Jimmy Burns's Blog, page 37

A tale of Ireland in Ramadam

A young woman graduate I had the pleasure to meet over supper last night spoke with an accent I quickly  recognised from my days of reporting on the Troubles n Northern Ireland.

Sarah was her name. She was impressed how I managed to pinpoint her roots to  'north of Belfast' and well beyond the city to another town with a name that I thought might define her. "Well, its Derry, or Londonderry, isn't it, how do you call it? " I asked teasingly.

For decades Catholics, north and south of the Irish b...

A Dark Book in August

This month's online Book Review: Berlin at War by Roger Moorhouse (Bodley Head) 432 pages

August in the northern hemisphere  always  has always struck me as having something of a tail-end feel about it, not least in the publishing industry. Long-past are the pre-Christmas heavy-hitters with 'star' authors or their 'star' topics hogging the front-desks. Gone too is the excitement of the new titles out in spring and early summer. Many readers have taken the few good hits, in paperback, off to...

A very English Redemption

Sadly I was unable to be in Dublin to watch how Argentina is managing without Diego. I suspect life must be less entertaining down in the dressing room and on the touchline, but a little more ordered and strategic.

I did however belatedly catch some highlights of the England vs. Hungary match. That the majority of fans did not greet the team with boos as many pundits had predicted did not surprise me. Ok England's performance in South Africa was a disgrace, as is the fact that Capello...

Ok, Let's relive the dream

I held the World Cup for a whole thirty seconds last night.

Ok, it was only a replica- (see news item elsewhere on this site)  but it brought back good memories. So I write this today in deference to Carlos Oppe, one of my most loyal, persistent, and-just about-publishable commentators. (My Maradona CNN.com opinion piece has stimulated transatlantic abuse)I hope it will encourage others to join a civilised  debate on this and other matters discussed on this site.

The human wave rose in a town...

Maradona's questionable exit

Don't be fooled by the formal announcement from Buenos Aires that Maradona's contract will not be renewed.

There is nothing that Diego likes more than to be placed in a situation where he can rally his believers round a claim of martyrdom by sinister powers. He did so when he was busted for drugs back in the early 1990's, he did it again when he tested positive in the US World Cup. He is likely to seize this moment as part of the latest round of an enduring struggle between himself and the...

Let me cry for Diego

Let me cry for Diego

 

I watched Argentina being knocked out of the World Cup by Germany in a pub in Sheffield surrounded by bitter-drinking Yorkshiremen, and emerged shedding a tear or two.

Why should Diego's biographer choose Sheffield of all places to watch Diego Maradona meet his nemesis in Joachim Low? Well those of us with memories will remember that it was from here that just before Christmas 1978, Harry Haslam the manager of Sheffield United flew to Buenos Aires determined to strike a...

DID PHILBY MURDER JOURNALISTS IN SPAIN?

Did Philby murder journalists ? by Jimmy Burns

The just published UK paperback edition of my latest book Papa Spy, subtitled A True Story of Love, Wartime Espionage in Madrid, and the Treachery of the Cambridge Spies will I hope provoke a fresh examination of  Kim Philby's  alleged involvement in the murder of English and American journalists, ahead of the publication of an authorised and carefully vetted official history of MI6.[image error]

 

My unauthorised book  exposes for the first time the bitter and ...

Volcanic Dust hits PFD

Volcanic Dust  hits PFD

I breakfasted this morning to learn from today's Guardian newspaper  that Peters, Fraser & Dunlop the agency that represents me as an author is to become part of a new company called The Rights House, owned by the public relations entrepreneur Matthew Freud and a rival agent Michael Foster.

It was news to me as I suspect  it will have also been to other more illustrious members of the PFD stable, which include Simon Schama , Sir Max Hastings, Chris Patten, Douglas Hurd, ...

Visca Barca Campeon

Visca Barca Campeon

No amount of Cava ejaculating across the Camp Nou last night could hide the fact that after the nail-biting scramble with Sevilla last week, Barca's encounter with relegation-bound Valladolid was somewhat of an anti-climax.

And yet there were touches of brilliance and wonderful goals to remind one of why Barca is the best football team in the world and deserving of the Spanish championship. Messi and Bojan combined beautifully. Toure was a tower of strength, behind and...

Farewell Martin Linton

Farewell Martin Linton

Mixed feelings run through Battersea Labour Club last night as ousted Labour MP Martin Linton announced that he would not be fighting, as a candidate, another election.

As I have noted before , the one-time Guardian journalist Linton while not the most charismatic of individuals has worked hard on local issues since being elected in 1997, and door step canvassing in the last campaign showed him to be more popular than Gordon Brown and his government generally  across the ...