On the contrary, he deserves admiration for speaking out against a naked injustice, for taking a stance that required him to "step back" from presenting Match of the Day while he and the BBC worked out what he is, and is not, allowed to say on social media.
True, he deployed the wrong analogy: the Conservative government's policy and language on refugees are foul, but they are not a match for either the policy or language of "Germany in the 30s", as he tweeted. When the home secretary, Suella Braverman, speaks of desperate people as an "invasion" she dehumanises them, and that is appalling enough - but even in the earliest stages of the Nazi dehumanisation of the Jews, both the words and the deeds were worse.
Lineker erred by making the one comparison that makes this government look less bad than the alternative. In the process, the culture war machine cranked itself up to full heat, thereby diverting attention from what matters. Because every minute we are talking about Lineker is a minute looking away from the actual villain: this cruel and useless government and its reprehensible plan to mistreat refugees.
Practically, legally and morally, it is a disgrace. The proposed new legislation would, in the words of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, "amount to an asylum ban - extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the UK for those who arrive irregularly, no matter how genuine and compelling their claim". Some may read that and think the obvious solution is for genuine refugees to arrive "regularly". The trouble is, for most people seeking asylum in the UK, no such route exists.
This story is from the March 17, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the March 17, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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