The daddy-longlegs who is all an English hero should be

Photo sent in by Conor Devlin.

Peter Crouch may not have slain any dragons, but he is a brighter national symbol than the flag of St George.

Please, enough of the flag. Flying it may be xenophobic, moronic, nationalistic, passionate or tasteless according to your point of view, but the argument is circular and certainly boring. St George needs to be dispatched kindly but firmly to the substitutes' bench as we find a bright new national symbol to unite England this World Cup tide. And yes, in a 6ft 7in striker from Cheshire, we have one.

Bring on Peter Crouch, a 25-year-old daddy-longlegs of a footballer, all limbs and digits and goalscoring nous. He is an outsider who suddenly finds himself to be a near-certain England World Cup substitute and who may even make Sven's starting lineup. He shoots, he scores, he does robotic dancing for Prince William - what more do you want? Continue Reading...