The Gardeners' World Blog

This is a tough time for sport. We seem to be going through one of those phases when there is nothing but bad news on the back pages.

Cycling and athletics have been hit by highly damaging drug scandals involving their champion performers. The World Cup was blighted by the dark art of “simulation” (please, can’t we just call it diving and have done with it?). Italian football has been rocked by corruption. England’s national stadium seems further away than ever.

And money simply dominates everything - from The Open golf, where most of Tiger Woods’ ”challengers” appeared reluctant to take him on for risk of losing out on the small fortune that comes with a top 10 finish, to the Premiership, where Chelsea’s summer purchases look to have made next season even more of a one-horse race than last time.