THE UK'S STATUS IN GLOBAL SPORT AND POLITICS

London Mayor Boris Johnson stuck on zip-wire before 2012 Olympics (Telegraph)

London Mayor Boris Johnson, writing in The Telegraph, bemoans England's exit from the Football World Cup and its associations - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/10918666/World-Cup-2014-Come-on-England-dont-force-us-to-reach-for-the-pzzzzzt.html - ".....As any anthropologist will tell you, sport is the imitation of war.....Success or failure in sport conditions national psychology, and football is the global game....There is abundant evidence that sporting victory leads to feelings of well-being and confidence – and confidence, as we all know, can be economically decisive.... 

......Germany seems likely to impose this Juncker geezer on the European commission, in defiance of British wishes. Wouldn’t it have been splendid to whack the ball in the back of Merkel’s net, and beat her team in the World Cup? And why should that seem so totally unthinkable? For the sake of our self-respect and psychological health, we need someone to get a grip on the England football team – and turn them round. Of course it can be done: look at what they did to get Team GB ready for the 2012 Olympics. We need an eight or 12-year plan to rescue our international footballing reputation...." 

What a difference two years can make! Britain was third in the Olympic 2012 medal tally, behind China and the United States, and, perhaps most importantly, ahead of German in fourth place. London Mayor Boris Johnson, despite his ill-fated zip-wire act, was riding high after overcoming the English Riots of 2011 when many countries questioned the suitability of Britain to host the Games in the following year. Yet these turned out to be a success, albeit rather an expensive one whose legacy, sporting and otherwise, has been rather more questionable.

There must also be questions about the political future of London's Mayor, who turned fifty last week. Could he be the figure to rescue Britain's diminished status on the international scene, and resuscitate the spirit of nationhood whatever the outcome of the Scottish Referendum later this year? Or do Boris and "The London Problem" themselves embody some of the very shortcomings of English football? By these, I mean key players whose loyalties lie beyond British shores, and others who are over-paid and under-performing.

Whatever the answer, the next two years are going to be interesting for this country. After the Scottish question, there is the prospect of a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union in 2017.  If the UK votes to leave the EU, this could leave Scotland with the prospect of joining the Euro which might be a better scenario for that country. However, an England, Wales and North Ireland independent of Europe is an altogether less attractive proposition, unless one accepts a certain underlying logic that this territory is in reality already a colony of Boris's birthplace fifty years ago, North America.