‘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.

EXCLUSIVE @rawstory.com: Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE cc @mollyjongfast.bsky.social @gtconway.bsky.social @therickwilson.bsky.social @iandunt.bsky.social @timmiller.bsky.social @timothysnyder.bsky.social www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

New at The National Maul – Robert Paylor, Cal Berkeley, field houses and club rooms … and the spirit of rugby Interview with Robert to follow… @bloodandmud.bsky.social @rugbybits.bsky.social @squidgerugby.bsky.social thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/robert-pay...

Tempted to tell Kid#3 Trump wants to tax Bluey – then watch as she marches down 16th Street and turfs him out of the White House herself. She is 8. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

Because of a surprising and rather severe case of DVT in my right leg, it seems (doctors say) my comeback game of rugby for Army Band of Brothers last month will turn out to be my last game of rugby, full stop. Couldn't go out on a better note, if so. substack.com/@thenational...

New on The National Maul… Kurt Vonnegut, Ivy League rugby, and a Chip off the old block. thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/kurt-vonne...

'Lasting damage': Anti-Trump senators assess 'staggering' impact of Trump 2.0 rawstory.com/raw-investig... – @mattlaslo.bsky.social reports for @rawstory.com from Capitol Hill –

'This is our shot': Dems believe MTG's new job gives 'golden opportunity' to destroy GOP … @mattlaslo.bsky.social for @rawstory.com … www.rawstory.com/raw-investig...

“We talked a lot about Project 2025 during the election & it felt it had kind of gone away – but it remained really relevant. I felt there was a lot in it I didn’t understand, a lot that had been missed” – @dgraham.bsky.social on his vital new book, The Project: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“So glorious were his deeds That the testimonials at school assembly On the day after the match Went on like passages from Homer.” At School with Reg Gasnier – Clive James On another kind of schools rugby: The Collegiate Rugby Sevens… open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

'Clearly dangerous' Army reservist remains ready to deploy despite white nationalism probe – @byjordangreen.bsky.social reports @rawstory.com … www.rawstory.com/u-s-army-res...

It seems I like Plymouth Gin…

Wrote on my Substack about Roger Pullan, a great and kind rugby player and coach who died last week. open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

“We presume … that in his private moments Starmer despairs of a US president who supports Russia over Ukraine, raises tariffs in a biblical and chaotic way, and establishes a foreign gulag network to send people without due process” - @iandunt.bsky.social

11 kinds of El Yucateco on sale… 11 kinds of El Yucateco bought. A good day.

“Subcultures feed cultures. Passions run into each other. Rugby opens doors.” New post on my Substack, The National Maul. thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/the-nation...

“It’s very funny but also sad as fuck.” Bruce Robinson. Me on Withnail & I: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ap... cc @tobybenjamin.bsky.social

“If Democrats are going to run on this idea that American democracy is in trouble under #Trump, then they can’t keep their friends in office for as long as they want. That’s it. Period, paragraph.” - @mollyjongfast.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I read ‘em so you don’t have to, though you may want to, part 476,000… New books chart Biden’s downfall – and the picture is damning for Democrats www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Jesus, look at that. Apart from a raw potato, that's the only post to have passed my keyboard in the last 60 days. I must be ill.

Kid#3 is learning about mythical creatures so I have duly coached her to go into school tomorrow and tell her class all about The Great Roe - a mythological beast with the head of a lion and the body of a lion, though not the same lion. newrepublic.com/article/1139...

McMaster goes by HR, short for Herbert Raymond. Not Henry. "Mr President, this is HR McMaster," he said. "Why the fuck would I talk" to HR McMaster?" Trump asked dismissively, and then Trump launched into a scathing critique of his former aide, two sources said. www.cbsnews.com/news/h-r-mcm...

Love this line from a former editor of mine, @martinpengelly.bsky.social: "Red earth clogged the cleats. Realizing I’d just transferred a little Slovenian soil to the loam of old Virginia, I looked around. No USDA inspectors. Probably Doged. Carry on." thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/the-nation...

Playing again finally forced me to launch a Substack with a title I think is clever. Writing on rugby, in America, free to all forever, per the great if not notably rugby-centric @iandunt.bsky.social … The National Maul – or, Stan's Farm and the Meaning of Rugby open.substack.com/pub/thenatio...

Team shot from a memorable day in VA, courtesy the great Al Hogue. The smile is because I was replaying “The Tackle” over and over in my head. In reality, a regulation bit of work, on their No8. In MY reality, a bigger bosh than Mick the Munch v Cecillon at the Parc in '91, and growing…

This may be unwise.

I can't begin to conceive of what the wingers would be saying if Obama (or Biden or Clinton) had tanked the world economy and GONE GOLFING. Infuriating, these coward hypocrites.

“Now watch this dive.”

Book story: Ex-chief of staff Ron Klain says that in aftermath of his disastrous debate, with his presidency on the line, Biden skipped a White House meeting with progressives in favor of a photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz, then scolded the progressives over Zoom… www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...