lifestyle leader

The political economy of professional sports has reared its ugly head this week, with politics winning a decisive victory over economy (and common sense). Case in point: the messy debate over the future of Phoenix's NHL franchise. Somehow it makes more sense to the NHL brass to keep a team that is dying from financial dehydration in what is both literally and figuratively a hockey desert than to move it to a region with several million hockey fans.

Along a similar vein, the boardroom maneuverings over the ownership of the Arsenal football club are once again taking on a xenophobic flavour. Isn't sport fun?