Humphries given almighty scare by Clemens magic at PDC World Championship
Everyone says they want a good solid test at this stage of the tournament,Keep the skills sharp, keep the mind keen,But how big a test? How tough? How many beats per minute? How much spinal fluid do you want to shed? How close do you really want to get to smelling the paint on the exit door?Luke Humphries reckons he got it about right here, and for now we will have to take his word for it,But the outpouring of emotion we saw at the conclusion of his 4-2 win over Gabriel Clemens was a measure of just how thoroughly the 2024 world champion had been rattled by a man whose game had basically been in hibernation for the past three years,It was in 2023 that Clemens unexpectedly reached the semi-finals, catalysing a revolution in German darts in which everyone assumed he would play a leading part.
Instead, his game disintegrated alarmingly,He stopped qualifying for the majors, didn’t even make Germany’s World Cup team and by the end of this year was ranked No 47 in the world and in a genuine fight for his 2027 tour card,But on Sunday, in a room packed with roaring German package tourists, he waddled back on to this stage and unleashed the pure magic of which he has always been capable,From trailing 3-0, by the end he had three darts to level a scintillating game at 3-3,He averaged 115.
6 in the fourth set, 101,5 overall, the first ever German to clock a three-figure average at the world championships,He may still be No 47 in the world, by dint of the sport’s maddeningly inelastic ranking system,But he now knows to expect better,What to make of Humphries in the meantime? On one hand, the ability to prevail under immense pressure is what marks out a true champion.
On the other, you could argue that his measured, undemonstrative stage game almost encourages opponents to play their best stuff against him.This is going to sound like a mad question, but are there times when Humphries is too consistently excellent for his own good?Think back to Peter Wright in the fourth round last year.Luke Littler and Gian van Veen in major finals this year.Call it aura, alpha energy, stagecraft, dark arts.The intangible ability to rip up the script, harness the moment, make the other guy doubt himself.
Phil Taylor had it,Littler has it,Humphries, by and large, does not,It may just be the one absence in an otherwise flawless game,Either way, we are yet to see the best of Humphries, and arguably we are yet to see the best of Michael van Gerwen either.
After his 4-1 victory over Arno Merk the triple world champion looked bemused when the Sky Sports interviewer suggested he had been in a tough contest.“Was it a contest?” he retorted.“Not for me.I played an OK game.Overall, I can’t really complain.
”Certainly Van Gerwen’s game looks more robust than it has done at various points of a difficult year.He is no longer falling forwards at the oche, a glitch that resurfaces during his tougher moments and forces him to pull his first dart low.But as ever with Van Gerwen, it comes down to whether he can double.He was good here, 50% on the outer ring.He may need to need hit similar levels in his last-16 game against Gary Anderson.
For the 2015 and 2016 champion looks in vintage nick, beating Jermaine Wattimena 4-3 in a game that occasionally touched the hem of greatness.It was seven sets of pure cinema, a rapid, breathless game that Anderson should probably have closed out far sooner.Remarkably it was exactly the same scoreline by which Anderson beat Wattimena in the same round eight years ago.“I was getting palpitations, never mind flashbacks,” Anderson joked afterwards.But he knows, too, that his game is in good working order.
In a dramatic final set he went eight darts into the perfect leg before finally sealing victory,His third set average of 121,3 was the second highest of anyone at the tournament,He leads the 180 standings by a clear distance,If he can tighten up on the outer ring, then never mind Van Gerwen: the entire tournament may just be at his mercy.
Little by little, the big names are clanking into gear.Rob Cross and Ryan Searle both looked ominously strong in whitewash victories over Damon Heta and Martin Schindler respectively.Van Veen saw off Madars Razma of Latvia to make it into the last-16 while barely stretching himself.An intense sweat or a brief stroll: yes, there are many different workouts available under the roof of the Palace gym.But the tests only get tougher from here.
Help UK ceramics industry or ‘lose piece of national identity’, government told
Britain will lose a piece of its national identity if the country’s ceramics industry is allowed to descend further into crisis without state assistance, the government has been warned.Ceramics producers including the struggling potteries of Staffordshire have come under huge pressure owing to factors such as the UK’s sky-high energy costs, leading to job losses.In a report, unions and the Green Alliance thinktank urged the government to step in to support the centuries-old sector.“Tens of thousands of working-class jobs rely on the ceramics sector so we cannot afford to leave its future to chance. But so far we aren’t seeing enough action from a government grappling with the unique challenges the sector faces,” said Chris Hoofe of the GMB union
Elon Musk warns of impact of record silver prices before China limits exports
A surge in the price of silver to record highs this month has prompted a warning from Elon Musk that manufacturers could suffer the consequences.Silver has risen sharply during December, part of a precious metals rally that also pushed gold and platinum to record levels on Boxing Day.Analysts have attributed the jump in prices to expectations of US interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2026, leading to increased demand for hard assets that protect against inflation and currency debasement.New restrictions on silver exports from China, which begin on 1 January, have created supply fears while geopolitical worries have lifted demand for safe-haven assets.Silver hit $79 (£58) an ounce for the first time last Friday, a new peak, up from $56 at the start of December, and just $29 an ounce at the start of 2025
AI is coming for young people’s office jobs. That’s good news for the construction industry | Gene Marks
While standing on the sideline watching a high school soccer game, my friend, who owned a small and successful construction company, complained that his son – a senior – was starting at a respected local university that fall, which would cost roughly $200,000 over the next four years.“I could take the same money and set him up in a contracting business,” he said. “It would be a much better investment.”That was in 2010. The kid did go to that college and graduated four years later with a degree in history
The 2025 US economy – in charts: rising prices, hiring slowdown, rollercoaster growth
The US economy is thriving, according to Donald Trump: jobs are surging, prices are falling, wages are soaring. The government’s own official statistics paint a more complicated picture of 2025.“The Trump Economic Golden Age is FULL steam ahead,” the president claimed on social media, after growth data for the third quarter of the year – covering July, August and September – was unexpectedly strong.But other key indicators have been far less robust in 2025. If Trump is right, and an unprecedented economic boom is about to take hold, the foundations appear fragile
Labour must learn lessons from history as automation hits jobs market | Richard Partington
Walk through a supermarket and the technology is everywhere. Self-service checkouts, electronic shelf labels, handheld barcode scanners and the video screens showing you – caught by AI facial recognition cameras – leaving the shop.In an economy struggling for growth, the encroachment of these machines in our everyday lives could be an early sign of a new dawn – a tech-driven renaissance in activity after years of flatlining growth in productivity and stalled business investment. No bad thing.On the other hand, it could be the glimpse of a dystopian future that is already beginning to take shape
Former Wessex Water boss received £170,000 bonus despite ban on performance pay
The former chief executive of Wessex Water received a £170,000 bonus from its parent company last year despite a ban on performance-related pay after criminal pollution failures on his watch.Colin Skellett received a total of £693,000 in pay from the water company’s Malaysian-owned parent company, YTL Utilities (UK), including the bonus, according to its accounts up to June 2025.The bonus prompted strong criticism from the Liberal Democrats, which said it showed that the government’s bonus ban was “nowhere near strong enough”.Wessex was banned from paying bonuses for the year after it was criminally convicted in November 2024 for a sewage pumping station failure six years earlier, which killed more than 2,000 fish and resulted in the company paying a fine of £500,000. In June the government banned bonuses covering the 2024-25 financial year for the chief executives and finance bosses of Wessex and five other companies
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