Category: journalism
What has the ICC done for Afghanistan’s women cricketers?
As Afghanistan’s men rightly celebrate their achievements in the World Cup there are questions for the International Cricket Council about its women. My letter below, repeated twice, unanswered thrice. Media officeInternational Cricket Council I am a British author and journalist who writes regularly about cricket. I am co-presenter of a weekly cricket-themed podcast, with a […]
Meeting The Young Marshal
Published in High Life magazine May 1998 An elderly Chinese gentleman and his wife, both in wheelchairs, are leaving the morning service at a Protestant church in Honolulu, Hawaii. The woman is still beautiful and elegant. Her husband, behind his thick glasses, is alert and soldierly, his features a mask of dignity. The congregation watches […]
American democracy: the biggest loser in the election
full version of article published in the Yorkshire Post (England) November 5. 2020 As I write these lines, it appears that a clear majority of the American people have chosen Joe Biden as their next President. That does not mean that they will get him. His hopes of an unequivocal majority in the Electoral College […]
Hands Off Private Eye!
David Wolfe Esq QC Chair Press Recognition Panel 17 October 2018 Dear Mr Wolfe, I would be grateful if you could confirm, clarify or deny the report in Private Eye that the Panel intends to carry out “a high-level assessment” of that publication as part of consideration “of how far the public is currently protected […]
The future lies ahead… the best and worst to expect in 2017
January Holiday misery as mild weather causes severe disruption to emergency arrangements for transport. Severe delays on roads caused by need to remove stockpiled salt and grit. Prime Minister’s New Year message is redacted to one word “New” on orders of Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, aka Sir Cover-Up, but full three-word version is accidentally […]
The Young Marshal
The most fascinating historic person I ever met. Profile published in High Life magazine May 1998, then updated. Have used old spellings, still more familiar, apart from city of Xian, formerly Sian An elderly Chinese gentleman and his wife, both in wheelchairs, are leaving the morning service at a Protestant church in Honolulu, Hawaii. The […]
Austria v Hungary: which football team should a Habsburg support?
Austria play Hungary in the European football championships today (June 14), There is a capital story about an earlier such encounter, featuring Otto von Habsburg, former heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also an MEP for 20 years, who died in 2011 aged 98. A football fan in the European Parliament asked His Imperial and Royal […]
REMAIN: From those wonderful folks who brought you the Iraq war
A slightly shorter version of this was published in politics.co.uk on May 26, 2016 This version has all the origninal zingers. The Leave campaign has conclusively lost the opening battles of the EU referendum. It now has a bare month to win the war. It needs very quickly to find a new reason to appeal […]
Sharing A Life With Mr Healey
Published in the Observer May 8, 1983 My day begins by reading the Man’s mail. It starts with five lunatics and Labour’s National Executive. A box of slides. Letters of anguish: five people want the Man to save the world and 40 want him to save the baby seals. A lady wants him to wear […]
Tony Blair was the Basil Fawlty of British politics
Letter published in Sunday Times September 20, 2015 It was gracious of Peter Mandelson to admit that New Labour bears some responsibility for Jeremy Corbyn’s victory. [His article September 13, “I’m partly to blame for this mess but let’s fight back to win back Labour”] Tony Blair led the Labour party the way Basil Fawlty […]
YP Cameron must end farce over Iraq war inquiry
Published in the Yorkshire Post 23 June 2014 As the third Iraq war rages, the British people have been denied the right to read the report of the Chilcot inquiry on the second, eleven years ago. The delay has been caused by Whitehall manoeuvring and government hypocrisy. It is time for Parliament to bring the […]
YP Miliband Mustn’t Be Caught On The Hop Again By Mr Toad
published in the Yorkshire Post 28 May 2014 In 1983, after a calamitous campaign, Labour took a pounding from Margaret Thatcher. Labour’s defeat by UKIP in the European elections was worse – not only bitter but shameful. Margaret Thatcher was a political giant. Nigel Farage is a minor figure, successfully reinvented as a genial bloke […]
Tony Benn: The Lost Leader Labour was lucky to lose
Published on politics.co.uk 17 March 1983 It is good for a nation to mourn the passing of its former political giants – but not at the expense of truth. The Guardian’s immediate coverage of Tony Benn’s death was significant, because it has reported the British Labour movement more deeply and more sympathetically than almost any […]
Qamar Ahmed: the reporter who has covered 19 per cent of all the Test matches every played
Co-authored with Peter Oborne. Published in the Daily Telegraph 14 January 2014 The world’s most exclusive cricket club will gain a new member on Thursday [16th]. Our friend Qamar Ahmed, one of the world’s leading cricket writers, will report his 400th Test match when Pakistan and Sri Lanka take the field in Sharjah. Only two […]
Ed Miliband and my missing millions
published in politics.co.uk 2 Sept 2013 Earlier this year I wrote a letter to Ed Miliband seeking his views on the relationship between religion and politics. I asked him specifically whether he had appointed a shadow Minister for Faith as a counter to Baroness Warsi and whether he intends to appoint a real Faith minister […]
YP One man’s dream that waits for a happy ending
published in the Yorkshire Post 28 August 2013 Fifty years ago today Martin Luther King delivered one of the greatest speeches in history. Around 280,000 people heard it as participants in a giant March on Washington DC, and millions more have claimed that they were there in the years since, or at least heard […]
YP Michael Foot: Decent, Deluded and Doomed
Published in the Yorkshire Post 23 July 2013 Michael Foot, who was born 100 years ago today, was the most improbable leader of any modern major British political party. Why did he win against Denis Healey? Why did his party stick to him? Would any major party ever choose anyone like him again? These questions […]
YP Cricket… the sport that age cannot wither
published in the Yorkshire Post 11 May 2013 As I write these lines, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow may not play again for Yorkshire this summer as county cricket continues to be marginalized by international games and a fixture list arranged by a demented computer. In the lower reaches of cricket, which I […]
YP Miliband Should Keep Party Away From Priests
Published in the Yorkshire Post 3 April 2013 Amid his spectacular enthronement, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, managed to say something spectacularly wrong. “There can be no final justice or security or love or hope in our society if it is not finally based on rootedness in Christ.” People have been seeking security, […]
YP Margaret Thatcher: My Part In Her Downfall
published in the Yorkshire Post 15 April 2013 When Margaret Thatcher lost her party’s leadership in 1990, the fatal blow to her was a poll in The Mail On Sunday. I know, because I devised it. Under its ebullient and independent-minded editor, Stewart Steven, the newspaper had become a vocal supporter of Michael Heseltine. When […]
YP No Funny Business – Let Us Vote No To Them All
Published 28 Feb 2013 in the Yorkshire Post It really should not be necessary: voting for a clown in a general election because you do not rate any of the other parties on offer. The Italian people have just sent their mainstream politicians a rousing raspberry (the Italian “lampone” sounds even better) with a massive […]
YP History has been unkind to Harold Wilson, the leader who looked to the future
Published in the Yorkshire Post 14 February 2013 Fifty years ago today Harold Wilson became the first Yorkshireman to lead the Labour party. Eighteen months later he followed Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich, and H H Asquith as the third Yorkshireman to reach Number 10. Of those three, Wilson was the proudest of his Yorkshire roots. […]
YP Ed Miliband Must Junk The Past And Get In Front Of The Future
published in the Yorkshire Post 4 January 2013 Ed Miliband has had a good year. His party enjoys regular double-digit leads in opinion polls. He has handled some newsworthy issues better than David Cameron, especially the hacking scandals and the Leveson report. He has raised his game at Prime Minister’s Questions and frequently makes Cameron […]
YP The Multinationals Don’t Pay UK Tax – They Leave Tips
Published in the Yorkshire Post 23 November 2012 Our streets are currently full of posters from HM Revenue and Customs. They show a pair of baleful, staring eyes with a warning that the department is closing in on unpaid tax. The UK bosses of Starbucks and Google and other multinational companies may glimpse at these […]