IT was life-affirming to see someone as senior in British politics as Penny Mordaunt come down to my level last week.

On her feet in the House of Commons, she dismissed Gary Lineker as a “goal-hanger” during her criticisms of his criticisms of the government.

Goalhanger! What a nostalgic cuss! Here was the Leader of the House speaking the language of the playground, taking us back to the early 90s when we had to explain that Ian Wright was better than the then Spurs striker because he could score from further out than six yards.

Now it could be said that the Tories did us all a favour when they triggered the Match of The Day meltdown. Few will have missed the spoon-blunt analysis served up by Alan Shearer. His publicly-funded punditry usually amounts to telling us the great thing we just witnessed was great and that any team that has just won a match has had a great win and the manager is doing a great job at the football club.
He still finds everything unbelievable.

Maybe the Conservatives also believed the unofficial strike by ‘FOOTBALL’ would switch public attention away from widespread industrial action from low-paid public sector workers struggling to get by.

Possibly, but Rishi Sunak and Company need to understand that the one thing you don’t mess around with is the national game.

So while the BBC can stare inwards and outwards and tie itself in knots discussing its own odd governance, eventually Bob Fan – in the street, with the scarf – will follow the thread of this story back to a group of Tory MPs whose offence at being asked to pay a licence fee means they demand heads rolls at any perceived indiscretion. Usually with a ham-boiled quote in the Daily Express.

As it happens, the idea that the BBC is steered by the good old PC Brigade, the north London intelligentsia, the metropolitan liberal elite, the latte suppers, avocados, the wokerati, the wokies, the wokeyrooneys is bemusing when you look at the recent actions of its chairman.

You could also care to look at its long-running choice of Andrew Neil, whose views are probably better known than Lineker’s, to lead its flagship political interviews.

Then there is also Lord Alan Sugar, who can say offensive or politically-charged things on Twitter and his show, The Apprentice – a weekly encouragement for bosses to shout at their employees – is still treated by the BBC as untouchable entertainment. There are other examples but it’s boring to endlessly fret about the Beeb’s impartiality. Either way, what people don’t want is their football taken away.

That’s where a revolution would really begin in this country. Certainly, you wouldn’t want to be the one blamed for its absence from the schedules.