David Owen
@dodo938.bsky.social
Sportswriter, biographer of racehorses, Francophile, ex-FT, Authors CC.
New book: Aux Armes! - Sport and the French - https://www.thenightwatchman.net/buy/aux-armes-david-owen
New book: Aux Armes! - Sport and the French - https://www.thenightwatchman.net/buy/aux-armes-david-owen
Reposted by David Owen
Hey guys!
Three weeks ago I've started a new English language podcast about Polish sports. I feel that with so many of us Poles loving sports and plenty of ex-pats also being interested, a special niche was there for the taking.
insidepolishsports.podbean.com/e/episode-3-...
Three weeks ago I've started a new English language podcast about Polish sports. I feel that with so many of us Poles loving sports and plenty of ex-pats also being interested, a special niche was there for the taking.
insidepolishsports.podbean.com/e/episode-3-...
Episode 3: Socca Stars | Inside Polish Sports
POLAND HAVE WON THE WORLD CUP! The World Socca Cup, that is. But we'll take six-a-side glory over any hope of winning the FIFA equivalent. The one for which a draw just took place, but we don't know w...
insidepolishsports.podbean.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Hey guys!
Three weeks ago I've started a new English language podcast about Polish sports. I feel that with so many of us Poles loving sports and plenty of ex-pats also being interested, a special niche was there for the taking.
insidepolishsports.podbean.com/e/episode-3-...
Three weeks ago I've started a new English language podcast about Polish sports. I feel that with so many of us Poles loving sports and plenty of ex-pats also being interested, a special niche was there for the taking.
insidepolishsports.podbean.com/e/episode-3-...
Reposted by David Owen
More than a dozen of small children have died in Cuba in recent days, including my cousin’s granddaughter who was just 8 months old. There are several viruses making live unbearable for Cubans on the island, in addition to regular hardships and blackouts. It’s heartbreaking and downright sad.
December 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
More than a dozen of small children have died in Cuba in recent days, including my cousin’s granddaughter who was just 8 months old. There are several viruses making live unbearable for Cubans on the island, in addition to regular hardships and blackouts. It’s heartbreaking and downright sad.
Reposted by David Owen
Reposted by David Owen
As someone who is still here five years later and had this type of chemotherapy for BC, and has looked (through my fingers) at the stats, in a very real sense ET IN ARCADIA EGO - an absolutely wonderful letter about how the human mind makes creative connections
December 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
As someone who is still here five years later and had this type of chemotherapy for BC, and has looked (through my fingers) at the stats, in a very real sense ET IN ARCADIA EGO - an absolutely wonderful letter about how the human mind makes creative connections
Reposted by David Owen
Hope Dad has his motoring gloves on.
November 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Hope Dad has his motoring gloves on.
Reposted by David Owen
Is there any evidence on whether jury trials are more or less likely to lead to miscarriages of justice?
November 26, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Is there any evidence on whether jury trials are more or less likely to lead to miscarriages of justice?
Reposted by David Owen
Heads up that there’s a generous Interrail sale for the next 21 days - 25% off all passes, making it an even bigger bargain than usual. Passes can be activated at any point up to 11 months after purchase. From all your usual retailers. www.interrail.eu/en
Interrail.eu | 1 rail pass, 33 countries
Travel across Europe and discover 33 countries by train with Interrail. Enjoy the best rail travel experience in Europe with our Interrail Pass!
www.interrail.eu
November 25, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Heads up that there’s a generous Interrail sale for the next 21 days - 25% off all passes, making it an even bigger bargain than usual. Passes can be activated at any point up to 11 months after purchase. From all your usual retailers. www.interrail.eu/en
Reposted by David Owen
This one comes with 13 hectares, house, and equipped cellar. It's a reputed, organic domaine, in a pretty village in the Corbieres, and nobody wants it. It's criminal. www.leboncoin.fr/ad/ventes_im...
www.leboncoin.fr
November 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM
This one comes with 13 hectares, house, and equipped cellar. It's a reputed, organic domaine, in a pretty village in the Corbieres, and nobody wants it. It's criminal. www.leboncoin.fr/ad/ventes_im...
Reposted by David Owen
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
Reposted by David Owen
Subscriptions, art prints and books - it's Christmas time at The Blizzard.
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
November 20, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Subscriptions, art prints and books - it's Christmas time at The Blizzard.
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
Reposted by David Owen
Alf Dubs is a 92 year old man who spent his life fighting for refugees, and in particular for refugee children. He fought the Tories tooth and nail during their last three terms, only to see Labour adopt far-right policies on immigration.
“But to use children as a weapon ... I’m lost for words.”
“But to use children as a weapon ... I’m lost for words.”
Labour Peer Who Fled The Nazis Condemns His Party's Immigration Crackdown
Lord Dubs said he was "lost for words".
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Alf Dubs is a 92 year old man who spent his life fighting for refugees, and in particular for refugee children. He fought the Tories tooth and nail during their last three terms, only to see Labour adopt far-right policies on immigration.
“But to use children as a weapon ... I’m lost for words.”
“But to use children as a weapon ... I’m lost for words.”
Reposted by David Owen
As the Lords environment and climate change committee made clear last month organised waste crime is out of control in this country but instead of a serious effort to tackle this crisis all we get are stupid gimmicks.
Fly-tippers dump ‘mountain’ of waste in Oxfordshire field
Area’s MP says it would cost more than local council’s annual budget to remove the 10-metre high pile of waste
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
As the Lords environment and climate change committee made clear last month organised waste crime is out of control in this country but instead of a serious effort to tackle this crisis all we get are stupid gimmicks.
Reposted by David Owen
⚡️Widow of Chornobyl's first victim killed by Russian attack on Kyiv 39 years later.
Natalia Khodymchuk, widow of Valerii Khodymchuk, the first victim of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, died in Kyiv after suffering severe injuries in a mass overnight Russian attack on Nov. 14–15.
Natalia Khodymchuk, widow of Valerii Khodymchuk, the first victim of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, died in Kyiv after suffering severe injuries in a mass overnight Russian attack on Nov. 14–15.
Widow of Chornobyl's first victim killed by Russian attack on Kyiv 39 years later
Natalia Khodymchuk, the widow of Valerii Khodymchuk, the first victim of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, died in Kyiv overnight on Nov. 14–15 after suffering severe injuries in a mass Russian attack on t...
kyivindependent.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:11 PM
⚡️Widow of Chornobyl's first victim killed by Russian attack on Kyiv 39 years later.
Natalia Khodymchuk, widow of Valerii Khodymchuk, the first victim of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, died in Kyiv after suffering severe injuries in a mass overnight Russian attack on Nov. 14–15.
Natalia Khodymchuk, widow of Valerii Khodymchuk, the first victim of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, died in Kyiv after suffering severe injuries in a mass overnight Russian attack on Nov. 14–15.
Reposted by David Owen
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The fact that the BBC has made serious culpable errors does not negate the point that there is a real and concerted right-wing media campaign to destroy it. Both points can be true at the same time and the campaign would not end even if the errors did.
Reposted by David Owen
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
WAC wrong-headedness
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
WAC wrong-headedness - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Some of you will know that I have been very involved over the past months with attempts to reverse the wrong-headed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre (above, with...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
Reposted by David Owen
Is the future of football a set piece grinding its boot into the face of diminutive playmaker, forever?
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Premier League has turned a tactical corner but set-play trend will surely fade | Jonathan Wilson
More than 40 goals in the Premier League have come from corners already this season – is this the new orthodoxy?
www.theguardian.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Is the future of football a set piece grinding its boot into the face of diminutive playmaker, forever?
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Reposted by David Owen
A great idea for a Christmas gift!
Take out a subscription to The Nightwatchman for yourself or as a gift to someone else and receive your choice of one of five @fairfieldbooks.bsky.social for absolutely free
Subscribe: forwardpress.imbmsubscriptions.com/nwmxmas25bgb
Subscribe: forwardpress.imbmsubscriptions.com/nwmxmas25bgb
October 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
A great idea for a Christmas gift!
Reposted by David Owen
Our classic subscription bundle returns this Christmas, where you get four issues of The Blizzard a year for £40* (+p&p) and a free gift bundle worth £49.99 (+p&p)
More info: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
More info: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
October 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Our classic subscription bundle returns this Christmas, where you get four issues of The Blizzard a year for £40* (+p&p) and a free gift bundle worth £49.99 (+p&p)
More info: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
More info: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
Seriously?
By (possibly) creating the wealth needed to pay for public services, presumably - but not a great soundbite with the AI business model being so controversial and all...
By (possibly) creating the wealth needed to pay for public services, presumably - but not a great soundbite with the AI business model being so controversial and all...
Rachel Reeves at an investment summit in Riyadh: "AI underpins everything we do" as a government
October 28, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Seriously?
By (possibly) creating the wealth needed to pay for public services, presumably - but not a great soundbite with the AI business model being so controversial and all...
By (possibly) creating the wealth needed to pay for public services, presumably - but not a great soundbite with the AI business model being so controversial and all...
Reposted by David Owen
NEW: Upfront costs for top overseas scientists to come to work in the UK can be more than 20 times those charged by other countries, Royal Society says.
Government insists this doesn’t contradicts its ambition to lure top researchers, at a time of turmoil in US science.
www.ft.com/content/7144...
Government insists this doesn’t contradicts its ambition to lure top researchers, at a time of turmoil in US science.
www.ft.com/content/7144...
Scientists charged too much to come to work in UK, says Royal Society
Combined upfront cost of the five-year Global Talent Visa and the Immigration Health Surcharge stands at £5,941
www.ft.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:24 AM
NEW: Upfront costs for top overseas scientists to come to work in the UK can be more than 20 times those charged by other countries, Royal Society says.
Government insists this doesn’t contradicts its ambition to lure top researchers, at a time of turmoil in US science.
www.ft.com/content/7144...
Government insists this doesn’t contradicts its ambition to lure top researchers, at a time of turmoil in US science.
www.ft.com/content/7144...
Reposted by David Owen
In case you missed it:
Brexit eruptions. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog looking at Tory madness, Labour’s ‘blame Farage’ strategy, the Brexit impasse and a suggestion of a way forward, and the latest ‘reset’ news. Bonus feature: a feeble new Brexit metaphor: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/10/brex...
October 18, 2025 at 9:34 AM
In case you missed it:
Reposted by David Owen
If you could please do us a favour and RT (or whatever it is on here) my writing CV I would be extremely grateful. I am a very capable writer of words, mainly “humorous”’ and if you have some PROPER paid work for me, please DM me. Thank you for your time www.mathew-owen.co.uk
Home | Matt Owen | Freelance Writer
I offer a broad and diverse range of writing services.
Get in touch!
www.mathew-owen.co.uk
October 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
If you could please do us a favour and RT (or whatever it is on here) my writing CV I would be extremely grateful. I am a very capable writer of words, mainly “humorous”’ and if you have some PROPER paid work for me, please DM me. Thank you for your time www.mathew-owen.co.uk