Spit, polish and strawberries: Wimbledon ignores the real world to perfection

Spectators tuck into their spoils after braving strawberry booth queues that ran to a couple of hundred people. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

There was a group of 10 demonstrators outside the main gates of the All England Club on Monday morning, protesting against Barclays’ sponsorship of the championship on the grounds that as well as providing its customers here with deckchairs and free strawberries and cream, as well as the chance to visit something called the Clubhouse by Barclays at Aorangi, they are also heavily invested in various weapons manufacturers who are supplying the Israeli Defense Forces.

“We’re not against tennis,” one of the protesters shouted out through a loudhailer. “We just want the Championships to drop Barclays.”