Sunday 26 June 2016

Nobody Likes A Bad Loser. I Don't Care.

Nobody likes a bad loser. 'Play up play up and play the game' and 'it's not cricket' are just a couple of sayings that sum up our attitude to sportsmanship.

So, as a very good loser, I should be saying "Well done chaps. I strongly disagreed with you over the referendum but more of you voted leave than remain so, fair do's."

But hang on. Sometimes our anger (and grief) in losing is more than just bad  sportsmanship. Remember this.


Were we wrong to be furious of being cheated out of a place in the World Cup Semi Finals? Of course not. And this?



No wonder the Irish were bloody furious and justifiably so.

But these two incidents were simply sporting events. Totally trivial in comparison to what we are facing today.

On Wednesday I joined in an amicable debate on Facebook with a guy who I like and respect. He stated that, on balance, because of the £350m, he was voting Leave. I asked him where the thread had gone today and he told me that he had deleted it as others were getting very personal. But I assure you that it was there.

So one person was swayed by that £350m claim. So what. Over a million people more voted Leave than Remain. But hang on a minute. I only have a few friends on Facebook - 77 to be precise. If just one of them was influenced by that claim, how many more were similarly influenced?





And don't tell me that it was nothing.


This is not just politics. The Leave side have admitted that this claim was unjustified and drove around in this bus throughout the campaign. Legal, decent honest and truthful? I don't think so.

So. Am I a bad loser? Bloody right I am. And I feel completely justified in being one.

Call me a whinger but these ads would have brought a rebuke from the advertising standards people. This wasn't a football match. This was a life changing political event and one that people deserved to be correctly informed upon. Not a football match.


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