Gary Lineker talks about choosing the right pair of glasses
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
The heat rose for Gary Lineker, believed by many to be football’s best striker of all time, after the conversation turned to a very different kind of strike and whether it should be imposed on Russia for “war crimes” against neighbouring Ukraine. The 61-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur star found himself bombarded with messages telling him to save his critiques for the world of football.
All those trillions spent on a so called nuclear deterrent. Madness!
Gary Lineker
“All those trillions spent on a so called nuclear deterrent. Madness,” he mused in a now-deleted tweet mocking Britain’s war policies amid the attacks on Ukraine.
However, chief economist Ian Shepherdson, who has over 21,000 followers on Twitter to Gary’s 8.3 million, delivered a mocking swipe back to him.
Targeting his history advertising Walker’s Crisps on TV, he quizzed: “Which nuclear-armed country has been invaded by Russia?
“Stick to the football and crisps Gary.”
READ NOW: Julia Bradbury bids farewell to followers with important warning
Gary was unconvinced that the threat should be played down, shooting back: “None yet…let’s hope things don’t escalate.”
Keeping his cool, he added: “One question: why is it ok for you to have an opinion as a microeconomist but I can’t as a former footballer?”
Ian responded: “Macro, not micro. Big picture stuff. I wasn’t giving my opinion, I was asking you a question in order to point out the absurdity of yours.
“To put it another way, do you think Russia would have invaded if Ukraine still had its nukes?”
Gary replied: “Now you’re asking my opinion, having told me to stick to football. Extraordinary. Good day.”
“I was more suggesting that you should revisit your first opinion. But if you want to double-down, be my guest,” his detractor swiped back before adding: “Enjoy your crisps, I’m going skiing.”
“Haha, you clearly take yourself very seriously with that correction. Then to say ‘you’re off skiing’… beyond parody,” Gary wrote.
Other tweeters waded into the debate in an attempt to calm the waters, with @Adrianfstrain urging: “More debate. Less rudeness.”
However, responding to both, @jimi_starski taunted Ian by saying: “I would say you’re pretty micro mate.”
Meanwhile, @BaszkoM quoted “Macro, not micro. Big picture stuff”, then hit back: “Yet you come with the small-d**k energy.
Then @iandstone jumped in to argue: “If there’s one time to have a nuclear deterrent, it’s when there’s a madman in charge of a country with nukes, which is what we have right now. I have no idea whether this argument holds water.”
“Neither do I,” Gary wrote, “but the possibility of a madman being in charge of nukes is the exact reason why nukes should never have been allowed to exist, surely?”
Former politician and soldier HenryBoltonOBE swept in with another crushing swipe, telling him: “Stick to football, Gary.
“You clearly don’t grasp how a nuclear deterrent works, what it is meant to deter, and know nothing about strategic military matters.”
Clearly believing that ignorance would be bliss if it meant he was wrong and the situation was less serious than he feared, Gary shrugged off the insult with a simple: “I hope you’re right.”
He added: “A madman with nukes worries me though.”
Gary has since deleted the tweet that originally sparked the controversy, explaining: “It was too ambiguous & therefore misinterpreted.
“To be clear it was a general wish that nukes didn’t exist anywhere.
“They may have stopped wars, although hypothetical, thus far, but it only needs one madman to launch one, & we’re all screwed.”
Source: Read Full Article
