Today in The Australian English academic Neil Clark asks why English cricket is so "astonishingly bad" and offers up some reasons as being:
an unholy alliance between right-wing Thatcherites and politically correct loony leftists who dominated the British political landscape at a national and local level for much of the 1980s
Apparently because in trying to rebuild England after the excesses and union craziness of the 70's:
the Thatcher government, ideologically obsessed with cutting public spending regardless of the social cost, directed local education authorities to sell off their sports and playing fields to raise revenue
Also proffered is the contribution of Britain's looney left:
For these political correctness pioneers, all competitive sport was bad because it inevitably led to some people winning and others losing. And that would never do in a world where we should not only start equal but finish equal too, regardless of our particular skills or aptitudes. In council after council where they held control, the loony Left erased all competitive sports from the curriculum, and in doing so deprived millions of largely working-class children of the opportunity of participating in school sports
Sounds a bit like the Cain/Kirner gang. Failure bad. VCE good. No-one fails. But I digress. Clark also cites Tony Blair's government as being culpable:
In the aftermath of the 1997 general election, though, it did look as if sanity would finally prevail. The Labour Party, after all, had made an unequivocal election pledge "to reverse the Tory policy of forced sell-offs of school playing fields".
Promises, promises. Non-core promises, no doubt. Because:
Under New Labour, school playing fields are being sold off at a record rate of one a week. Rather than reversing Tory policy, Blair has accelerated it.
C'mon down Premier John Brumby. Keep up Kennett's good work. Sorry. Digressing again. And finally:
Our politicians, of all political persuasions, certainly have a lot to answer for.
The last comment that attributes blame to a variety of causes makes Peter "Spanky" Roebuck's comments today seem all the more bitter stupid.
He was asked by Jim Maxwell if he'd read Clark's article and if so whether English cricket's problems really HAD stemmed from Thatcher and looneys. He didn't even have the chance to get to Blair because Spanky didn't give him the chance. Jumping into this lefty riff.:
"Yes of course Thatcher ruined English cricket. In fact she ruined English society as well!."
Thanks for that, Spanky. Stick to the cricket please. I look forward to a generous concession that Tony Blair's ruining England faster.
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