Why Are We Always Indoors? (( . . . Unless We're Off to Barnard Castle))

Why Are We Always Indoors? (...unless we're off to Barnard Castle) is a personal chronicle of the strangest and darkest football close season in modern history. Having studied politics at university, Paul Armstrong spent much of his career running BBC TV's Match of the Day, then wrote the memoir Why Are We Always On Last? which was published in 2019. In March 2020, he embarked on a journal of London lockdown life against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. This eventually spanned the 105 days between MOTD's Premier League highlights being removed from the schedules and returning in June. Musings and anecdotes about sport, TV, music and life under lockdown became increasingly overshadowed by the mounting tragedy, and a sense of despair and anger at how the crisis was handled at the highest level. This was informed by a lifetime of studying and following politics and by a network of contacts from television and sport, and in various other affected walks of life. A first-hand account of a slice of living history, conveyed with dark humour and a sense of urgency and immediacy.