Its amazing. One little flurry on twitter and Gary Lineker has started a veritable shit-storm of hate (right wingers), support (left wingers), vitreol, (home secretaries), venom (home secretaries) and those eager to ‘moron-match’ his original message (more home secretaries). And this is a problem now on sooooooooooo many levels.

There’s freedom of speech, content of speech, BBC impartiality, the contractual obligations of ‘freelancers’ and whether they are perceived as being ‘BBC’ just because they’re on match of the day every week and there’s issues of smugness and these are, in this context, unique to Mr Lineker.

Gary supported the right of refugees to arrive here in boatloads and resents the government for trying to stop such occurrences. Well, as long as Lineker can be proved to be ‘human’ then he has a right here to ‘free speech’. As to the question of whether he ‘represents’ the BBC by every inane and misplaced tweet, personally I don’t think he does. I read his stuff and think ‘Gary Lineker is a smug tosser’ and NOT ‘the BBC are smug tossers’. So case proven. Furthermore, he is not a news reader. He presents the football. And thus invokes the ‘presumption of imbecility’ which such a profession fosters. In much the same way that Gary Neville does NOT represent Sky TV when airing his similar brand of smug, ill-informed pseudo-millionaire-leftism, just because that’s where he lives.

The other issue was comparing Britain 2023 with ‘1930s Germany!!!!’

The 1930s was a big decade in Germany. Possibly stretching about 75 years in ‘real time’. So, obviously, if Gaz was referring to the worst genocide in all of history, he’s in the wrong decade and miles off the mark. Whereas if he referred to Hitler’s earlier keenness to encourage ‘Jews and other undesirables and race diluters’ to leave the Fatherland free for blue-eyed blonde Aryans to roam free and procreate into THE MASTER RACE!!!!, then that’s also different.

Suella Braverman’s immediate leap to defend ‘the holocaust’ was at least misplaced too, using a nuclear response and politicising that tragedy for her own purposes.

Lineker’s a tosser, we all know that. And now he’s been… suspended. Which becomes really important. Football is much too important to be affected by the whims of politicians. How can I watch my program without Alan Shearer? He’s stood down in protest. Along with Ian Wright and all the others making a stand for… whatever this is really all about (see above).

I may boycott MOTD too!!! But only if Spurs lose (HEAVEN FORBID!!!!) because I never watch it when they lose. But this time it would be a different way of not watching it.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx