James Martin, a famous chef, has shared his favorite breakfast recipe that he eats daily after losing three stone.
James Martin has a very simple two-ingredient breakfast(Image: ITV)
After shedding an impressive three stone, celebrity chef James Martin, host of ITV’s James Martin’s Saturday Morning, has revealed his go-to two-ingredient breakfast, calling it “simple and very tasty.”
The TV star recently traveled to Spain to look for inspiration for his most cherished regional dishes in a brand-new book, James Martin’s Spanish Adventure.
He explained that the dishes in his cookbook were “specifically created” using the foods they came across while traveling.
At age 53, Martin notices that fish now accounts for 80% of his meals, but he continues to enjoy his prized butter.
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James Martin released a cookbook earlier this year(Image: ITV)
However, it appears that his most popular recipe, which requires only two essential ingredients, can still be easily made at home.
“Grilled tomatoes on toast,” James said. It’s very easy to follow and delicious. Additionally, the lardons and hazelnuts that were used to barbecue leeks.
James admitted during an interview on the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast that his intense desire for motor racing had led to his significant weight loss as a result of his ongoing struggle to “get out of them.”
He continued, “It’s down to the fact that I race cars, or that I still try to race a few cars, and that I actually struggle to leave them.” You kind of fall into them after entering them, but you have to leave because it doesn’t look very good.
However, the famous chef continues to enjoy butter, one of his most prized ingredients.
The well-known TV personality and author has authored “Butter: Comforting, Delicious, Versatile – Over 130 Recipes Celebrating Butter” and has a 517-page book.
James jokingly noted that he “brought out a book on butter” instead of the era when health-focused cookbooks dominated the market.
James credits his weight loss to his upbringing as a “farmer’s kid,” acknowledging his love for “simple food” and “great ingredients” as well as grueling gym workouts.
He openly admits to skipping the gym and says, “I don’t go,” in an ironic way, using his ability to “get my a**e in and out of a car” as a fitness indicator.
James said, “I’m a farmer’s kid, I like simple food, and I just adore great ingredients. I enjoy simple cooking, but more important than anything else is to bring out the flavor of the ingredients.
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James built his empire by owning a number of eateries and bakeries, developing his skills as a chef at home. He later honed his skills in France, where he appeared on television through his participation in numerous BBC and ITV culinary programs.
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EXCLUSIVE: Actress Sarah Parish discusses the significance of her charitable work with her husband James Murray and their departed daughter Ella-Jayne.
Sarah used her own heartbreaking experience to improve the situation for others(Image: Sarah Parish/Instagram)
Sarah Parish has just completed a five-hour road trip from Cornwall following a “nice little three-day break” with her actor husband James Murray and some close pals – a refreshing pause in a life running at full pelt. Sarah, 57, has spent the last decade juggling two remarkably different careers: the unpredictable but creatively rewarding world of acting and what she calls the “grounding” reality of running a children’s charity born from personal tragedy.
Ella-Jayne, the mother of Sarah and James, was born with the obscene genetic disorder Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome, which caused her to develop congenital heart failure in January 2009. They established The Murray Parish Trust five years later, raising more than $ 5 million for Southampton Children’s Hospital, where Ella-Jayne spent the majority of her short life.
The charity, which was renamed Inspire This this year, aims to close what Sarah describes as a “real gap” in support for seriously ill children and their families. In recognition of their charitable work, Sarah and James both received MBEs in July.
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Sarah and James have raised a phenomenal amount of money and awareness in memory of their daughter(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
There isn’t much to do in a hospital for a child who can’t get out of bed, according to Sarah, who says an intervention was required. By providing everything from drama classes, yoga, and music workshops to comforting spaces in paediatric units where parents can process the unthinkable, She and James are on a mission to reach every seriously ill child in the UK by 2035.
“If your child passes away, there are rooms in hospitals where you can stay with the child for a bit before you say goodbye,” Sarah explains, recalling her own memory in such a space after her baby daughter lost her fight for life. “It was incredibly depressing. It was a very bare, depressing room and it just doesn’t make your life any better at all.
The hospital was not to blame, they said. Simply put, that is the last thing they will buy. We’re merely attempting to improve a bad situation for everyone. Anything to assist people going through the most agonizing period of their lives.
Sarah doesn’t blame the hospital, but she argued that things could be improved.
That aid came from Sarah’s charity. She says it kept us moving, really, kept us connected, and kept us grounded because, “we’ve always got something that’s ours,” she says. Because the charity is overly happy and joyful, I very rarely feel angry right now. Funny is how it feels to cry. It changes frequently.
Sarah got her career break in ITV ’s Peak Practice in 1997 before landing roles in BBC dramas Cutting It and Mistresses then Sky One’s Trollied . She later scored tougher parts, including playing a cold-blooded killer in ITV thriller Bancroft .
Juggling her TV roles and the charity can at times feel overwhelming, she admits. At the start of summer she was simultaneously filming the second series of ITV trainee police comedy Piglets and Netflix drama Geek Girl while managing the charity’s rebrand plus organising its Christmas fundraising event for which she has banked support from celebrity pals including Hugh Bonneville, Dame Imelda Staunton, David Tennant and Amanda Holden.
Has she ever thought about giving up acting to slow down the flow and concentrate solely on fundraising?
” No! “Sarah roars”. We are passionate about acting. The charity requires a lot more of our time, which is why it is so difficult to do, but the two work so well together because one is real and the other is heavy. Without the acting, the charity wouldn’t be where it is today.
Sarah played Melissa alongside Nigel Havers as Larry in The Cockfields(Image: UKTV)
Sarah engages in a conversation with herself when asked what is her greatest career achievement. My God, I love you! She speculates that Bancroft was behind her own show before considering the 2017 BBC Spoof Comedy W1A as a choice. That job was fun to me. I enjoyed going to work, I became enthralled over the lines, and the freedom to remove the mickey from the BBC without being fired was something I adored.
Starring in award-winning 2012 American drama Hatfields & McCoys , playing Kevin Costner’s wife, is also up there. She says, “I remember thinking, ‘This is so weird. I’m from Yeovil. What am I doing next to Kevin Costner? This is ridiculous.’”
Did she ever consider them to be “lifelong mates”? He was wonderful, but she didn’t, she claimed. I was too scared.
Sarah admits that she occasionally longs to be “one rung higher on the ladder,” professionally, in a calmer place where multiple future jobs are permanently banked rather than a “hand-to-mouth” existence, where she doesn’t know from one job to the next what will follow.
She joined the Broadchurch cast as Cath Atwood(Image: Kudos/Imaginary Friends/Sister Pictures/ITV)
She claims that security is appealing in a sector where women over the age of 40 are shockingly underrepresented despite the unpredictable nature of her career keeping her “sharp”. She has taken a more proactive approach lately, developing her own projects, particularly two book TV adaptations.
She admits, “I wish I had the courage to do it sooner.” I abruptly left after one day. Why I’m holding off is beyond me. Just permit things to happen. I’m not ready to be put out of pasture, say more and more actors, especially older female actors, because they’ve just left. “
Sarah believes she escaped relatively unscathed after leaping quickly on HRT after becoming “particularly ratty” and noticing it was harder to learn her lines during perimenopause in her early fifties.
“My fifties have been by far my best decade,” if only because I’ve reached a point where I no longer care as much as I do now. I’m who I am, which is a really lovely feeling. You accept me or reject me.
Sarah says her fifties are her best decade yet(Image: Sarah Parish/Instagram)
However, Sarah is upset about the effects of excessive smartphone use on teenagers, not least her 15-year-old daughter Nell, who was born a few months after Ella-Jayne’s passing, even though social media criticism hardly registers (“I just feel sad for people who post nasty things”).
Sarah was told she couldn’t naturally give birth to a sibling after two “traumatic” births. She states, “I always believed I would have a large family, and we were prepared to adopt until Nell told us she had no interest in having a sibling.” I can recall being a little let down for a while before moving on.
Sarah used to be a party girl, but now she finds true happiness by spending a weekend doing nothing at her family’s rural Hampshire home. Amanda Holden, Lisa Faulkner, Angela Griffin, Lucy Gaskell, Tamzin Outhwaite, and Nicola Stephenson, who all met on the set of Cutting It, are her closest friends, besides an annual pre-Christmas girlie weekend away.
“You could make a sitcom out of it,” says Sarah of their “hilarious” WhatsApp group. “Sometimes I’ll open my phone and there’ll be 75 messages. It’s ridiculous conversations about all sorts of nonsense. They’re funny girls so we have a few hysterics.”
Manchester United’s dismal loss to League Two side Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup in midweek was the latest low for the club under Ruben Amorim.
United have consistently struggled to realize their game plan when the Portuguese are in charge.
This summer, they spent £200 million on new signings and have been sending players who were deemed to be insufficiently capped.
The focus now is getting it right with the squad they have, or at least being able to finish far higher than last season, when they were 15th.
Amorim’s philosophy explained
Amorim uses a positional 5-2-3 system, which requires players to adhere to rigid boundaries. His wing-back is still extended. His central midfield stays central. His team doesn’t do much rotation, at all.
Amorim uses overloads across the pitch to defeat opponents in this system.
He attempts to create areas on the pitch in which his team have more players than the opponents, such as the flanks.
The extra man theoretically facilitates entering dangerous areas up the pitch.
Why United struggled against Grimsby’s man-to-man press
Man-to-man marking across the pitch is a tactic employed by Grimsby to negate numerical overloads.
A Plan B is necessary because United and their opponents have the same number of players in each pitch area when this occurs.
To get out of situations in which you are marked man to man, teams require players with dribbling quality. The opponents’ press is disrupted and spaces open up by holding off your marker and dribbling past them.
Players who roam the pitch drag their opponents into awkward locations before making quick passes around them are a second way to defeat a man-to-man press.
With both options, one of your players should get the better of the person tasked with marking them, which disrupts the press of your opponent.
But Amorim’s tactics don’t often allow for this against man-to-man pressure.
Players don’t roam because the opposition is positioned in a rigid positional manner, which prevents them from dragging the opposition into unfamiliar territory. Therefore, opponents can effectively press United players in their respective zones.
Amorim’s system also doesn’t encourage players taking numerous touches and dribbling freely to beat their opponents.
The Portuguese may seem condescending, but instead they appear to instruct his team to follow a set of passing patterns, which we will examine next.
In the end, Amorim wants his team to play more slowly and faithfully following his predetermined passing patterns.
Amorim’s predetermined passing patterns
We’ve established that Amorim plays a positional football style that prefers to dominate its opponents by overloading them.
The way they look to do this is through specific passing routines.
United builds three-quarters of a back. These defenders aim for a straight pass to attackers, who frequently target a team-mate, who then searches for a through ball over the top.
In the coaching world, this is sometimes referred to as an ‘ up-back-through’, referencing the pass up the pitch, the pass backwards, then the through ball.
The opposition centre-back is being drawn to follow the attacker, which could make room for a United player to run into. After the box, the behind player could play a cross for their teammates.
United captain Bruno Fernandes has been criticised for playing long passes rather than taking more touches, but it is likely this is under instruction, with Amorim wanting to free either the attacker or wing-back running in behind.
How United’s passing routines are destroyed by teams
When you watch United on the ball, it becomes apparent how frequently this passing routine is attempted down the sides.
Teams can defend in the back five to stop it.
The opposition’s centre-back and wing-back pair up against their number 10 and wing-back by setting up in a formation that resembles United’s attacking shape.
United’s passing routine is less effective when the situations it results in are two against two, rather than two against one.
United’s main method of entering dangerous areas becomes less effective by combining a back-five defensive configuration with man-to-man pressure.
Grimsby angled their press in a unique way, ignoring the pitch’s center at times, knowing United had a strong focus down the wide areas.
United’s defensive strategy is described.
It’s crucial to consider how Amorim’s United will defend the ball for longer periods of time when they are not playing.
Bar the occasional 5-4-1, United play in a 5-2-3 that aims to push high up the pitch, attempting to win the ball back. They form a more compact shape in the middle if this initial pressure is unsuccessful, before reversing to their own third.
United doesn’t opt for man-to-man pressure across the pitch, despite their best efforts to put the ball back high up.
They often have an extra player in their defensive line, sometimes two. They can defend themselves from strikers directly, but it also means that opponents typically have one or two free men elsewhere, frequently in midfield.
United attempts to press based on a number of triggers rather than pressing man to man. The wide central defenders (most recently Leny Yoro and Luke Shaw) are asked to follow opponents into midfield when the ball is on their side of the pitch, and their respective attackers drop deep.
United converge and aim to catch their foes when teams move the ball wide.
How United’s press is bypassed
When in the opposition’s third, United’s 5-2-3 shape can be exploited with cunning movements intended to add bodywork by going deeper than the opponent’s. Players play with four players deeper than United, which effectively overloads the front three.
At times, a central midfielder is seen dropping deep, and a team’s back three becomes a back four. The extra player is difficult to contain, and passing around them becomes easier.
Opponents overload United’s two-man midfield
United’s wingbacks’ pinningback has a secondary benefit.
Due to the smart movement that opponents have started making more frequently and with just two midfielders in the middle of the pitch, United can be outnumbered.
Fulham boss Marco Silva’s tactics illustrate this clearly. Full-back Ryan Sessegnon pushed up the pitch to pin Amad Diallo back. Then, Alex Iwobi moved into a central area and left his wing position.
With Iwobi joining Fulham’s two central midfielders, Fernandes and Casemiro were outnumbered. Josh King retreated from the attack and occasionally acted as a fourth man.
What next?
Under Amorim, Sporting was largely successful, and United’s decision to hire him will have been influenced by their dominance.
At this early stage of his career, the 40-year-old is incredibly confident in his coaching methods and principles.
With the right players whose quality is far above that of their opponents – like at Sporting – Amorim’s system could work.
However, creating such a benefit during recruitment is more difficult because the Premier League’s standard is higher.
As widespread demonstrations shook the Southeast Asian nation, causing at least three fatalities and five injuries in a fire at a regional parliament building in eastern Indonesia.
The deaths reported in a statement from Indonesia’s disaster management agency on Saturday, which is located about 1,600 kilometers (94 miles) east of Jakarta, the city’s capital. The fire occurred on Friday evening in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.
Three people died as a result of the incident last night. One person died in the hospital, and two were killed at the scene. Rahmat Mappatoba, the city council’s secretary, told the AFP news agency on Saturday that they were trapped inside the burning building.
He claimed that protesters had eluded the building’s destruction after they allegedly stormed the office.
The victims were reportedly trapped in the burning building, according to Indonesia’s official Antara news agency, and two of the injured were reportedly injured when they jumped out of the building, according to the disaster agency.
According to officials, several of the injured in the fire are receiving medical care in hospitals.
Since then, the fire has ceased.
Since Friday, protests have erupted in Indonesia across major cities, including Jakarta, following footage that showed a motorcycle delivery driver being run over and killed by a police tactical vehicle during earlier rallies over alleged lavish benefits for government officials.
Commercial buildings, including a bank and a restaurant, were reportedly burned on Friday during demonstrations in West Java’s capital city of Bandung.
In Jakarta, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the elite paramilitary police unit called the Mobile Brigade Corp. (Brimob) headquarters, which is accused of overtaking motorcycle delivery driver Affan Kuniawan.
As a group attempted to knock down the unit’s gates, which is known for its harsh tactics, protesters threw stones and firecrackers and police threw tear gas.
A local online news site reported on Saturday that young protesters had gathered in Jakarta and were being stopped by a barricade before being blocked.
In connection with the driver’s death, police claimed to have interrogated seven officers. More than 200 protesters were reported to have been injured in the violence, according to the Tempo news site.
A crucial test for Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto as he prepares to take his first year in office are the largest and most violent protests of his tenure.
Prabowo has urged calm, ordered an investigation into the unrest, visited the delivery driver’s family, and warned that the demonstrations “weren’t … leading to anarchic actions.”
On Friday, during a protest outside Jakarta’s police headquarters, student protesters confront riot police.
The Jamia Masjid is as it always has been, ornate and imposing, on a sunlit June Friday in Srinagar’s Old City. Its 14th-century wooden pillars have been witnesses to centuries of sermons and struggle.
Around 4,000 worshipers squabble in silence inside.
The spiritual leader of Kashmir’s Muslims, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, speaks when he is greeted with grace but caution. Draped in his customary golden-bordered white thobe and crowned with a brown Karakuli hat, he delivers a sermon laced with quiet prayers.
I wish the entire Muslim Ummah a happy new year, he said. In these trying times, may Allah grant us peace, strength, and protection for the oppressed. ”
His tone is unlikeable from what it was only a few years ago, when the now 52-year-old Mirwaiz, or the country’s top Muslim leader, delivered fiery speeches that lacked the power of political messaging and rhetoric.
In a time when the valley was a roiling pot of violence, Kashmir’s supreme Muslim leader was also one of the region’s most influential voices for peaceful dialogue and its independence from India. An armed secessionist struggle that kicked off in the 1980s led to a massive Indian security presence in Kashmir, and since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed according to Indian government estimates.
Invoking Kashmir’s right to independence is frequently a frequent theme in Farooq’s speeches. For instance, the mosque was brimming with more than 30,000 worshipers on June 2, 2018, which was seven years ago. Farooq, visibly impassioned, ascended the pulpit.
He vowed that “this pulpit will never be silent.” The Jamia Mimbar promises to speak out for justice and continue to support justice because Kashmir is our country’s sovereign state. ”
The audience erupted. Azaadi [freedom] chants! ” thundered within the mosque.
However, Kashmir has since changed: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unilaterally revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status, which was provided at the time by the Indian Constitution. This was followed by a security crackdown and administrative restraints. Farooq was placed under house arrest, along with thousands of others. It would be four years before he was released in 2023.
It appears that Farooq has also changed on Friday. The defiant rhetoric that once defined him is no longer in use. There are no overt political cues in his sermon, only verses from scripture, calls for patience, and appeals for community calm.
The audience is attentive. Respectful, but unmoved, as in previous years.
Outside, across Kashmir, a question is beginning to take hold. The head-priest is adjusting to a changed Kashmir, as some people have said aloud, but the conversations are real. Is he fading into irrelevance, or is he just getting older?
On April 25, 2025, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq pauses during a minute’s silence at the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar in honor of the victims of the attack near Pahalgam, south of South Kashmir. The killing of 26 people led to a brief but intense conflict between India and Pakistan in May [Sanna Irshad Mattoo/Reuters]
The Mirwaiz is who?
Few people in Kashmir’s complex political and spiritual landscape more embody reverence and perseverance than Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Thrust into public life at the age of 17 after the assassination of his father – the previous mirwaiz – in 1990, allegedly by rebels from a Pakistan-backed armed group, Farooq inherited not just the pulpit, but a legacy.
His official role as Kashmir’s mirwaiz was rooted in religious scholarship. The mimbar in Kashmir is rarely just theological, though.
Farooq quickly emerged as a distinctive voice – soft-spoken, scholarly and deliberate. Farooq chose to pursue nonviolence and negotiation in contrast to many of his contemporaries who were drawn to the growing armed uprising in the 1990s. He rose to prominence in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a group that pushed for a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Kashmir dispute as the valley grew militarized.
Kashmir is claimed in full by India and Pakistan, though both control parts of it. Since 1947, when the region acceded to India as a result of division, pro-independence sentiments have persisted in the Indian-administered Kashmir.
Farooq treaded the line between diplomatic possibility and street sentiment. “Mirwaiz Umar has always positioned himself as a moderate politician, a believer in the institution of dialogue and someone who has been flexible in his political stance,” said Gowhar Geelani, author-journalist and political analyst. The head priest has shown a willingness to engage with all parties involved, including Pakistan and India’s nation states and various civil society organizations in and outside of Kashmir. ”
At a time when most separatist leaders rejected talks with the Indian state as betrayal, Farooq broke ranks. He described it as a “step forward that could open doors to understanding” as he led a Hurriyat delegation to meet Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi in 2004. Later, he discussed Kashmir’s autonomy, the demilitarization of civilian areas, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vajpayee’s successor, in several rounds of discussions.
“We are not against India,” he said after one such meeting. We support Kashmiris, they say. The only way out of this decades-long tragedy is through dialogue. ”
Geelani explained that while being distinctive, this approach had its own political risks: Farooq was viewed by various members of the Kashmiri ideological spectrum with “admiration, caution, and suspicion,” he said.
Farooq’s bold retorts to the Indian government both cost him support among rebellious separatists and established him as a eminently rare figure willing to negotiate without giving in to the demand for self-determination. His political gamble was seen by many as an attempt to humanise Kashmir’s struggle and push for a peaceful resolution, while retaining the moral authority of the pulpit.
His influence, which no other pro-independence leaders in Kashmir could boast of, was at the heart of the Mirwaiz’s ability to play that role. And Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid had the biggest influence there.
Before 2019, when Kashmir still held its special status, Fridays at the mosque were charged events. Overflowing congregations were moved by Farooq’s sermons, which were filled with Islamic wisdom and political longing.
The 600-year-old mosque has also occasionally been closed under security orders since August 2019, when India removed Kashmir’s special status and the Mirwaiz was detained along with thousands of others. Sermons were replaced by silence.
On September 22, 2023, supporters gathered to greet Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, center, as he arrives for Friday prayers outside the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, India’s-administered Kashmir. Before his 2023 release, the Muslim leader was housed for four more years.
The return in 2023
As Mirwaiz Umar Farooq returned to the pulpit on a cloudy September morning in Srinagar in 2023, the air hung heavy with a mix of subdued fear and apprehension. His shoulders once appeared a little stooped after being firm with certainty. His gaze, formerly sharp and searching, now lingered, softer, more introspective. There was no longer a fire.
Every alley had tight security in place. worshippers queued in long lines, many weeping silently as they glimpsed the mirwaiz step forward.
He paused frequently, his tone deliberate, and remarked, “This is the time for patience.” The calls for a plebiscite to decide Kashmiris’ future and to join an Indian army were gone, as was the phrase “Indian occupation.”
Instead, there was a softened plea – for dialogue, not between nations, but with Kashmiris.
He once yelled, “Nobody can silence us. He said, “Perhaps no one is ready to listen to us, as he did on his return to the mosque in September 2023. ”
He spoke to mourn Zain and Urwa, two of the war’s youngest victims, as tensions reached a peak after India and Pakistan responded with retaliation in retaliation last month. The twin children had been killed by Pakistani shelling. The mirwaiz said that their “smiling image will haunt us”.
He claimed that Kashmir is a “bleed wound.” A point that is “anytime exploding.” ” His audience, which would once erupt into chants, listened silently.
Farooq traveled to New Delhi in January to meet with members of a panel of lawmakers looking into changes to the law governing Muslim endowments in India and Kashmir. His first official meeting with the Indian state since 2019 has sparked rumors about a new bout of communication between Delhi and the Mirwaiz, which is still unconfirmed.
A separate meeting with a member of parliament from the National Conference, a mainstream Kashmiri party that swears by the Indian Constitution and won last year’s state legislature election, further fuelled chatter that the mirwaiz might be exploring a political compromise with New Delhi.
Al Jazeera reached out to the Wikipedia for an interview, but they were unsuccessful.
According to analysts, Farooq’s recent public appearances, including those at interfaith and national events in Delhi, reflect a cautious adjustment rather than a pronounced ideological shift. The mirwaiz now appears to be navigating a drastically altered political terrain, where symbolism and strategic networking – particularly with Indian Muslims facing their own constraints under the rule of Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party – may be the only forms of relevance still available.
Anuradha Bhasin, senior journalist and political analyst, said, “This is more of a shift in ideology than it is a response to shrinking space.” He has always been a symbolic figure, straddling the political and the religious. In this charged political climate, not just separatists but even mainstream political actors have been left with very little room for articulation.
We are now seeing that the only thing we can do is survive in that small space. He has been largely under house arrest for the past six years, and he is now completely unmarried. ”
Young Kashmiris are still divided by questions about the Mirwaiz and his wise sermons.
In a conversation with Reuters in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq speaks [Alasdair Pal/Reuters]
Silence or strategy?
Conversations with young Kashmiris, from college campuses to downtown Srinagar cafes, reveal a subdued sense of disillusionment with the mirwaiz among some. A journalist student questioned a man who was once seen as one of Kashmir’s most prominent political voices, saying, “He’s more a preacher now than a leader.”
His moderation, once seen as a strength, is increasingly interpreted as powerlessness by this set of Kashmiris – as quiet capitulation.
The Mirwaiz still has symbolic significance for some, though. They see his less obedient sermons as a mature and pragmatist reflection on the mosque’s role as a crucial hub for spiritual growth and gathering.
In a context where public life is closely monitored and expressions of dissent are often scrutinised, some believe this approach helps maintain a space for religious life without drawing undue attention or risking further restrictions.
Asif, a resident of Srinagar who has listened to the Mirwaiz for more than ten years, called him the “last moral voice we have.”
The biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for provocative and in-depth discussions about their favorite sport on the new series The Football Interview. We’ll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The player behind the player is revealed in the football interview.
Jarrod Bowen wrote himself into West Ham folklore when his last-minute goal against Fiorentina won them the Conference League title in June 2023.
The versatile forward made 202 Premier League appearances and signed for the Hammers from Hull City in 2020.
Bowen, 28, made his senior England debut in June 2022 and was part of the squad that reached the final at Euro 2024.
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Kelly Somers: What does football mean to you?
Everything, Jarrod Bowen. It’s something that – I’m in a privileged position – I get to do day in, day out, and it’s something I’ve known from such a young age, so football to me is everything.
Kelly, tell us about your earliest playing days.
Jarrod: Probably the first club I played for – Leominster Minors. The large playing field and the location are still present. That would be my first memory. I’ve had friends who have been there as well as my brothers and sisters who have also played there. To see that it’s still going when I go home, it’s nice to be back and be down there and remember when I was that age playing in the fields without a care in the world and a big smile on my face.
Kelly, tell me about how they worked together and how old you were when you first joined.
Jarrod: I think I must have started when I was four or something – really young – but I played there until about 15. At such a young age, I began. I had Hereford as well, which was more of a development school but we had the same players from my hometown team playing there as well because it wasn’t the biggest place of terms of catchment of players. So our local team, which was 20 minutes away, had essentially the same players.
Kelly: It sounds like such a local community and quite tight-knit. You must have felt incredible by the time You eventually played for Hereford. It must have felt like a dream at that point.
Yes, there was me and another player who later played for Hereford as well. All my friends, when I scored my first goal, were behind the goal. We constantly send each other pictures and videos, which are still in use. That moment was just, for me, incredible at the time of being 16/17, playing, then to score at the stadium week in, week out at the end that we used to sit behind the goal, then my friends being there as well… it was incredible.
Kelly, who do you think has had the biggest impact on your career? Is there a coach or a person?
Jarrod Bowen’s football interview
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Has a turning point occurred, Kelly? It’s not been a straightforward linear journey. Most footballers have had a different experience, starting at Hereford, Hull, then winning a European trophy and playing for England in the Premier League. Is there one moment you can pinpoint that you think, actually, that’s where it all changed?
Jarrod: Probably when I was turned down by Cardiff before I started at Hereford because I had been on trial there for about six weeks and realized that “right my local team Hereford has not got anything for me to have that path.” I’ve gone to Cardiff, thought I’ve done really well for six weeks and they’ve said no as well. So I kind of said, “This is it now, then… it won’t be.” But then I think that rejection from Cardiff and then Hereford and then starting back up just made me appreciate it so much more. In the end, I was just enjoying the game because I had no idea what would happen. I didn’t know if it was just going to end and I was playing at Hereford and I thought, ‘ It can’t get much better than this. ‘ That was a good thing. Then a few things happened. I was 17 when I decided to move to Hull. Three and a half hours away from home was absolutely horrendous but those things have all helped me off the pitch and then it helps you on the pitch as well. However, I believe it helps you to mature off the field. So, a few things have happened, but I’d say that Cardiff rejection… Let me be grateful for playing whenever I can because this was the end.
Kelly: You’ve played in some huge matches already in your career. Which game would you replay if you could replay it?
Jarrod: I think one that sticks with me the most was probably the Europa Conference League final. I’ve never participated in finals of any kind before. Coming out, getting to the stadium a couple of hours before, going out to look at the pitch as you do, and it was packed. The feeling of the final whistle blowing and you’re on the pitch… My dad and I watched a replay of the entire game on YouTube, and I think the camera went to me and I had the biggest smile on my face as the game came to an end, and it’s what it meant for the fans as well. I think that was such a great day.
Kelly, did you mention that you and your dad recently watched the entire game?
Jarrod: Yeah.
Kelly, that demonstrates its significance.
Jarrod: Yeah, he always watches it. He has a rowing machine and will send me a picture of an entire game that spanned an hour and 29 minutes. I’ve never watched it before. You already knew how things would turn out, but I was still watching a little anxious and wondering, “I know how the game turns, why am I so anxious?” I can’t really remember the game fully. It’s been two years, so it was strange to watch it in a different way from when it was first broadcast.
Kelly: Let’s talk a bit more about Jarrod Bowen the person. Let’s start with family and what it was like growing up in the Bowen household because you’ve already mentioned your dad a few times. Take me into a typical day.
Jarrod: Most people have a similar upbringing to most people. I have a younger brother and sister, so I was the eldest child. They’ve always said that because I was the first born, I was always their favorite child. But I loved playing football. a very active family. My dad played rugby and football as well. Our mother was employed by the school where we both grew up. She still works there and that was kind of our life really.
Kelly, you must be the school’s poster boy. You must be like a local hero.
Jarrod: My mother, as I previously mentioned, brings this entire box of things when she comes down. She says “someone just asked me if..”. and she is the kindest person in the world, so she always says “no” to anyone. So, she sends me a box of stuff. It might be for a raffle or something like that. Because I’ve grown up there and know pretty much everyone there, and I’ve attended that school, it means a lot to me that people want to put me on the walls and get my signature.
Kelly: I want to know a bit more about your dad. He used to play semi-professional football and was an ex-football player. Is that correct?
Jarrod: For a while he played for the Conference-level teams Forest Green, Worcester, and Hereford.
Kelly: Is it correct that you still follow his pre-season training routine that he does with you?
Jarrod: Yeah, I guess I had a five or six-week break because this summer was the first time I didn’t get called up for England. I went home for three weeks I think it was, and we were training on the famous potato fields every single day, so I had a full pre-season with him. My brother and my sister both did it this season, and Dani [Jarrod’s wife] even came out once and did it.
Kelly: Was she doing it as well?
Jarrod: Yeah, you would have thought, “What the hell is happening with this group of people?” if you had looked at it. My dad was the kind of instructor, so to speak. We called it “his boot camp,” but it was just us and we were running around this potato field, and I had this idea in mind: “If anyone sees us, they’re going to think what is this.” What are this group of four people doing? ‘ But we did it, and I’ve done it all my career, so we did it.
Kelly: Does he come to West Ham games? He travels, right?
Jarrod: As much as he can, yeah.
Kelly: No, that’s far.
Jarrod: Yeah, it’s far, but he tries to come to as many games. He’s already considering the Sunderland game. He’s going to drive his camper van.
Kelly, I appreciate you bringing up the camper van because you and I wanted to talk about that. That camper van went to the Euros, didn’t it?
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Kelly, you must be enjoying talking about your family because you have obviously married into a much more well-known family. You got married this summer. First off, how was the wedding?
Jarrod: We had good weather for it, which was always a worry. You look forward to the day so much that it passes for the day after it has ended. But, really nice day.
Kelly, you now have twin girls with you. Is it right that you had those girls just a couple of weeks after winning the trophy?
Before May 22nd, Jarrod. It changes your life. People always ask you what it’s like, but until you have your own experience, it’s difficult to describe it. But, yeah, love them to pieces.
Kelly, how does a typical day of absence look to you? I imagine if I asked you this a couple of years ago, it’d be quite different to now.
Carnage, Jarrod. There’s no lie-ins. I used to adore getting up at 10 o’clock and dozing off in the morning to watch what the day would bring, but now that they’re three, Dani is running around, like sprinting around the house. She’s sweating every morning and I just kind of come on down and think I’m quite a relaxed person, and Dani’s sprinting around the house and then there’s me asking if I can do anything. You have to take them out on a day off because you can’t stay with them all day because it will make you crazy, so try to make sure you do it as much as you can. We’ll probably go out for the day somewhere, more for our mental health as well, because if you stay inside with them, it’s just carnage. We’ll probably visit a park or something. Probably cut their knees to pieces, probably hurt themselves somehow… that’ll probably now be a typical day off.
Kelly, is that your football escape?
Jarrod: When I’m at home, I want to spend as much time with them as possible and then when I’m coming into football, I know its training for a few hours and hard work, so I think it’s good to have that split, that balance. When I’m at home, it’s all about Dani and the kids because I can’t change what happened. When I’m at home, it’s all about Dani and everyone. We’ve lost the game and now it’s family time.
Kelly, what best describes you, Kelly?
Jarrod: Laid-back.
Kelly, you seem to have lived that way for a long time.
Jarrod: Yeah, I’ve always been quite, what’s the saying when they go ‘ If you were any more laid-back you’d be horizontal ‘ or something? My friends and family are telling me that.
Kelly: Have you always been like that?
Jarrod: Always, yes.
Kelly: Does that come from your family?
Jarrod: I’m not sure, really. I think my dad’s quite intense. He drives a camper van everywhere, everywhere, and there, because he has one.
Kelly: I’ve got that feeling from this interview, if I’m honest.
Jarrod: I probably get it from my mother because she is very laid-back.
Kelly: What are you most proud of?
Jarrod: Probably my family in terms of my parents, my mother, my dad, and my entire family. I’m really close with my aunties, uncles, nans, grandads, trying to spend as much time together as possible, so I’d say that’s one thing I’m really proud of, that I have a loving family.
Kelly, let me know one thing that might surprise you.
Jarrod: I’m double-jointed in my thumb. Additionally, we actually shared information with one another about our growing ups when we were away, sort of like a team-building exercise. I said to people that I played a lot of rugby when I was younger and I enjoyed playing rugby more than football, and they were all shocked to pieces.
Kelly, what would you like to accomplish with your career if you could only accomplish one thing?
