England’s World Cup exit was no big surprise
EMOTIONAL England fans held up fake trophies of the World Cup while passionately singing, ‘Football’s coming home.’
The English players talked about their great team spirit and winning mentality.
The studio pundits declared them as ‘heroes’. England were destined to win the World Cup.
And then the inevitable happened. Croatia beat them in the semi-final.
Benjamin Franklin once said: ‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ If he was alive today he may well have said, ‘...death, taxes and England getting knocked out of tournaments.’
This young England team were supposed to outplay and outsmart an ageing Croatian team. The opposite happened. England ended up constantly passing the ball back to their own goalkeeper who then hoofed the ball so far up into the sky, it was in danger of puncturing the ozone layer. ‘Hoofball’s coming home.’
For the winning goal, the ball was played into the box, and while the young English defender John Stones was caught standing about like furniture, the 32-yearold Croatian striker Mario Mandžukić shuffled onto the ball and kicked it into the net, past the English goalkeeper Jason Pickford, who instead of diving down toward the ball, inexplicably jumped upward like a kid on a trampoline.
Football was coming home – but not to England.
GER CARSON, Co. Donegal.
Respect Brexit vote
AS EACH day passes, it is becoming more apparent that Theresa May never had any intention of honouring the desire of 17.4million British people who voted for Britain to leave the EU.
For the EU deemed it was imperative that it did not get a prime minister who was a rock-solid supporter of Britain leaving the EU.
No, a devout Brexiteer would not only cause a fait accompli, but would unquestionably seal the demise of the EU.
The charade of Mrs May, making Brexiteer rallying calls of ‘Brexit means Brexit’ and ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ has been exposed as a charade by her determined approach for Britain to accept what ‘she’ proposes, not what 17.4million British citizens voted for.
The British people must not, under any circumstances, accept Mrs May’s proposals, for once Britain accepts any form of being legally attached to the EU, in five or ten years’ time, Britain would again be back where it left off, being the financial benefactor of billions in British taxpayers’ money, to nothing more than a corrupt political organisation. HARRY STEPHENSON,
Kircubbin, Co. Down.
Trump confusion
DONALD Trump’s four-day visit to Britain has left us none the wiser as to its importance and what its impact will be on many political issues vis-à-vis his talks with Theresa May.
If one strips his visit of all the pomp, niceties and ceremonial conviviality, what one is left with is utter confusion, following the erratic and contradictory statements made by Trump’s.
In the space of 24 hours, he rubbished Mrs May’s Brexit plan in uncompromisingly offensive terms, only to later shower her with compliments and praise as a person and a prime minister, although along the way he also stated that Boris Johnson would make a good PM.
Is this naivety or a calculated approach? That Trump doesn’t like the EU is no mystery and for this reason the harder Britain’s Brexit is the better, although his bone of contention with Europe is limited to his notion that America has been treated abominably by the EU in terms of custom duties.
After stating that a soft Brexit would compromise a Britain-USA trade deal, he later said that no matter the outcome of Brexit there would be a deal.
Queried about Putin and his next meeting with him in Helsinki, he preferred, as he has done so far, to skirt around the question and say nothing new. We all know he has called him a friend sometimes and a competitor other times, only pointing out that he would have acted differently to his predecessor with regard to the Russian annexing of Crimea.
If we are now getting used to Trump’s modus operandi and accept the fact he is not a politician but a businessman who says things as he sees them, the feeling that we do not know where we stand with him is ever-growing. CONCETTO LA MALFA,
Dublin 4.
Cheer up, Philip!
I GENERALLY look forward to Philip Nolan’s essays. He is a worthy successor to the late Paul Drury (RIP). However, I do think Philip is taking the UK Brexit vote way too much to heart.
It’s almost as if it’s a personal affront to him. Cheer up, Philip. The UK is not going to disappear off the face of the earth. You will still be able to visit and enjoy its pleasures; Ryanair and Aer Lingus won’t be cancelling flights because of Brexit. In fact, it might make the UK a more distinctive, interesting place to visit. Of course, we also have the option of showing solidarity with them and leaving the overbearing EU too.
I agree with Philip that it’s great that we have shed our adolescent anti-English mentality. So let’s wish them well with Brexit also.
ERIC CONWAY, by email.