Football Trial

May I be on the jury that will hear the case of John Terry? Please?

By all means let him, er, take one for the team. Football has had this coming for a long, long time. Who better than "the Captain of England", pompously so styled as if he were a Head of State, or at least a clan or tribal chief?

I do not want to deprive people of the pleasure that they deprive of this activity, even if that pleasure is always going to be lost on me. But I do want it put back into a proper perspective within our culture as a whole. And I do want it made worthy of the people who have traditionally provided its support base, and who very often, even if inexplicably, still loyally think of themselves as such.