IRONY AND PRIORITY..

I often think there should be a Day of National Irony. Heaven knows, we have enough to be ironic about and, as a nation, we`re quite good at it. So, at the risk of perpetuating the trauma by commenting once more on the `performance` of the England football team at the World Cup, they have at least made a telling contribution to the national gift for world class irony.

It`s reported today that the England players, among them Michael Dawson pictured above, visited an orphanage in South Africa this morning.
"It's so good to put a smile on the faces of people constantly struggling and facing the impossible" said Jamal Umboto aged 6.

And in a way which is perhaps even more ironic and certainly more representative of the national sense of priority, we are in danger of paying scant regard to the fact that today we suffered our 300th loss in the Afghanistan conflict, whilst most eyes are focussed on the World Cup, Wimbledon and tomorrow`s emergency budget. Perhaps, after all, rather than a Day of National Irony, we should be having a Day of National Priority.