Banning rainbow logos on armbands, shirts and hats is dictatorial bigotry from FIFA and the Qatari regime.
Where are the full-blooded denunciations of this tyranny from Downing Street?
Why isn’t the UK Government standing up for all England and Wales supporters?
Why isn’t Foreign Secretary James Cleverly championing the right of our country’s citizens to express themselves and support others?
Ministers are letting us down, terrified of upsetting an oppressive Gulf state – one that sells us gas and buys our weapons, by the way.
In a very odd speech, FIFA President Gianni Infantino tried to defend the organisation but he can’t hide the fact that the beautiful game’s rulers commit, or comply with, ugly acts.
Dictators worried about rainbow armbands deserve to lose – both off the pitch and on.
Zero Marks
Tory Transport Secretary Mark Harper needs to roll up his sleeves and negotiate a deal to end the train strikes.
With another wave of stoppages threatened in the run-up to Christmas and in the first week of the new year, it must be his priority.
Harper needs to recognise that it takes two sides to compromise and reach a deal.
Knee-jerk blaming of Mick Lynch, the RMT union and workers themselves overlooks the fact that industrial action is also a failure of management – in this case an industry tightly controlled by the Conservative Government across much of Britain.
The same applies to the National Health Service, Royal Mail and Civil Service.
The write idea
The internet is a quick and easy way of staying in touch and we wouldn’t want anyone to stop doing that.
But it doesn’t compare to the relationship struck up by two pen pals brought together by the Daily Mirror in the 1950s, and still writing.
The combination of pen, paper, and postie creates a unique rapport you can’t feel online.
