Latest news with #narrative
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
County cricket: frustrated fans left hanging for T20 Blast quarter-finals
Narrative, character and jeopardy are the great drivers of engagement whether on stage, screen or in sports. I started this column in 2011 (reporting on a Warwickshire's middle order that comprised Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Muhammad Yousuf) to retain a grip on those elements of the annual county cricket story, a task made more difficult every year. The Blast, having reached the end of its group stage (there must be a better way of marking that?) now gives way to three different domestic cricket competitions before it returns with the quarter-finals in September. Blasts worthy of the name don't usually peter out for six weeks. How can a narrative, so wilfully vandalised, be expected to survive that? Which characters will be back and which will be gone? And how will the jeopardy, the thrilling sense of facing the next challenge en route to glory, with defeat just a wicket or a boundary away, be revived in the hearts of supporters? Much of the media response to the splendid series between England and India has focused on the canvas five Tests provide for these core elements of drama, so why neglect them so carelessly in county cricket's flagship competition? There might not have been much riding on the match at Trent Bridge between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire – but only if you're looking at it as a dead rubber. With the injury to Shoaib Bashir and the call up of 35-year-old Liam Dawson, the ever-popular parlour game 'who should be England's spinner?' was back in town, with Farhan Ahmed's name gaining mentions. It was good timing for the 17-year-old to nip in with a fivefer and an eye-catching hat-trick to boot, especially as Jos Buttler was looking on from the dugout. Lancashire – who had already qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will join Durham, Birmingham Bears and Northamptonshire from their group – soon had Notts in trouble chasing a mere 127 for the win. Tom Moores walked to the crease at 14 for four, but hammered 75 off 42 balls, dismissed going for the winning run with overs and wickets in hand. Tom and his father Peter (now head coach at Trent Bridge) both have plenty of history with Lancashire so it was not 'just another game' – even if players always claim it is. Timing means a lot in life. Sometimes it's a matter of luck, sometimes it's a seizing of opportunity, sometimes it's good planning. Often it's a bit of all three. In the South Group, Kent – who had failed to win their last seven Championship matches and had won only five of their 12 Blast matches – took on basement dwellers Middlesex and Essex. Despite their poor form, they knew that two wins might help them squeeze past Glamorgan and Sussex, whose seasons hit the buffers just at the wrong time. Middlesex captain Leus du Plooy could not find a partner as his team limped to 160 for five at Canterbury, a target first stalked by opener Tawanda Muyeye then destroyed by Sam Billings, who turned back the clock with a boundary blitz. Next up were Essex, whose season is proving as moribund as Middlesex's, with the exception that they had roused themselves to successive wins once they knew their own hopes of a quarter-final berth were gone. At home again (see what I mean about timing?) Kent were set a slightly stiffer target, but Muyeye got them off to a good start and then hung around for a good middle with Harry Finch, before Billings swanned out like Janet Webb at end of the Morecambe and Wise Show to accept the applause. If only the knockout s started this week, we'd be talking about momentum, but I'm not sure we can. The outstanding batter of the competition is probably Derbyshire's mighty Welshman, the 'sixy and he knows it' Aneurin Donald, but even his efforts were not enough to avoid his county picking up the wooden spoon in the North Group. I recall a popular metric in the early days of T20 cricket that suggested the effectiveness of a batter was best evaluated by adding the average to the strike rate. On that metric, the closest to Donald's absurd 250 is Surrey's Will Jacks' 215, all the more laudable for his scoring 500 runs in just 10 matches. It's 13 months since Jacks played in any format for England, but he holds a one-year central contract and he might play again in preparation for the T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka. In between, he'll make good money on the franchise circuit and, at 26, has a decade or more to play in lots of countries and for lots of teams. Can't be a bad life can it? Well … That said, I wonder if he feels like he really belongs anywhere. Probably at the Oval, where he grew up. But one wonders if the 'guns for hire' franchise players miss the camaraderie that old players always seemed to value. Jacks has represented 13 teams; I wonder if even he can recall all their names, never mind those of his teammates. But I bet he knows his agent well. Northamptonshire, like Kent, will be outsiders in the quarter-finals. They are stocked with gnarled old pros, a casting director's dream were they tasked with recreating a Lancashire League match played on a windswept field in the lee of a barren fell, set in 1954. There's Luke Procter (37), Ravi Bopara (40), David Willey (35) and Ben Sanderson (36), with the latter three ever-present and Procter playing 12 of 14 matches. Sanderson is alone in that quartet in not being an all-rounder, but he's as crafty a seamer as they come – what you would expect of a Yorkie in his 18th season as a professional. He didn't take a single wicket in the last four matches of the group stage but that's not really what Sanderson is about, despite still finishing third on the wickets table behind Riley Meredith and Hasan Ali. Among seamers who bowled 50 overs, only David Payne did so at a better economy rate. Sanderson is a purveyor of control in the midst of chaos, a bowler who knows what to bowl and when – and he has the temperament to deliver under pressure. There's no long list of franchises scattered across the globe on his profile, but very few captains would not want him in their side come the white-ball season in England. Do you want to work less for the same or more money? Would your life be better if you had more time to yourself and more rest? Who is going to say 'no' to any of these questions? Unsurprisingly, not the Professional Cricketers Association. The word 'welfare' is mentioned seven times in the press release issued by the PCA urging reform of the current domestic calendar. One conjures thoughts of cricketers giving up the game to work on A&E wards for a less stressful life. That's not to say the schedule couldn't be more sympathetic to players. It could certainly be smarter – travelling from a floodlit T20 finish to an immediate afternoon start is plainly ridiculous – but how many crickets play every match, early April to late September? Indeed, with a lighter schedule, squads could be reduced as fewer players would be required. Would less cricket mean lower pay for fewer players? Interest parties – players, counties, franchises, administrators, governing bodies and the media – will act in their own interest, framing debates, driving agendas, levering influence. Who will do that for the fans? This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
Forbes
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Destiny 2: The Edge Of Fate' Day One Review: Kepler's Awful, Lodi's Great
Lodi Destiny 2 has taken a leap of faith into the next era of the game, overhauling its format, launching into a totally new story and attempting to retain players while attracting new ones. That first step is The Edge of Fate, the Destiny 2 expansion that launched yesterday. I just wrote a piece about how numbers are…quite poor, less than half the players of the previous least-played expansions, but I'll use this piece to talk about the expansion itself. Keep in mind, these are just day one first impressions, and this is not a full review of the entire expansion, which I'll do later on. It's not great! So far, I dislike most of what I'm playing here other than a single aspect: The narrative, and I might as well start there. This is one of the only times I can remember where Destiny has created a genuinely interesting series of mysteries where I truly have no idea what's going on and have smacked directly into plot twists I've never seen coming. The lynchpin of all this is a new character named Lodi, who first appeared in trailers and drew the reaction of 'what is this exceedingly normal-looking guy in glasses doing in Destiny?' Well, that's part of the mystery! Lodi also excels because of his excellent writing and especially his voicework, which is the best I've seen in Destiny in a long while. Again, if there is a single aspect where this expansion shines, it's this, and while I'm not done with the campaign yet, it's excellent, and has me genuinely excited for this new era. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Narratively, at least. Destiny 2 The playable expansion itself? Woof. Kepler is probably the worst zone I've ever seen in Destiny. The art direction here is just non-existent, the place a hodgepodge of rocky outcroppings, architecture stolen from Titan and endless series of pustule-filled tunnels that all blend together. The Final Shape, The Witch Queen, Beyond Light, even Lightfall all had clear, quite good aesthetics, and that's one area Bungie has always shined. It's a huge miss here. Bungie has also made this zone non-traversable by sparrow to artificially increase its size. Rather, you're meant to get around by a series of destination-only powers that involve teleporting guns, Strand matter moving and a Samus Aran ball of electricity which might be the dumbest mechanic I've seen in this series. These feel like gimmicks for their own sake, and while there are maybe one or two puzzles where these systems combine to be kind of neat, overwhelmingly I find myself groaning whenever I'm told to use any of these, especially the electric ball (which, fun fact, is also making people motion sick). I've engaged with the new loot systems on a cursory level. One thing that feels weird to me is that there's going to be such a limited pool of 'new gear' to get season bonuses and hunt through the new Tier 1-5 system. Yes, you can use your old stuff, but I can't just try to go get a Tier 5 version of my Bygones now. For the millionth time, all this old gear will have to be reissued under the new Tier system, which already feels like an exhausting concept. How many times can we do this? Destiny 2 I can't quite make heads or tails of the new armor system yet. This is the first time we've had to regrind armor since Artifice armor was introduced. Some didn't even do that. There are very awkward aspects to the new system, like how exotics don't fit in at all, but initially it's hard to get your head around which new stats to invest into and when to replace your old faithful gear. I can't say if this is all good or bad yet, albeit I will admit that we needed some significant armor changes and reason to pursue it again. I have not engaged with The Portal yet. I've been entirely on Kepler. I remain skeptical of this system, with Solo Ops being entirely relegated to Lost Sectors, and Fireteam Ops requiring a premade team to get the most out of the new modifier-picker system. Otherwise you're just doing a playlist with preset ones, which is no different than before. And somehow Pinnacle Ops doesn't have a single dungeon or raid in it. All old content outside the Portal now feels useless as you cannot get new gear from it. I'm not feeling good about this expansion. Once I get through the (very good) narrative of the campaign, I'm not sure if the rest of this is going to be engaging from here, particularly if we're done doing week-to-week beats to return for. There is promise in the new era's story. I'm not sure if there's promise in Destiny 2 overall from here. But again, it's day one, and more to come later. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
NIGEL FARAGE: Britain can no longer be treated like a charity for the rest of the world
For years, the broadcast media have pushed the narrative that mass migration is a net benefit. Skilled migrants, we have long been told, will assimilate, strengthen our economy and drive innovation.
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Keir Starmer should be bold and consider a wealth tax, Neil Kinnock says
Keir Starmer's government is suffering from a 'lack of narrative' about what it is trying to achieve and should be more fiscally bold and consider a tax on wealth, Neil Kinnock has said. The former Labour leader said too many of the government's achievements were being overshadowed. A year after a landslide election win, the party is struggling in the polls and has U-turned on policies including cuts to winter fuel payments and welfare. 'It's not a mess, but what has gone wrong is really the lack of a narrative, a story of the objectives of the government and where they're working towards it and how they're working towards it,' Kinnock said. The government had implemented 'a series of really commendable and absolutely essential policies', added Kinnock, who led Labour into two elections. But these policies, he said, had been obscured by controversies over things such winter fuel and welfare, 'all those negative things that really are heartily disliked across the Labour movement and more widely'. 'And that means that, apart from the distaste for undertaking those policies, the cloud hangs over the accomplishments of the government, which are substantial and will become greater.' Kinnock was scathing about the move by Jeremy Corbyn and other former Labour MPs to set up their own leftwing party. 'I understand the difficulty of thinking up a name, and in a comradely way, I'd suggest one: It would be the Farage Assistance Group.' Amid increasing speculation that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will have to raise taxes at the autumn budget, Kinnock said that while Labour's election focus on fiscal discipline was vital for restoring credibility, 'it did mean that they depressed expectations and limited themselves by saying they were going to rigidly stick to fiscal rules'. Kinnock said there was a risk of the government being 'bogged down by their own imposed limitations' and he believed a number of cabinet ministers would want more fiscal boldness. One option, he said, would be a form of wealth tax, which would be useful not just to raise revenue but as 'a gesture, or a substantial gesture in the direction of equity fairness would make a big difference' in a time when 'earned incomes have stagnated in real terms, while asset values have zoomed'. He said such a policy should target wealth above £6m or £7m, where a 2% tax would raise £10bn or £11bn a year. 'That's not going to pay all the bills, but it does two things. One is to secure resources, which is very important. But the second thing it does is to say to the country: we are the government of equity, and this is a country which is very substantially fed up with the fact that whatever happens in the world, whatever happens in the UK, the same interests come out on top, unscathed all the time, while everybody else is paying more for gutted services.'
Bloomberg
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Expect More Politicians to Sue the News Media
Paramount Global announced on Tuesday that it would pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle what many legal experts had dismissed as a frivolous lawsuit over a CBS '60 Minutes' interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claims it was deceptively edited. This comes after a similarly controversial $15 million settlement by ABC, following host George Stephanopoulos' on-air statement that Trump was found civilly liable for rape, rather than for sexual abuse. We may have officially entered a troubling era in which politicians of both parties use lawsuits against media outlets as a weapon in the war to control the narrative in an increasingly fractured information environment.
