I don't know about praying, but I was certainly hoping England would lose against Slovenia and not go through to the final 16. Not because I object to entertainment, but because I can't find any entertainment in staring at some blokes kicking a bit of leather about for an hour and a half. Not a value judgement, just a personal thing. The only interesting thing I've found is what it says about nationalism, and what the Prime Minister flying the England flag over Downing Street says about the Union. I fully accept that the majority of people would find the Constitutional arrangements of the UK as boring as I find the World Cup.
I don't have an ideological objection, though. I thought
this was bloody pathetic, and that's coming from a socialist who hates football. I can understand the argument that we shouldn't focus on entertainment because it's a distraction and we should focus on what we think is really important (religion, socialism, whatever-ism, family, etc...). But that doesn't take into account the fact that we're human. No-one can dedicate every waking minute to any one thing, no matter how passionately they believe in it. It would be boring and exhausting. If this pastor can honestly say he
never does/reads/watches anything not related to his chosen ideology, then good for him...though I'd be concerned for his sanity.
My local has produced a TV out of nowhere; the people in the flat upstairs started watching it loudly. Nowhere is safe from this tedium. Actually, it's only half an hour on the train to Wales...I could lay low in Swansea for a bit.
I'm sure England will lose to Germany, anyway, and I can safely go outside again.
