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Elite female sport 2022: a year of big advances but also some complications

Over time it has become a bit of a cliché, but “back in the day” – when comic Frankie Howard (1917-1992) was a British household name milking his “conspiratorial” relationship with his stand-up audiences and/or television viewers – he often compounded the effect by chiding them for [...]

December 23, 2022 // 0 Comments

World Cup/final thoughts

There is quite a divergence in the assessment of the Qatar World Cup pre and post the final. In the build-up all the talk was of migrant deaths in the building of stadia, the unsuitability of the location weather-wise, the lack of human rights and the corruption of FIFA in the selection process. [...]

December 20, 2022 // 0 Comments

The Guns at Last Light/Rick Atkinson

The Guns at Last Light is the final volume of the Liberation Trilogy detailing the American military World War Two campaigns of North Africa, Sicily and Italy and in this book the Normandy Landings and their aftermath. It is immensely detailed: a blow by blow, day by day, account with exhaustive [...]

December 17, 2022 // 0 Comments

England expects (not any more)

Since England won the World Cup on 1966 we have only got beyond the quarters twice – in 1990 and 2018. So it was no surprise to lose to France though it’s normally at the shootout not by missing penalties. The interesting aspect, some 72 hours on, is that there is not much stirring of [...]

December 14, 2022 // 0 Comments

The memorial service for Ken Howard

Last Tuesday I attended the memorial service for Ken Howard which took place at St James Church Piccadilly and afterwards at the Royal  Academy. The church memorial takes an hour into which time you have to fit in prayers and the life of the person, in the case of Ken a full and long one. An [...]

December 8, 2022 // 0 Comments

Ben Stokes & his captaincy.

When it comes to Ben Stokes and his suitability as England captain I willingly confess that I got it totally wrong. He is the finest all rounder we have produced since Ian Botham but his early career was troubled, there was little sign of cricketing nous and – as happened with Botham and [...]

December 6, 2022 // 0 Comments

Argentina & me

Everyone has a favourite country, neither of birth nor adoption, and mine is Argentina. It started some 50 years ago when a creative friend redefined park football with a fantasy team of South Americans called the Assassins FC de Montevideo supposedly on tour to Europe. It was more than fun but a [...]

December 5, 2022 // 0 Comments

The case for Eddie Jones.

Given that the Rust has been one of the most trenchant critics of England coach Eddie Jones you may be surprised by the title of this post. Of course the RFU are reluctant to sack him for financial reasons but – despite his many faults and failures – a case can be made to retain him [...]

November 29, 2022 // 0 Comments

World Cup thoughts

On the Rust we try to avoid replicating stuff from the back pages so I will not join in the chorus of criticism of Gareth Southgate for never bringing Phil Foden on in a dull performance against USA – except to say it was ever thus. In 1970 West Germany sent spies to the England training camp [...]

November 28, 2022 // 0 Comments

My father, NHS & modern medical practice.

It’s always interesting to find something new out about a parent and recently my brother informed me that our father was a founding doctor in the first NHS clinic at Woodberry Down, Hackney – now called the Sir John Scott. Aneurin Bevin, the Labour Minister in Clement Attlee’s government [...]

November 28, 2022 // 0 Comments

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