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Our writer recalls his favourite mountain experiences, from hard-won views to splendid isolation and the comforts of simple refuges

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After a tough scramble to the summit of Rhinog Fach, we look down into the deep valley holding the chilly waters of Llyn Hywel, then west across several miles of heather, bilberry and bare rock to the Welsh coast. Turning my gaze north, there is the entire Llyn peninsula leading east to the peak of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), no doubt weighed down by thousands of visitors. Up here there are just two of us in an utterly peaceful landscape. No clouds on the horizon. No surprises.

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I lie down for a few minutes and feel myself drift off. There are no human voices to be heard, only birds. Summer has come early to these mountains and I wouldn’t be anywhere else, drinking in that particular kind of tranquillity to be found on a peak under a blue sky.

Mountains were not always seen as appropriate places to relax on a summer’s day. Those lofty, mist-wreathed realms held surprises, most of them nasty, such as trolls and demons. Maybe a few ancient folk knew perfectly well that mountains in summer were wonderful, but they weren’t the sort to publicise the fact: the solitary shepherd, gold prospectors not yet consumed by gold fever, and the workers who put up drystone walls – they all must have known the joy of lazing on a summit, perhaps seeing shapes in clouds.

Changing culture and taste took a revolution led by artists and poets, men such asNicolas Poussin, who in the 17th century tried to win people over with paintings of mysterious peaks and epic landscapes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t resist adding a fallen Grecian column and a nymph draped in wispy stuff. It took another 150 years before the German artistCaspar David Friedrichrelocated the wispy bits to the mountain tops, evicted the nymphs, and added one rugged poetic type, gazing out over the towering tors with a vaguely proprietorial air. His Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog(1818, now in Hamburg at the Kunsthalle) remains the most evocative depiction of the romantic ideal.

After that painting, summer in the mountains wasde rigueur,but it turned out that Friedrich’s sturdy 19th-century mountaineer was actually looking for a place to build a man-shed. All over the continent, wealthy romantics started funding simple dormitory accommodation, often precariously balanced on vertiginous crags. These mountain refuges were vital in allowing people to access the peaks, and became a huge part of my own enjoyment of the mountains.

The first to be built wasRefuge des Grands Muletson Mont Blanc in 1853. There is still a hut there, rebuilt a couple of times, perched at 3,051 metres (10,009ft), overlooking the Bossons glacier. My own favourite,Rifugio Nuvolau, is a period classic in the Dolomites, built in 1883 and a haven of stout carpentry, hearty food and astonishing sunsets. Not all are antiques:Monte Rosanear Zermatt is an aluminium solar-powered box that sits above the Gorner glacier and requires ropes and crampons in order to reach it.

Some huts are very high indeed: theMargheritaon the Italian Monte Rosa is, at 4,554 metres, the highest building in Europe. Sweden’sLåktatjåkko(1,228 metres) is both high in altitude and latitude: it’s 155 miles (250km) inside the Arctic Circle and often buried in snow, even in summer. Digging to the front door is worth the effort: they serve fantastic waffles with cloudberry jam.

The staff in these huts are usually charming and helpful. Not all guests, however, are so wonderful. “There was one British visitor who, during the course of the night, pushed all the other sleepers along the dormitory bench,” complained one French guest after staying inRefuge de Ciottulu di i Moriin Corsica. “He left a huge empty space behind him and we were all squashed up in one corner.” (I’ve no idea why I rolled like that. I was fast asleep.)

Making a reservation in one of these treasures can require persistence. The famous ones are often booked out, but many of the huts I’ve mentioned have alternatives nearby.

Where there are no mountain huts available, a tent is not always needed. In Romania’s Carpathians, I’ve slept in hay ricks after jolly evenings drinking plum brandy with farmers. Sadly, the hay rick is disappearing as agriculture modernises, but the Carpathians remain a fine mountain destination.

Oncea local hunter persuaded me to go on a bear hunt(no guns involved). We climbed through shady pine forest and golden flower-sprinkled meadows to warm rock and vast vistas. The hunter described a recent incident when he was chased up a tree by a bear. He proved it by showing his rucksack, complete with claw marks. On our descent, we stumbled on a fresh bear track and, for a second, the idyllic evening was shot through by lightning bolts of adrenaline.

An undeniable fact of mountain life is that moments of arcadian bliss can be abruptly ended. You go up in sun, and descend in a wild storm. The unpredictable must be expected. Helm Crag in the Lake District was a favourite of Romantic poet William Wordsworth and for that reason many go to commune with nature.

One blustery lunchtime, I was sitting a little below the craggy summit about to enjoy a picnic when a group on the top suddenly flung their grandmother into the air. Caught by the wind, the old lady was whipped sideways and down, straight into the sandwich that was about to go in my mouth. Ash-scattering ceremonies really should be more careful. The ancestor went to her final resting place tainted with Branston pickle.

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British mountains aren’t enlivened by European-style huts, but we do havebothies,camping barns, the Youth Hostels Association (YHA), and a number of goodcottagesfor hire. To climb the Rhinogydd (often anglicised to Rhinogs), I based myself at the off-grid retreat of Garth Gell farm, all lovely hand-worn woodwork, flagstone floors and dusty books.

The Rhinogydd are often touted as the most rugged mountain chain south of Hadrian’s Wall, which is a bit hard on the North Pennines and Cheviots, but the paths are certainly steep and challenging, deterring many visitors. The chain stretches for about 13 miles, with the highest point at Y Llethr (756 metres) where the 360-degree panorama is really special. The view is, of course, a big part of the attraction. We go up because we can see further.

My snooze on Rhinog Fach is interrupted by my companion. “Look!” he says. The best summer mountain experiences always have that unexpected moment: the bear jumps out and claws your rucksack, human remains land in your picnic … that kind of thing. I sit up, suddenly alert.

There’s a bird, its pale chest striped with grey, its tail fanned out in annoyance as a horde of smaller birds are mobbing it. And then it calls.

I have never considered the cuckoo to be a mountain bird, but there it is at 600 metres on a Welsh hill. And at the same time, away to the west, the haze lifts a little and the blue horizon puckers behind the last bit of Wales. The Blackstairs Mountains of Ireland have appeared. A summer’s day in the mountains is complete.

Accommodation was provided byGarth Gell, aKip hideaway, which sleeps six from £240 a night

Governing body cannot avoid the dark political backdrop to its tournament opening as Trump’s authorities flex their muscles

“When Donald Trump came in the laws just changed and it’s hard for immigrants now … you’ve got a lot of people being deported, people who have been in the United States for two decades. It’s not nice, it’s not right when someone who hasn’t committed a crime has to go back somewhere.

“I just don’t respect somebody like [Trump] that deports so many people and hurts so many families … this country was built on immigrants. Nobody’s from here.”

It seems unlikely this is the kind of hard political messaging Gianni Infantino was hoping to associate himself with when Fifa booked the New York rapper French Montana as its headline act at Saturday’sClub World Cupopening ceremony, a global spectacular taking place against a background of unrest over Trump’s immigration and repatriation policies.

French Montana moved to New York from Morocco aged 13 and has been outspoken in his support for the rights of undocumented US immigrants, although his place on the political spectrum has been muddied a little this year by an unexpected appearance on the Lara Trump track No Days Off.

His comments in interviews in2019and2018, and his presence at the centre of Fifa’s publicity for the launch night of its $1bn show, will provide a deeply uncomfortable reminder of the perils of fawning over divisive political leaders. Infantino has spent the past year energetically cosying up to the US president, attending his inauguration in a state of high excitement and even delaying Fifa’s annual meeting in order to follow Trump around a little longer on his visit to Qatar.

French Montana is at least in tune with the Fifa zeitgeist. Already this week the news that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be part of the security operation for Saturday’s game between Al Ahly and Inter Miami has sparked widespread disquiet.

A year out from the World Cup that the US is sharing with Canada and Mexico, there is concern not only that supporters may stay away over fear of document checks and status wrangles, but that Fifa’s showpiece men’s club event is in danger of being piggybacked on as a political event by the Trump administration.

CBP has been openly promoting its role at Fifa’s tournament for the past few months under the hashtag #CBPxFIFA. This came to a head this week as it ended up deleting a Facebook post that stated its agents would be “suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games”.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Ice and CBP officers will be present at Club World Cup fixtures, saying: “All non-American citizens need to carry proof of their legal status.” This is not without recent precedent. CBP often operates at big sporting events, including February’s Super Bowl in New Orleans.

But it isn’t hard to see how this might be interpreted as containing an element of threat. Ice officers are being escorted around Los Angeles by the US national guard, a hugely controversial move that has contributed to the current unrest in the city.

CBP has also declined so far to address the reasons for the removal of its post about Fifa’s grand jamboree, which fuelled fears the event may be rolled into the aggressive enforcement of Trump’s immigration policy.

A glance at CBP’s X feed makes plain this is by no means a politically neutral entity. One post reads: “The alarming riots in L.A. which have put hundreds of law enforcement officers at risk, are precisely why the Big Beautiful Bill is so important.” Another states: “While rioters wave foreign flags and burn ours, our officers will always raise the stars and stripes with pride.” Approving references to Trump’s policies are intercut with remarks about “lies” from “the mainstream media and sanctuary politicians”. Questions will naturally be asked about whether this constitutes an appropriate hashtag partner for football’s apolitical governing body.

Infantino was asked this week about the presence of immigration agencies at Fifa’s launch party. His answer was characteristically vague, focusing instead on security issues. But there is concern on that front in Miami, fuelled by the chaos of the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia at the same venue last year, which led to arrests, barriers rushed and a one-hour kick-off delay.

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The Hard Rock has warned of “multiple security and ticket check points”, and the Miami Herald has unearthed a police video used as a training tool for the tournament in which a sergeant is heard saying: “If things go south, we get prepared, we get ready. For civil unrest and unruly fans, this will get us ready for those events.”

And Fifa is dipping its toe into some overheated waters here. Only this week the Trump administration explicitly instructed anything up to half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came legally to the United States under a Biden-era programme to “leave immediately” if they have yet to make the step from “parole” to full status.

The state of heightened security has affected Fifa’s party. On Wednesday a luxury pleasure flotilla chartered by the TV station Telemundo and containing Fifa officials and the Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was boarded by CBP officials in Biscayne Bay off the Miami coast. The event, staged to celebrate the approach of the World Cup, was abruptly cancelled.

Officials later stated the raid was a routine inspection that uncovered some safety violations. But the mayor has since described the incident as “deeply troubling” and told local media: “Ensuring that all community members feel safe and included is crucial to maintaining our county’s reputation as a welcoming destination for both residents and visitors.”

Saturday’s opening game (8pm EST, 1am BST on Sunday in the UK) is now a source of multiple migraines for Infantino. Trump will be absent, required instead to oversee his own Grand Military Parade in Washington. While this is no doubt a bone-deep personal disappointment for Infantino, it will at least spare him the embarrassment of marrying up his headline act’s political statements with the capricious and easily offended commander-in-chief in the seat next to him.

The game also coincides with a day ofnationwide anti-Trump protests. Styled as the No Kings movement, a warning against the exercise of extreme executive power in the first year of Trump’s second term, the protests will elide naturally with unrest over the actions of Ice and CBP.

The wider Miami area will stage at least 10 No Kings events, including one half an hour’s drive from Infantino’s coronational seat at the Hard Rock Stadium, although it is unlikely Republican Miami-Dade will see anything like the scale of unrest in Los Angeles. As one Aventura man put it on Thursday morning: “This is Florida. We don’t truck with that shit here.”

This appears to be the politically sanctioned position. The state governor, Ron DeSantis, speaking on the Rubin Report this week, took the extraordinary step of encouraging members of the public who feel threatened by protests on Club World Cup matchday one to drive through the crowds, an apparent extension of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. As DeSantis put it: “If you drive off and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you.”

The tagline for the opening night of Fifa’s US mission is A New Era Begins. As things stand that new era will kick off against a rolling background of spot-check fear, off-message headline acts and an opening game shadowed by the prospect of governor-approved assault with a motor vehicle a few miles down the road. Over to you, Gianni.

Footage purported to show spy agents launching missiles inside Iran is marked contrast to the intelligence service’s history of secrecy

Israelis were celebrating on Friday what many see as a stunning new success by their country’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad.

Hours after launching 200 warplanes in a wave of strikes against Iran, Israeli officialsreleased footagethey said showed the Mossad agents deep inside Iranassembling missiles and explosive drones aimed at targets near Tehran.

According to unnamed security officials who briefed Israeli media, similar precision weapons were launched from trucks smuggled into the country and a “drone base” hidden somewhere near Tehran. This was established well in advance of Friday’s attack and used to destroy Iran’s air defences, the officials said.

The Mossad, an abbreviation of the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations in Hebrew, has scored many such victories in almost 80 years of undercover operations, earning a unique reputation for audacious espionage, technological innovation and ruthless violence.

The new operation in Iran comes just 10 months after the service managed tosabotage thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operativesin Lebanon, an attack that killed 37 people and injured about 3,000 others while crippling the militant Islamist organisation.

The service then contributed to the air offensive thatwiped out Hezbollah’s leadershipin a matter of days.

Over decades, the Mossad has built up deep networks of informants, agents and logistics in Iran. This has allowed a series of operations includingthe assassination with a remote-controlled automatic machine gunof a top Iranian nuclear scientist travelling at speed in a car on a remote road,the infection with malware of computers running key parts of Iran’s nuclear programmeand the theft of an archive of nuclear documents. Last year, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, wasassassinated with a bomb placed in his favourite roomin a government guesthouse in Tehran.

“This most recent operation is impressive, of course, but Iran has been an open book for Israeli intelligence for a decade or more,” said Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli security reporter and author.

Melman said those pictured setting up missile launches in the grainy videos released by the Mossad were likely to be Iranians. “The boots on the ground inside Iran are not Israeli, so they have to be recruited, trained, equipped, and deployed. Then all the components of the weapons have to be smuggled in. It all needs a lot of professionalism and skill.”

Unusually, Israeli officials have highlighted the role of Aman, the military intelligence service, in building up targeting information for the Israeli offensive.

Though Aman and the Mossad often work closely, it is the foreign service, much smaller, that gets most of the attention. Even then, most of the Mossad’s work is never known outside tightly restricted circles.

For decades, few had even heard of the Mossad, which was formally established in 1949. Former agents were ordered not to tell even their family or their previous employment and the service never admitted its involvement in any operation.

Yossi Alpher, who took part in some of the service’s best-known operations in the 1970s, told the Guardian last year: “Everything the Mossad did was quiet, no one knew. It was a totally different era. The Mossad was just not mentioned. When I joined, you had to know someone to be brought in. Now, there is a website.”

The Mossad’s senior officials have long been more likely to spend their time on sensitive diplomatic missions, briefing senior Israeli decision-makers on regional political dynamics or building relationships abroad than recruiting spies or running operations such as that targeting Iran this week.

For decades, the Mossad oversaw years-long clandestine efforts to build up “enemies of Israel’s enemies”, such as Kurds in Iran, Iraq and Syria, and Christians in what is now South Sudan. As with many of its efforts, this had mixed success.

The Mossad is blamed by some for ignoring warnings about the reputation of Maronite Christian militia in Lebanon for brutality and ethnic hatred, and encouraging Israel’s disastrous invasion of that country in 1982, in which thousands of civilians were killed.

The Mossad also played a significant, though still little-known, role in the covert supply of arms to Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran to help fight Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, as part of the Iran-Contra scandal during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

The mythical reputation of the Mossad has been bolstered by films and TV series, with screenwriters attracted to some of the service’s best-known exploits.

One of the most famous isthe 1960 capture in Argentina of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi officer who was a key organiser of the Holocaust. Others includestealing warships from the French navy in 1969, warning of impending attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973 and providing key intelligence for the famousraid on Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976 that freed Jewish and Israeli passengershijacked by Palestinian and German extremists.

In 1980, the service set up and rana diving resort on Sudan’s Red Sea coastas a cover for the clandestine transport of thousands of members of Ethiopia’s Jewish community to Israel. The Mossad spies lived among tourists before being forced to close down the operation after five years.

After a deadly attack by Palestinian extremists on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, the Mossad led a campaign to disrupt the networks and groups responsible. The effort ended when a Mossad team shot dead a Moroccan waiter in Norway in the mistaken belief he was a Palestinian Liberation Organization security official, and then made further errors leading to their arrest and trial by local authorities.

In 1997, an effort to kill Khaled Meshaal, a powerful Hamas leader, went badly wrong when the Mossad team was caught in Amman by local security forces. Israel was forced to hand over an antidote and relations with Jordan were badly damaged. In 2010,agents were caught on CCTV camera in Dubaiduring another assassination.

Then there is thefailure to learn anything that might have warned of the Hamas raids into southern Israel on 7 Octoberthat killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and led to the abduction of 251. The attack prompted the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the current war with Hezbollah and, indirectly, the new confrontation with Iran.

Former Mossad officials say the service only gets noticed when things go wrong. This is not quite true, though – as the release of the Iran videos shows.

Melman said one of the Mossad’s aims – particularly with the publicity – is to sow fear among Iranians. “The aim is psychological. The Mossad is telling the Iranian regime: we know everything about you, we can wander into your home when we like, we are an omnipotent force,” said Melman. “It’s also a very good way to boost the morale of the Israeli public.”

Matthew, 48, an international English teacher, meets Emma, 40, a lecturer

What were you hoping for?A serious-minded woman with a great backstory and fine taste in food who could share thoughts and opinions. All of those things happened.

First impressions?Emma was very composed and friendly from the beginning; elegant, organised and her sense of comfort made me feel comfortable.

What did you talk about?Our linguistic and cultural experiences living abroad. A discussion of literature and media revealed that Emma is aware of my favourite ever film, Manon des Sources, even though it’s in French.

Blind date is Saturday’s dating column: every week, two
strangers are paired up for dinner and drinks, and then spill the beans
to us, answering a set of questions. This runs, with a photograph we
take of each dater before the date, in Saturday magazine (in the
UK) and online attheguardian.comevery Saturday. It’s been running since 2009 – you canread all about how we put it together here.What questions will I be asked?We
ask about age, location, occupation, hobbies, interests and the type of
person you are looking to meet. If you do not think these questions
cover everything you would like to know, tell us what’s on your mind.

Can I choose who I match with?No,
it’s a blind date! But we do ask you a bit about your interests,
preferences, etc – the more you tell us, the better the match is likely
to be.

Can I pick the photograph?No, but don't worry: we'll choose the nicest ones.

What personal details will appear?Your first name, job and age.

How should I answer?Honestly
but respectfully. Be mindful of how it will read to your date, and that
Blind date reaches a large audience, in print and online.

Will I see the other person’s answers?No. We may edit yours and theirs for a range of reasons, including length, and we may ask you for more details.

Will you find me The One?We’ll try! Marriage! Babies!

Can I do it in my home town?Only if it’s in the UK. Many of our applicants live in London, but we would love to hear from people living elsewhere.

How to applyEmailblind.date@theguardian.com

Most awkward moment?The decision as to who was going to choose the wine; politeness meant neither of us wanted to impress an opinion at that early stage.

Best thing about Emma?Emma is principled, articulate, well read and clearly has a great interest in people and their wellbeing.

Would you introduce Emma to your friends?Most certainly, she would be a success in any room.

Describe Emma in three wordsIntelligent, generous and self-aware.

What do you think Emma made of you?I hope she saw a person who was interested in all that she had to say.

Did you go on somewhere?No, Emma had a train to catch.

If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be?If the weather had been better and there had been an option to sit outside.

Would you meet again?Definitely. I feel that there is so much more to know about her.

What were you hoping for?My friends and I made a bet on New Year’s Day that we would aim to do something unexpected before the summer. I think I might have won.

First impressions?The waitress who greeted me was gorgeous, and it was a great place.

What did you talk about?His life in Italy and Poland. Politics. AI. Brexit. Sting. Living by the sea.

Most awkward moment?I never know the pouring etiquette (who, when, how much, what level etc).

Good table manners?I accidentally held the fork like a scalpel – but to be fair, I was pretty hungry and the food was delicious!

Best thing about Matthew?He speaks Italian and had some really interesting experiences working abroad.

Would you introduce Matthew to your friends?Our senses of humour would be wildly out of kilter.

Describe Matthew in three wordsReserved, shy and family-oriented.

What do you think he made of you?Maybe that I asked too many questions.

Did you go on somewhere?To the train station. But I did bump into someone I hadn’t seen for years and we had a gin and tonic on the way home.

If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be?I would’ve lingered longer on the train.

Marks out of 10?5. The restaurant was great, but it felt like two people having a friendly conversation at a conference.

Emma and Matthew ate atBlackfriars Restaurantin Newcastle. Fancy a blind date? Emailblind.date@theguardian.com

Lambourn’s victory lacked the atmosphere of previous years which are unlikely to return to the glory days of early century

Ayellow weather warning put a lid on the walk-up attendance on the Hill at Epsom on Saturday, and though the Derby itself avoided the worst of the rain, when it did finally arrive, about half an hour after the big race, it sent many spectators scurrying for an early exit. At the end of a three‑month period with historically low rainfall, it was horribly bad luck.

But there was still something else missing throughout the afternoon at what was once Britain’s greatest public sporting event. Aidan O’Brien put his finger on it, albeit obliquely, afterLambourn’s all-the-way victory in the Classic. “Chester [where Lambourn trialled for Epsom in the Chester Vase] is a great place for putting an edge on a horse,” he said. “It wakes them up, there’s a great atmosphere there.”

He’s right. There is. But the buzz that gave Lambourn his first taste of a big-race atmosphere in the tight confines of the Roodee was sadly lacking when he arrived at the much broader expanse of Epsom. There were simply not enough people there to generate the background hum of noise and excitement that, even a decade ago and whatever the weather, was there from the moment you parked your car or walked out of Tattenham Corner station.

The paid attendance at Epsom on Saturday was 22,312 – a 17% drop from the 26,838 on Derby day in 2024 and nearly 60% lower than the 53,177 record attendance for Galileo’s victory in 2001, which seems likely to remain the century’s highwater mark until the turn of the next one. From 2002 to 2006, the average was a respectable 47,000, but the crowd of 40,694 in 2007 was the last to reach 40,000, and the underlying rate of decline has accelerated since Covid.

The attendance on the Hill and against the inside rail has mirrored the decline in the stands. When I made my first trip to Epsom in 1987 to seeReference Point make all the runningunder Steve Cauthen, it was scarcely possible to see a blade of grass on the infield. The scattering of punters there on Saturday was pitiful by comparison, while just 11 double-deckers were lined up on the rail, where there would once have been dozens, from early in the home straight.

It looks and feels very much like a generational shift in the appetite for a day out at Epsom. The days when the east end of London would move, en masse,to Epsom on Derby day, including tens of thousands who made the journey on foot in the days before rail, are never coming back, but all across the capital Londoners have simply lost the habit too. The past three attendances at the Derby have all been below the 30,000 tickets that Leyton Orient soldfor the League One playoff finala couple of weeks ago.

Turning things around promises to be a gargantuan task, though it is one that Jim Allen, Epsom’s new general manager, is approaching with gusto. The aim is to start at a local level, reintroduce the tens of thousands of people living within a few miles of the track to the unique piece of sporting heritage on their doorstep, and then spread the message further afield.

Newbury1.30 Dawn Of Liberation 2.05 Cape Orator 2.40 Time To Turn 3.15 Something Splendid 3.50 Consecrated 4.25 Grand Karat 5.00 Mesaafi (nap) 5.33 San Munoz

Nottingham1.40 Lil Brother 2.15 Mrs Trump 2.50 Sea Force 3.25 Temper Trap 4.00 Triple Force 4.33 Deep Water Bay (nb) 5.08 Timebar

Yarmouth1.52 Hinitsa Bay 2.27 Spy Chief 3.02 Kranjcar 3.37 Gorgeous Mr George 4.12 Maid In Chelsea 4.47 Dovey Moon 5.22 Crowd Quake

Worcester5.40 McGregors Charge 6.10 Music Of Tara 6.40 Woodland Adventure 7.10 Earth King 7.40 Portetta 8.10 Janworth 8.40 Prince Quattro

Chelmsford6.00 Champion Island 6.30 Somebody 7.00 Cheeky Stanley 7.30 Explode 8.00 Harryella 8.30 Beaming Light 9.00 Dutch Finale

Allen has first-hand experience of the build-up to the Kentucky Derby, from the clock at Louisville airport that starts counting down to post time for the next one as soon as the winner crosses the line, to the parades, firework displays and gala events in the week running up to the first Saturday in May.

Louisville, admittedly, has a population of more than 600,000 and every last one of them will be aware from infancy that something out of the ordinary takes place at the city’s racetrack on the first Saturday in May. There are 10 times as many within 30 miles of Epsom, but the percentage of Londoners who even realised that it was Derby day this weekend, never mind that it is possible to watch it for free, will have been tiny.

The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action

Sandown1.00 Rising Power 1.30 Bang On The Bell 2.05 Saba Desert 2.40 Charming Whisper 3.15  Miss Justice 3.50 Antelope (nap) 4.25 Brave Byreflection 5.00 Hi Ya Mal

Chester1.40 Profit Refused 2.15 Top Juggler 2.50 Reception 3.25 Topteam 4.00 Mayo County 4.35 Vixey 5.10 Impartiality

York1.50 Little Empire 2.25 Willowinghurn 3.00 Raneenn 3.35 Bleep Test 4.10 Burrito 4.45 Dothan 5.20 Yokohama

Goodwood5.30 Mystic Moment 6.05 Telecommunication (nb) 6.40 Al Khawaneej River 7.15 Rinky Tinky Tinky 7.50 Priapos 8.20 Drifts Away

Newton Abbot5.35 Seeyouinmydreams 6.10 Belle Le Grand 6.45 Hugos New Horse 7.20 Miss Popalong 7.55 Centara 8.25 Hill Station 9.00 Three Pikes

Market Rasen5.50 Spot On Soph 6.25 It’s Only Fun 7.00 Smugglers Haven 7.35 Max Of Stars 8.10 Greenrock Abbey 8.45 Casting Aspersions

Even in the gathering gloom ahead of the storm on Saturday, however, there were brighter moments when it was possible to appreciate how much the Derby still means to the sport. Most obviously, it was in the delighted astonishment of the 24 owners of Lazy Griff, the 50-1 runner-up, who had all paid less than £5,000 for their share. Their investment has already been repaid several times over, but the achievement, the simple fact that their horsehad finished second in the Derby, was all that mattered on Saturday.

It will be a long, hard road back even to reach the attendance and buzz of the early years of the century, but for as long as that sense of passion and reverence for the Derby remains alive somewhere, there is still hope.

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nick Ames and Paul Watson to look ahead to the Club World Cup which kicks off this weekend in the USA

Rate, review, share onApple Podcasts,Soundcloud,Audioboom,Mixcloud,AcastandStitcher, and join the conversation onFacebook,Twitterandemail.

On the podcast today: the panel set the scene for the Club World Cup. There are serious issues, ICE providing security at games, troops on the streets in LA and a travel ban. There are also concerns about player welfare, ticket sales and – alarmingly – the potential toexpand the tournament to 48 teamsnext time around.

Elsewhere, what does the tournament mean to sides outside the European bubble? There’s Thomas Tuchel’s mum on Jude Bellingham and the stories you might have missed from the international break.

All that, plus your questions answered.

You can also find Football Weekly onInstagram,TikTok,andYouTube.

Today’s rumours are ingratiating mothers

It’s a wingers special for today’s tittle-tattle. Starting with Liverpool’s willingness to splash £100m on Paris Saint-Germain’sBradley Barcola. Arne Slot hasalready signed Jeremie Frimpongand is set to add creativity in the form of Florian Wirtz. Naturally, there is not a bottomless pit of cash at Anfield, so they are open to selling Luis Díaz, Diogo Jota and Darwin Núñez to fund the spending.

After it was confirmed thatJadon Sanchowill not be joining Chelseapermanently, his next move is a hot topic. Manchester United will be eager to earn some cash for the winger, and are no doubt enticed by the prospect of Aston Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham considering a move for the 25-year-old.

Another wide man seeking pastures new isJack Grealish, who was left out of Manchester City’s Club World Cup squad. On the upside, he gets a few extra weeks off compared to his current teammates, giving him time to send his CV out. Newcastle or Everton could offer Grealish a route away from the City bench.

Nico Williamsis another who likes to get chalk on his boots and clubs are queueing up to sign him. Bayern Munich,Arsenaland Chelsea are all eager but Athletic Club want to tie the Spain international down to a new deal at San Mamés. Bayern seem to be the most eager and theEuropean championmight have given his representatives a nudge and a wink to have a chat with theBundesliga winners.

Supposedly plenty of teams are interested in the Sporting striker Viktor Gyökeres but no one has made an offer for him, according to the club president, Frederico Varandas. “I can guarantee that Viktor Gyökeres will not leave for €60m plus €10m because I never promised that,” Varandas said. “To this day Sporting has not had an offer for Gyökeres – neither today nor last season.”

It looks like Manchester City have stolen a march on a host of European rivals to sign the Rosenborg 18-year-oldSverre Nypan. The Norwegian was a target for any major club with a pulse, Arsenal and Aston Villa among those batting their eyelids in his direction. It seems the midfielder, however, has plumped for the Etihad Stadium as the place to progress his career alongside his compatriot Erling Haaland.

Trevoh Chalobahis onNapoli’sshopping list. The Chelsea defender started last season on loan at Crystal Palace before being called back by Enzo Maresca to boost his centre-back options. Despite starting the triumphantConference League final win against Real Betisand being called up to Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad, Chalobah’s future at Stamford Bridge is less than certain and a move to the Serie A champions might tempt him.

Djordje Petrovicwas not keen on a Club World Cup sojourn to play backup in the Chelsea goalkeeping department, so he asked to be left out to allow him to work out for what his future holds. Leeds may be the answer swirling around the crystal ball.

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If anyone wants an experienced full-back, thenVladimir Coufalis looking for a new club after his West Ham contract expired. Everton, Wolves and Fulham are those pondering offering him a new home.

Sunderland are awaiting offers for the midfielderNectarios Triantis. The Premier League newcomers want around £1.5m in exchange for his services after an impressive season on loan at Hibernian. Fortuna Düsseldorf and MLS clubs are keen on the player who is debating where his international future lies, with Australia and Greece both options.

Today’s rumours are eyeing the weekend

Alejandro Garnachowill be allowed to leave Manchester United this summer if the price is right. One surprising potential suitor is Aston Villa, who could make a move for the winger. They took Marcus Rashford on loan from Old Trafford last season, revitalising his career somewhat in the progress, so Garnacho may feel it is a move in the right direction away from the current dead end.

It will be a busy summer at United as Ruben Amorim attempts to assemble a squad that has the vague chance of fitting into his 3-4-3 constraints. One key area where improvement is required is centre-forward. A potential plan to source an actual goalscorer could see United offer upJoshua Zirkzeeto Napoli as part of a deal forVictor Osimhen. There could, however, be some very serious competition for the Nigerian as Liverpool may also fancy a nibble.

Eintracht Frankfurt’sHugo Ekitikeis another shortlisted name at United. The Frenchman scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga last season and, at 22, could be getting better for years to come. If anyone does want to sign Ekitike, it will cost them €100m (£85m). “If the price isn’t right, then he’ll just stay with us. We don’t have to sell Hugo,” said the Frankfurt CEO, Markus Krösche.

Bayer Leverkusen and Erik ten Hag continue to sniff around the vicinity of the Liverpool defenderJarell Quansah. The 22-year-old struggled for regular minutes under Arne Slot last season but the homegrown centre-back is still valued at £40m around Anfield.

Thomas Frank is nowofficially the new Tottenham head coach. When a manager moves from one club to another, there are always a few rumours that he will take some of his favourites from his previous employer with him. In Frank’s caseBryan Mbeumohas already been heavily touted as someone of interest, whileChristianNørgaardcould be another name the new manager will whisper into Daniel Levy’s ear, having worked with his compatriot at Brondby too. Everton, Fulham and Bournemouth are also rumoured to be keen.

Milan have gone on the blower to Arsenal to ascertain the availability ofOleksandr ZinchenkoandJakub Kiwior. If the pair do leave, it could prompt Mikel Arteta to firm up his interest in the Ajax defenderJorrel Hatobut Chelsea are also keen.

After impressing in the Scottish Premiership for Rangers,HamzaIgamanehas gained a couple of admirers south of the border. West Ham and Brentford are somewhat eager to pursue a deal for the 22-year-old Moroccan, who scored 16 times last season.

Leeds United are back in the big time and they want to bring the Udinese defenderJaka Bijolwith them to the Premier League. The 26-year-old Slovenian, who has already amassed 63 caps for this country, is valued in the region of £15m.

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And the Panathinaikos strikerFotis Ioannidisis a wanted man in England. Crystal Palace, alongside the relegated duo Leicester and Southampton, are interested in the Greek international, who could cost in the region of £17m.

Gloucester’s silky backs and Bath’s fearsome forwards feature heavily among our best players of the year

Santiago Carreras (Gloucester)Plenty of quality contenders – Sale’s Joe Carpenter, Northampton’s George Furbank and Bristol’s Rich Lane – and I was also tempted to hand Alex Goode a well-deserved retirement gift. But Carreras has been an absolute joy to watch and central to Gloucester’s attacking reinvention. For a snapshot check out the try he helped to start and then finishedagainst Sale at Kingsholm in January. The prospect of him linking up with Finn Russell at Bath next season is mouthwatering.

Tommy Freeman (Northampton)A season to remember for a fine player who continues to improve. There are quicker right wingers around – Saracens’ Tobias Elliott, Exeter’s Paul Brown-Bampoe and Leicester’s Adam Radwan have all caught the eye – but none with Freeman’s all-round instincts, aerial ability and deceptive strength. Fifteen tries in his past 12 games of the season for club and country is not the worst springboard into this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour.

Kalaveti Ravouvou(Bristol)The 26-year-old Ravouvou has featured in a variety of positions this season but has to be included somewhere on this team sheet. Eleven tries in 13 Premiership games – he missed the start of the campaign – tells only part of the story. Give him the ball and something special tends to happen, as underlined by hisextraordinary back-handed offloadto set up Gabriel Ibitoye for a try against Leicester in April. Pips his Bears teammate Benhard Janse Van Rensburg and Bath’s sadly injured Ollie Lawrence.

Seb Atkinson (Gloucester)England have been looking for young players with the skillset to fill the pivotal 12 jersey and Atkinson, still only 23, has all the necessary attributes. Strong, fit and dextrous he featured in all Gloucester’s league games, contributing seven tries, and must be pushing strongly for a first Test cap on tour this summer. Suddenly, with Sale’s Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Bath’s Max Ojomoh also in the frame, Steve Borthwick has intriguing options.

Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol)Yes, he makes the occasional howler. Yes, he sees things differently. But Ibitoye did not finish this season as the league’s joint top scorer by accident and, with the Bears preparing to face Bath in Friday’s semi-final, he is not finished yet. Almost ridiculously elusive and with an astute eye for a gap, he just needs to tighten up his defence a notch. Ollie Hassell-Collins, Cadan Murley and Arron Reed are all unlucky.

George Ford (Sale Sharks)Overlooked by theBritish & Irish Lionsbut not by everyone else. While the past few seasons have had their frustrations he has been consistently influential for the Sharks this year, particularly when you dig deeper into the stats. Leaving aside the Saracens fixture in September – when he limped off after six minutes – Sale have won all but one of the other 11 league games he started. Food for thought for his former club Leicester this weekend.

Tomos Williams (Gloucester)Ben Spencer has enjoyed another fine season for Bath and Alex Mitchell remains a class operator. In common with Carreras, though, it is impossible to overlook the whirring dynamo who has sparked Gloucester’s fast and furious attacking rugby. Williams started all but one of the Cherry & Whites’ games and his no-look basketball-style scoring pass to Seb Atkinson against Bristol was among the season’s defining images.

Francois van Wyk(Bath)Francois who? This is probably a record because Van Wyk has started 13 of his 17Premiershipgames this season on the bench. But once he rumbles on to the field as a specialist second-half replacement there is mostly only one outcome: the Bath pack crank things up and the opposition slowly have the life squeezed out of them. Will receive nil publicity outside north-east Somerset before this week’s semi-final, but a vital cog in the Bath machine nevertheless.

Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks)Could easily have gone for Northampton’s Curtis Langdon or Bath’s Tom Dunn, neither of whom have taken a backward step all season. Nathan Jibulu, bound for Sale from Harlequins, also looks a serious prospect. But Cowan-Dickie’s career revival following a worrying neck injury has been remarkable and his recent form has also helped to drive Sale’s late-season challenge. Will fancy denting a few Wallabies on the Lions’ tour of Australia.

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Thomas du Toit (Bath)The Springbok rock upon which Bath’s table-topping season has been based. Every top side needs an immovable object at tighthead and Bath have not lost a league match in which Du Toit has started since the season’s opening weekend. Among the nominees for player of the season and must have a decent chance of claiming the top prize on behalf of unsung front-rowers everywhere. Has also helped his teammate Will Stuart raise his game to the next level.

Maro Itoje (Saracens)Newly married,captain of the British & Irish Lionsand now – drum roll – selected in the Breakdown’s team of the season for a second consecutive year. Amid his myriad other commitments he has started 14 league games and has not been substituted by either club or country in any fixture since the end of September. That kind of durability and mental strength continues to set him apart.

Ollie Chessum (Leicester)Another potentially valuable Lion-in-waiting. Chessum is becoming as much of a talisman for Leicester as Du Toit is for Bath. The Tigers have lost only one league game this season in which their 24-year-old England forward has featured; if he can stay fit he should have a long and successful Test career. His battle against Sale’s bruising forwards will go a long way towards determining Saturday’s semi-final.

Ted Hill (Bath)What a vintage season it has been for back-row forwards. Sale’s Tom Curry, Saracens’ Juan Martín González, Northampton’s Alex Coles (how good was he in the Champions Cup final?) and Josh Kemeny are all high-class operators but Hill, regularly overlooked by England, has been consistently outstanding. He can operate in the second row, soar high in the lineout, tackle like a tank and sprint like a back; not since the rampaging Tom Croft has a towering back-rower possessed such devastating pace.

Henry Pollock (Northampton)Plenty of alternative options here as well, led by Ben Curry at Sale, Sam Underhill and Guy Pepper at Bath and Will Evans at Harlequins. But Pollock, black headband and all, has gatecrashed the England team, played in a Champions Cup final and made the Lions squad aged 20. Can also operate at No 8, where his pace off the base makes him dangerous, while his turnover ability and penchant for irritating opponents make it impossible for him to be overlooked.

Tom Willis (Saracens)Made a storming start to the season and, despite also representing England and England A, possessed sufficient energy and stamina to feature in 16 of Sarries’ 18 league games. Not his fault that Saracens could not quite make the playoffs but at least it gives him a slight respite before England head off on tour to Argentina and the United States. Seven tries for club and country was his best return in a season since 2020-21, when he scored eight for Wasps.

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Tanzanian’s career has been defined by a series of firsts and the 21-year-old is keen to make a mark at her first Wafcon

Aisha Masaka became the first Tanzanian footballer to play in the Women’s Super League when she signed for Brighton last summer, and she is a pioneer for her country in several ways. Masaka was the first to play in the Champions League, when she was with the Swedish club BK Häcken, from 2022 to 2024, and recently launched the AKM Foundation, aimed at fighting poverty and promoting gender equality through sport.

Masaka started playing street football as a teenager and dabbled in every other sport available to her including basketball and volleyball, much to her parents’ dismay. “We fought a lot because parents, especially in Africa, find it difficult to allow their girls to play football,” says the 21-year-old. “They wanted me to go to school and not be involved in any sport at all.”.

However, Masaka persisted and her parents could not hold her back when she was offered a place at the Alliance Academy in the city of Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria. “When the opportunity came, I told them I had to take it,” Masaka says. “It was an academic school and a football academy, so that’s why they agreed to let me to go there. They said If I was going to study and play then it was OK for them. That’s where my career started.”

The academy proved the perfect training ground for Masaka, who from there went to Yanga Princess, the female affiliate of Tanzania’s most successful club team, Young Africans. It was not long before she was on the national radar, and in 2020 was part of the Tanzanian team that participated as invited guests at the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Under-17 Championship. Tanzania won, beating Zambia on penalties in the final, with Masaka earning the golden boot. She scored 10 goals and had done enough to be spotted by a scout from Europe and offered a deal in Sweden.

It was a big move for a teenager but one Masaka had to take. “It was my dream to play in Europe, so when that opportunity came I didn’t hesitate to take it. I was very excited to go to play in Europe,” she says. “The environment is different, everything is different and it was my first time living alone, so it was a big change. But I managed well.”

Masaka made her debut for Häcken in the second qualifying-round of the 2022-23 Champions League, against Paris Saint-Germain. Masaka scored five goals in 14 appearances for the club before moving to England. “It was amazing because everyone at home saw that I was signed for a top league and they looked at it as a big achievement for me and for the country,” she says.

Is Tanzania now filled with Brighton supporters? “Definitely,” Masaka laughs. “It’s also important for other footballers because the players who play in the top league and the national team look at me and say that I play in a top league and with big players and they know they can do it too.”

Masaka’s experiences in the WSL have not quite gone to plan. She made her debut for Brighton as an 87th-minute substitute against Arsenal in November and almost immediately fell, severely injuring her shoulder in the process. She was sidelined for five months, which was hugely frustrating but Masaka used her time out wisely, conceptualising AKM. It was launched last month and well and truly kicked off last weekend with an all-stars charity match, a few days after Masaka received the Female Athlete of the Year award from Tanzania’s National Sports Council.

The prize was in recognition of Masaka’s international record, namely scoring nine times in 16 appearances for Tanzania and being part of the squad that qualified for this summer’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for only the second time in the country’s history. “It was big pressure,” Masaka says. “I don’t think I have ever experienced that before, but it was amazing for me to qualify for the first time and for the second time as a country. When Tanzania qualified for the first time, I wasn’t even playing football.”

Tanzania are in the same group as the defending champions, South Africa, Ghana and Mali and Masaka is hopeful they will acquit themselves. “I have been a player in two big tournaments: the Champions League and the Women’s Super League but the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations is so special for me because there I represent the country,” she says. “I believe we’re going to perform well and my dream is to get to the quarter-finals.”

Masaka also hopes Tanzania can qualify for Wafcon again, the process for which begins in March next year. She also has domestic ambitions. “At Brighton I also hope we can fight and be top four and then to go to Champions League.”

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