Winning! And hoping!

So Murray has won Wimbledon and British cyclists are doing well in the Tour de France. Thank goodness we can do something well. 

 On Sunday night we watched Portugal beat France in the final of the European Cup. I actually found myself being rather impressed by Cristiano Ronaldo. I am not a great follower of football but that young man had always struck me as a bit too fond of himself, "up himself" as they sometimes say around here, "presumido" as the Spanish say. Yet on Sunday night, having been injured during the first half, there he was as his team went into extra time, going round and talking to each team member, a sensible, encouraging team captain. And it must have been hard not to be on the pitch when his team won but he was as delighted as if he had scored the winning goal himself. Good for him! Add to that the fact that some of the pundits expected the team to fall apart without him but they carried on and won: a proper team not just the support act for one star! 

Meanwhile, England is looking for a new manager. Sam Allardyce, formerly of Bolton Wanderers, and other places, is about to be interviewed for the job. He's been interviewed before but didn't get it and is said to be a bit peeved about it. “I wanted to do a real knock-your-socks-off interview for the FA, so I put together a PowerPoint which looked at every single detail,” he wrote in his autobiography. “There was nothing missing. Nobody but nobody was going to beat it. But then Brian Barwick, the chief executive, told me there were no PowerPoint facilities at the interview venue, so I had to print off hard copies for the panel. So much for the progressive FA.” 

Such things happen. Maybe he'll be more successful this time. 

Of course, all of is stuff is just a bit of bread and circuses, taking our minds off the chaos that is around in the political world. Not just here but all over the place. I was reading about another new party springing up, this time in France. It is called "En Marche", set up by a young man called Emmanuel Macron, until now of no party but boosted from presidential advisor to economy minister in France's socialist government. "En Marche", described as being of neither the right nor the left, was launched in April and has gained 50,000 members since then. 16,000 volunteers, called "marcheurs", are going round knocking on doors asking people what they feel works and what they feel doesn't work in their country. 

Will he stand for president? Who knows? But maybe a refreshing change in these rather dismal times. 

No comments about our new, soon to be lady PM.