Ollie Phillips: Chiefs vs Saracens could be the match of the season… so far December 2, 2021 The international players are back at their clubs and so is the Premiership, and in this blockbuster weekend of games we have the hottest match-up of the season so far. Chiefs vs Saracens There is no love lost between Exeter Chiefs and Saracens. Tony Rowe was shouting from the rooftops about Sarries deserving relegation after [...]
Saudi Arabia: What can we expect from Formula 1’s newest addition? December 2, 2021 When the lights go out on Sunday evening and racing gets underway at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, we’ll be thrown into the unknown of both a new track and an uncertain title result. Championship leader Max Verstappen sits eight points ahead of his last remaining rival Lewis Hamilton. And come the end of [...]
Academics find fairer format for penalty shootouts, but will football accept it? December 2, 2021 Football took a chance on the ABBA format in the hope of minimising the inherent unfairness of penalty shootouts, but that experiment swiftly met its Waterloo. Now, though, economists at Durham University have devised a new way of ordering penalty kicks that they believe could change the name of the game. They tested a score-dependent [...]
The wine diaries: Living the roaring 20s with Ramon Bilbao December 2, 2021 What a night was had at the celebratory launch of Ramon Bilbao’s The Journey Collection at glamorous Hispania. Throwing back to the joie de vivre of the 1920s, guests in varying degrees of vintage dress clinked crystal martini glasses in front of jazz singers before being swept up the turning staircase to a sumptuous candle-lit [...]
Ed Warner: Crouch review recommendations could drive Premier League away December 2, 2021 I really wanted to embrace the “fan-led” Tracey Crouch review of football governance in England. But with each turn of its 162 pages my heart sank further at the unmistakable sight of the heavy hand of Whitehall. The Crouch review’s recommendations revolve around the creation of an independent regulator for the sport. This displays a [...]
Peng Shuai: WTA suspend tournaments in China over tennis star December 1, 2021 The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have this evening suspended all WTA tournaments in China and Hong Kong over Peng Shuai’s sexual assault allegations and the events which subsequently followed. In a statement, WTA chief executive Steve Simon said: “With the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of [...]
Manchester United owner Avram Glazer buys cricket team in new UAE T20 league December 1, 2021 Manchester United owner Avram Glazer has succeeded in buying a cricket franchise at the second attempt after snapping up a team in the new United Arab Emirates Twenty20 league. Glazer, through his private equity company Lancer Capital, was outbid in an auction for two new franchises in the Indian Premier League, the world’s leading T20 [...]
Former British No1 tennis star Johanna Konta retires at 30 December 1, 2021 British tennis player Johanna Konta has retired at the age of 30. The former British No1 reached the semi-finals of three Grand Slams, including Wimbledon, between 2016 and 2019. In a statement on her social media, Konta said: “My playing career has come to an end, and i am so incredibly grateful for the career [...]
How the Berlin Wall still influences culture and commerce December 1, 2021 Nature is reclaiming the Death Strip. Pioneer birch trees have self-seeded, creating a winding, shady memorial that cuts through the heart of Berlin. There are cherry blossoms too, a gift from the Japanese government. But it is the slim, silvery trunks of the birches, and the dappled, dancing shadows they cast on the path, that [...]
Wine Wednesday: Buy Burgundy – and buy it now! December 1, 2021 Burgundy has established a world-wide reputation for excellent quality, premium wines, despite the term being created as an Anglicised word for marketing purposes. In France the region and wines are ‘Bourgogne’ and there is a push among winemakers in the area to reclaim this original name. Whether you call it Burgundy or Bourgogne, however, if [...]