Is anyone else as amused as me by the confusion of the PC classes over the Ferdinand/Terry kerfuffle? For the masses, the question of whether one can call a black man a f****** black c*** in an ironic or sarcastic way, while remaining a right-on non-racist seems somewhat less-than-pressing. 

For the theologians of the Left however this is not funny. You may giggle with me at the earnest tone of the linked article in English Pravda, but this stuff really matters to them. To the rest of us, their interest in such fiddling with language while New Rome burns merely exposes their lack of substance. They need to set groups of us against each other, the better to build their power. Such is their continued focus on dividing that they fail to notice the nation they thus seek to rule is circling the economic plughole.

A society whose intellectuals agonise over the heated exchanges of the thoughtless going on mindless may truly be said to have failed. Rough young men play football. Rough young sportsmen - black and white - can be uncouth and vulgar. Their speech is not - at times - quite as delicate as your maiden aunt might wish. None of that matters. Least of all the football. If you enjoy the pomposity of the Guardian, you are going to love the self-importance of the F.A. - an organisation whose actual importance is coded into its everyday name. It will speak next on this topic and I promise you the only well-adjusted response will be to giggle.

My favourite manager would disagree of course. He once said. "Football's not a matter of life and death. It's far more important than that." Were he here today, he would give all actors in this farce a tongue-lashing that would make their expletives seem tame. And then he would get back to the game.