Ciaran Hanley

So much of what I knew from when I was young seems to have been replaced by a convenient replica these days. A real fire is a fabulous generator of heat and homeliness but it's also a pain in the hole to clean it when it goes out. Once upon a time, mothers (mostly) and fathers had to get up in the morning and spend an hour preparing and lighting the fire or everyone froze. Today, we have oil and gas providing the heat and a fake fire can provide the homeliness. It doesn't stop there. We have fake meat in our burgers so no need for butchery, fake grass on our lawns so we don't have to mow or weed them and now we have computer generated versions of great annual sporting events in case for any reason we aren't able to put them on for real. The situation we now find ourselves in, is definitely a reason why more than 70,000 spectators, Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Trainers Staff, Racecourse Staff, TV Cast and Crew and of course the horses themselves, should not be within ...

Tyson Fury lay spark out on the floor of the Staples Centre ring almost 15 months ago but no sooner had he hit the floor than the thought occurred to him that the baddest man on the planet doesn't hit as hard as he says. Fury rose like The Undertaker and took the fight to Wilder for the rest of that 12th round. Saturday night in Vegas, the fight continued where it left off.  After the lavish ring walks, Fury being carried in on a throne singing Crazy by Patsy Cline, Wilder wearing some ridiculous sequinned black garb that covered him from head to knee. There was a nod to Black Power from the live musical accompaniment as The Bronze Bomber attempted to make this black versus white. That was his second mistake. Wilder didn't realise Fury ticks the box for ethnic minority "Irish Traveller" when filling out forms. As the champion reached the ring, the outfit lit up with red LED's but such was the restrictive nature of his walk wear, he had to get one of his team to...