“I do feel our country is fucked,” Danny Cipriani says calmly on a murky, rainy morning in Tunbridge Wells. The former England rugby player has been talking about his tumultuous life and career, without bitterness or rancour, for almost two hours, and he seems happier than at any point in the 15 years we have known each other. His reflections on the state of England are striking as Cipriani is not trying to shock or insult anyone.
Instead, he explores a deeper malaise of conservatism, deceit and insularity which affects the country politically, culturally and in the struggles of English rugby. “Our culture and society is very rigid and it’s always trying to look like it’s doing the right thing,” Cipriani says. “But if you’re trying to look like you’re doing the right thing, you’ll never actually do the right thing, because it’s all an act. It has to come from a place of faith and purity, love and honesty.”
