Over lunch today, I was half-listening to Talk Back, where presenter Crawley was wondering why so many people wanted England to lose in the football game tonight – ‘Anybody but England’ thinking.
That’s easy. French people by and large are unenthused by English people because they see them as acting in a superior fashion. Likewise Spain, Italy, Germany, etc. Could this be true? Well, if they didn’t detest them before they committed to the car crash called Brexit, they’re detesting them now – on and on and on, forever doubling back on what they’ve committed to, fog-cuts-continent-off-from-England attitude. Americans aren’t wildly keen on the English either – note the number of movies which have an English person as the villain.
In the case of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the reason should be obvious. Nobody in any of these three countries has plans to claim jurisdiction over England. But England, using its mask marked ‘UK’, has claimed and continues to claim jurisdiction over Scotland, Wales and the NE of Ireland. It’s a bit like an American cop kneeling on a victim’s neck and then wondering why so many people are getting agitated.
As I’ve said previously, I have skin in this game – three of my ex-children live in England, and so do three of my grandchildren. They are living happily there, as far as I can tell, and have English friends they value. But I’d lay odds that, somewhere deep inside, they’ll be cheering their lungs out for Denmark tonight.
Me too. If only because England have already started to tell themselves how much better they are than Italy. That’s Italy whom they will meet IF they get past Denmark.
Here’s my prediction: if England doesn’t emerge from this tournament with a lot more hostile neighbours than it had before it started, I’ll teach the cat to sing ‘It’s Coming Home’.
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