Football cow, the only comment I will make on that sport as the World Cup begins, since I really dislike footie, other than one other comment which is that could BBC Breakfast News please remember they are supposed to report News and put the sport in the sport section??? Sick of football infecting the whole of the part supposed to be taken with actual news when it has its own slot in the programme already. And please, please, BBC, remember this programme is going out to the whole of the UK, not just England, so dial down the sheer overload of St George's flags. Nothing wrong with showing some support but this week was ridiculous - do we really need the weather read by someone sitting in an inflatable chair covered in a giant St George's cross? And just in case that is too subtle they need to stick two more flags in the arms of the chair, then pan over to a barbecue festooned with more...
This isn't an anti-English rant, so don't take it that way, its just that when a UK-wide supposed news programme shoves so many English flags down the viewer's throat inside an hour instead of actual news it is more jingoisism than I can stand - I'd be just as annoyed if it were St Andrew's flags, although strangely enough that never happens on the UK-wide BBC... Not that they are biased in favour over one part of the kingdom than the rest of course... And as someone who can't stand footie I try to avoid the massive amount of coverage the World Cup generates (its even on the history channels today for pete's sake!), but it gets everywhere; like Big Brother or those bloody irritating dance, song and Apprentice programmes I avoid I end up getting the damned things by proxy as they leak into news programmes and papers... Oh well, it gives me more time to dedicate to books and my movie collection I suppose! Hey, BBC, since I will be avoiding most TV for the next few weeks due to your relentless attempt to spoon feed me football and flag waving can I have a rebate on my license fee for the month? Anyway, rant over (sorry, the bloody ads every few seconds with footie themes are bad enough, the Mars Bar guy needs to die with sharp things in his head - I won't be eating Mars for a long, long time now - but the BBC Brekkie News pushed me over the edge yesterday) - now we return you to the scheduled programme of more cows. And before some wag says it in comments, yeah I know I shouldn't have a cow, man :-)
This cow is sporting a nice off-the-shoulder number
Man, I've heard of cowboy builders, but cow builders???
I'm with you on this one, world cup, world cup, every second of every day. Thank god it'll all be over in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even worse, my wife is watching it, so I guess more time up here in my office with the internet is called for.
Our house is a football-free zone. I think it is a plot to rot everyone's brain and distract us from the loss of civil liberties (I bet they sneak through some really dodgy legislation while it's on).
ReplyDeleteLove the cow photos - especially the one with the kilt.
I didn't think your rant sounded anti-English, but one thing I do deplore (even though I hate football) is the way Scottish fans will cheer on any team that is playing againt England, whereas if Scotland are playing, English fans will cheer on Scotland.
Also there was a shop in Perth when I lived there that refused to accept English five pound notes. Funnily enough, I never shopped there.
But anyway, football is clearly just a way of stirring up anachronistic tribal rivalries. I do the patriotism thing one day in 365 by watching the Last Night of the Proms - a rather better example of British culture methinks. (And they do leave out that dodgy verse of Rule Britannia, too.)
That's nasty about the shop in Perth - especially as so many Scottish folk complain about getting the reverse problem in England (had that myself more than once, refusing to accept Royal Bank of Scotland notes), so they should know better.
ReplyDeleteAnd glad to hear they don't sing the offensive verse, although still not a song I would join in with myself since I prefer waiving rules to ruling waves (besides a certain king once tried ruling the waves literally and look what happened to him silly old Cnut).
Funnily enough I know all the words to Flower of Scotland, but not to any English national songs. I learnt Flower of Scotland before it was decided that it should be the Scottish national anthem, though. Some friends and I once took great delight in singing Flower of Scotland whilst driving over a bridge built by General Wade (since the offensive verse - which come to think of it is actually in God Save the Queen - refers to him crushing rebellious Scots).
ReplyDeleteAt least the shops in England that don't accept Scottish banknotes are doing it out of ignorance and stupidity, not bigotry. I do understand the frustration of the Scots when English people seem to think that Scotland is a small county stuck on top of England, though. But I didn't meet many Scots who knew where Hampshire is, or indeed that the Highland Clearances were mainly perpetrated by Scottish aristocracy.