It was as I took the ferry from Bandirma to Istanbul, two days before Turkey went to the polls and handed a landslide victory to the Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP), that for the first time I began to understand the creeping Islamisation that the secularists of the country fear.

I had looked forward to the ferry ride: two hours in a large comfortable boat sipping drinks as we [...]

Sport is big business, the one sure way the world's great consumer companies can reach millions. Only if you understand that will you understand why Glenn Hoddle had to be sacked, why the Olympic movement is plagued by tales of bribery and corruption, why cricket seems in perpetual crisis and why rugby union can scarcely agree on a fixture list.

Three years ago, when the cricket World Cup was held [...]