Just in

Life

Defence is a no-win matter

Today is the anniversary of the imposition of the UK’s first lockdown – a milestone that I’m sure most of us will not be celebrating. During my overnight trawl of the newspaper websites I noticed a piece in The Independent detailing that apparently the nation’s total of 126,000 Covid-19 [...]

March 23, 2021 // 0 Comments

New Fitness campaign – Day One

With my GFC (great fitness campaign) having become a Covid-19 pandemic victim last summer – since when, apart from occasional long walks, I have failed to indulge in any serious bout of exercise-taking – my plan from today is to gradually crank up my general state of fitness until I [...]

March 22, 2021 // 0 Comments

The lessons of Dublin may not be learned by some

It is not easy being an England rugby union supporters at the moment. I very much doubt that anyone like me who troubled to watch yesterday’s match in Dublin on television in which Ireland effectively humiliated “our boys” 32-18 – a margin, incidentally, that did not flatter the hosts – [...]

March 21, 2021 // 0 Comments

The meaning of words and statements

The saying “There are  three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics …” has been around for a long time. For the purposes of this post I looked it up on the internet and it seems that nobody really knows who or where it originated – apparently Mark Twain, who was [...]

March 19, 2021 // 0 Comments

The physicality of female sport (a postscript)

Earlier this month I posted on this august organ a piece listing some of the physiological differences between men and women (The physicality of female sport – 11th March 2021) and discussing how, in modern sport – attended as it is by the strains of extreme training and strength and [...]

March 19, 2021 // 0 Comments

Lightweight reds

Readers who share my aversion to heavy alcohol reds have asked to recommend lighter ones. This subject was well covered by Jane MacQuitty in The Times last Saturday and Andrew Jefford of   Decanter. Both recommended as lightweight reds the Austrian Bass Zweigelt and Jane Macquitty the John [...]

March 12, 2021 // 0 Comments

Another Rust first …

We on this organ take a sense of humble pride in our ability to move with the times. One of the guiding principles of the Rust that has contributed significantly to its global success is that, besides our self-imposed remit to observe the doings of human society from our perspective as citizens [...]

March 12, 2021 // 0 Comments

The physicality of female sport

In recent months I’ve occasionally posted on the Rust about issues affecting women and sport. As I begin today I must declare the usual caveats that I self-identify as a male – and a pretty ancient one at that – which facts probably contribute to my somewhat old-fashioned views, such as my [...]

March 11, 2021 // 0 Comments

The proof is in the alcohol

The other day I opened up a bottle from my cellar of Barberesco – Piero  Busso was the winemaker and it was called Gallina. I saw that is was 14.5% alcohol and two glasses of it gave me a headache for the following day. I did a kindness for a friend on the Rust and he wanted to thank me with [...]

March 10, 2021 // 0 Comments

A “Road to Damascus” moment?

Yesterday (Sunday), probably mentally unbalanced by the effects of prolonged lockdown, I gritted my teeth and built my day around BT Sport’s ‘live’ coverage of the Premiership rugby match between Harlequins and Northampton Saints at the Stoop [commencing at 2.00pm, kick-off 3.00pm]. Having [...]

March 8, 2021 // 0 Comments

1 … 134 135 136 137 138 … 342

Copyright © 2026 The National Rust | Design by Premonition