Yes, it's related to the World Cup in Qatar next year.
A recent UN report has detailed some serious abuse of migrant workers by Qatari authorities - we're talking some serious issues here:
- a caste system with migrant workers treated differently on the basis of ethnicity
- non-payment of wages
- migrants being worked to death in the heat
- migrant deaths not properly investigated, Qatari authorities tend to write 'died of natural causes' and send the coffins home to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya or wherever.
There are some sportspeople and journalists speaking out about this and other issues in Qatar. Some Norway footballers recently spoke out against Qatar's (mis-)treatment of LGBT people. And a Finnish footballer called Tim Sparv has recently spoken out about the mistreatment of migrant workers. To these people must go a good deal of respect. They are speaking out when it's convenient to do so and when it's inconvenient.
But the England manager (Gareth Southgate), England captain (Harry Kane), other England players (e.g. Marcus Rashford) and British sports pundits (Gary Lineker, Ian Wright, Rio Ferdinand) are different. They want to have their cake and eat it.
Y'see, these people are very vocal about speaking out on issues in the UK - racism, discrimination, no free school meals for poor kids, etc. On any and all of these issues their lips don't stop flapping.
But they have been totally silent on the issue of migrant mistreatment in Qatar. It seems we're gonna have a situation next year where not one word will be spoken on this issue, from trendy celebs who usually rush to weigh in on social issues in the UK or US.
Weird, huh .....