In an otherwise fine article (sub. req.) in the weekend edition of the Financial Times, the author shows just how deeply socialism runs in the minds of Europeans. The article argued that soccer was becoming a unifying force in European society as nationalist rivalry is being replaced with a broader interest in the sport. (It occurs to me that the argument would apply to the Superbowl in the U.S. as it transcends the sport itself and has become a cultural force even among non-football fans.)

This is ok as far as it goes, but check out this little zinger buried in the story.

The European football championship has become a sort of festival of European harmony that probably deserves funding from the European Union as a large-scale enactment of the pan-European ideal.

I think he is serious. In the print edition they highlighted this statement in a box. How sad it is that people can't even conceive of civil society (and sport represents a big part of civil society) without state funding.

(To be fair, we Americans aren't too pure on this point ourselves what with our stadium funding problems.)