Arise, Sir Gareth!

I detected a degree of surprise among those people who were uncommonly cheered by Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory that England failed to beat Spain in the final of the European Championship. That wasn’t in the script. For those Labour supporters in the press and floating in the shallow trough of luvviedom, an England victory would have been the first thing to gild this brave new era of kindness, generosity of spirit and diversity.

These were the sorts of qualities associated with the England manager Gareth Southgate, who needed no more encouragement to bob down on one knee in support of a divisive and extremist political cause, Black Lives Matter, than did the Labour leader, if you remember. Freed from the shackles of nasty and incompetent Conservatism, the England team could finally express itself – including the large proportion of players who were the offspring of immigrants from the… what’s that ludicrous phrase?… global majority.