No turning Becks

The media's ubiquitous pen-for-hire Zoe Williams bangs out a post-World Cup eulogy to David Beckham, he who's hung up his armband and shed real tears while he was at it.

"Goodbye to Beckham...a man of our time," goes the Guardian's G2 bit, adding that Beckham's relinquishing of the England captaincy is no less than the "end of an era" that "was also about class, and masculinity, and beauty".

Only in the Guardian...only in the Guardian...

Williams name-checks a long-forgotten "essay" by David Baddiel, no less, who waxed lyrical about the brilliance, mystery and splendour of Becks' right foot when the player was just coming into the public eye, saying something about it defying the laws of physics, too.

She talks about the public's "feverish" Posh-hatred - or envy, more like - "money-lust", "consumption" and even mentions that old chestnut, "classlessness".

Oh, and the writer remarks, inevitably, that "he is very dishy".

Right - now we're getting somewhere.

See, too, the anatomy of the England players' tears after the Portugal defeat, also in G2.

"The England team prove it's OK for men to cry...a lot," says the headline.

They're not the only ones.