Trump's Ridiculous Ultimatum to Muslim Countries The president insists that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, and more sign onto his 'Abraham Accords' to secure a peace deal with Iran – as violence flares. Read today's 'First Draft' by @martinpengelly.bsky.social: zeteo.com/p/trumps-rid...

Eatontown, NJ, Memorial Day 2021.

And you shall know me by the trail of pieces about books, politics, history, and rugby, and sometimes all four. Today, an interview with Andrew @weissmann.substack.com about Trump, lies and how to confront them, via his new book Liar's Kingdom: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Lots of my old rugby playing shirts have gone to Kid#1, who is 13 and likes the chunky stripes. VAN MILDERT and UN Fijian Peacekeepers in the Sinai (Away, 2001) going nowhere. Some things matter.

Honored to join US Rugby Happy Hour Live, to talk about my rugby story and The National Maul… … contains dodgy reminiscences re Durham University RFC and Klute and abject hero worship of Iron Mike Teague and Mick 'The Munch' Skinner. Obvs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkYb...

New at The National Maul… 'Everything is copy': on writing US rugby, and Hall of Fame honors for two fine rugby writers thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/everything...

“Rishi Sunak tried to find a vision every four months, like a middle manager in a suburban supermarket trying to decide which microwave meal he’ll have for dinner” - @iandunt.bsky.social abides. open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

Trump Just Took Us Somewhere the Country Has Never Been Before www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/o...

Ascent of Whale by Keith Harpooning. Pandemic home art class with kids. Best art thing I’ve ever done. Wish I’d kept it.

“In the end,” he once said, “I recognise that rugby is still all about fun.” Ian Marlon’s obituary for the great Scott Hastings. www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/m...

Is Trump About to Attack Cuba? “Stirring echoes of Iraq and WMDs, the admin planted a media story about Cuban drones aimed at Florida. In DC, Christian nationalists flocked to the Mall. And breaking news about the Gaza aid flotilla.” By @martinpengelly.bsky.social: zeteo.com/p/is-trump-a...

Very sad news – RIP Scott Hastings, a great for Scotland and the Lions, a giant of my rugby mad childhood… www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/m...

New at The National Maul, on US club finals weekend… 'Heart of the game': On the club nationals, New York Old Blue, and the soul of American rugby thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/heart-of-t...

New at the National Maul, Chris Mattina's American Rugby Life from Xavier HS to Major League Rugby, the US Eagles and leading the pro players union. The National Maul: new writing on rugby in the US, every Friday, free unless you'd like to support… thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/work-toget...

Trump’s America Is Not a Serious Country – But We Are Seriously Screwed In the Oval Office, the president wanted to talk Mixed Martial Arts, not Middle East war. Read today's 'First Draft' by @martinpengelly.bsky.social: zeteo.com/p/trumps-ame...

Great essay, worth reading. We are "ruled" by sociopaths. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

Trump’s Omnishambles Deepens With Dire Strait News “The Pentagon reportedly told Congress that clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz could take six months. Plus: Trump is ranting at Supreme Court justices and being racist again.” Read: zeteo.com/p/trumps-omn... By @martinpengelly.bsky.social

New at the National Maul: Mark Coe’s photographs and words from the Heart of America Sevens in Omaha, Nebraska… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

‘Don’t you dare count us out’: KC women’s sports mogul hails US rugby double-header … a pleasure to interview Angie Long of KC Current about life, rugby and the business of women's sports, before USA v Australia at CPKC Stadium tonight… www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/a...

New at the National Maul: One small step for men's long-distance running, one giant leap backwards for US women's rugby On Quinnipiac University stripping varsity status for women's rugby: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/one-small-...

New at The National Maul… 'We're up for it': new Eagles captain Erica Jarrell-Searcy relishes Black Ferns Pac Four test open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

For the Six Nations, an ode to rugby bars the world over… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

NCR All-Star Rugby at Silverbacks Park, Atlanta, GA. More fun than DC politics… if cold…

Word of the year is clearly “emiratic” - used by Paul Goldberger re the White House ballroom, applicable to the whole Trumpist project and its offshoots, government/life through corruption, cruelty, and impunity. Says me. @aiannucci.bsky.social says otherwise. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Necessary reading from me about a great man… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

‘Now I'm gonna go': Eagles lock Erica Jarrell-Searcy on finding rugby, that try against England and the World Cup crunch thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/now-im-gon...

New at the National Maul… thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/iron-ovari...

The National Maul – subscribe. It's free. Shane Young on Urban Rugby: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/share-the-... Mark Cuban on his love for rugby: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/im-definit... Adam Hughes, “skinny ass rugger” poet of Lynchburg, VA: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/adam-hughe...

Mark Cuban has a point… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

'Complete drivel': Heart doctor tears down GOP's core case for Medicaid cuts – Alexandria Jacobson reports @rawstory.com – www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

Zac Miller – West Point rugby player (and Rhodes Scholar): 19 June 1980 – 1 July 2002.

Exclusive: Militia fears forced medical team to flee hurricane-hit state – superb, alarming reporting by @byjordangreen.bsky.social @rawstory.com, on misinformation, FEMA, state emergency services and mysterious men with guns, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. www.rawstory.com/exclusive-mi...

New on The National Maul, about Adam Hughes, the “skinny ass rugger” poet of Lynchburg, VA… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

News Flash: AMERICAN SCARE got one heck of a writeup in @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com. Thank you @martinpengelly.bsky.social for all this ink!! #booksky

Robert Fieseler, @wordbobby.bsky.social, has written a fine and important book, American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives. My interview: ‘We live in a second Red Scare’: what can we learn from a chilling book about Florida’s past? www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

New on The National Maul, for Father’s Day, about the Maryland Exiles… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

Area Dad confirms slacking off no longer possible on basement Peloton thanks to poster.

“There's a window, 36 hours or so, not even, when traveling by air between places, places where you've lived for a long time … for a while, inside that window, you're hyperawake.” Kleinzahler. I’m back to New York tomorrow, so I wrote about 11 years there, & rugby. open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

Memorial Day.

New on The National Maul… ‘From the comic to the sacred': Memorial Day and U.S. military rugby thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/from-the-c...

New read…

The great Bryan Phillips on coaching kids rugby… “You'll nearly pass out from joy as your sweet girl … drags two defenders across the line for her first try. Or when, after scoring twice, your son tells his mom, 'I’m starting to see the fun in this.'” thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/rugby-in-k...

The Afterlife of Malcolm X: how the civil rights icon influenced America A pleasure to interview Mark Whitaker about his fascinating new book. Among happy effects of reading and talking to Mark, my Miles Davis & John Coltrane CDs are back in heavy rotation… www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Man who wrote, edited and printed a Roundhay Subbuteo League newspaper when he was 10 finds self constantly pleased by Substack layout. New at National Maul: Bryan Phillips, West Point '02, on coaching the next generation with the West Houston Lions: thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/rugby-in-k...

An immense pleasure to interview Robert Paylor about his new book, his continuing love for rugby, and his life as an author and public speaker… Paralyzed to Powerful: how college rugby star Robert Paylor fought back from a broken neck www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/m...

Backyard catbird being a cheerful idiot. Glorious.