Why have so many liberals mislaid their morals over Qatar — just in time for kick-off?
This disgusting World Cup hasn’t even started yet, but already Michael sheen is afroth. The Welsh actor is furious. Bubbling like a boiling leek.
You might think he is angry because the tournament is taking place in Qatar, a place where men can be killed or sent to jail for being gay, where migrant workers and women have few rights, where slavery is not unknown and freedom of expression and critical voices are silenced — or imprisoned.
But no. he is more upset because he wants to know exactly who the Prince of Wales will be supporting in the tournament. Wales and England have both qualified, but sheen interpreted a visit by Prince William to the England team train-ing camp on Monday as a display of unacceptable partisanship.
‘ he can, of course, support whoever he likes,’ he tweeted, grudgingly acknowledging that William’s role as President of the Football Association made his team visit ‘understandable’.
Big oF him, we’re all grateful for his empathy at this time of need. ‘But surely he sees holding the title Prince of Wales at the same time is entirely inappro-priate? Not a shred of embarrass-ment? or sensitivity to the problem here?’ added sheen, who handed back his oBE in 2017 so he could air his views about the monarchy instead of being a ‘hypocrite’.
how one wishes William had ignored the righteous Welsh windbag, instead of drivelling on to reporters that: ‘ i support England more in the football, but Wales in the rugby. When i was growing up, Wales didn’t get through to the tournaments but i will be supporting them all the way through the process.’ The process!
Prince William always sounds like a middle-management consultant for a company that makes paper cups or insulation for dog kennels or curtain hooks.
one understands that he has to be careful and mind his words in public. Yet he is going to be king one day. And instead of being an inspiration to the nation, he fre-quently comes across as a starchy, people-pleasing, corporate bore.
how much more admirable it would be if William stood up, dusted down his caring credentials, along with his beige chinos, and refused to have anything to do with this wretched World Cup.
And if Michael sheen, instead of complaining about perceived injustice to the poor, poor Welsh people, did the same.
The tournament starts on sunday, but it remains an outrage that it is being held in Qatar — an outrage that should horrify all civilised people. how and why the
international football world has turned a blind eye to Qatar’s fail-ings as a modern country is one of the scandals of the age. Yet instead of giving this morally bereft nation the cold shoulder, the World Cup has been bequeathed to it with the stamp of global approval.
i just don’t understand. is it a guy thing? That everyone can have the correct set of progressive urges and curated liberal opinions until foot-ball is involved, then it’s all kicked into touch because the beautiful game trumps everything?
gary Lineker has described Qatar as ‘ corrupt’, but the hypocrite is still covering the tournament for the BBC, despite feeling ‘ queasy’ about the country’s human rights record.
it is amazing how the quease can be quashed when cash can compensate.
England captain harry Kane has said he will wear a oneLove armband to support the LgBTQ+ community. i’m sure that will be a great comfort to everyone. Mean-while, England manager gareth southgate has said the England squad will ‘speak out’ — i’m looking forward to that — but focus prima-rily on football because it is ‘a thing you work for your whole life’.
WhAT kind of message must that send to the oppressed people of Qatar? Precisely this one: that their suffering does not matter. And that some years of hurt are more important than others.
over the next four weeks, what can we expect? Michael sheen will be hunched over his Welsh- o-Meter, primed for perceived insults, carefully monitoring the Prince of Wales’s support, or otherwise, for the Welsh national side. William will be enjoying ‘the process’ and not saying anything bad about Qatar whatever happens.
Meanwhile, gary Lineker has revealed the BBC has consulted organisations such as Amnesty international to ensure it will hit the right tone in its World Cup programming. i expect a few hand-wringing moments of keening horror at the injustice of it all before it is straight down to football, football, football from now until Christmas.
And are we supposed to think it’s oK because harry Kane has his armband on? Pathetic.