Chas Newkey-Burden's Blog, page 23

Desmond Tutu and Tony Blair

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pulled out of a speaking engagement in Johannesburg because he refuses to speak alongside Tony Blair. Explaining his decision, Tutu says Blair and George W Bush should face trial at the  International Criminal Court in The Hague over the Iraq war. Blair can consider Tutu’s snub a badge of honour. After [...]

Words with Goys

I love playing the Scrabble-like game Words With Friends, even though I rarely win. Partly because I can rarely resist the chance to play silly words…

The Twitter History of the World

My latest book is published this week. I co-wrote it with Fleet Street legend Kelvin MacKenzie. He is best known for being the editor of The Sun in its heyday. More recently he has been a newspaper columnist and television personality. Watch Kelvin defend Israel on Question Time here. We had a great laugh writing [...]

Why I still believe in Lance Armstrong

I’ve been fascinated by cyclist Lance Armstrong for the last nine years. As I stated in the interview for my Normblog profile: ‘I read the memoir of cancer-beating cyclist Lance Armstrong, called It’s Not About The Bike, when I had lost my way a bit in life. When I look back at the wonderful things [...]

NaNach will be there for you…

Regular readers may recall my admiration of the NaNachs, the fun-filled followers of the teachings of Rabbi Nachman who dance to techno music on the streets of Israel and elsewhere.  Their uplifting energy is so inspiring, as is the wisdom of Nachman himself. I only learnt this week that Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston is also [...]

‘This Isreal’, by Matthew Brown

Filmmaker Matthew Brown made this stunning video, which captures the sights, sounds, people and animals of Israel. There is so much life packed in to these four minutes. Even the Rebbe and the NaNachs pop-up. Beautiful.

Why Tom Daley is already a champion

Sometimes people ask how it is that Tom Daley is the subject of not just one, but two books when he is only 18 years old. As the author of one of those books, here’s my reply. Tom, who started diving as a seven-year-old, has lived a life that is far from ordinary. Since he [...]

Breaking news

As the Nasa rover landed on Mars this morning it was greeted by the planet’s Chabad shliach.  

Some days stay gold forever

Team GB won six gold medals yesterday, our greatest day of Olympic action since 1908. The victory is sweetly significant. Despite months of swipes from sour cynics, London 2012 is doing what many always believed it would: it is propelling the public mood to new heights. A year ago this week, London was hit by [...]

Matisyahu and the Baal Shem Tov

When I interviewed Matisyahu in 2010, I asked him whether, having recorded albums heavily influenced by Chabad-Lubavitch and Rabbi Nachman, he might one day make music influenced by the Baal Shem Tov. He replied: ‘Funny you should mention him.  I will be spending some time this fall at his grave site and working on concepts [...]