Good articles

[ad hoc]

Don't want to start a thread about England, because England, but this is a really nice piece by Jonathan Liew https://www.theguardian.com/football...-brexit-racism

Personally I can't support England because of the those people, but i know lots of people that I care about who do

[Satchmo Distel]

It's a good article but doesn't resolve the contradictions he discusses. Does an England win do more for the diversity project that Southgate and others are nobly supporting than it adds fuel to the cause of Johnson and the knuckle-draggers? I admire his ability to support a team in a way that separates it from its toxic brand but I just can't do it, despite admiring Southgate, Kane and, of course, Rashford.

Many of Chelsea's best players are admirable but the brand is still Chelsea and the toxicity has not disappeared.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

It's a good article but doesn't resolve the contradictions he discusses. Does an England win do more for the diversity project that Southgate and others are nobly supporting than it adds fuel to the cause of Johnson and the knuckle-draggers? I admire his ability to support a team in a way that separates it from its toxic brand but I just can't do it, despite admiring Southgate, Kane and, of course, Rashford.

I think any benefits from a diversity perspective of england winning are probably outweighed by the prospect of people drunk on nationalism and beer kicking off at people who look visibly different on public transport if England go deep into the tournament. And given the last few years have been non-stop indulgence of England's national id i'm pretty worried about what might happen - regardless of the merits of this England team.

I find it personally hard to fathom that Southgate gets so much credit when a) little over three years ago he was vocal in defence of a colleague who was under fire for racially victimising a managee and b) his vision is essentially a conservative nationalism that's just less openly racist than the current leading brand. He's Martin Niemöller to Boris Johnson's Third Reich.