Latest news with #commentators
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Darts legend Phil Taylor admits new job ‘like an apprenticeship' and he feels ‘like a fish out of water'
PHIL TAYLOR has admitted he feels like a "fish out of water" in his new job as a presenter. The record-holding 16-time world champion announced his official retirement from darts in May, after playing on the senior circuit since 2018. 1 The Power is considered the greatest player to play on the oche, winning 87 major PDC titles and 16 World Matchplay trophies. At the age of 57, he stepped away from the PDC seven years ago, but continued to grace exhibitions. Four years later, he took part in his first competitive event since retirement, the inaugural World Seniors Darts Championship. Since leaving it all behind him, Taylor has swapped his arrows for a microphone, although admits he isn't as confident in his new gig. The 64-year-old will take another stab at being a presenter when he joins the team at the World Seniors Darts Champion of Champions on Sunday. He said in the build-up to the tournament, live and free on Pluto TV,: "I'm like a fish out of water at the minute, so I'm still learning. I've got to take my hat off to these commentators. "If it was a football match, I wouldn't have a clue who's passing the ball or playing for which team! I wouldn't even know who's on whose side. It's remarkable what they do. "Every time I present, I'm learning. I will get used to it, but it's like an apprenticeship, I think. "So you've got to do your apprenticeship and learn your job. I'll keep pushing forward and learn. But I am enjoying it. "There's no pressure, obviously. I haven't got to get up and start practising to make sure I'm getting ready for nighttime, so I can just relax and enjoy it." Darts legend Phil Taylor reveals he'd consider buying EFL club with Robbie Williams Taylor appeared briefly on the World Seniors Tour but made the decision to call time on all competitive darts just last month, revealing that he didn't want to disappoint fans. He added: "I was really, really looking forward to it. Loved the idea of the Seniors Darts. Enjoyed playing in it. "But I couldn't perform like Phil Taylor could perform. So it broke my heart a little bit. "My body had changed. I'm 65 this year. It got harder and harder for me, and I couldn't perform. And people were paying money to come and see me. "It broke my heart not to perform like I can. And I thought, 'I can't do this anymore. This is not right. If I do something, I have to do it properly.' I'm a bit of a perfectionist. "I haven't even got a set of darts now. Or a dartboard. I've got a dartboard in the back room. But it's still in the box. I was so dedicated and everything. But I can't do it now.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
PETER HITCHENS: To those bomb-happy fools rejoicing at war I ask you this: Do you really want to see the Middle East become a radioactive wasteland?
Should I have bothered to go to Israel so many times, or to the West Bank or to Iraq or or Jordan or ? Should I have tried so hard to get into , when they so very plainly did not want me there? Perhaps not. What good has all this education done me? Because I actually know something about that part of the world, I am at a terrible disadvantage in what passes for debate on the new war in the Middle East. As streams of militant bilge shoot from the mouths of bomb-happy commentators and politicians, I shout pointlessly at the radio and the TV, on which I no longer appear because I made the same mistake over the Ukraine war.
The Independent
16-05-2025
- The Independent
Azeem Rafiq and Eni Aluko highlight impact of online abuse in new report
Sportspeople and pundits believe online hate is becoming normalised and say it is significantly impacting how they do their jobs, live their lives and express themselves, according to a new report. Contributors to a new Ofcom report say online abuse has had profound offline consequences on them – prompting one individual to barricade themselves indoors, while others reported suffering from disordered eating and feelings of helplessness. Others said they self-censored online or while broadcasting for fear of being targeted, while some shied away from moving into on-screen roles at all because they feared doing so would increase their risk of being targeted. Researchers for Ofcom spoke to seven individuals and conducted nine discussion groups with support from anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out. Participants included sportspeople, on-screen commentators, and professionals working in sport and broadcasting. The respondents felt online abuse was becoming more common, sophisticated and normalised. They also highlighted how they felt the problem was rapidly evolving, with abusers able to evade filters with different phrases, terms and emojis. One contributor to the report said: 'I didn't leave my house for a week because of the impact of online abuse, the sort of wave (of intensity) and the amount of people that are abusing you. 'And then the media writes about it and then it becomes this sort of overwhelming feeling of just dread that so many people are saying such horrible things about you, without you actually having done anything.' Respondents felt abusers were becoming bolder because of a perceived lack of consequences for accounts that post it, and were being incentivised to post hateful and abusive content by the business models of online services that monetise engagement. Among the named contributors to the report were former cricketer Azeem Rafiq, former footballer Eni Aluko and former rugby union referee Wayne Barnes. Rafiq said nothing could have prepared him for the volume of abuse he received when he spoke out about the racism he suffered while playing at Yorkshire. Rafiq, who moved from the UK to Dubai because of the abuse, said in the report: 'The impact of this experience on me as a human being and on my mental health has damaged my life to such an extent, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to quantify it.' Ofcom said the report was part of a broader programme of work to better understand the lived experience of groups and individuals who have been particularly impacted by online harm. In March, duties came into force under the Online Safety Act that mean platforms must assess the risk of UK users encountering illegal material and use appropriate measures to protect them from it. Ofcom is currently assessing platforms' compliance with these new duties, and will take action if they fail to comply with them. Some platforms will also be subject to additional duties under the Act, such as providing adult users with features that enable them to reduce the likelihood of encountering certain types of legal but harmful content. Participants in this report said they wanted platforms to enforce their terms of service and reduce online hate and abuse for all users, not just for those who choose to use specific tools. They said existing tools, such as blocking or muting, do not go far enough to help protect them and their families and friends against online hate and abuse. Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari said: 'The impact of online abuse is undeniable, and the rise in discriminatory social media reports to Kick It Out last season shows it's getting worse. 'Time and again, players and others across the game tell us about the mental toll this abuse takes, and we welcome this new report, which highlights just how deep that impact runs. 'This isn't about a few hateful comments. It's about a culture of abuse that has become normalised. It's about a social media ecosystem that too often enables and amplifies abuse. 'And it's about victims who feel imprisoned by that culture of abuse.' Jessica Zucker, Ofcom's online safety director, said: 'The UK's new online safety laws mean tech firms now have to start protecting people on their sites and apps from illegal forms of abuse. And when all the rules are fully in force, some of the largest social media platforms will have to give users more control over what they see online. ' People with lived experience of harm online are at the heart of the rules we make and the action we take. We'll be pushing companies hard to make their services safer by design, and holding them to account if they don't.'
