England’s Favourite Drug: Nostalgia
No other country enjoys looking at its history through rose tinted glasses.
Nostalgia is England’s greatest drug. On Wednesday, England did the unthinkable — defeating Denmark at the semi-finals of the European championships. This win meant that England would be playing in the finals of a major competition since 1966, when it defeated Germany —its vanquished foe, during the second world war — to emerge victorious at the world cup.
For those who have a scintilla of knowledge of England, its culture, its history, geography and politics, they will readily appreciate the role of sport (football and cricket)in public life, since the decline and fall of the British empire.
The victory against the Germans at the 1966 world cup was a vindication of everything that it stood for; its history, its exceptionalism, its self esteem, its cultural superiority to its militaristic neighbours (also referred to the Huns), at a time when the crown jewel of its empire — India, had become independent and vast swathes of countries in Africa were following suit.
Its failure to match its only sporting success, whether at cricket — one remembers the countless thrashings as the hand of the Aussies in the Ashes series — or at football — successive years of disappointments in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s easily come to mind — usually…