Well done to the Economist for producing this video that calls out the BS targeting London that has infested social media. Facts. www.instagram.com/reel/DUcwBj_...

For months now there is a daily pro-Palestinian protest at the Milan Duomo. Across the square are the TV studios for many of the Olympics broadcasters. Most of the people standing with flags tonight are older Milanese folks who arrive most evenings to draw attention to Gaza.

Everyone talks about the size of a club's transfer expenditure - but how often do we compare what it was spent on? For @theathleticfc.bsky.social, I've had a look at 2025-26 Premier League teams' spending by age, and what it tells us about those teams: 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: www.nytimes.com/athletic/702...

Annie White, of U.S. Figure Skating, said she never “thought the surface we skate on would potentially become a polarizing word.” The last-minute renaming of ICE House just one odd example of US politics following Americans to the Olympics in Milan www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/w...

Wow. That is awful. Horrible to hear those cries from Lindsey Vonn. What a terrible moment. She sounds in horrible pain. Cannot imagine the state of that leg. To even try with a torn ACL was always going to be incredibly hard.

Russia’s Time as a Sporting Pariah May Be Coming to an End www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/w...

Pep, the boy who completed Tetris www.theguardian.com/football/202...

New on FT website: Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract. www.ft.com/content/5bba...

FIFA’s peace prize recipient at it again.

About 150-200 people protesting against the Olympics in Milan ahead couple of hours before the opening ceremony of the Games. This group furious at the money spent on an event like this. Police numbers significantly larger than usual for a protest of this size.

Wonder who they have been leaking to? Because one of the biggest problems around this case has been the lack of information that has flowed from the league. Reminder the case is now 8 years old, and charges now three years old. Hearing finished a year ago. And yet, disgracefully, no answers.

Every future Olympic host stopped and to speak to take questions from the media in Milan this week, except one. The next one; the one which has been badly embarrassed by revelations in the Epstein Files. Story about strange LA 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman’s strange visit to the Milan Olympics.

If you've not subscribed yet to the NYT's "The World", now's the time. Today's is a Winter Olympics special in which we discuss ICE, snow sports and inspirations for those of us with arthritic knees. static.nytimes.com/email-conten...

Interview with Caoimhin Kelleher - those final minutes in Budapest - goalkeepers need physicality again - PL refs should punish blocking of keepers - what makes Brentford so distinctive www.independent.co.uk/sport/footba...

New Libero What can we do about VAR? @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social @rorysmith.bsky.social @tariqpanja.bsky.social pod.fo/e/3896a0

Every future Olympic host stopped and to speak to take questions from the media in Milan this week, except one. The next one; the one which has been badly embarrassed by revelations in the Epstein Files. Story about strange LA 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman’s strange visit to the Milan Olympics.

L.A. Olympics Chief Keeps Low Profile at Winter Games After Appearing in Epstein Files www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/w...

"If Mandelson's links to Jeffrey Epstein disqualifies him from holding power, why does the company controlled by Epstein's business partner and co-owner retain access to the UK's most sensitive national security infrastructure?" Peter Thiel. Jeffrey Epstein. Palantir. The UK Government.

Just awful situation facing colleagues at the Washington Post. Horrible news for many of them. Particularly feel for sports team that has been entirely shuttered, with some people told they were being made redundant while in Milan ahead of the Olympics. Shitty thing to happen.

Here are a few of the emails from Casey Wasserman, current chair of LA28, to Ghislaine Maxwell in the latest Epstein files drop

What an incredible young guy! www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

🔴 Tommy Robinson and the London News Website Linked to a Putin-Backed Propaganda Network Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was appointed as an ambassador to an unregistered charity connected to a Russian 'black PR' operation, Matt Bernardini reports

Infantino claims Russia’s global football ban has achieved nothing and should be reversed. But it has, hasn’t it? It is only nation banned from the world’s most-popular sport and that has to sting, it’s a very visible consequence of what’s happened. Reminder fifa largely forced into this ban

Tone deaf you say

The Chinese doping scandal is spurring moves towards neutral testing. 💉 👮 Countries Have Long Tested Their Own Athletes for Doping. That Could Soon Change. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/w...

Interstesting email sent by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced paedophile, to a man only identified as Jabor Y., a day after the FBI-led raids on the luxury Swiss hotel where FIFA’s top brass were staying. He appears to offer this Jabor chap legal help if needed. #timing

Another group that has recently made its way into European football

Man City board member Marty Edelman also on board a UAE prince’s vehicle used to buy 49 percent stake in Trump Crypto company four days before his inauguration, just one interesting detail in this superb WSJ piece www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Reports of empty seats at the premiere of the Melania documentary at the Kennedy Center. But one man just had to be there. Simply could not miss such a momentous evening.

One of the big potential good news stories of the Olympic Games now at risk of going sour. Lynsey Vonn, in her 40s and after making a remarkable comeback despite a partial knee replacement, airlifted to hospital with injury to other knee after crash in Swiss event. Fingers crossed for her.

And on it goes. (From the people that brought you Chelsea selling hotels to themselves to bank a profit)

New Libero If Premier League teams are dominating the Champions League, why do they look so average at home? @jonawils.bsky.social @jackpittbrooke.bsky.social @tariqpanja.bsky.social pod.fo/e/381598

“Unveiled” in the January transfer window. Football language has infested everything.

This is why we love the game. Here we g🫠

The London High Court judge "also found it was more likely than not that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the physical assault on Al-Masarir, citing the kingdom's 'clear interest in and motivation to shut down (Al-Masarir's) public criticism of the Saudi government'" www.reuters.com/world/uk/sau...

Another brick in Qatar’s project to host the Olympics is laid. Emir’s brother named president of Asian olympic body, and promises more “solidarity” and “development” - translated: more 💰

The football transfer market is open to all sorts of commissions flying in all sorts of directions. Such a random industry that sees more than $7bn change hands annually. The places that some of this money ends up and the reasons for it are mind boggling at times.

Experts have described this new Trump-led Board of Peace as an assault on the United Nations and the post-war international system. Strange place for Gianni Infantino to find himself as he’s obviously a public cheerleader for it, while not so long ago showing off about FIFA’s close ties to the UN.

Every year the Deloitte money league gets this incredible amount of publicity for something that is very simple to produce, which uses publicly available data and is essentially a piece of marketing for an accountancy firm. Worth millions in free exposure for them.

Asked FIFA if it can still justify the recipient of its inaugural peace prize in light of recent developments. The reality is this award — which no one ever asked for and was imposed on football by FIFA’s leader — has left it stuck with little room to manoeuvre. So, here’s the response:

New Libero The dramatic finale of the African Cup of Nations @jonawils.bsky.social @brewin.bsky.social @tariqpanja.bsky.social pod.fo/e/37c54e

Perhaps an appropriate moment to post this one again The World Cup’s Missing Mouthpiece www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/s...

A month since this.

😵‍💫

Norway isn't Denmark.

We seem to have normalised the Premier League's inability to conclude the Manchester City case. The years this thing has taken is pathetic. The longer it has taken the more people have forgotten the magnitude of the alleged offences. Time passing has had a kind of watering down affect on allegations

The most joyous thrashing of a football you’re likely to see. Some justice that.

*more top talent.

He's definitely kept this aspect of his character under wraps until now ...

🔴 Last week the Free Speech Union got a High Court writ to prevent the publication of a list of its donors So we decided to investigate who *does* fund Toby Young's outfit Wanna see? 🫣 New on Democracy for Sale: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/who-funds-...