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My (impossibly chic and Italian-based) mother-in-law is staying with us this week and had the family arguing long into the night – for which we were grateful.
Because Rosemary shared with us a new game that has kept Italian families happily contending over the vitello tonnato into the small hours. All you have to do is match each of the seven deadly sins with an appropriate nation until you get the perfect character fit.
For example, if you were to limit yourself to the G7, you might get:
Lust – France
Anger – United Kingdom
Pride – Germany
Sloth – Italy
Envy – Canada
Gluttony – Japan
Greed – USA
(And no, I don’t agree myself, but that’s the fun of the game.) I’d be interested to read your versions with or without your reasoning.
Michael Gove is Conservative MP for Surrey Heath. He worked on The Times from 1995-2005. He makes regular appearances on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze and The Late Review on BBC2, and has written a biography of Michael Portillo
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Lust â Turkey: for their desire to join the EU, which is being dangled like a carrot in front of them.
Anger â Iran: Fairly self-explanatory.
Pride â United States of America: 'God Bless America' and all that jazz.
Sloth â Italy: If you've ever tried getting anything done in Italy, you'll understand.
Envy â France: They should just face the fact that English is the global language.
Gluttony â China: For their rabid consumption of energy (I limited myself to one entry per country, several could have had this spot).
Greed â Russia: Largely due to their control of oil to other nations, and for using it as political leverage on nations like Ukraine.
Keir Gravil, York, United Kingdom
Anger: Israel. Drawing inspiration from the God of the Hebrew Bible who seethed with wrath and still furious at the world for allowing the Holocaust the country smashes any who oppose it.
Pride: US. Bellicose and arrogant. Revels in its status as the worlds only superpower. Starts wars just for the sake of them, Iran is next.
Envy: Britain. Still obsessed with class. Move on, UK, move on!
Sloth: France. Notoriously work shy labour force, 35 hour week. Best selling book extolling indolence.
Lust: Botswana. Despite massive govt effort and free condoms AIDS now infects over 25% of population and continues to rise. Botswanans just like to do it. Sorry, Precious.
Gluttony: US (hey, its a big country with a lot of sins!) Supersized me!
Greed: frequent flyers allied with China. Spewing out carbon and endangering the planet.
Mary S., London,
Sloth - Spain (a nation of slackers) - what a quaint, old misconception.
Avispa - Malaga
Adam Sargent, Malaga, Spain
Lust - France (obvious)
Anger - Iraq (ditto)
Pride - Turkey (the whole "do not insult Turkishness" thing)
Sloth - Australia (so laid back they are horizontal)
Envy - Mexico (USA, migrants etc)
Gluttony - USA
Greed - Russia (oligarchs like Abramovich taking the wealth)
Ben, York,
Lust Saudi Arabia (that's why all the women are dressed as Batman, otherwise no-one would get any work done!)
Anger Northern Ireland (Anything said in an Ulster accent sounds furious)
Pride Italy (obviously)
Sloth Spain (a nation of slackers)
Envy Britain (a nation riven by class & consumerism)
Gluttony USA (a nation that runs on supersized meals)
Greed Germany (a nation that wants more of everything, and always has)
Mikey, Bromley, Kent