There was an item on the local news last night about a painting by Gaugin recently selling for ten million quid. They made a bit of a deal about what an enormous sum of money that was, especially in this age of austerity, and indeed they had a point. Yet later in the show they spoke unquestioningly about footballers transferring from one club to another for five times that sum? How is that right? Yes, you could argue it’s only a painting, but like all art it has meaning; it is part of art history, which is intertwined with the history of ideas; it can be analyzed and has intellectual depth. Ten million is a lot – just think of how much communication or mobility equipment that could buy, or how much aid for Africa – but it just might – and I stress might – be worth it. What is manifestly not worth it, and is actually quite sick, is giving some football club 50 million for one of their players, then giving the footballer just as much simply to kick a ball around. The whole culture surrounding the game is wrong, and if I had the power I would start it all again with new players, clubs and managers, and a transfer fee limit of a tenner.