Gary Lineker is a wounded patriarch who wants to be loved by the terminally online

Gary Lineker has left the BBC with the kind of fanfare that, had he been less famous and less rich, would not have happened, though he will not admit that to himself. Rather, he would have left in disgrace. Perhaps, once you reach a certain level, there is no such thing as disgrace now.

- BY TANYA GOLD

Football pundits banged him out on X: they talked of his gifts. I have no idea about this. I believe in expertise, and I am no footballer, but he was always soothing to listen to on Match of the Day. Others — not football pundits, those who should know better — banged him out too. Jeremy Corbyn led them. He called Lineker “the face of humility, warmth and decency” and “a man to be celebrated”. The insinuation is: Lineker, so golden, was betrayed.

This is how liberal societies collapse, not thrive: by destroying the institutions that protect them, and obliviously. That he shared a social media post about Gaza that included a cartoon rat (and that it was a cartoon was typical) was unforgivable. The rat means terror to Jews because it indicates we are an infection to be purged for the common survival of humanity. It was unforgivable by anyone, let alone someone with a high profile, and with such notorious goodness.