Fines over Russia tennis player bans factor in LTA loss April 16, 2023 The fines imposed on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) due to their banning of players from Russia and Belarus in 2022 have contributed to the organisation’s financial loss. Last year the LTA implemented the ban which meant players from the two countries were unable to play in pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournaments. Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis [...]
Graham Linehan, AKA Glinner, banned from Twitter… Again April 16, 2023 Graham Linehan, the creator of Father Ted now best known for his opposition to trans rights, has been banned from Twitter… Again. Linehan’s latest ban was for joking about killing protestors at a controversial women’s rights activist event in Belfast called Let Women Speak, although he had already received warnings from the platform about his [...]
Private Lives, Donmar Warehouse, review: Deliciously camp, everso restrained April 15, 2023 Private Lives review and star rating: ★★★ It’s been fifty years since the death of Noël Coward, the eminent British satirist who wrote frothy, seemingly throwaway comedic lines threaded with darkness and existential dread. Coward’s a complicated one: the style of his plays, and often, the language, can feel almost impossibly out of date, but his [...]
The Coronation: London Coronation events to book now April 15, 2023 It’s three weeks until the King’s Coronation, so if you’re looking for ways to celebrate that aren’t just watching a big screen, here are some of the more unusual London Coronation events to book now. London Coronation events range from gilded carriage rides (!) to opportunities to live like the King for a day, but [...]
Leaving the Premiership XV: Talent drain from English rugby laid bare April 15, 2023 It’s not uncommon for the world’s various top flight leagues to see quality talent steadily flow in and out, but the Premiership – the top level of rugby in England – is about to see a mass exodus of players to rival leagues. Leaving the Premiership are a number of individuals who between them have [...]
So far, snow good: How Britain became an unlikely force in winter sports April 15, 2023 While casual skiers and snowboarders put boots back into lofts as the European snow season becomes a thing of months past, the cream of Britain’s winter sportspeople are not done in continuing a record-breaking campaign on the white stuff. A year on from a disappointing Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, where Team GB medalled only in [...]
English football wants a piece of the American pie – but it’s not MLS April 15, 2023 From Todd Boehly’s private-equity-backed consortium at Premier League giants Chelsea to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner at Portsmouth in the third tier down to Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at non-league Wrexham, the flow of football investment between the United States and Britain is well established. But it is not all one-way. Increasingly, [...]
Ollie Phillips: It’s time for RFU axe its short-sighted England selection policy April 15, 2023 I won’t hold my breath, but Jack Willis’s decision to stay at Toulouse ought to sound alarm bells at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and cause them to reconsider their refusal to pick overseas-based players for the England team. That stance might be sustainable when your clubs can pay the same as those in France [...]
Premier League names date for ban on front-of-shirt gambling advertising April 14, 2023 Premier League clubs have agreed to remove gambling advertising from the front of their match shirts, it has been announced. Teams voluntarily adopted the change, which will be phased over the next year so that no team has a betting brand on the front of their kit by the 2024-25 season. The move is designed [...]
Nic Cage brings comedy bite to Dracula movie Renfield April 13, 2023 It’s that special time of year when Nicolas Cage stars in a film so batshit crazy it just might work. This time he plays Dracula with enough scenery-chewing to make Hammer Horror look like The Shining. He’s joined by Nicholas Hoult in the title role of Renfield, Dracula’s “familiar”, who is given some of the [...]