How Britain’s imperial history affects diplomacy today
From our UK edition
If, as the joke goes, war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography, then sport is arguably His way of instructing the British in their own history. The World Cup provoked an outpouring of anti-England sentiment, much of it rooted in the colonial past. An Irish Times article posited that it is “totally fine to hate England during the World Cup”; Union Jack flags were burned in Buenos Aires; and Sinn Fein Senator Chris Andrews announced that he would “support anyone who’s playing England until England isn’t occupying Ireland”. The national curriculum really doesn’t cover history with the colonies in mind “Anyone against England” isn’t new for Andrews’ countrymen; Taoiseach Eamon de Valera sent condolences on the death of Hitler.
