It could so easily have been Prime Minister Joey Barton.

Matthew Syed, writer and former table tennis champion has received much praise for his book Bounce, The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice, but nothing to match the latest accolade from Joey Barton, the bad boy of English football, who has told Le Parisien that he is re-reading the book. He laments “my sole regret is that I couldn’t have read it earlier in life, at 14-years-old – if I had, I’d be the Prime Minister today, not a footballer.”

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• http://www.facebook.com/ieuan.einion Ieuan Einion

  I remember you well from “Haze of Dope” Andy. Greetings to you – and where is Martin now? To the point, regardless of whether he read the book earlier or not, I would vote for Joseph Barton tomorrow if he stood for Prime Minister. Sadly, he and I have criminal convictions that would bar us from that position; that’s something that needs to change.

• creggancowboy

  I do not have a criminal record – I have a political one. Odd how I was arrested after I started research into police corruption?