When indecent populists are challenged by people who are both decent and popular, they realise they’re in danger
It was a sort of ChatGPT version of the BBC’s Match of the Day. It was a highlights package consisting of lowlights. No title credits, theme music, manager or player interviews. No commentary, no sober analysis from Alan Shearer, no hearty cackle from Ian Wright, and, of course, missing in action, the bonhomie and seamless-links-to-VT of Gary Lineker, which brings us to the hero of this tale.
When he tweeted last Thursday that the “ridiculously out of proportion” row over his critical comments on Suella Braverman’s immigration policy was “abating”, he could not have been more wrong. Since the Beeb announced that he’d “taken a step back”, the Lineker debacle has been continuous front-page news.
Hannah Jane Parkinson is a Guardian columnist
