Football
Association Football: A great game gone to rot
The sport is now characterised by the conditioned reflex of dishonesty, the bleating of the wronged
Short cut to a Mob takeover
Today the multiply-tattooed Balkan war criminal look is popular
D10s is dead
Argentina is as sad as it’s ever been after the death of legendary footballer Diego Maradona
Silence of the fans
Nick Cohen says silent sport needs crowds to give it meaning
Ref!
FA chairman cancelled, Anne Hathaway’s non-PC portrayal, and a dinosaur politician survives cancellation
The games people play
‘This Sporting Life’ should be read by our managerial ruling class who dismiss what they do not understand as “populist” or “right-wing”
Before the Beautiful Game
Kester Aspden reflects on his football memories growing up supporting York City and Burnley FC
Jobsworths home and away
The referee is a blessed form of jobsworth
Triumph of the horrible game
Michael Henderson reviews The Age of Football: The Global Game in the Twenty-first Century by David Goldblatt
Games people play
Why team spirit leaves me cold
Portugal must be more than an EU vassal
As elections approach, can Portugal break the stultifying hold of a progressive, big state worldview?
Shock of the new
There is a difference between innovation and a gimmick
The dark threat of nitazenes
New opioids could pose a dramatic risk to British streets
Very public introspection
The content of “misery lit” is disturbing, but what purpose does it serve?
Common prayer
Britain, and her monarchy, have a language fitted for times of joy and sorrow alike — so why does the Church of England make such poor use of our traditional liturgy?
Seeing through Judith Butler
Very little substance lurks within the obscure prose
Crocodile Keir
For all of Sunak’s shoddy timing, Starmer’s opportunism was pathetic
The Boy who never grew old
Eric Ravilious’s ethereal watercolours chime with today’s sensibilities
Ironic fascism
Taboo-breaking counterculture paved the way for the return of the very fascism it claimed to subvert
Not everyone has a novel in them
Literature is the only art in which, it seems, every neophyte is convinced they can succeed
A decade of economic disaster
Only one verdict is possible: Conservative rule has been a comprehensive failure
