Euros Have Shown We Are A Nation At Ease With Itself

'It's about the spirit that brought us together through the pandemic'

- Stephen Pollard

RARELY has George Orwell’s observation that England is “the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality” been truer than during the Euros. For the vast majority of us, the past month has been a festival of football that we have embraced with joy – with the England team capturing our hearts.

We may have lost at the final hurdle on Sunday, but that doesn’t detract from the rekindling of love for the team – and the pride so many of us now feel in it. Truly, the nation has come together to celebrate the passion, the flair and the grit of those wearing the Three Lions shirt – and to admire the calm, poise and thoughtfulness of Gareth Southgate.

Well, almost. On Sunday night, after the shoot-out, Will Hutton – one of the country’s most prominent and successful “public intellectuals” – shared his thoughts with the nation. Why did England lose? You and I might think it was because we couldn’t manage to beat Italy in 120 minutes of football.

For Mr Hutton, however, it was because “Too much overhype from our wildly jingoistic press sat on our team’s shoulders like a stone depressant. Italy capitalised on it – congratulations. We are too needy of success: a national psychosis.”