I would say I was in a largish minority that had no interest in the Windsor nuptials but I was in a large majority that was more interested in the England Football teams progress. Whilst mostly white males even my wife got her dander up during the match so we had most bases covered.
I was about to say that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not as good at uniting a nation due to their status as, just about as upper class as it is possible to get in this country. Overpaid, under worked and so pampered it is embarrassing to a democratic nation. However I have to admit that those labels almost completely cover Premiership footballers as well with the exception of the upper class bit.
In this day and age it seems more national pride rotates around a squad of footballers than anything else.
It has been a long time since it felt so good to be English though. And don't come back at me with all the stupid things drunken supporters did after the Sweden game. I never said England was a perfect place.
Many countries recognise how sport can unite a disparate population. Except UK politicians it seems. Although some are content to ride the waves of the winners. It was encouraging to me that where ever you are on the Brexit debate we all came behind the three lions when it mattered.
So to Trump
I don't quite understand why there are people kicking off about his visit. He has many problems as a political leader in my view but he is a democratically elected leader of a democratic country. It is not as if Theresa May was trying to cuddle up to a violent dictator. I guess people have the right to protest.
My nemesis - I shall not name him, he just seems to be able to thrive on any publicity of any kind, was on the telly this week boxing for Trump and all out Brexit. His comments included the notion that all these trading blocks (EU, BRIC etc) were ideologically wrong and what we needed were individual nation states making bi lateral trade deals with other nation states. That's right, lets put the clock back 150 years.
This may sound attractive to the likes of my nemesis but, as ever, it only really suits the big players. The Lithuania's of this world, or in fact any small nation, have very little negotiating room. Nothing to give and plenty to lose. It is interesting that this idea should come from the US. Currently one of the big players. What groupings like the EU give is some clout. Does the UK have enough clout to go it alone completely. The answer is it all depends
What is it this country does well? At the moment it is financial services. There is manufacturing and oil but it is financial services that largely keep the country on the straight and narrow. But can it provide work for the entire country? Should it?
However it looks like the UK Government has bottled it and gone for the sugar free option.
