Alex Glover

Alex Glover is a freelance journalist, formerly of the Daily Mail.

Yesterday

Alex Glover

I feel sorry for Argentina

From our UK edition

There is almost something to admire in being so spectacularly unlikeable. Argentina’s players waved goodbye to their dreams of a fourth World Cup trophy last night with a parting flurry of bad sportsmanship. First, full-back Nahuel Molina petulantly threw a punch at the chest of the Spanish captain Rodri as he ran past celebrating at the final whistle. Then the Argentinian midfielder Leandro Paredes struck Spain’s centre-back Eric García in the neck before hitting the substitute Gavi in the face, while his fellow Argentine, Thiago Almada, threw the unfortunate chap to the ground. How outrageous, Argentina’s players evidently felt, for their opponents to celebrate winning the final.

Friday

Alex Glover

What McSweeney’s stolen phone says about modern Britain

From our UK edition

If there were ever an event to describe our present moment, it would surely be the theft of Morgan McSweeney’s iPhone. The government device was snatched from his hand no more than a mile from the Houses of Parliament last October, though the incident has only recently come to light.  Putting aside, for a moment, any controversy over the probable (and from McSweeney’s perspective potentially rather fortunate) loss of important messages to and from his disgraced mentor Peter Mandelson, the episode presents some symptoms typical of modern life. On McSweeney's part there is the seeming resignation to having one's phone ripped from your grasp, now an accepted inconvenience like bad traffic on a bank holiday.

Thursday

Alex Glover

Saboteurs and looters: life in Ukraine’s capital

From our UK edition

Lviv, Ukraine Russian troops have yet to reach the centre of Kiev. Instead, locals have two more immediate concerns: saboteurs and looters.   Photos shoot across messaging groups. One shows a huddle of supposedly Russian agents caught in a metro station, along with an eviscerated teddy bear in which they were hiding rifle cartridges. The Ukrainians believe that saboteurs have been in most cities since January, marking out key infrastructure and military targets. Another photo shows an agent bound and gagged with masking tape. Blood streams from his head. The looters don’t fare much better. A paunchy man has his wrists cable-tied around a utility pole, his belt used to strap his knees against it.