Is the England football team killing this government’s cynical culture war

I agree 25Avalon, regrettably we do not have a strong opposition, and without it we do not have effective and democratic government. I despair.

As The Vicar of Dibley said "we have a wonderful leader and the sooner he stops playing for Manchester United and starts running the country the better"

Thing is GillT57 Brexit obscured all the other issues. People just voted for Brexit. If the Brexit negotiations had been completed before then other issues would have been more prominent. As it is we have Johnson for the duration. Also the Opposition party are divided and need to get their act together somehow if they are to reclaim their traditional voters.

Whitewavemark2

I can bet almost 100% that if England continue in their winning streak that by the end off the Euros the booing will have stopped to be replaced by cheers. The boos are already much less.

Nothing succeeds like success and England’s football team should be proud of their courage in sticking to their determination to show their support for those minorities that are subjected to racist taunts and hatred.

Someone commented the other day that the England football team is now Her Majesty's Official Opposition (and a better job they're making of it than the official Official Opposition...)

Ok, so if Johnson was elected to get Brexit done; it is done. Now what? Line up the next manifesto promise that they are going to break, using Covid19 as a convenient excuse? We have already had the disgraceful cut to the Foreign Aid budget, the hints about dropping the Triple Lock, the complete swerve on sorting out Social Care. NHS next

25Avalon

I thought Johnson was voted in to get Brexit done.

There was a manifesto which touched on other things.

It seems highly irresponsible of voters to focus on one issue and not give a toss about the wider responsibilities of a government.

I thought Johnson was voted in to get Brexit done.

Yet , far from being levelled up, many`of his white working class supporters are about to be levelled even further down when the Universal Credit payments are cut by £20 in October.

Article in Bytimes

Johnson’s culture war has rumbled on for 3 years

The opening shot for his leadership campaign in 2018 was to describe Muslim women as ‘bank robbers’ and, ever since he has occupied Number 10, Johnson’s only consistent policy – aside from cronyism and self-preferment – has been to stoke division over race and ethnicity, in order to hide the failures of Brexit and his response to the Coronavirus crisis.

For two years, these flashpoints in the kulturkampf have defined his Government as it has attempted to define this nation. From institutionalising Islamophobia through appointments in Whitehall, to copying Donald Trump in trying to classify the Black Lives Matter movement as ‘Marxist’, denying structural racism in the much-mocked report into race and ethnic disparities, and cancelling academics and institutions that explore Britain’s history of colonial exploitation, the overall plan has been clear: to copy the ‘southern strategy’ in the US. Only, in this case, focused on Johnson’s newly-snatched ‘Red Wall’ in the north of England. The trick, it seems, is to get the ‘white working class’ to vote against their economic interest with the wedge issues of identity and race.”

But at last people are waking up to what is happening and demanding the he focus on what he was voted in to do,
Sort the housing crises
Sort the economy
Sort the NHS
Amongst other things.

Oh also have just read that far from shelving the plans to host the young English team - they apparently declined the offer.

Of course they would! Why would you want to meet someone who declined to condemn your racist critics.

I see Steve Baker has called on the government to support the young men in their peaceful protest against racism.

Nothing like bending with the wind.

God I hate their hypocrisy.

The Tories seem to be coming to the understanding that their false “culture war” has become toxic and has turned and bitten them.

Let’s hope this silly strategy with all its woke accusations etc attempting to divide communities is put to bed and the begin to concentrate on more important things like poverty, housing crises, NHS crises, etc.

Perhaps they have which is why it's not going ahead.

Whitewavemark2

I am reading, and I fervently trust it is wrong that No 10 has shelved plans to host the England Football team at a reception.

No one would be so mealy mouthed as to fail to recognise the good these young men have done surely?

Perhaps they think that the team would refuse to attend?

I think this is a turning point. On the downside the government won it’s overseas aid reduction bill or whatever it is…

I read that Southgate and Kane are odds on for knighthoods. Its the establishment and the government hoping that some of the team's glory will rub off on them. Didn't work when they gave Rashford an MBE, he still wouldn't keep quiet.

I hope they refuse.

I am reading, and I fervently trust it is wrong that No 10 has shelved plans to host the England Football team at a reception.

No one would be so mealy mouthed as to fail to recognise the good these young men have done surely?

Oh yes, twitter can churn out some nasty stuff, as can FB, but without it we would be completely ignorant of many things that go on, many things that are said by people who then wished they hadn't. Without FB we wouldn't know half the things our government are doing! As I posted earlier, this episode, dreadful though it was, has brought discussion of racism, bullying, to the fore, to the extent that the PM has had to comment.

Whitewavemark2

As an aside.

What Sterling young men those footballers are. I was reading the Rashford spoke to the young English woman tennis player who withdrew with so called breathing difficulties - almost certainly a panic - and described how he had felt (and probably still does) before a big match.

How kind and thoughtful and supportive act.

Wholeheartedly agree WWM2. They are young men to be proud of.

Incidentally, I don't think he spoke to her, he Tweeted. All this about how bad Twitter is and nobody notices when it is used for good.

As an aside.

What Sterling young men those footballers are. I was reading the Rashford spoke to the young English woman tennis player who withdrew with so called breathing difficulties - almost certainly a panic - and described how he had felt (and probably still does) before a big match.

How kind and thoughtful and supportive act.

There has been an interesting report by the Fabian Society which has suggested that much of the focus on the so called “cultural war” is based on confected controversy, with the debate artificially inflamed by politicians of all colour, commentators and then picked up and amplified by social media - presumably GN is also guilty.

I think that is right.

“The society has warned politicians from all sides to avoid participating in such antics lest political discourse in Britain becomes as fractured as that in the US.

The temptations for all political parties are clear. Riling up a base and pointing it at an imaginary enemy is much easier than doing the hard yards involved in meeting the prime ministers ambition to “level up” .

Equally, ignoring rivals attempts to sow division won’t help Keir Starmer assemble a broad and diverse coalition to back his vision.

The artificial emphasis and attacks on so called “woke culture” and the campaign to prevent museums and galleries from critically re-examining Britain’s past, pits the community against each other where no controversy should exist.”

So applying that to the so called bending the knee controversy. The community of the U.K. largely supports the fight against racism, and this fight can take many ways and routes. Just as folk take different routes and approaches to other areas, but over which we all largely agree.

So let’s not be played, let’s be more intelligent than that and refute false arguments and division.

Football cannot be compared with the WI.

You keep trying to deflect 25Avalon, booing is of course unacceptable for any reason, but can you not see the difference between booing an opposing team, or a referee, and booing when a group of people choose to show their solidarity with other players by kneeling? If it displeases someone, they should just stay silent surely? I understand the tribalism of football, the excitement, being carried away by the mood of the crowd, but surely, 20 seconds or so at the start of a match can be tolerated? I am neither a monarchist nor a Christian, but when I attend a WI meeting, I do not boo, or sneer. I stand quietly and respectfully as others sing the National Anthem and Jerusalem, it really isn't difficult.

“ tSometimes the booing is directed against bad sportsmanship as for example when a player is badly fouled.”

This is fine. The booing of anthems and gestures of solidarity such as taking the knee, are not.

I know many didn’t approve of the clapping for the nhs, would booing that gesture be acceptable?

Trisher booing is not a new thing. It is not “something which never used to happen”. I have been going to or watching football for 40 odd years and heard it. Sometimes the booing is directed against bad sportsmanship as for example when a player is badly fouled.