Dalrymple reacts to press coverage of the recent death of the Dutch footballer, Johan Cruyff:
The hyperbole no doubt truly reflects the regime of bread and circuses under which we live. In one of at least three articles (other than an obituary) published about him, a Guardian writer said that Cruyff’s football was ‘from another [and presumably better] planet.’ The headline of one the articles read ‘Cruyff, the father of the modern game who also shaped Dutch culture.’ The question that was not asked was what kind of cullutre it could be that could be shaped by a mere footballer.