The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

The New Statesman Alternative World Cup Wallchart

Still not sure who to cheer for in the World Cup? Help is at hand.

By Jon Bernstein Published 10 June 2010 10:15

If the prospect of 64 games of football across 31 days is leaving you bemused, confused or simply uninterested, let us help you through it with our ethical take on the World Cup. All 32 teams are graded by the following criteria, letting you make the right choice:

Peace
Green credentials
Press freedom
Quality of health care
Stability

You can download our World Cup Wallchart by clicking on the link below.

Download the chart (PDF).

(We're not the only ones to have given the World Cup an ethical twist. Check out this rather fine online effort from the World Development Movement.)

Special subscription offer: Get 12 issues for £12 plus a free copy of Andy Beckett's "When the Lights Went Out".

Tags: World Cup 2010

More from Jon Bernstein

View the discussion thread.

11 comments

Fri, 2010-06-11 00:34 — jie4v7i14

I take it that Englands' Peace Index is based on last years figures, pre-Cleggeron?

Fri, 2010-06-11 11:12 — sunderkatwala

The Alternative Guide seems to end up mostly promoting support for the right-of-centre nations of Europe - France, Italy, Germany, England, Denmark and so on (along with Spain and Portugal). The Staggers have shown themselves to be enemies of the people, and splitters!

The People's Front of Next Left recommends support for leftist governments, such as Lula's Brazil, Kirchner's Argentina, Zapatero's Spain and indeed Barack Obama's United States of America! Today, we support South Africa v Mexico and then Uruguay against the running-dog Sarkozy of France.

More here
http://www.nextleft.org/2010/06/thinking-blogs-guide-to-world-cup.html

And the full leftie group guide
http://www.nextleft.org/2010/06/next-lefts-2010-world-cup-guide.html

Thu, 2010-06-10 11:18 — swatantra

Looks like it'll have to be Slovenia. Slovenia? Where is it?

Thu, 2010-06-10 14:52 — Paul Crowley (not verified)

That was in reference to the Daily Mail letter of today covered in Tabloid Watch. There was a link, which your comment system removed without warning.

A comment system that removes vital context from my words silently, without warning, and in a way I can't edit and makes me look like a racist, not so good.

Thu, 2010-06-10 14:01 — Chris (not verified)

Nice idea, but does anyone really believe that we won't all just cheer for our own country and hope everyone else loses? And when we're not playing, it's nice (but hopefully not patronising) to cheer on the underdogs, which I'd define as those who aren't rich like the US, and where a win would really mean something to that country, like when Cameroon beat France. (Actually that does sound a bit patronising. But hey, it's only a bit of fun. Isn't it?)

Thu, 2010-06-10 14:50 — Paul Crowley (not verified)

Where is Bongo Bongoland?

Thu, 2010-06-10 15:01 — mittiehpr

Paul, I got the reference (and didn't think you were a racist). All the same, sorry the link went missing.

http://twitpic.com/1vic82

Thu, 2010-06-10 15:04 — Jake (not verified)

Surely measuring green credentials by CO2 emitted is a bit simplistic; just because a state doesn't have the capacity to emit great amounts of CO2, doesn't really make it any 'greener' does it?