21 July

Read British journalism when England is doing well in sport, and you get a window into the psychology in play there now. ‘Little Britain’ as some call it. Desperately clinging to old ideas of empire and world domination, and terrified (rightly) that the actual reality of their lives is a long way from that. Every tiny victory in whatever area of life is celebrated as if it affirms everything the country lost long ago. At some point there’ll be a reckoning, when Brits recognise they’re a tiny nation now with only a huge attitude. It’s embarrassing to watch. Meanwhile in Australia, who were always ever only the arse-end of this same long-gone empire, we have nothing at all to fall back on, not even the imperial history. Our politics of the past century pretended we were still a leading edge of that empire, and turned us into a quarry for smart countries instead. Now we have the opportunity to actually become a world superpower through our energy and mineral resources (which previous governments gave away), the old imperial salute the flag bullshit still exerts itself, telling us all that we’re better off doing nothing. The empire must die.