Brace yourselves...

I’ve been meaning to write this for some time.

After last night’s no-confidence vote which saw our hapless leader secure his position as this once fine country’s prime minister, I was more compelled to get this off my chest than ever.

I’m a huge sports fan. Love sport. Follow and listen to a lot of sport-based radio. I follow a couple of football teams, have numerous golfers whose careers I follow with interest and can happily watch or listen to any old waffle regarding the sporting achievements of, well frankly anyone doing anything of any merit in any sport.

I’ve always followed the England football team more than most.

Until recently.

The disappointment of England losing the first major final in 60 years on penalties last year was hard to take. With little to get excited about during a summer without domestic football, I became rather invested in Euro 2021. Five years in the making, thanks to Covid, England had made decent headway under Gareth Southgate’s tenure as manager and were tipped for greatness.

'It’s Coming Home' was played frenetically throughout the tournament exciting even the biggest football skeptic. Car horns were blaring and the old familiar, if slightly maligned St George flag was everywhere as we made our way with ease through the tournament.

Leading up to the final, I had various sports radio stations on for 12 hours a day. People I spoke to in shops would walk by and mutter 'it’s comin’ ‘ome'. The pressure was on. I was excited - scared - thinking that for once in my life I wouldn’t have to spout my usual, specifically coined expression for an England result, “It’s the disappointing inevitability that makes it so inevitably disappointing”. or "It's the inevitable disappointment that makes it so disappointingly inevitable.

Alas, I may as well have had a t-shirt made up with it emblazoned front and back as we very narrowly missed out on the first trophy in over half a century on the final kick of the tournament.

I stormed out of my sister's house livid. I’d invested a lot of time and energy into this and I had nothing, NOTHING to show for my dedicated support.

It’s now 7pm the day after a parliamentary vote of no confidence, England is playing Germany in 45 mins and I couldn’t give a shit.

Boris fucking Johnson has once again wormed his way out of a potentially career-threatening fiasco and, via 211 pitiful party members thinking solely about their own political agenda rather than, as they ought, their constituents and this country, he somehow remains Prime Minister. And potentially for another two years.

Germany is our biggest rival. Throughout history on and off the pitch, England and Germany have fought it out for numerous prizes. We probably share the spoils. For the sake of balance and peace, let’s not delve too deep into that.

How has this toe rag, Johnson ended up in charge of this once great nation? It’s been a cacophony of lies, deceit, cheating, proroguing and worst of all, sniggering at ‘us’ the public, whom HE works for as he slips and slides his way through all of it, coming out the other side with a majority vote.

He has one agenda; himself.

As narcissists go I’d put him one step, and a small one at that, behind Donald Trump. That, I can assure you, Boris is no accolade or compliment.

Through the actions of this one ‘man’, I no longer like, let alone love this country I have called home for 40-odd years.

I am not proud to tell anyone I am English.

I spend a lot of time in France. Thanks to the farce that is Johnson’s Brexit, the people I know and meet across the channel laugh and shake their heads at me.

As soon as I begin my drive back from France and near Calais, I begin to get stressed. Once in the UK I immediately feel anxious and agitated. There’s a queue 20 miles long for lorries to get over the channel. The M20 is ruined. Dover is on its arse. The roads are shit. The shelves are empty, fuel prices are through the roof, the NHS is fucked, we’re at 12% inflation and the rest of the world thinks we’re mad.

And it’s all Boris Johnson’s fault.

Through his lies, corruption, deceit, philandering and conniving with morals and integrity as low as we've seen in any one man this side of the Second World War, I hate this country and when once upon a time I relished the notion of watching my England football team play Germany, I now couldn’t care less.

Thank you, Boris. Thanks for ruining this once great country.