Dissolution and unification

After his run-in after an off-the-cuff private remark reported by a newspaper which claims to be pro-monarchy but like all its other principles would throw them on the fire of naked profit-making, Prince Charles has been caught up in another brou-ha-ha over expressing opinions to government ministers more than a decade ago.  Goodness me, the republicans are scraping the barrel.
The Guardian amusingly thundered ominously about Charles' 'constitutional threat' focusing on his desire for more grammar schools (the bête noire of the paper), carefully skirting his desire for a greater governmental commitment to climate change and the environment (cherished ideals of the paper).  Hypocrisy reigns in more than just the tabloids.
Of course, The Guardian would like to see the United Republic of England, Wales and (maybe) Northern Ireland and any chipping away it can do to achieve this aim, it will do.  At the World Cup, fissiparous countries draw strength from a united team effort.  Sadly, neither Bosnia-Herzegovina or Côte d'Ivoire went deep into the tournament and Nigeria's adventure was cut short, falling at the first hurdle of the knockout stages, as was the case for Algeria, despite strong defiance against tournament favourites from these latter two.  Belgium is a land perennially on the cusp of break-up and though their 'golden generation' has flattered to deceive so far, they are through to the quarter-finals with a strong chance against an average Argentina to make the semi-finals. The USA is also a divided realm over Association (Assoc - soccer) Football with some passionate supporters ranged against fervent critics.  Those opposed to football in the US seem to view it as a foreign contagion brought by immigrants and thus these kind of snobbish people tend to hail from the tolerated far right in American discourse.  It would nice to have seen these people trumped and sidelined had the USA made significant progress, say, to the semi-finals (their team wasn't good enough to go further) and had they overcome Belgium yesterday, Argentina would not be a fear in the quarter-finals so reliant is the South American side on Messi to raise them above the ordinary (as was the case with Neymar and Brazil and, briefly, Suárez and Uruguay).  Colombia is another country wracked by civil division over decades yet they have to be dark horses for the tournament - better than Brazil and I think they can get the beating of either France or Germany; in the final, they will probably face the Dutch and what a glorious footballing extravaganza that will be.