It’s Coming to Rome

This past month we have watched virtually all the football matches in the European Football Championships. Well, the kids and husband have in any case, I sit there and watch it half while doing other things. This coming Sunday the final will be upon us and it will be England versus Italy and I fervently hope for this outcome…

_{(I’ve been seeing this all over Twitter, can’t figure out the souce but I think it’s quite funny!)}

I don’t think I’ve ever felt as big of an antipathy towards the English as I do right now, and in this instance most particularly towards the English football fans. The English have always had this island-superiority complex but in recent years (I think I can pinpoint it to the Brexit vote five years ago) the English have felt more and more myopic and arrogant, in the ugliest of ways. I know there are so very many decent English people out there but these past few years mostly the ugly English underbelly has been increasingly showing and that includes current British leadership. Now, with the football, my annoyance with the English is coming to a new boil.

The England fans booed the German and Danish national anthems before those matches started and then booed when the opposing team was at the ball. And just a few hours ago I read that during the penalty shot, during extra time play in the Denmark vs England match, someone shone a laser into goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel’s eye! He went on to do a wonderful save only to have the winning goal pass him on the rebound, but what the….? Is this really the way a host country treats their guests? This is so unsportsmanlike and so arrogant! Where is English politeness and decency?

In addition, there’s also this hysterical “It’s coming home” nonsense. The English have never won the European championships before and just because football was invented in England, it doesn’t mean that is the only true home of football. The aforementioned quite awesome Danish goalie Schmeichel had a nice answer to one such a nationlistic bullshit question an English reporter had…

I was watching some BBC morning TV before the match against Denmark and I got very tired very quickly of this whole “Coming home” business, making England seem like the centre of the universe. I’m boycotting BBC news and sports coverage until after this is all over.

Of course, every country displays pride in their country at events such as these but English nationalistic pride and arrogance are at such a high point in such a disrespectful way that it has just become insufferable to me. I don’t know how it is in other countries but on Dutch Twitter the annoyance with the English is apparent as well and I even hear it in some of the commentaries on TV even though they don’t actually say it (or if they do, I’m not around long enough to hear it).

It’s not so much that we are pro Italy winning this championship, it is much more that we are anti the English winning and it’s all about their arrogance. We were sad the Danes didn’t beat them (they were my faves for the title, although that never was realistic) and I so hope the English will get their butts kicked by Italy in the finals on Sunday and maybe find some humility again. No, I have no sympathy for English football fans, on the stands or at home, right now, they feel alien to me and I am feeling very disappointed that such attitudes can so easily thrive. So, go Italy! I secretly think most of Europe will be cheering for Italy. Brexit all over again.

(Little disclaimer: the English football team itself and their head coach, Gareth Southgate, do seem decent.)

Isolation

A no-deal Brexit is looming on January 1st and on the highways here in The Netherlands, on the ferry routes from England, I saw these signs the other day…

Now in addition, with a new Corona virus strain in the UK appearing, the EU is blocking all travel from the UK and the UK is more isolated now than ever. In our family group chat my brother in London feels more locked in than ever. “For now, we’re not coming off the island” he is saying, accompanied by some dramatic smilies. My aunt replied with “The UK is now completely cut off! Very radical (as in painful). Be careful.”

For the more cynical amongst us, I guess Brexit has started early and it’s heartbreaking to see the UK become even more isolated from their neighbours now that even all goods have been halted at the borders. I hope something can be done, it was already going to be very difficult with (no-deal) Brexit, these new bans make it even more impossible. I hope my brother, niece and friends and readers in the UK will be OK. All of them/you are very much in my thoughts.

As for this new corona virus strain, which is even more infectious than the original virus, it has also been detected in The Netherlands. So far, reports say that only two people in Amsterdam (one of whom had not been to the UK recently) have been diagnosed with it. We are already in strict lockdown (no curfews as yet, but in all other aspects it’s strict) until January 19th, I wonder if this new strain will be cause for measures to become even stricter or prolongued here. This past year has already been a year in isolation, I wonder if, despite the vaccinations that are coming, the year 2021 will continue to be the same. The thought is very depressing.

Brexit day today…

… and that makes me so sad! Saw this video cross my Twitter timeline…

A message to Europe, this morning on the White Cliffs of Dover. Sound on. pic.twitter.com/E3VY8BaGjK

— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) January 31, 2020

… and it actually made me cry. I so very much hate that it has come to this!

Brexit protest – will it help?

Been catching up a little with the news again today after I took a small time-out for a few days because it all got a bit much. So, it seems yesterday there was a huge march in London protesting Brexit. Hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million, marched! March 29th as Brexit date is looming (only 5 more days!) and I doubt this protest will change much, but I can only hope. Protest signs last year during the Trump visit were good, signs protesting Brexit yesterday were just as good! As I’ve been reading, I’ve been collecting images. In support of protesting Brexit, here’s a collection of the signs I enjoyed most (click on images to enlarge).

The Revoke Article 50 petition is up to 5 and a quarter million signatures when I checked just now:

(https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584)

… but I doubt that even that will stop Brexit. I don’t think anything will stop it now, unfortunately, but I will keep on hoping.

Remaining Richard

Just before I head to bed (waaaay too late, of course, it’s almost 2 am here now!), I see this header on Richard Armitage’s Twitter page!

Methinks this is his anti-Brexit, pro EU statement. It’s good to see his support for remaining in the EU, I too wish Brexit wouldn’t happen. Only 9 days away now until the Brexit date. We so wonder at our house how this mess will be solved…