Despite the quivering lip as he announced he would be standing down as prime minister, Keir Starmer will get no sympathy from me.

However, I won’t go into all my grievances against Sir Keir because this post is not about him but his heir apparent, Andy Burnham.

Quick update on the World Cup which is now into the second round of the group stage.

If I gave the impression in a previous post that I’m far less invested in the tournament than I was when I was younger, that’s still true but I am following it, although the number of games I’ve watched from start to finish can be counted on one hand.

Following today’s news that Jeremy Clarkson was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year, I thought I’d update you on my own medical situation.

Spoiler: nothing to be alarmed about.

‘Smoking is a private, not a public issue. If the state can be induced to take its hands off smokers, iconic artist David Hockney will deserve much of the credit.’

Guest post by John Staddon, professor emeritus at Duke University and author of Unlucky Strike: Private Health and the Science, Law and Politics of Smoking, with illustrations by David Hockney.

Sad to hear that David Hockney has died, aged 88. One of Britain’s finest artists, he was a guest at several Forest events, including a private dinner at Boisdale and a reception at the House of Commons.

My favourite memory, however, was the day he travelled to Brighton to speak at a fringe meeting organised by Forest at the 2005 Labour Party conference where we were protesting against the proposed smoking ban. More on that below.

The World Cup kicks off on Thursday.

What follows are some personal recollections of previous World Cups beginning (where else?) in 1966. Please note that this post is (a) quite long, and (b) written for my own amusement. I don’t expect anyone else to read it!

Sorry to hear that Bobby Tambling has died, aged 84, although, to be fair, that’s an age many of us would be happy to reach.

I suspect that few if any people reading this will have heard of him but he was one of the first professional footballers I was drawn to as a young boy.

Spent last week in Majorca (aka Mallorca).

It was our first visit to the island which might surprise some people because Majorca has been a popular holiday destination for Brits for decades, but perhaps that’s what put me off.