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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

Rugby World Cup Preview

The first observation to make about the Rugby World Cup is that the four best Rugby nations (France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa) are all in the lower section. Whilst France v New Zealand is a tasty opener I’m looking forward more to the Pool B encounter between world number one Ireland [...]

September 8, 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

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

A la Colthard/Reform club

Recently Bob Tickler held a dinner at the Reform Club for me, his p/a Polly and her best friend Grania. Bob is most excited about joining the Reform Club. Although he was once  a member of the adjoining RAC, he does not regard himself as a conventional St James club man. The Reform with its [...]

August 25, 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

England rugby union – a damning verdict

Recently those on the Rust editorial team concerned with sport – and especially men’s rugby union in the context its World Cup beginning next month – have been relatively unsparing in their criticism of the performance of the England national team and indeed the RFU generally. [...]

August 24, 2023 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Drawing a line in the sand

The Alex Mitrovic saga is now thankfully over with the Serb hitman taking Saudi lucre. He has served Fulham well but you feel he has served himself better. One of the reasons for the popularity of the Lionesses is they seem devoid of the greed of the modern day male footballer. One of the [...]

August 21, 2023 // 0 Comments

The State – and the state of the country

As life goes on I become more and more progressively unsurprised by anything that ever happens. Common sense, logic, just desserts and the unchanging fundamentals of human existence seem to have become old-fashioned, inappropriate and irrelevant. I was reminded of this week as I trawled through the [...]

August 19, 2023 // 0 Comments

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