Well, it's been a hard, at times a vicious campaign chaps, but now the honour befalls to us to welcome back our heroes from foreign shores. These are the brave young men who, on our behalf and with nary a complaint, have confronted and vanquished all threats posed by our european neighbours. Daily, and to a man, they have looked danger straight in the eye and fought the good fight so that we can rest safely in our homes and listen to reports of their successes.

I realise that there have been those in our community, the 'white feathers', who have been campaigning for our nation's withdrawal from the battlefields. Suffice it to say that they must make their own peace with Our Maker. But there can and must be no repeat of Vietnam, when our boys returning from the front were hounded by the mob and deserted in their hour of need by their government. Our welcome this time must be permitted to be a true oupouring of heartfelt gratitude for all they have done, all they have sacrificed for us.

Fellow citizens, no-one can doubt that the Lion of England still roars, that it is still capable of striking terror in the hearts of our foreign enemies. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. It is indeed a sweet and honourable thing to lay down your life for your country. Let us open our arms to our boys who have selflessly been doing so recently.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Answers

Jeremy Paxman writing in The Evening Standard says that the problem is not how can we stop these people going to the tournament, the real trick is how can we stop them coming back?

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000