Eng-er-land

One of those days of supposed national pride where everyone from the Queen to the lowliest peasant spends the afternoon glued to the television to watch sweaty men in shorts running around kicking a ball as if it's something that really matters.
I've said before that I cannot understand the popularity of football, however what really needs to be understood is why is it when England are playing in any kind of international tournament people feel the need to fly the flag - an action that at any other time would instantly label them as being racist sexist homophobes who vote for the wrong fucking party and should live in the National Socialist Republic of Greater Barking and Dagenham - and then go on about how great England is, mind you these are almost always the very same people who go on about how crap our government is but aren't prepared to do anything about it.
I am also deeply concerned about the World Cup being held in Germany, not you understand because I have anything against Germany or the people who live there, but because it gives the great British tabloid press the usual opportunities to open old wounds and indulge in a spate of xenophobia.