“It's not the end; it's not even the beginning of the end; but it is perhaps the end of the beginning”. Churchill's famous wartime speech after the battle of El Alamein in November 1942 was an ambiguous rallying cry. After all, by saying it was only the beginning, he was suggesting that there could be worse to come.

There may be no cricket at present, but there is still much to discuss, and Sportsmail columnists Nasser Hussain and David 'Bumble' Lloyd are on hand to answer some important questions.

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, comedian Sandra Bernhard, director Lee Daniels and others open up about risk taking—and where they draw the line—in this first episode of WSJ. Magazine’s new series, The Columnists.