😡😱 OMFG! WTF! How can you say that! What’s that? You’re outraged? Me too! Let’s mount a campaign! Let’s ban stuff!

Not one day goes past without another mob being “outraged” often by something they’ve read or seen on social media. And as we now understand all too clearly – ain’t nothing like social media for whipping up “outrage”.

So as an experiment I thought I’d go to England’s greatest and most revered playwright Mr. William Shakespeare no less to find grounds to be outraged…maybe even to get him banned!

Shakespeare on equality…

Well that’s an easy one – all his female roles were played by men. Case proven. Guilty!

Shakespeare on body shape…

The Comedy of Errors. A conversation between Antipholus and Dromio…

Ant.  What’s her name?

Dro.  Nell, sir; but her name and three quarters, that’s an ell and three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip.

Ant.  Then she bears some breadth?

Dro.  No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe.

Did you hear that? “Spherical! Like A Globe!” Obesity is no laughing matter! Ban him!

Shakespeare on antisemitism…

Well did you see how he portrayed Shylock?

I could go on (gender, slavery, sexism it’s all covered by the Bard) but you get the picture. If you want to be outraged you’ll find lots of stuff out there to keep you fuelled.

Inappropriate

And before anybody says: “But these were Shakespeare’s characters speaking, not the man himself.” Well William S. famously kept his own thoughts to himself thus freeing his characters to speak unhindered by their creator. But how many times have comedians been howled down for “inappropriate” jokes when the gags were clearly meant to be laced with irony? How many times have tweets or Instagram posts meant lightheartedly or ironically created a storm of “outrage”?

Shakespeare? Do we really know what he thought? Let’s ban him! Just in case.

by Mike McCarthy.

Whatever the future holds for our country this is hardly it’s finest hour. It seems that – not for the first time – our destiny is being shaped by political ego.

But standing proud above the gutter politics is that great golden dream of World Cup glory. Hang on! Who am I kidding?

Have I ever braved the cold and the rain to follow my team? Did I ever cry when my footballing heroes failed to lift the cup. The answer to both questions is an emphatic: Nope! I did once take my kids to watch Sheffield Utd but I can’t remember who they were playing.

Truth is – I don’t follow a team. I don’t have any footballing heroes. And to many I’d be classed as a “football fraud”, a Johnny-come-lately gatecrasher.

But my support for the England team is no less real for that. Despite my woeful credentials as a “true fan” I find myself in spasms of disappointment and elation when I watch our national team. I’ve even been drawn into following the non-England matches.

I actually fret about Gareth Southgate when he’s watching England take penalty kicks. I wince when they bring Harry Kane down. I want Danny Rose to be happy.

It all brings back memories of a long car journey I took while listening to Olympic radio commentary of a dressage event. Dressage for goodness sake! Compared to my knowledge of dressage I’m a veritable professor of football. And yet – when Charlotte Dujardin and her horse won gold for Great Britain I let out an instinctive roar that no-one but me could hear on that busy motorway.

So please don’t judge the “part-time” fans too harshly. Patriotism runs through our veins just as forcefully as it does for the full-blooded football supporters. For all of us – this is our England.