Steve Borthwick must throw off the shackles in Paris to inject some attacking energy into his far-too predictable side

The inquest into England’s Six Nations campaign has already started and when that is the case before the championship has even finished it is never a good sign. Everyone has their own opinions on what is wrong and I’m sure that is the same within the squad too. When you are on runs like England are, different players come up with different reasons for their problems and different fixes – and that makes the situation all the more difficult.

If there is one thing holding England back it is their gameplan. I don’t say that as a reaction to these three defeats, I felt that they stagnated during the autumn and tightened things up despite chalking up four victories. The best illustration I can give is the 2024 tournament. England had lost to Scotland , went to York in the fallow week, contrived to throw off the shackles in attack and it paid immediate dividends.

Continue reading...

The revamped Hundred will bring us the awkward spectacle of men in chinos struggling to keep the lid on a Pandora’s box of political volatility

When the England and Wales Cricket Board promised, in a glaze of beaming positivity, that the Hundred would bring a new audience, new energy, a shiny new online presence, it probably didn’t have in mind a barrage of hate-threats and terrorism accusations against the 34-year-old female owner of what was previously the Northern Superchargers.

But hey, it’s all energy. It’s eyeballs. Can we clip some of this up? Just blue-skying here, but what are the hate-threat merch opportunities? Is there any way, and there are no bad ideas in this room, we can leverage some really strong online nuclear war chat?

Continue reading...

Steve Borthwick must throw off the shackles in Paris to inject some attacking energy into his far-too predictable side

The inquest into England’s Six Nations campaign has already started and when that is the case before the championship has even finished it is never a good sign. Everyone has their own opinions on what is wrong and I’m sure that is the same within the squad too. When you are on runs like England are, different players come up with different reasons for their problems and different fixes – and that makes the situation all the more difficult.

If there is one thing holding England back it is their gameplan. I don’t say that as a reaction to these three defeats, I felt that they stagnated during the autumn and tightened things up despite chalking up four victories. The best illustration I can give is the 2024 tournament. England had lost to Scotland , went to York in the fallow week, contrived to throw off the shackles in attack and it paid immediate dividends.

Continue reading...

The revamped Hundred will bring us the awkward spectacle of men in chinos struggling to keep the lid on a Pandora’s box of political volatility

When the England and Wales Cricket Board promised, in a glaze of beaming positivity, that the Hundred would bring a new audience, new energy, a shiny new online presence, it probably didn’t have in mind a barrage of hate-threats and terrorism accusations against the 34-year-old female owner of what was previously the Northern Superchargers.

But hey, it’s all energy. It’s eyeballs. Can we clip some of this up? Just blue-skying here, but what are the hate-threat merch opportunities? Is there any way, and there are no bad ideas in this room, we can leverage some really strong online nuclear war chat?

Continue reading...

Steve Borthwick must throw off the shackles in Paris to inject some attacking energy into his far-too predictable side

The inquest into England’s Six Nations campaign has already started and when that is the case before the championship has even finished it is never a good sign. Everyone has their own opinions on what is wrong and I’m sure that is the same within the squad too. When you are on runs like England are, different players come up with different reasons for their problems and different fixes – and that makes the situation all the more difficult.

If there is one thing holding England back it is their gameplan. I don’t say that as a reaction to these three defeats, I felt that they stagnated during the autumn and tightened things up despite chalking up four victories. The best illustration I can give is the 2024 tournament. England had lost to Scotland , went to York in the fallow week, contrived to throw off the shackles in attack and it paid immediate dividends.

Continue reading...

The revamped Hundred will bring us the awkward spectacle of men in chinos struggling to keep the lid on a Pandora’s box of political volatility

When the England and Wales Cricket Board promised, in a glaze of beaming positivity, that the Hundred would bring a new audience, new energy, a shiny new online presence, it probably didn’t have in mind a barrage of hate-threats and terrorism accusations against the 34-year-old female owner of what was previously the Northern Superchargers.

But hey, it’s all energy. It’s eyeballs. Can we clip some of this up? Just blue-skying here, but what are the hate-threat merch opportunities? Is there any way, and there are no bad ideas in this room, we can leverage some really strong online nuclear war chat?

Continue reading...

Current and ex-staff claim demise of London restaurant can be traced back to the departure of chef’s right-hand man

Dinner by Heston was once one of the world’s most revered restaurants, known for its decadent and unusual dishes such as the “meat fruit”.

But Heston Blumenthal announced this week that he is winding down operations at the two Michelin-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, London, saying it was because the tenancy had “finished”.

Continue reading...

Mood among some in Iran shifts from hope of being rescued to dismay at destruction of infrastructure, culture and lives

After years of arrests, disappearances and mass killings of protesters, the hatred in Iran from some quarters for the hardline, oppressive governing regime had boiled into such a desperate rage that many believed Donald Trump’s promise that the US would “come to their rescue”.

Now, after a fortnight of war, with US and Israeli airstrikes killing hundreds as they hit residential blocks, shops, fuel depots and even a school, the mood is changing.

Continue reading...

Current and ex-staff claim demise of London restaurant can be traced back to the departure of chef’s right-hand man

Dinner by Heston was once one of the world’s most revered restaurants, known for its decadent and unusual dishes such as the “meat fruit”.

But Heston Blumenthal announced this week that he is winding down operations at the two Michelin-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, London, saying it was because the tenancy had “finished”.

Continue reading...