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The Herald Scotland
21-07-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Here's how I've stayed healthy since my heart attack
The first presentiment of something not quite right was some breathlessness when I stood to wrestle something from the aircraft's overhead luggage rack. And then, as I made my way through Perth airport it felt like I was walking up a down elevator. I ascribed it to a touch of anxiety about long-haul flights (never liked them). And so I downed a large Bacardi at an airport bar and nipped outside for a smoke … just to calm everything down and re-capture my equilibrium, you understand. By the time I reached Melbourne to be greeted by our Clare, I couldn't lift my own luggage. 'Dad, you're as grey as death,' she said. 'I think I should take you to hospital.' Read more Kevin McKenna: 'Behave yourself,' I replied. 'It'll be a touch of that thrombosis everyone gets on these flights. It'll sort itself out.' For the first few nights I was staying at the apartment of my friend David Dick, then an executive at the Melbourne Age and now editor of the Daily Record. There's a picture of me somewhere on Facebook at his place, sipping a large glass of red wine just an hour later. It was only when I went to bed that it occurred to me this could be something serious. I began to feel some unruly activity in my chest and realised that this wasn't good at all. Worse: it was probably too late to do anything about it and that I should probably accept my fate and ask God's forgiveness for being a daft fud. I also made a mental inventory of all those people I'd hurt or slighted and asked for mercy. And then I made my peace with those with whom I still had some unresolved issues. What with all that and three Hail Marys, a Glory Be and an Our Father I might yet have a wee chance of a fair hearing should I wake up dead in the morning. Fortunately (or not, depending on your point of view) I woke in the land of the living and my daughter immediately whisked me to St Vincent's Hospital in downtown Melbourne. They took one look at me and began kitting me out in the hospital gear and a drip. I love Australians' propensity for plain speaking. 'How did you not know you'd had a heart attack,' asked the consultant, astonished that I hadn't immediately popped in following the flight. Glaswegians also like to speak plainly. 'Well, not having ever had a heart attack, how was I supposed to know,' I asked him. It's not as though I'd had the falling-down-while-clutching-your-chest type of event you see on the telly. After the scans and a wee angiogram they concluded I didn't need the hacksaw and staples routine. Some tablets and a couple of stents would do the trick. 'Is it because I'm quite a healthy specimen that I don't need a bypass,' I asked the consultant. 'No, it's because you're one lucky b****** and you need to be taking better care of yourself,' he said. And besides, he pointed out, there was some old scarring on an artery, indicating I'd had some kind of 'cardio event' several years ago. It was only later that I learned that many of the male McKennas have been going down like skittles with heart failure since we first got off the boat from Ireland in the 1890s. My Glasgow consultant would later tell me that, in all probability, I was destined to get a heart attack at some point and that getting it when I was 'relatively' young and 'relatively' fit was preferable to falling over later in life. I was working for The Observer at this time and they were keen that I write one of those arse-clenching pieces about kindness and being more appreciative of wur planet. But that's not really me. So they settled instead for a lighter, self-mocking piece about my delinquent life choices. Read more Kevin McKenna: 'Give us your blueprint for surviving a heart attack ten years on,' absolutely no-one has ever said. But here it is anyway. My handy lifestyle guide to living responsibly after a heart attack. Alcohol. Rather than deny yourself the delights of the swally, maybe try putting an extra slice of fruit in your gins, vodkas and Bacardis. Kevin McKenna won't deprive himself of time in the pub. (Image: Newsquest) Sex. When men write about sex there are no good outcomes, but the doctors kept mentioning it. So, based on anecdotal research among other heart attack survivors, I'd advise using the approach favoured by our international football team. Just leave all the fancy stuff to the continentals and only venture over the halfway line when absolutely necessary. Pray. If you're an atheist, don't kid on you don't get worried you've backed the wrong horse whenever you start feeling fragile and vulnerable. My Godless chums always ask for proof of The Almighty's existence. But if you're ever in a life-threatening situation, can you be absolutely sure he DOESN'T exist? So try a bit of praying now and again. Swearing. Do lots of this. And if you recoil at the use of profanities, get over yourself. Read these f***ing sentences aloud minus these f***ing asterisks. You'll feel better for it. Try to be a decent c*** and not a w***er. You only get one f***ing shot at this, so stop f***ing around. There: that's better, isn't it? Silence. We're always told to share our problems and open up more as a means of mental self-medication. B*******. You'll just worry about over-sharing and that'll make you more anxious. If you want to unburden yourself, get a dog. Be cardio-smart. You're going to have a dickie ticker for the rest of your life, so turn it into an asset. Need to make a last-minute cancellation for a party or an event full of sanctimonious rockets discussing climate change and pronouns? Just use your heart condition. To add depth to your little white lie, memorise all the terminology around heart health: the arteries, the valves, the ventricles and all the other tubes and chambers. If you're really desperate, just say you need to have another cheeky wee stent put in. I'm up to about six, but I've only got the two. It's the wee changes that make all the difference. When you're in the pub, choose a seat furthest away from the bar and volunteer to fetch all the rounds. That way you can get in your 10k steps a week in no time. Kevin McKenna is a Herald writer and columnist. He is Features Writer of the Year and writes regularly about the working-class people and communities of Scotland
Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Lighten Up: Flatley for president? Make Ireland dance again!
When I heard the news that Michael Flatley might run for president of Ireland, I danced a merry jig around the kitchen table. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement. I firmly believe the Lord of the Dance would make a tremendous Uachtarán na hÉireann. For not only does the man possess a great love of Ireland, but he still has his own teeth and hair, and this alone sets him apart from many of us in the herd. Granted, he may have a few miles on the clock, but sure, who doesn't? He is still quite the looker, and would be great at representing our tiny nation on the world stage. And sure, hasn't he been Ireland's representative on the world stage, ever since he took the hand of Jean Bulter, back in the days when we thought a condom machine in a toilet was the height of sophistication? Yerra, Michael Flatley made Ireland cool, long before we knew what cool was. And as president, I believe he could make Ireland dance again too. One of the most notable declines in Ireland over the past number of years, along with the disappearance of the corncrake and the sod of turf, has been our unwillingness to get jiggy on the dance floor. Call me old-fashioned, call me a stick in the mud, but I believe the decline of antics on the dance floor is responsible for many of the ills in our society today. If there were more people out dancing instead of on their phones scrolling, the nation, and indeed the world, would be far better off. The phone is the most pointless piece of equipment in our lives today. Its position in our everyday life far outshines its importance. We need to get back to basics, and we could begin by picking up the phone and firing it into a bog hole. For a long time now, I have been campaigning for the restoration of dancing and, more specifically, the slow set, as a means of getting the country frisky again. And I feel if we had a president in the guise of Michael Flatley, a dancing president, a man with feet of flames, we could well get Ireland dancing again. Michael Flatley has also got a rare quality that many of us lack, in that he has some fine-looking cars back home in his garage. And being a man who appreciates a good car when I see one, this again makes him a winner in my eyes. I have always dreamed of owning a car with no roof on it, not by accident, mind, but by design. Most things I own now on four wheels are up on four blocks. And I love the idea of getting into something and simply turning the key to get it in motion. At the moment, my tractor needs a belt of a hammer to get her started in the morning, and my old jeep needs a few Hail Marys, and a fall of ground, to get the wheels in motion. And this can take its toll on a progressive farmer, no matter how successful I think I am. But with Michael Flatley in the Áras, with his flashy cars in the nearby garage, I feel he could energise the nation. Mary Robinson once remarked about having a light in the window for the Irish scattered throughout the world, but with Flatley in charge, the lights in the Áras would not only be dazzling, but illuminating for all. Flatley for president. It's time to put your best foot forward.
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jalen Ramsey-Minkah Fitzpatrick trade grades: Who won the Dolphins-Steelers player swap?
A rare June blockbuster trade rocked the NFL world on Monday, as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins completed an unexpected player-for-player swap between two elite secondary players. ESPN's Adam Schefter confirmed that the Steelers were acquiring cornerback Jalen Ramsey from Miami but threw in the jaw-dropping wrinkle that the Dolphins would be getting safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back. Jalen Ramsey announces Steelers trade with sick NFL Films-style clip That's the trade. Ramsey for Fitzpatrick straight up, as each team basically cancels the loss out with a player of similar caliber. Is there really a winner in this instance? We don't get player-for-player swaps like this often, much less two veteran secondary players with All-Pro ceilings. This is the most unexpected resolution to the Ramsey-Dolphins trade conundrum. Let's break down these deals and see who came out on top between Pittsburgh and Miami. TRADE DETAILS Pittsburgh receives: CB Ramsey Miami receives: S Fitzpatrick Pittsburgh Steelers There is something atypically urgent about the way the Steelers have operated throughout 2025, from signing quarterback Aaron Rodgers to pushing the chips in on other win-now veterans like wide receiver DK Metcalf and cornerback Darius Slay. The Rodgers signing alone is clearly a one-year proposition to win a title if at all possible. Trading for Ramsey makes a ton of sense in that specific vacuum, but what happens after 2025? The Steelers haven't been meaningful Super Bowl contenders in quite some time, definite playoff factors but typically dispatched from January football in short order. Coach Mike Tomlin's formula to get just enough out of a flawed Pittsburgh team to qualify for the postseason is admirable but comes with a hard ceiling. Perhaps an aggressive, all-in approach will benefit the Steelers in 2025 if Rodgers can elevate the offense, but what happens if even this amount of Hail Marys on top-end veteran talent still falls short of the ultimate goal? When does Pittsburgh just finally commit to a meaningful roster retooling to raise the team's long-term ceiling. Ramsey is a spark plug who can lock down one of the cornerback spots on your roster comfortably, but the Steelers already brought in Slay to play alongside promising young cornerback Joey Porter Jr. Who moves to the slot? Ramsey? Trading away an elite safety in Fitzpatrick is a dicey proposition if the plan is to play Ramsey in the slot this season, even if he'd be quite good there. Will Ramsey move to safety? He will turn 31 in October and might be nearing that transitionary stage of his career where playing safety keeps his career going longer. He may well thrive there, but you already had a really good player in Fitzpatrick manning one of those spots. The Steelers will probably turn to free safety Juan Thornhill to replace Fitzpatrick at free safety unless that's where Ramsey is headed. If the plan is to keep Ramsey at cornerback, his most likely landing spot is to play slot corner. Beanie Bishop wasn't a great slot corner, but he's young and had room to grow there. Ramsey is who he is at this point. The player is really good, but the fit and suddenly crowded room are unnecessarily complicated. Yes, this is a win-now move, but does this really make your defense that much better? If the play was keeping Fitzpatrick and adding Ramsey, sure, why not, but the swap really turns this from a luxury addition for a talented defense to a curious allocation of resources. The Steelers' secondary is much flashier now, but is it really better? Does this trade just cancel everything out? We're really unsure if Pittsburgh really made a smart move for the team's future or just got too desperate to make a splash for splash's sake. If Pittsburgh falters this year, don't be shocked if the team finally just throws its hands up and commits to long-term solutions. Ramsey could hypothetically be dealt yet again in that instance. Grade: C+ Miami Dolphins The Dolphins were headed to a breakup with Rasmey, so the trade itself just felt like the logical conclusion to something inevitable. The return is the shock, but it's a huge boost for Miami's short-term interests. With coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier both needing to get wins as soon as possible, getting a bona fide starter back for Ramsey has to feel like a real lifeline. Legitimate draft capital probably made more sense for the Dolphins long-term, but if the team didn't get better results this fall, would McDaniel and Grier be a part of that future? Fitzpatrick is a known known, and a really good known known at that. Having started his career in Miami, Fitzpatrick will return to the Dolphins and slot right in at free safety. Trading Fitzpatrick away in the first place always felt like a strange move for the Dolphins, but they really need him now with Ramsey out the door. Not getting any draft capital back for Ramsey might sting a little bit, but Fitzpatrick is a quality veteran starter who instantly elevates your safety room and more or less balances out the Ramsey loss. For where the Dolphins were a week ago, staring down a future with no Ramsey and no other great options to mitigate his loss this fall, getting Fitzpatrick back has to feel like a coup for the immediate future. We're not sure what this Dolphins team will do in 2025, but it will be able to say it traded away a player like Ramsey in the summer and somehow got a similarly talented secondary player back. That has to mean something for the team's short-term contention plans and for the people needing short-term results. Grade: A-
Fox Sports
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Fuel-Saving Maestro Scott Dixon Can't Save Enough To Beat Alex Palou
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Scott Dixon knows he doesn't have a shot at a seventh INDYCAR title this year. So going for race victory No. 59 is the strategy every week. Even if it means a roll of the dice. Putting Dixon in a position to save fuel to potentially win a race doesn't always equate to a roll of the dice. But Sunday, at Road America, to try to go the final 18 laps on fuel was just a little bit too much at a 4.014-mile track where the fuel run was approximately 13 to 15 laps. Dixon had to pit with two laps remaining, relinquishing the lead to Alex Palou, who won for the sixth time in nine races this year. Now 155 points behind Palou, Dixon expects the strategy to focus on victory lane even more than usual. "We have nothing to lose," Dixon said. "We're just going for some race wins. You're pretty much out of the championship. Nothing to lose. Throw some Hail Marys." Palou has seen Dixon throw some Hail Marys and make them work. So he, at first, was frustrated and confused. He wouldn't be able to beat Dixon straight up because Dixon had on the softer tires and would have been able to hold him off if the caution came out and they had a restart. "When I was following Scott, I could see that he was not saving as much as I was," Palou said. "I was like, 'This guy is crazy. How is he going to do it?' But I didn't know. I don't have a lot of information. "If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself. But I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen." Palou's strategist, Barry Wanser, had his engineers triple check their numbers to make sure that Dixon couldn't make it on fuel, as they continued to tell Palou to save over the final 10 laps. "I'm like, 'Are we missing something here? Because Dixon is running numbers — lap times. He's not going to be able to get it based on the number we gave him,'" Wanser said. "They double-checked everything, triple-checked. But we were pretty confident we were going to be fine." Once Dixon had to pit, Palou's biggest concern turned to Felix Rosenqvist, who had fresher tires. But Rosenqvist couldn't catch Palou and settled for second, with Santino Ferrucci third, Kyle Kirkwood fourth and Marcus Armstrong fifth. Kirkwood, the only driver other than Palou to win this year, moved to second in the standings, 93 points behind Palou. While it seems everything has worked this year for Palou, it has not for his teammate Dixon, who had to start in Row 13 after a penalty during qualifying for impeding Devlin DeFrancesco. So even with the fast car, he had to try an alternative strategy. "It's been one of those years, man. Anything we do is just kind of crappy," Dixon said. "We'll keep at it, keep knocking on the door. The car has got good speed and hopefully we'll get some winning ways going." It does appear that Dixon's ability to save fuel has been neutralized by the hybrid, which adds about 100 pounds of rear weight. Dixon feels he would have made it without the hybrid, which was introduced during last season (of course, that potentially would have altered the strategy of others). "Fuel mileage is way worse with the hybrid, which makes no sense of why we even have it," Dixon said. "It's the same for everybody. Everybody's got to carry this lump of weight around." And many were hoping for that late caution that never came. Palou could have used it, too, to be more on the attack rather than saving fuel himself. Just not needing to save as much as Dixon. "You're throwing some pretty wild strategies there just to try and make something happen, but it looked like [ours was] actually the conservative one. The one a lot of the others took was just the right one to take," Dixon said. "We had to bank on at least another lap or two [of caution]. The unfortunate part is the car was super fast. Like even with all our speed today, we were just having to save fuel every lap. So it was kind of frustrating." If he is rolling the dice, why not just stay on track and let it run out of fuel and see if a miracle could happen? "You've got pretty good senses," Dixon said. "You know whether you're going to make it or not. You don't want to be that person hanging out on the track for a lap or two." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
The Sun
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Love Island is about many things – but love certainly isn't one of them
LOVE Island celebrates its tenth birthday this week – and I confess I watch the show. But I'd rather be frogmarched to the nearest convent, forced to take a vow of chastity and spend the next 50 years doing Hail Marys over my Rosary beads than spend a single second in the Love Island villa. 7 7 And it seems I'm not the only one. Original Love Island winner Jessica Hayes says she was so put off by blokes that she has given up on romance and actually taken a vow of celibacy! Holy smoke. That's probably not the ringing endorsement ITV producers will be rolling out for their anniversary coverage. Now, I'm not some bra-burning man hater. I promise! I can understand why so many young, buff singletons would quite happily shove their granny under the nearest bus to get a ticket to Spain and hook up with fit blokes. The world of dating is hard. Horrible, even. You have to endlessly swipe through apps looking at profiles of tattoo-smothered men posing aggressively in front of the mirror in their gym, or even worse, their loo (yuck) while reeling off impossible demands they expect of any woman. She must be a ten out of ten. She must let him hang out with his mates until 3am. She must be totally attentive to his every need. She must not be demanding. Then comes the awkward first dates. Meeting in a crowded pub (just in case he is not your Mr Right but actually a crazed axe murderer), sipping a gin and slim while you are asked the inevitable roll call of questions. Where did you grow up? What do you do for a living? Do you like travelling? Forget sparks flying, these encounters can be more boreathon than bonkathon. Who wouldn't prefer to hang out in a sun-drenched villa and coupling up with a perfectly chiselled gym bunny? Love Island's Maura Higgins reacts after Tom Walker denies nasty comment But a trip through Love Island's best bits reveals that romance is the last thing you should expect in the villa. Remember when Maura Higgins was getting ready to go to the hideaway with Tom Walker? She overheard him boasting: 'I just want to see if she's all mouth!' as the rest of the cocky lads set about laughing. Maura, sassy Irishwoman that she is, didn't stand for that rubbish. Rounding on Tom, she fumed: 'Are you joking? That's disgraceful, Tom. That's absolutely f***ing disgusting.' Gormless Tom was left gawping like a goldfish as he tried to claim he didn't mean it, was just copying the lads and was really a nice chap after all. Maura had won over the nation's hearts with her straight talking. But she was still in the lonely hearts club herself. Then there was poor Zara Holland, who was stripped of her Miss Great Britain title and crown after having sex with Alex Bowen on the show. Cheeky grin Dissolving in tears as she realised all her hard work had gone down the toilet like so many make-up-stained tissues, the rest of the girls dried her eyes, gave her hugs and told her she will move on to bigger and better things. So what was her fella Alex doing? Staring at the ground, looking bemused and shrugging his shoulders. He may look like an Adonis carved out of stone, but is he really husband material? And there was the time when Jordan Hames asked Anna Vakili to be his girlfriend on the show in 2019. Flashing a cheeky grin, he said he was 'so nervous' to pop the question and told how the couple had 'been through so much' in the villa they could 'literally get through anything'. Apart from two more days together apparently. Just 48 hours later he was cracking on with new girl India Reynolds, staring into her big brown eyes and telling her: 'I feel like I have been gravitating towards you.' Yeah, gravitating a bit like a dodgy Soviet rocket that has exploded in space and come crashing back down to Earth. Anna came storming over to confront and dump him. Romeo and Juliet this ain't. So by all means stick the telly on, tuck into a box of Milk Tray and enjoy Love Island. But trust me, ladies — you are much more likely to get pied than find love across the fire pit. GAME ON! LIONESSES CAN STILL SHINE BRIGHT 7 7 IT has been three years since our proud Lionesses won the women's Euros – sending the nation into a footie frenzy. The stunning victory over Germany was a defining moment in our country's sporting history. And it inspired a new generation of girls to grab a football and get on to the pitch. Our reigning champs are gearing up to defend their title when the tournament kicks off in Switzerland next month. Manager Sarina Wiegman has named her squad. And we have a brilliant chance of victory – even without Millie Bright and her love life saga. So come on, ladies – show the blokes how it's done and go all the way this summer. The whole country is behind you! BENCH BAN SO BARMY 7 MORE grim news of bossy Britain. A lovely pub called The Trafalgar, in Greenwich, South London, put lots of wooden benches outside so people can enjoy a pie and a pint overlooking the River Thames. They had to – it was Covid. Politicians had made it a criminal offence to sup a beverage indoors. But now those fun-hating pen-pushers at Labour-run Greenwich council have ordered the boozer, managed by Vasil Vasilev, to remove half its outdoor seating. Why? The benches are packed with happy punters spending cash and boosting the local economy. And the street is wide enough for pushchairs and wheelchairs to still get down there. I should know – I live up the road. The landlord says that if he is forced to pull down his seating he may have to slash staff to plug the hole in his coffers. I thought the Labour government's number one priority is economic growth? Maybe Chancellor Rachel Reeves should get down to South London, have a word with her comrades in the local council and tell them to lay off our pubs. Let Brits drink beer, I say! WALL? I WILL NAIL IT 7 I'M off round my mum and dad's house this weekend. To build a wall. Turns out sticking a few bricks back on to the front garden wall will set you back thousands and thousands if you ask a professional to do it. So me, my sister and my mum are going to do it ourselves. We have bought the ready-mixed cement and, more importantly, dusted off our chicest dungarees and most fetching headscarves for the task. Who says building stuff is man's work? I am sure we are up to the task. I just hope I don't break a nail. MEG'S MIXED SIGNAL I'M confused. Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle private citizens who want to keep their kids away from the cameras? Or are they fame-hungry wannabe celebs? The once-royal couple have spent the week releasing videos and pics of their intimate family moments. First it was a cringey video of the pair twerking in the hospital delivery room in a bid to induce the birth of Lilibet. Then Meghan up-loaded photos from their family trip to Disneyland to celebrate their daughter's fourth birthday. Looks like rank hypocrisy to me. TULIP'S PARTY GAMES 7 FORMER minister Tulip Siddiq may be under investigation for corruption in Bangladesh, but that didn't stop the Labour politician throwing herself a glitzy party to celebrate ten years of being an MP. Lucky guests were treated to a free glass of fizz, while Tulip, handed out certificates to party volunteers who had helped her get elected. But the event itself was all rather cloak and dagger. The location was top secret, and guests were only told where to go hours before doors opened. Was she worried about a knock at the door?
