In recent days, I’ve been cutting down on my consumption of BBC Radio. I think that it’s incumbent upon the responsible citizen to keep themselves informed so they can participate in democracy, but I’m increasingly unsure that listening to Today or Good Morning Scotland or The World At One or PM is a good way to do that. Particularly now Eddie Mair has moved on.

BBC asking if fascist Bolsonaro – whose rise, many have commented, was facilitated by frequent & normalising media appearances – is 'a refreshing break from political correctness'. (Tweet now deleted). pic.twitter.com/bxHWH6wU9e

— Edward Anderson (@edanderson101) October 29, 2018

Stick with me – there’s fitba and a bangin choon at the end of this one
Check the Apoplexy Tiny Letter for a soundtrack to keep you going to the bottom of the page.

Here‘s Nick Robinson defending Today’s interview with Ann Coulter at the end of last year, wherein she defends Donald Trump’s retweet of the deputy leader of a British fascist organisation. And here‘s a recent report on Today shedding around a tenth of its listenership in the past year.

So it was a relief to hear a truly lovely piece of radio from one of Aunty’s well-paid presenters a few days ago. Gary Lineker – former England captain, their highest scorer in World Cups, winner of the Golden Boot at Mexico ’86, and European Cup Winners’ Cup winner with Barcelona – was asked to share his reaction to the death of Leicester City FC owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha this past weekend on the 606 call-in programme.

People ask me ‘What is the greatest sporting moment of your life?’ It is Leicester winning the league [over twenty years after Lineker retired].

I have played lots of sport and lots of World Cups but nothing matched that. It made me cry and still cry now. That wouldn’t have been possible without Vichai.

He was choking up as he related the story, and for a second, my faith in football was restored. One might have thought that Aberdeen‘s victory over Rangers in the Scottish League Cup semi-final on Sunday would have done that already. I’m tired of Scottish football, though.

100% this. I’d like to inculcate in the wee man the dubious joys of Scottish fitba, but why would I teach him to accept abusive behaviour from a bunch of #SPFL or #SFA wallopers? I’d rather teach him self respect. #BetfredCup https://t.co/qmAngmyHsT

— Ricky Monahan Brown (@ricky_ballboy) September 29, 2018

We don’t have time to dwell on the myriad failures of the Scottish Professional Football League or the Scottish Football Association. Like, seriously. We only have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe.

But since we’re here…. Only in Scotland’s Mafia-like football establishment could it be controversial that the two teams in a cup final get an equal split of the tickets for the game.

Aberdeen demanding 50-50 split of tickets for Betfred Cup final with Celtic at Hampden https://t.co/4a9hBdDgX5 pic.twitter.com/AbwMqIGclo

— EveningExpress Sport (@ee_sport) October 29, 2018

Still, don’t worry if you can’t get a ticket to a big game at the much-derided national stadium, there’s always Aunty to… Oh. Hold on.

Wonder why @BBCSportscene just aired without showing highlights of today’s two massive league cup semis ? Because £350M is raised from Scottish TV licences and only £85M is spent on Scottish content. That’s why.

— Christopher McEleny (@ChrisMcEleny) October 29, 2018

At that rate the BBC’s best-paid star, Gary Lineker, could probably pay for every Scottish professional game to be played in his back garden. Although as Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said of rivals Everton –

If that shower were playing down the bottom of my garden, I’d close the curtains.

I wouldn’t begrudge Gary his salary, though. He comes across as a good guy who tends to talk sense regarding the matters of the day – as if that should be part of the job description.   And just as goes for footballers – for example, Gary in his days at Barca or Grampus 8 – he’s strictly speaking one of the workers, not an owner of the means of production.

Shankly, as befits a man who grew up in a small Ayrshire mining community in the first half of the twentieth century, knew a bit about how the world works as well as being funny as hell.

Which brings us back to Brazil. Newly-elected President Jair Bolsonaro has spoken nostalgically about the country’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship and has promised to fill his government with current and former military leaders.

Blog idol Sócrates (Brazilian footballer, captain of the seleção and national hero ) had a different take.

I guess there must have been something about the way he saw football that was similar to Shankly’s vision. I wonder if Sócrates’ training as a medical doctor might have contributed to his worldview as well.

You know, a bit like training in jurisprudence and then living through the experience of how luck can alter a life as a stroke survivor…

STROKE KLAXON!!! We got there in the end!