Crashed and Burnsed
ASH Smyth gives a poetically bad speech at the Galle Literary Festival for the Caledonian Society of Sri Lanka
Quarantine in the Falkland Islands
From South Asia to the South Atlantic, in the time of Covid
Seven kinds of people you find in bookshops
Former bookseller A.S.H. Smyth enjoys a bestselling bookshop owner’s taxonomy of bookshop people
His race is run
ASH Smyth remembers Ben Cross, Harold Abrahams, and the impact Chariots of Fire had on his 10-year-old self
None should sleep
A TOSCCA conversation on potential catastrophe in the Caucasus
Year’s mind: James Small and the 1995 Rugby World Cup
ASH Smyth reflects on South Africa’s historic 1995 Rugby World Cup win
The Gentleman’s Marathon
ASH Smyth recounts his one experience of ‘running’ 26.2 miles
In-line, online, and where to draw the line
Notes on Colombo’s books and bookmen in the time of Covid-19
Hat trick ball
Help me trace Gunner Costello, the fast bowler who may have survived a Court-Martial
The book to read if you’re intent on visiting Sri Lanka
A S H Smyth on Andrew Fidel Fernando’s Upon a Sleepless Isle, winner of the 2019 Gratiaen Prize
The Marxist cell in Number 10
Adam LeBor investigates the former communist cult that has found common cause with the prime minister and the Brexiteer Conservative right
The breakdown of higher education
A British-American professor explains how diversity ruined academia, and how to reform it
Ref!
FA chairman cancelled, Anne Hathaway’s non-PC portrayal, and a dinosaur politician survives cancellation
People with disabilities are bearing the brunt of Covid measures
The coronavirus response will disproportionately affect people with disabilities for years to come
Piers and the gospel of gammon
The last thing I need is some repugnant gammon scumbag like Morgan polluting the world with his moronic boomer ideas
In praise of the Midlands
The Midlands are hurried through, unappreciated on the way to somewhere else
The Cummings I knew
Did Dominic Cummings learn his management style from Klute Nightclub in Durham?
The Trump show will go on
Whatever happens in the election, the groups of Americans brought together by the president will continue to revere him
Optimism ain’t what it used to be
Hopeless is as hopeless does
The cacophonous Mr Chips
A good field guide, but it won’t make you fall in love with the gull next door