Summer reading (fiction) Caledonian Road, Andrew O’ Hagan Tony Interruptor, Nicola Barker Maigret at the Crossroads, Georges Simenon The Dean’s December, Saul Bellow The Heart of a Dog, Mikhail Bulgakov
Summer reading (non-fiction) Haig’s Enemy, Jonathan Boff The Umbrella Man (about JFK assassination), Martin Fitzgerald Radical Uncertainty, John Kay, Mervyn King Will This Do?, Auberon Waugh The Dark Room at Longwood, Jean-Paul Kauffmann
Infantino’s former senior adviser proves thatsomeone at FIFA had a conscience. Over to Arsene Wenger now, once a fierce critic of financial doping in football. As an educated man, he will recall Dante’s remark that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in a crisis.
At what point did Infantino become, to borrow Tommy Docherty’s line, “a legend in his own mind”. Easy to blame Trump but I suspect he made the decision long before that. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
World Cup 2026: Gianni Infantino tells Fifa critics to 'meditate, pray or watch football'
Fifa president Gianni Infantino tells critics to "meditate, pray or watch a football match" instead of "spreading hate and false rumours" about him and the World Cup.
bbc.co.uk
I’d recommend Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey - you don’t need to see it on an IMAX - which is spectacularly entertaining but does lack the visual flair, and emotional intensity of, David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia. I kinda wanted Odysseus to win but wouldn’t have wept if he’d lost. B+
Credit where it’s due. Trump is certainly delivering on his MAGA pledge. In less than two years of his second term, he has already made America gaga again.
“Sort it out guys! You can’t all write literature about literature! One book a year, maybe, between you.” Nick Hornby’s reading diary, The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, is an absolute treasure.
“Sort it out guys! You can’t all write literature about literature! One book a year, maybe, between you.” Nick Hornby’s reading diary, The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, is an absolute treasure.
In Infantino world, the 2026 World Cup was a greater “human event” than the end of World War II, the Renaissance and the invention of the wheel. Words fail me as, once again, they have failed him. I particularly like the fact that he seems to think ‘witnessed’ and ‘seen’ mean different things.
Strangely pleased to discover that 500 babies in Peru have been named in honour of Erling Haaland during, and after, the World Cup.
Found this fascinating… apple.news/ACuVUQiRgSXq...
Opinion | Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup — The Guardian
Many Black Americans were not cheering Spain’s complicated history. They were rooting against the racism, politics and silence associated with Argentina
apple.news
‘Pentagon Chiefs Outline Iran War Strategy’ says the headline in my inbox. How can they when they don’t have one? This is a classic example of journalism’s tendency to normalise things that aren’t normal.
This isn’t Spain v Argentina, it’s football v anti-football.
Spain the better team but almost too methodical. Argentina 15 fouls and one booking about par for the course in this tournament. Despite Messi’s greatness, they’re more Herrera than Menotti.
“Infantino embodies FIFA’s inveterate greed, he looks like a fantasy villain from central casting, Dr Evil in Austin Powers. Just because it’s easy to demonise him, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t.” Brilliant from Simon Skinner in @LRB.
The Apple ‘find my’ function on top form today. It just messaged me that my Airbook was last seen at No32 which, as I live at No64, is not exactly reassuring.
I know Anita Brookner is terminally unfashionable - hence Private Eye’s spoof of her Booker Prize-winning novel as Hotel Du Lac of Interest - but I’ve just bought A Friend from England from a charity shop and, by god, she could write.
I don’t read enough modern poetry - so much older stuff to catch up on - but i am absolutely captivated by Andrew McMillan’s 2015 collection Physical, from the lively humour of ‘The Men Are Weeping In The Gym’ to the succinct pathos of ‘Finally’. Bravo!
Do you ever worry that you’re not practically perfect in every way? Fear not, L’Oréal has you covered as long as you can afford this remedy…
It’s hard - and tedious- to keep count of the ways FIFA has betrayed its role as regulator in this World Cup but the complete and utter disregard for basic fairness with the Iran team - and it’s travel schedule - is unprecedented even by Infantino’s shabby standards of governance.
Anyone sweltering in Britain’s unseasonable heat may - or may not - want to know that this afternoon’s weather is sponsored by Flash Gordon’s notorious nemesis Ming the Merciless.
A powerful tribute to a great leader shot by a firing squad under orders from Belgian officers, with the CIA’s connivance: ecchr.eu/en/case/crimes…
ecchr.eu
Jonathan Wilson@jonawils.bsky.social · last mo.Michel Kuka Mboladinga, the DR Congo fan who dresses as Patrice Lumumba, arrives at the stadium in Guadalajara for the game v Colombia. #worldcup2026 #drcongo #colombia
Looks like I chose the right week to buy a signed copy of A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin and Active Measures, Thomas Rid’s brilliant history of disinformation.
This sounds pretentious but swapping Starmer for Burnham reminds me of Lloyd George succeeding Asquith. As confident as Labour MPs may be about a performance upgrade, they should reflect on where the Welsh wizard ultimately left his own party.
In 2024, Labour won the chance to prove they were better than the Tories. Labour MPs have spurned that. Whatever you think of Starmer, this reinforces the Reform/Restore case that the main parties are broken. Why trust a party to govern UK when it can’t govern itself? 1/2
As an alternative to the ‘today the UK has been hotter than … ‘ stories, today it has been warmer in Yakutsk, Siberia, aka the coldest major town in the world, than in Newquay, Cornwall.
Norway importing oranges and cheese for this World Cup is quite unremarkable compared to Chile’s diet in 1962. The hosts consumed something associated with their next opponents, beating Switzerland (after cheese); Italy (spaghetti) and USSR (vodka), but losing to Brazil (coffee).
Words fail me, as indeed they have once again failed Jeff Bezos.
On the morning of the 1966 World Cup final, as reported in David Thomson’s superb book 4-2, tickets for £5 seats at Wembley were available for £20 on the black market - equivalent, In today’s money, to £480 for a £120 ticket.
