The World Cup and World Peace

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Wed 12th Jun 2002

As I write this, I don't know whether we're all going to be in mourning or celebrating wildly over the England team's performance in the first round of the World Cup.

I do know that something is going on out there, which we politicians should take note of. It's an extraordinary exercise in International Relations with enormous peace-making potential. Think about it – half the Swedish team plays in the English premier league.

Many of the African nations' players play in Europe too. Then there are all those Japanese fans with their faces painted in the colours of England and Ireland.

It's a great mixing of nations in which people of many different countries are getting together for a huge celebration – not just of football, but of their common humanity. I find it really inspiring. You don't get an atmosphere like that at the average summit.

There's got to be a lesson here somewhere – a better way to get people to work together for world peace. If only we could bottle the essence of the World Cup, we could export it to Kashmir, to the Middle East, or even, lest we forget, to Belfast.