David Owen

The Mbappé Project - book launch with Philippe Auclair Marking the release of an incisive new book that gets under the skin of Kylian Mbappé to show why he's more than just a generational talent

You're very welcome to join me at The Volley, Old Street, on the evening of Monday 23 March, with MC @migueldelaney.bsky.social, for the launch of my new book, "The Mbappé Project". And admission to the event is *free*! All details in link.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-mbappe...

Current BBC headline:
"Team GB face uphill task for four-man bobsleigh medal"
🙄🤔

Aux Armes! - Fairfield Books A thought-provoking and witty exploration of ‘la différence’ between British and French attitudes to sport.

So it's a repeat of the final from the 1st Winter #Olympics in men's hockey at Milan/Cortina
That was a blood-spattered affair in Chamonix,won by #Canada
A free copy of Aux Armes! fairfieldbooks.co.uk/shop/aux-arm... for the first reply to correctly say how many goals a game Canada averaged in 1924.

FT Exclusive: An IT blunder has revealed an apparent smuggling ring that has moved at least $90bn of Russian oil and is playing a central role in funding the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. ft.trib.al/cmcaLCc

Email blunder exposes $90bn Russian oil smuggling ring Apparent network of companies using same server includes little-known group that has become country’s largest oil exporter

Email blunder exposes $90bn Russian oil smuggling ring ft.trib.al/10RpCLV

Freelance Work Transcription, scholarly editing, archival visits Joanne is available for freelance work: transcriptions and editions of late medieval and early modern Latin, English and Anglo-Norman manuscript te…

A reminder that I do freelance work: transcription, archival visits and more. My rates are here (subject to surcharges or discounts):

joanneedge.co.uk/freelance-wo...

listen to the Trumpian way that Farage tries to silence my tenacious colleague @annasophiegross.bsky.social

(who was politely asking a reasonable question)

Royal Mail staff tell BBC letters sit undelivered as firm prioritises parcels Staff and customers tell the BBC prioritising parcels can mean missed NHS appointments and late payment fines.

Still waiting for my December bank statements: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Final nudge for Jeremy Bowen's Lunch with the FT.

Here are his thoughts on Jared Kushner's vision for Gaza: as.ft.com/r/2ade34f9-9...

Where does remaining US aid mainly go?

The UK will cut overseas aid spending by about 27% in 2026-27 compared with 2024-25

the US reductions are expected to be 23% lower in 2026 than in 2024, as Congress has this month blunted parts of the steep cuts proposed by President Donald Trump.

Cannot remember such extreme divergence in the respective menu choices of 2 LWTFT protagonists...

Screenshot of Tommy Ten Names, claiming he's afraid and fleeing the UK.

Just checking, it's now ok to flee your homeland, because you're afraid for your safety, and seek refuge in another Country?

Glad we've cleared that up. Let's hear no more about immigration and refugees then.

Exactly

The Emir's Lakhwiya secured the speed skating yesterday. Still very disturbing to me that an EU country lets an absolute ruler (and IOC member) deploy his security force. Macron had them in Paris during the 2024 Games as well.

Sathnam Sanghera: what Jim Ratcliffe got wrong about immigration Britain is a multicultural country because it ran a multicultural empire. Would he undo the sacrifice my ancestors made?

Feels like I am going to have to keep writing this piece every other fortnight, forever. @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/article/e624...

All flights to and from El Paso airport in Texas halted for 10 days for 'security reasons' The FAA notice covers the airspace over El Paso and the neighboring community of Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

Very strange

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

A parody of Wes Streeting's Guardian article with the headline changed to "Ignore the smears: I was never a close friend of Dick Dastardly. And I never wanted to stop the pigeon - Wes Muttley" "I knew him but not well, and worry now that he thrived in the Vulture Squadron. It was not just failed vetting: there was a failure of moral seriousness." Streeting has been photoshopped with an aviator cap and goggles, along with a red aviator scarf.

In a way, though, the IOC is impotent, since the act of banning produces arguably more coverage than the act of wearing.

Hope to get my dad to take me to Clapham Junction one day.

Since the #ZeusFiles revealed exclusively that revenue generated by Olympic worldwide sponsorship programme in 2025 had fallen to $560m, several insiders have told us situation is “far more critical”. Is Kirsty Coventry facing the first major test of her IOC Presidency, @dodo938.bsky.social asks? ⬇️

I'd have thought it was the perfect time to be on the skids.
(Here all week, btw)

don't think that's right. think they won the first 5, not the first 7, no?

Olympic truce?

As a Canadian living in the US, this is my evergreen Super Bowl post.

VAR is ludicrous, it really is.

I'm totally pinching myself announcing this, but a film about my life journey rewilding a West Cork farm, An Irish Atlantic Rainforest, will get its first screening at the Dublin International Film Festival on Saturday the 28th of this month.

Tickets are available here:
www.diff.ie/programme/an...

The IOC consolidated statement of activities in the new financial report reveals the amount generated by the Olympics TOP programme marketing has dropped in the space of a year by $311.5 million, @dodo938.bsky.social reports for the #ZeusFiles duncanmackayveritas.substack.com/p/iocs-top-p...

The first time I met Mandelson was in his flat, supposedly for a quick cuppa/get to know you. Alas, the milk was off.

Cost of UK’s drug price with US will come out of NHS budget Department of health, not Treasury, will foot the bill – with costs forecast to reach £9bn

The UK deal with the US on pharma pricing will cost 1/10 of the projected benefits of the - as yet unsigned - EU 'reset' over the next three years, Vallance confirms.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...