The political question of this week is how the English feel about Europe. I say “English” rather than “British” because the 54 million English who make up 84 per cent of the UK’s population are more likely than Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish to vote to leave the European Union in Thursday’s referendum. It’s often said that the English — even those who will vote “Remain” — are overwhelmingly Eurosceptic. However, football reveals a more confused and surprisingly warm English-European relationship.
本周的政治問題是,英格蘭人對歐洲有何感覺。我用“英格蘭人”而不是“英國人”,是因為在周四有關是否脫離歐盟(EU)的公投中,與蘇格蘭人、威爾士人和北愛爾蘭人相比,占英國總人口84%的英格蘭人更有可能投票脫歐。人們經(jīng)常說,英格蘭人——即便那些投“留歐”票的英格蘭人——絕大多數(shù)是歐洲懷疑論者。然而,足球運動揭示了英格蘭人和歐洲人之間更為含混不清、親密得出人意料的關系。