The practical and moral argument that our diversity is our strength has long been made. This team proves it
And so we lost. After the shock and the grief, then, I guess, there is reflection and reckoning. There’s sadness for Gareth Southgate and his squad, who have shown themselves to be brilliant sportsmen with the mental and technical excellence to succeed on the field of play at a rarified level. But we should all be a bit sad today, even those with little or no interest in football. This was about so much more than football.
If we had won, we would have brought home a trophy, had a rollicking great time and even, and this is ludicrous, a day off gifted to us by government. But what seemed more important to me was that this would have been an opportunity for catharsis.
