Football and Freedom

Well, my cry of  "Forza Azzuri" clearly did the trick as England lost the Euro final on Sunday - I couldn't be more pleased for Italy. Bravo!

Sadly, Matteo Berrettini lost the Wimbledon final but he's still young, there'll be other chances; Djokovic can't go on forever.

News yesterday was full of the usual post mortems on why England, once again, fell short. Nobody seems to be pointing out the obvious - we weren't good enough. If we had been, it would never have gone to penalties.

Predictably, the result has deteriorated into a racism row, as so many things do these days. I think most England fans wouldn't care if the players were green, striped or spotted - they just wanted to see the ball in the back of the net.

On the subject of racism, I'm with Morgan Freeman..."Stop talking about it. I'll stop calling you a white man and you stop calling me a black man". Seems the most sensible approach to me.

I expect we'll go through it all again next year for the World Cup. Hopefully, they'll have ditched "taking the knee" by then and I'll be able to watch again. Regardless of their professed reasons, I find it divisive and inflammatory - I also can't see what possible good it does.

Boris had another televised briefing yesterday - as expected he's having a fit of the vapours and is backtracking at a rate of knots over "Freedom Day". No surprise there then.

Virtually all legal restrictions have been lifted but we're still being given mixed messages; social distancing is ending, but they say we should meet people outside if possible... masks are no longer legally required but it is "expected and recommended" that they're worn in crowded indoor settings. Transport companies will be allowed to decide whether passengers should wear masks but we've already been told they're not required. Confused? You will be.

So, in a nutshell, keep away from people if you want to and wear a mask or don't... sometimes, maybe... if you like. Right, well, I think that's all perfectly clear. 

Carry on.