"Bobby Robson walked over to us and said 'Don't let me down, there are 30 million people watching this back home', which is not really what you want to be reminded of," Gary Lineker told Newsbeat a few weeks ago.<doc-sep>If you have any appetite for England reaching the World Cup semi-finals, the lesson is clear: it’s your patriotic duty, regardless of personal politics, to keep electing Conservative governments (however narrowly) led by women. That’s the disturbing news for Jeremy Corbyn. Before we come to the worrying news for Theresa May, be reminded that Margaret Thatcher was prime minister the last time England made it to the final four, back in 1990. God appears to be the rarest of creatures in two ways. One is being God, which is unusual in itself. The other is in being a Conservative feminist, which is more unusual by far. When No 10 has a male occupant, he reduces the Three Lions to the 11 scaredy-cats. Paralysed by fear, they give every impression of having met for the first time in the tunnel and never having seen a football before even at school. With a woman in Downing Street, she not only creates a team of leonine fearlessness and agility; she does what she once did for Moses by parting the Red Sea. She clears the path towards the promised land, by removing serious obstacles from the draw. In 1990, England reached the semis by beating Belgium (useful, but nothing like this lot) and Cameroon – the loose equivalent of scraping past Colombia and brushing aside Sweden. And so that worrying news for May. Four months after Chris Waddle ended the idyll by blasting his penalty into the ionosphere above Turin, Thatcher was gone. She blamed her cabinet’s “treachery with a smile on its face”. Then as now, hysterical screeches about betrayal were all the Europhobic rage. The rage persists under a second female Tory prime minister, who begins to look Thatcher’s equal in obduracy terms. If her cabinet thought it was all over for May, it isn’t now. Not yet anyway. After her soft Brexit “triumph” at Chequers, she looks more secure than at any time since 9.59pm on 8 June 2017, seconds before the exit poll announced her Iceland moment. Somehow she had managed to throw away an early lead against opposition regarded as laughably inferior and smugly underestimated. But however crushing a defeat in psychological terms, technically it was a draw. Unlike Roy Hodgson, she didn’t quit on the spot. She hung around for extra time and bribed the DUP. More than a year on, while she still looks as tactically clueless on Brexit as Steve McClaren, you wonder whether her strategy for taking on Brussels is similar to Gareth Southgate’s in the group game against Belgium. Could it be that she is sending out a B team or a C team, given that David Davis wears the captain’s armband, with every intention of losing – or what her hard Brexiteer colleagues see as losing – to narrow the odds against a longer-term victory – a victory, specifically, over the ultras’ semi-nihilistic desire to burn this country on an ideological pyre, as represented by Boris Johnson’s alleged “f*** business” remark? If you still need to gauge the ultras’ poisonous stupidity, I present the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire. A disgrace to the county in which Harry Maguire – may she spare his bones – plays his domestic football. Andrew Bridgen is one of those Tories (Bernard Jenkin, Iain Duncan Smith, et al) to whom screeching about Euro-betrayal is self-aggrandising mother’s milk. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 25 May 2021 York Glaziers Trust employees Kieran Muir (left) and Emily Price (right) remove a stained glass window panel at the start of a new five year, £5m project to conserve York Minster’s South East Transept and its medieval St Cuthbert Window PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2021 Dark rain clouds above an oast house at Bewl Water reservoir near Lamberhurst in Kent during one of the rainiest Mays on record, with the UK seeing 131 per cent of the usual month’s rainfall already PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2021 The Premier League trophy with the Manchester City club colour ribbons on, at Etihad Stadium, prior to the last Premier League match of the season. City will finally pick up the trophy after they won the league on 11 May Getty UK news in pictures 22 May 2021 Gary Kenny lifts the Buildbase FA Vase Trophy after Warrington Rylands won the FA Vase Final against Binfield at Wembley Stadium Getty UK news in pictures 21 May 2021 A family buffeted by the wind whilst crossing the the Millennium Bridge in London, with wind and rain forecast to ravage the UK on the first Friday that people have been allowed to meet in large groups outside in England PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2021 Devon And Cornwall Police Demonstrate Their Skills For Policing The G7 Summit Getty Images UK news in pictures 18 May 2021 An employee stands before a costume for the Queen of Hearts by Bob Crowley on display at the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2021 Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport after the ban on international leisure travel for people in England was lifted following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2021 Emergency workers at the scene of a suspected gas explosion, in which a young child was killed and two people were seriously injured, on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which caused 2 houses to collapse and badly damaged another PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2021 Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards during a demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause as violence escalates in the ongoing conflict with Israel, in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 14 May 2021 Member of staffs tighten screws and paint a Marlin skeleton, before it goes on display at the Natural History Museum in London, as the museum prepares to reopen to the public on 17 May, following the further easing of lockdown restrictions in England PA UK news in pictures 13 May 2021 A worshipper at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Mordon, south London, ahead of Eid al-Fitr. 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PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on London’s Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Women’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near King’s Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin, covered with His Royal Highness’s Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St George’s Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images UK news in pictures 16 April 2021 Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, checks the teeth of "Dentosaurus" during a visit to the Thornliebank Dental Care centre in Glasgow, as she campaigns ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary Election AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 April 2021 Myanmar's former ambassador to the UK, Kyaw Zwar Minn, outside his residence in north west London. The ambassador has been barred from entering the Myanmar embassy in Mayfair after he was removed from office PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2021 People take part in coronavirus surge testing on Clapham Common, south London.<doc-sep>
E ngland are in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 28 years. The last time the Three Lions could boost such was on July 4, 1990. Of the 23 players currently in Russia, 16 were not alive when Bobby Robson's men lost to West Germany on penalties. England had beaten Cameroon in the quarter-finals in Italy - thanks to extra-time and Gary Lineker's two penalties. Most know what happened next, including Paul Gascoigne's tears. It has been almost three decades since those heroics - the last appearance in a World Cup semi-final for the Three Lions until Russia 2018. Here is a snapshot of England in 1990. AFP/Getty Images A little bit of politics Margaret Thatcher had been in charge for 11 years by the time the World Cup in Italy kicked off. She had overseen some testing issues including the Falklands War and clashes with trade unions. However, Mrs Thatcher failed to see the year out and was replaced by John Major in November. AFP/Getty Images I am the music man Elton John is a massive football fan - and he was at number one with the re-released Sacrifice (a double A-side single with Healing Hands). The record spent five weeks at number one in the UK, including when England took on Germany. The best-selling single of 1990 was Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, which leads us nicely into the next section. Film 1990 Ghost, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, was the highest grossing film in 1990 while England were carrying out their Italian job. Other films of note released that year were Home Alone, Pretty Woman and Dances with Wolves (which scooped seven Oscars at the Academy Awards in 1991). Reuters What about the weather? A month after the World Cup finished in 1990 a heatwave hit. A Leicester weather station recorded the highest temperature ever known in Britain of 37.1C (99F) - one degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous record set in 1911. In 2003 Faversham in Kent broke this record with 38.5C (101.3F). Temperatures so far in 2018 have just been topping 30C. Game for a laugh: Beadle with presenters of the show Matthew Kelly, Henry Kelly and Sarah Kennedy Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be...... The popular show Stars In Their Eyes started in 1990 - but not with Matthew Kelly as host. Leslie Crowther was in the hot seat for the first three series.