We’ll go on getting bad results

Try as I might I can’t get overly excited about Wimbledon—I’m more of a football and cricket man. So Boris Johnson’s column this morning on why England under-achieve at football caught my eye. Here’s the nub of his argument:

we should now launch a merciless Kulturkampf against every feature of modern Britain that is inimical to our competitive success. We should summon up our courage and tell our ballooning children to put down their beastly PlayStations and go and play outside. We should encourage them to walk or cycle to school. We should stop the sale of school playing fields. We should finally abandon the ethic of “all must have prizes”.

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Ross Clark

Britain is living beyond its means

I’d agree with all this but I’d add something else: players receive the trappings of success before they have actually achieved anything. Kieron Dyer is a classic example of this.