Monthly Archives: August 2021

Kabul remembered

Posted on August 16, 2021 in the Blog category

With the Taliban taking power in Kabul, I share this  memory of a visit to the presidential palace with other British journalists and Tony Blair in November 2006.  We were visiting the region on the fifth anniversary of the liberation of Kabul from Taliban control. The visit had begun with an abrupt descent to Kabul airport in a Hercules transport to diminish the risk of   being hit by hostile ground to air fire.  On landing, the rear access to the military aircraft opened like the mouth of a whale and …

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Messi Money

Posted on August 11, 2021 in the Blog, Football Writing category

  The Tokyo Olympics and the move by Messi from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain provide examples to be followed and cautionary tales, writes Jimmy Burns.   Even for those of who have managed only a cursory armchair TV look-in during the Tokyo Olympics between navigating our August break through competing and disruptive terrain of Test cricket, the Lions tour of South Africa , and Covid protocols, the event has served as a reminder of the sheer joy of sport played in its essence along with much else. Mostly very …

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