* Boxing’s  24-hour weigh-in lets fighters “boil down” for weigh-in day then pile the weight back on before the fight. It encourages extreme dehydration, leaving those who do it susceptible to heat stroke, heart failure, increased risk of brain damage and death. Little has been done adequately to investigate the subject, which is one reason […]

By Brian Sears 23 December 2010 If the weather and the ‘elf ‘n’ safety folk allow, then the old tradition of derby games will be alive and well in London this Boxing Day weekend, with two capital derbies bookending the weekend’s Premier League fixtures. First up is Fulham against West Ham at midday on Sunday, […]

By Nick Harris 31 October 2016 The 1998 Tour de France was utterly overshadowed by drugs busts and irrefutable evidence of widespread cheating. This was apparently a new low in the global landscape of doping scandals. Apparently is the operative word. It would be a long time before the truth about cycling’s real doping problem emerged. Some might […]

Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 18 July 2016 I was listening to a ‘phone-in on local radio the other day, the thrust of which was, “Where are you going on your holidays this year?” It’s the kind of […]

Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 6 June 2016 There will never be another. Everybody said so, on the death of Muhammad Ali; especially on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning where, in true house style, no cliché was left unturned, […]

 Brought to you in association with the UK Concrete Show (“The whole of the concrete industry under one roof!“) . By Martin Kelner 30 May 2016 Television remains a world of wonder. Who would think to switch on the set to hear Graeme Le Saux’s views on period pains and transgender toilet arrangements? This joy came to us […]

Screen Break By Martin Kelner           To sponsor this column, see foot of page 11 April 2016 This time there was no escape for Murdoch. Regular readers will know the apparently still potent press potentate had a last-minute reprieve at the cricket last week when my tenner and Ben Stokes fell at the […]

The first ever all-Traveller world title fight takes place on Saturday in Manchester between Billy Joe Saunders and Andy Lee. With their friend and kinsman Tyson ‘Gypsy King’ Fury already at the centre of a storm for his controversial views and unconventional behaviour, Tim Martin explores the troubled background to the weekend’s unique contest. . By […]

By Brian Sears 26 December 2014 Yes, I know it’s more than 10 years since Leicester last graced the Premier League. And yes I know that it’s so long ago that in their eight seasons of Premier League occupation, they played clubs including Wimbledon, Barnsley and Watford. And yes I know that they haven’t won a Premier League […]

By Brian Sears 19 December 2014 Queens Park Rangers play at home this weekend – and that must be a relief. On home form alone, Harry Redknapp’s team would be eighth in the Premier League, just behind Arsenal, after winning four and drawing two of their eight home league matches at Loftus Road this season. […]