lanzarote the Canary Island for a [...]

August 23, 2022 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard: London hotels post Covid

I was shocked – when seeking to book a hotel in Mayfair for the first weekend in September – to be quoted over £1,000 a night for Browns in Albemarle Street. I imagine hotels are making up their Covid losses in the summer when occupancy is much higher and Browns is uber posh but [...]

August 22, 2022 // 0 Comments

A pair of sporting realities?

As football’s Premier League competition gets fully under way – already dominating the sporting media headlines day by day, never mind week by week – over the weekend I was left reflecting upon the current state of a couple of other sports whose fortunes are not quite so blessed … [...]

August 22, 2022 // 0 Comments

Cyclist-watch latest

In the cause of both keeping our followers abreast of developments in one of our major campaigns and indeed monitoring the modern world generally, this morning I provide Rusters with a link to a report that appeared yesterday upon the website of the Daily Mail. Frankly, no word of introduction or [...]

August 22, 2022 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 3 Brentford 2

Fulham were slightly fortunate to win this feisty, lively West London derby – Brentford having two goals disallowed. Fulham came out of the blocks the quicker with midfielder Andreas Pereira outstanding and third choice Jay Stansfield acquitting himself on the right, Manor Salomon and [...]

August 21, 2022 // 0 Comments

An attritional red day at Lords

Attritional is a euphemism for dull and that it was on Friday as England were dismissed for a paltry 165 and the Proteas set to overhaul this. Captain Dean Elgar is in the Gary Kirsten mould – a gritty run accumulator but not a player of expansive stroke play. His partner Serel Erwee came to [...]

August 20, 2022 // 0 Comments

Pride and Fall

Stuff happens in life and sometimes it surprises you. I occasionally post a blog to this organ on the ongoing subject of my attempt to hold back the years by conducting a fitness campaign in my senior years. It’s no secret that I’ve have been doing it for a while now, as a result of which my [...]

August 20, 2022 // 0 Comments

Memories of South African teams

Travelling up by train, with incessant interruptions on the tannoy by the ‘onboard supervisor’ and noisy Spanish adolescents boarding at Gatwick, I blanked them all out by recalling my memories of watching South Africa in Test matches. My first would have been in 1965 at Lords against Peter [...]

August 18, 2022 // 0 Comments

A curse upon them all wouldn’t go amiss

This morning I first wish to declare an interest. I am an “all or nothing” type of guy, me. About a dozen years ago a brother of mine rang me up and asked if I’d be interested in joining him and his eldest son – either just out of school or just about to go to university, I [...]

August 18, 2022 // 0 Comments

Tales of the Unexpected/Genesis and the Catastrophe

Readers will recall my enjoyment of this series re-run on Sky Arts. They last 30 minutes, normally feature a well-known actor (Rod Taylor featured in the one immediately prior to this) and directors like the playwright Ronald Harwood. I enjoy trying to guess the twist. This episode had me totally [...]

August 16, 2022 // 0 Comments

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