Polite Denigration

I MUST admit, I did find it rather amusing to hear Portuguese football manager José Mourinho describe the Stoke City forward, Marko Arnautović, as “a fantastic person with the mind of a child”.

The last time I heard a compliment transformed into an insult in such a skilful manner was back in the mid-1980s, when I overhead a conversation in a South London pub. An elderly gentleman, discussing his best friend, turned to his companion and said: “He’s a lovely guy, but he’s an absolute c***.”

Whilst bar-room philosophy is never the most reliable of sources, I have always found the most unpredictable folk of our species to be infinitely more interesting than the tediously consistent.