Cheap Papers Give Rise To Cheap Opinions

It appears I am far from alone (I didn't suspect I was) in the one or two posts I had written viewing England and the English in not always glowing terms. It's nearly five years since I voted with my feet in leaving and it appears little changes.

A Canadian travel writer, Rory MacLean, based in Berlin looked at this in the light of the recent world cup, in this post . He does so with reference to some of the heinous tabloid headlines (these are the ones he could show you) that accompanied the team's glorious draws with a country for which 'soccer' is a kid's game, another country racked by long term internecine strife and a cruel colonial legacy, unconvincing defeat versus another country with a somewhat chequered past, with a population as he puts it of less than Greater Manchester (although since there are 11 a side in a team regardless of the pool of potentials to choose from I often find this particular argument a bit moribund) before finally crumpling as soon as they had to play against anybody any good.

So much for the problem, but what does MacLean think is a possible solution to this malaise (apart from curbing press freedoms after all, which, something tells me, he won't go for)? It's hard to say. However, I will be able to at least try to get some ideas from the source itself in a week or so - I am going on a creative writing course at Tallinn University taken by...Rory MacLean! Will post any relevant feedback...