EURO 2012

LIKE A GOOD MANY PARENTS, I am indulging my younger son in his desire to collect the Panini stickers to be inserted into his album of the Association Football national teams involved in the forthcoming UEFA Nations Challenge Cup competition, this year held in the unitary state of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland.

THE MAIN REASON BEHIND my attitude is somewhat like my approach to having had him baptized; it is a matter of social insertion. The youngsters at his schools collect these badly-photographed stickers of footballers who will never play in the final competition, as well as omitting some who will, and the exchange of “swaps”, with the ensuing bargaining process, will bring him into contact with the basic rules of capitalism. Or so I had thought.

ON THE ONE OCCASION when he took a similar album to school he returned minus most of the “star” players from the teams of Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United. I, shocked, pointed out that this was not the intention of the game. “I gave them,” he told me, “to other children. Who needed them.”

IF THIS IS THE SORT OF COMMUNISM allowed to go unchecked in our schools nowadays then I can easily see why our countries are on the road to ruin, which brings me to the real “Euro 2012”.

IN THE FUTURE, when one refers to this competition, “Euro 2012”, the term will be clouded in acknowledgement to the events of 2012 which led to the debasement of and ultimate eradication from our collective shopping experience of the chirpy “Euro” as a spendable monetary issue.

IT IS MORE OR LESS COMMON knowledge now that Germany is having Deutschmarks printed in secret at mints in Switzerland, Greece is producing new Drachmae, Portugal is soon about to come forth with a totally new currency, still shrouded in secrecy, and that the Euro is doomed, but for many people the “Euro” may still be saved.

AND THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN HAPPEN is if the England team play to the best of their abilities, thrashing all those in their way and managing (I do not know the logistics of the competition) to come face to face with Germany in one of the later stages of the tournament. The toss-up before the game, which could easily be the final tie, should be over whether Germany accepts the free market economy or the United Kingdom leaves Europe altogether. And then it will probably go to penalties. (My photo shows England warming up before the European Union)