I have written on this blog before about the various issues I have with celebrity golf days. Namely the humiliation that comes with being a ‘celebrity’ of dubious calibre and especially so to my playing partners who have paid top dollar in the hope of playing golf with Alan Shearer, Harry Rednapp, Mike Tindall… An…
Funny thing, taking the piss. Because it’s absolutely central to our culture – being able to laugh at ourselves and at others. But only to a point of course. Because only certain piss taking is permissible – and this is a very quick guide. Taking the piss out of one self (self-deprecation) – this is…
On my way in to London last week to appear on The Wright Stuff – someone very eminent on the radio – a social scientist explained that young girls should be given Lego and Meccano as presents and I tutted. What a load of tosh – social engineering nonsense I’m afraid. Give girls Lego and…
John Inverdale is a tough old boot and he’s needed to be. A long career playing rugby and withstanding the normal knocks that come with the game but also the further rugby injuries that come from being the well-known broadcast journalist that he is and the jealousies that this can cause. And as a journalist…
There is a certain irony to bullies taking aim at soft and easy targets as was perfectly demonstrated by the feminist outcry over a remark by Peter Allis – the much admired and respected octogenarian golf commentator. His crime was mentioning the words ‘women’ and ‘kitchen’ in the same sentence for various people to be…
The hapless state of the Labour party is getting a lot of gleeful media coverage at the moment and particularly so, Jeremy Corbyn, the clear choice of the right. Like most people, I hadn’t heard of the ‘firebrand’ MP until very recently and although his statist politics don’t chime with me, his dignity is something…
I’ve always loved the Open Championship – one of the oldest and most coveted competitions in sport. Everything about it is romantic. The fact that the winner is called The Champion Golfer of the Year – which seems so arrogant but there we are. That the trophy is called The Claret Jug. The silver…
First up, don’t fret – this post on fame is not about me. There are lots of perks to being famous – most so obvious that they don’t warrant listing here. But other privileges are more subtle and one of the greatest advantages of fame is the ability to help others – and the greater…
We Are Many is a powerful documentary explaining the popular people’s uprising against the Iraq war. It is a compelling film but an uncomfortable watch for me. No sane or honest person still reasons that the second Iraq war was justified. It wasn’t. There were no weapons at all as deliciously explained by Dr Hans…
Not wishing to court controversy – but to defend the eminent Nobel winning scientist who has been sacked for suggesting that women fall in love with men and that they are more prone to crying than their male counter-parts… In my limited experience of women – I have found that women do cry quite often…
