Arsenal director Lord Harris: Wenger has £200m to buy any player he wants – except Messi and Ronaldo July 24, 2015 Arsene Wenger has been told he has licence to break the club's transfer record by Arsenal director Lord Harris. Read more: Wenger pours scorn on United recruitment policy Arsenal have over £200m available to spend on new transfers, said the owner of retailer Carpetright, after overcoming the financial burden of building and moving to the Emirates. [...]
Film review: No knock-out blow for Southpaw July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ There’s an exchange that takes place in every boxing movie ever, in which the trainer takes his hot-headed young buck aside, points to his fist and says, “it’s not about this” and then taps his temple and says,“it’s about this.” The message: mind over muscle. Thought over fight. Well, what [...]
Film review: Maggie is a nuanced entry to the zombie canon July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ There are no one-liners or knowing winks in this Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie; it’s a bleakly plodding, quietly affecting drama that’s not so much interested in moments of terror, but what happens when they subside. On the face of it, the premise is familiar: a “necroambulist” virus that turns people into [...]
Film review: The Legend of Barney Thomson July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Robert Carlyle’s directorial debut is a grotesque carnival of murder and excess that consistently entertains but eventually trips up on its own wild ambition. It follows the titular Barney, a spiritless Glasgow barber guilty of the only sin that’s beyond redemption in his home-town: having nae banter. When he accidentally murders [...]
Theatre review: American Idiot July 23, 2015 Arts Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ Green Day and musical theatre seem like odd bedfellows until you consider that both are fun, infantile and the kind of thing that no self respecting adult would confess to enjoying. When the two came together for 2010’s Broadway production American Idiot, the show won two Tony awards and a Grammy; [...]
Film review: Inside Out July 23, 2015 Cert U | ★★★★☆ Kids are notoriously difficult to read. Try asking one whether they like school or turkey dinosaurs and all you’re likely to get is a non-committal shrug. But Disney Pixar’s latest animated feature will make you completely reassess the way you talk to pre-teens as it fires you right into the turbulent [...]
Perfect Saturday July 23, 2015 COFFEE COME-UPS THE BLACK LAB If you can’t function in the morning without a cup o’ joe then head to Clapham’s endlessly trendy Coffee House ‘The Black Lab’. Once you’ve had your morning fix of liquid gold head over to nearby Clapham Common for a Saturday morning stroll. Visit blacklabcoffee.com SUMMER COCKTAILS TOWN HALL YARD [...]
Ignore furore over doping, Bolt tells Mo July 23, 2015 WORLD’S fastest man Usain Bolt has given his backing to Britain’s Mo Farah and urged the double Olympic champion to ignore the furore which has emanated from doping allegations against his coach. Somali-born Farah has faced escalating scrutiny since his American trainer Alberto Salazar was accused of violating anti-doping rules and providing banned substances to [...]
Marsh lifts Ashes selection hopes with timely ton July 23, 2015 CENTURION Shaun Marsh sailed through his audition to replace Chris Rogers at the top of Australia’s batting line-up amid lingering fears that the veteran opener could miss next week’s third Investec Ashes Test. Rogers is a doubt for the Edgbaston clash after struggling to recover from dizziness suffered while batting in Australia’s second innings at [...]
Europa League: West Ham scrape past minnows to maintain European ambitions July 23, 2015 BIRKIRKARA FC 1 WEST HAM UNITED 0 (West Ham win 5-3 on penalties, AET, 1-1 on AGG) WEST Ham boss Slaven Bilic admitted his side showed their European naivety before edging past Maltese minnows Birkirkara on penalties to reach the Europa League third qualifying round last night. The Hammers held their nerve from the spot [...]