Edson Arantes do Nascimento aka Pelé 1940-2022

Quite simply put, the greatest football player of all time and an inspiration for many millions. Went from shining shoes and triumphed over racism to win three World Cups and scoring 1,281 professional goals when you count the friendlies, which were often against high-profile European sides.

He is to football what Muhammad Ali is to boxing and Don Bradman is to cricket. His name will never be forgotten.

Rest in Peace.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers, wherever you are, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the love of God be with you and all your loved ones at this festive time.

Looks like it might be a cold winter

Snow is outside my house right now and I may end up having to work from home on a day that I normally go in.

With the current energy price situation - and the government needs to do all it can to get them down - this is going to be a tough winter for many poor people and we'll likely see a lot of "excess deaths".

It will be even worse for those in Ukraine, who are dealing with Russian attacks on the electricity supply designed to demoralise them. But those sort of attacks will likely motivate their soldiers even more. 

In any event, the best way to end this situation is to end that war  - with a Ukrainian victory, because we can't give Putin a chance to rearm for a second go.