When most people compile their fantasy dinner date guest list it usually comprises of the same people- Nelson Mandela, Mohamed Ali, Martin Luther King etc., etc. For me, the first name on that list has always been Keith Edwards. Over 30 years ago, as an 11 year old boy, I somehow managed to discover where my then favourite footballer, Keith Edwards lived. After sharing the information with my friend, David Brown, the two of us dared each other to turn up and knock on his door. Much to our delight Edwards invited us into his home and happily signed our souvenir posters. We were probably in his house for less than 10 minutes but the memory of meeting the man will probably stay with me for ever.

This 10 minute meeting elevated Keith Edwards from being my favourite player to the head of the top table on my fantasy dinner guest list. Admittedly there were more predictable names on the list-James Dean, Marlon Brando, John Wayne and the likes, although the majority are dead. 
In the absence of a medium to contact any of them, I set about trying to find top of the list, Keith Edwards.

Keith Edwards played for Sheffield United in 1981, finishing the season with 36 goals; a post war record still held today. He is one of a select -few players to have scored over 250 goals in his professional career.  

He now commentates for BBC radio Sheffield on United’s games.

I have tried for years to track him down, in the deluded hope that I could persuade him to allow me to write his biography. (He recently published the book without me)

.

 I searched the internet, searched face book, twitter and any other website I could find, but the elusive Mr Edwards was nowhere to be found. I even emailed the radio station, but got no reply.

I had all but given up when a friend at work told me that his mates Dad is friends with Keith. Although I was undeniably impressed, I thought little else of it until a few days later when he told me he had fixed up a meeting with me and Keith Saturday morning to do an interview..
Friday night felt like Christmas Eve. I could barely sleep. It actually felt like I was a small boy with an appointment to interview Father Christmas.

Then the fear set in. What if the man I had blindly worshipped for so many years turned out to not live up to the legend? What if he was awful? What if he thought I was?

Despite having only a few hours’ sleep after being up until the small hours trawling the internet once more, trying to find some inspirational questions, I awoke Saturday morning bright and early. (Much like a child does on Christmas day). I set off in plenty of time to the agreed location, his local golf course and arrived 15 minutes early. I entered the building nervously, wondering if I had got the right place.

Three ageing gentleman were sat watching TV as I walked in and all three of them turned to face me. I told the men that I thought I was there to meet Keith Edwards. One of the men confirmed I was in the right place and another followed up with “he’ll be here any minute – you’ll hear him.” While this seemed to amuse his companions it only served to fuel my nerves. I was ushered into a waiting area, where I sat alone for 5 minutes getting ever more nervous by the minute. At one point I almost persuaded myself to turn and run, leave him in the distant past as a childhood memory, never quite sure if I imagined the whole thing. Just then a well-tanned gentleman entered the room with another man and distracted me with a story about Sticky Vicky in Benidorm.

What seemed like an eternity later, Keith Edwards walked in, and at exactly the time we had agreed. We went through to a lounge area where Keith directed me to a table. It wasn’t quite a fantasy dinner party but coffee with the man at the top of my wish list was close enough. Not only were we to have coffee together, he was actually making it for me.
He entered into some banter about his book with a couple of by-standers while making the coffee as I sat trying desperately to look like this was no big deal.

The first thing he did when he sat down was apologise for taking a while to respond to the invitation but he had been very busy working.

To give the day some context I told him about my visit aged 11 and tied this to my first question. I asked that considering so many look to him with a kind of hero worship, was he aware of this in everyday life, and asked if this makes him consciously act in a certain way. He replied that he hoped football hadn’t changed him. He said that he was often arrogant on the field and is sometimes accused of being when he is on the radio, but actually in real life that’s not him and at the end of the of the day he’s a council lad. (Could the answer have been any closer to my heart?) He went on to say that he grew up in house with older brothers and if he was too cocky he would have got a good hiding- and sometimes did...
He continued that he came into football late after working in the cheese factory. When he isn’t on the radio, he now works as a lorry driver.

Next I informed him that according to the internet, he had scored 256 goals in his career and asked did he remember any of them? He proudly told me that he remembered them all but not before he had corrected me that they were just the league goals. He said you name a game and I will tell you the score and how I scored it.

When asked if the game today had changed from the game he played in, he acknowledged that the players are fitter and the centre backs can turn quicker but the nets he scored in were quite similar to the ones used today.

The arrogance he warned me of stayed well hidden for the most part but when we talked about the 4^th division campaign where he scored his 36 goals, he told me bluntly that he found that league easy. He said he was too good for that league, which he undoubtedly was. He thinks the following season in the third division was a better haul and mentioned the contribution of the brilliant Colin Morris.

I referred to my 18 year old nephew, who, when told that Keith had a book out commented that he should be United manager. This seemed to please Keith. He looked proud that someone who had never seen him play respected his opinion as a commentator.
His response to the suggestion of his being a manager was that you don’t go from lorry driver/ radio commentator to being a football manager.

Turning to the current Blades team, I said a colleague at work that supports rival Sheffield Wednesday, had said recently that the media circus surrounding the club had meant that he hadn’t realised that United were actually 5^th in the league and doing rather well.
Keith picked up on my inference that the media focus on negatives related a story from his playing days. In an away game to Blackburn he scored his 200^th league goal, making the score 1-1 at half time. Blackburn ran out 5-1 winners in the end and when asked by a journalist what he thought to the performance Keith said “I thought it was even in the first half and even worse in the second”.

My hour with Keith passed quickly; too quickly. I could have sat there quite happily for whole day but I didn’t want to outstay my welcome and finished my round of questions bang on the hour we had agreed on.

My fears that Keith Edwards might in some way not live up to my expectations were completely unfounded. He was entertaining, polite, humble and human. It was an absolute pleasure talking to him. Most journalists have to work many years before they get to interview their heroes, I have interviewed mine before I even have the right to call myself a journalist.

On November 25^{th 1984   Bob} Geldof and Midge Ure put together the greatest names in contempory pop to make a record to raise money for starving Ethiopians. Band Aid went on to be the biggest selling single of all time, (although this was later surpassed by Elton John’s tribute to Princess Dianna, Candle in the wind ’97).

In todays technological age is hard to appreciate the enormity of what the record meant to music fans. As a 13 year old boy I vividly remember the excitement of seeing so many world renowned artists in one place. In 1984 CD’s were a thing of the future and downloads were unheard of. Do they know it’s Christmas was produced on vinyl and if you wanted a copy the option was to go to a shop and buy it.

Never before had so many famous singers appeared on one record. Considering that there were no texts or emails, no mobile phones or skype, just the telephone – just contacting those involved must have been a huge effort. Bob Geldof managed it through pure grit and determination forcing almost every living artist of the time to turn up. This was no ordinary super group either. The performers were not of a single genre but consisted of almost every ones favourite, what-ever your taste. My sister and I thought we were rebelling by being U2 fans and were delighted to see them turn up and sing on the track.

Some of those involved were U2, Phil Collins, Paul Young, Simon Lebon, Paul Weller, George Michael, Boy George and Sting, even Paul McCartney showed up. Almost all of those involved performed the record live on BBC’s Christmas top of the pops, which at that time was almost as big as the Queens speech for anybody under the age of 18. I still recall listening in awe to the B side where the likes of Bono had recorded a “merry Christmas and a happy new year “ message.

Such was the success of the record that the following year the biggest free concert ever seen was performed at London’s Wembley Stadium. The concert was broadcast live and ran simultaneously with a similar event in Philadelphia USA.

The Queen set is still considered by many as the greatest live performance ever, with Freddy Mercury leading over 72,000 fans in singing Bohemian Rhapsody, we are the champions and memorably Radio Ga Ga, where it seems every single person in the crowd joined in with the hand clap.

5 years later they did it again with considerably less success as the likes of Bros, Kylie Minogue, Cliff Richard and Jason Donavan tried to repeat the act assisted by popular producers Stock, Aitkin and Waterman.

To mark the 20^th anniversary of the original track the ensemble was re-gathered, this time including Robbie Williams (via satellite from LA), Will Young, Dido, Busted and Bono once again made a guest appearance.

Now Sir Bob Geldof has put together todays biggest stars, one direction, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Olly Murrs and Bono. All the stars involved gave their time and sang a new version of the original to raise money for the Ebola virus in West Africa.

In April this year, Sir Bob’s daughter, Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose. Her mum Paula Yates died in September 2000 on the 10^th birthday of daughter Pixie. Yates youngest daughter,  Tiger lily who she gave birth to after a relationship with INXS frontman Michael Hutchins before his death, was taken on and brought up by Sir Bob.

Despite the man’s saintly nature and undoubtable best intentions, many people have criticised Band Aid 30. They have claimed there are better ways to give money and condemned the likes of Bono for not paying taxes. Others have called the record patronising for its lyrics.

These people are missing the point. The record will give the chance of life to many Africans. More than that they are giving millions of music fans the opportunity to see the biggest super group they have ever heard of. We have become such a bitter and miserable nation that we would rather just hand over our coppers for nothing than celebrate an event. To many people of my age, Live Aid was our Kennedy shooting. Ask any 40 something where they watched live aid and most will be able to tell you.

Yes, people need to pay their dues. Yes the rich and famous should pay more than the rest of us but for Gods sake stop politicising every single act of kindness and accept it for what it is, a song!

Former professional footballer and convicted rapist Ched Evans was released from prison just over a week ago, after serving just two and a half years of a five year sentence. Since he release so much has been said and written that even high-brow shows like the BBC’s This Week have discussed the case. Life- long Sheffield united fan and journalist Charlie Webster appeared on the show urging the club not to re-sign the former striker.

On day time favourite loose women, Judy Finnegan felt a backlash after seemingly defending Evans. In a vile twist her own daughter Chloe Madeley received threats on social media site Twitter following the airing of the show. I’m not suggesting this is representative of the people supporting Evans claim that he was wrongly accused, but it certainly raises more questions about the moral attitude of some individuals.

In this country we pride ourselves on the old adage that a man is assumed innocent until proven guilty. This is the only way to run a free society otherwise there could simply be a free for all with men and women making false accusations every time they want to wreck somebody’s life. We must defend this ideal. Some might say that it is equally important that once someone is convicted and has paid the price that they are allowed rehabilitation and have a right to restart their life. In many cases it is a major contributor in preventing reoffending.

Ched Evans was found guilty and was sent to prison.

He has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so. It is therefore unreasonable to expect the man to apologise for the rape, at least until his appeal has run its course. His appeal is largely based it seems on the fact that the teenage girl was a willing if drunken participant.   

His new defence team are said to be confident they can overturn the verdict. Until their confidence becomes reality, their client was tried and found guilty of a disgusting crime and is at present a convicted rapist and the lady in question is the victim of that crime. it is therefore wholly innapropriate to publicly call into question her morals.Shortly before his conviction I wrote an article called oh Lord where art thou, in which I talked about my childhood experience of meeting my own sporting hero, Keith Edwards.

When I was 10 year old, I somehow managed without the aid of the internet to find out where Mr Edwards lived. My friend and I turned up unannounced at his door, posters in hand, hoping that he might sign them for us. Not only did he sign them, he invited us into his home, apparently oblivious of the intrusion of his privacy, and made us feel very special. It is a memory that has stayed with me vividly to this day. Although it didn’t seem so at the time, (and probably wasn’t then) but what happened that day was to him no doubt, part of his job. He was a role model. He was worshipped by thousands of men, women, boys and girls and along with that adoration comes responsibility.

Like being a politician, or a film star, or a radio presenter, being showered with the privileges and opportunities that celebrity status brings you, being a professional sportsman demands that you act in a fit and proper manner.

Let’s assume for a nanosecond that Evans’ claims of innocence are found to be true. Let’s assume that the lady involved invited him and his friend (also a footballer), to have sex with her in a hotel room. Evans had a girlfriend and also had an army of impressionable fans that sought to emulate his behaviour. He not only had a responsibility to his family, his girlfriend and his fans he had a duty to his drunken victim, a duty to behave in a manner that the position bestowed upon him demanded. He failed.

Were Ched Evans a school teacher he would not be allowed to continue teaching. If he were a policeman he would not be allowed to serve again. Some would argue that he isn’t in contact with vulnerable people but my experience and his own show that clearly being a footballer potentially brings the vulnerable public to your door. For this reason I would urge not just Sheffield United to ignore his talents on the field but I would urge all clubs to ignore Ched Evans. I’m not saying he should never be allowed to earn a living again. I’m not suggesting he hasn’t been punished already. Whether I think the sentence given was light or indeed strong is irrelevant. The fact is that a convicted rapist is not a fit and proper person that should be allowed to be adored by fans singing his name and wearing his name on their backs. If he finds employment in anonymity and is allowed to continue the rest of his life working in a mundane 9-5 normal job then fair enough.

Times have changed, and sadly most right minded parents would not let their children knock on a stranger’s door without a chaperone like I did over 30 years ago, but nor would I want my children to respect a man that behaves like Ched Evans did.
 

Despite suggestions that Rotherham council and South Yorkshire Police tried to cover the horrific exploitation and sexual abuse of over a thousand children for fear of being politically incorrect, it is now well documented that the perpetrators were mainly of Pakistani origin. There has been widespread condemnation of PCC Sean Wright; indeed I called for his resignation here two weeks ago. He finally did the right thing and stepped down last week.

Last week end Joyce Thacker, director of children’s services agreed to leave her £180,000 job, by mutual consent, following strong criticism of her part in the failings.

Council leader Roger Stone, chief executive Martin Kimber and Wright had already stepped down before her.

Ms Thacker, who was forced to defend her decision in 2012 to remove three children from foster carers because they voted UKIP.

What this whole sorry episode has done is open the doors of Rotherham and neighbouring towns to UKIP and even less savoury groups such as the English Defence League. The EDL had a strong presence in Rotherham last Saturday where their thuggish supporters ran amok in the town intimidating shoppers and generally being antisocial. Also present on Saturday were around 200 protesters including a Muslim protest group.

Chief executive of the British Ramadhan foundation, Mohammed Shafiq said “we want to see justice for the victims, and we want the community to come together to say not in our name”. Mr Rafiq went on to say “There has been utter systematic failings in South Yorkshire Police. We want to see the system that has failed these girls changed so that people believe the victims rather than labelling them as prostitutes or a lifestyle choice.”  

This is absolutely where the focus should be going forward. It is not appropriate for politicians elected to serve the public to trample over each other desperately trying to score cheap points for their parties. It is obscene to say this is the fault of the Labour party, the Tory party or any other party. This is the fault of wicked men who systematically groomed, abused, raped threatened and violently tortured young girls. It is not right to say all Asian men have no respect for white women.

 It is easy to point the finger at a police force already on the ropes, following the damning Hillsborough enquiry and the report into violence against minors at the Orgreave site in the 1980’s. It is easy to blame the beleaguered Mr Wright, who clung to his job probably longer than he should. It easy to raise the point that less than 20% of the electorate turned out to vote in the PCC elections, it is clear that the role is now in question and the Government (whichever colour rosette they wear) has to think very carefully about whether the role should be scrapped and replaced with a body that can itself be held to account.

None of these things will help the victims.

The harrowing tales told by some of the victims brave enough to speak out, is enough to make one ashamed to live in Yorkshire and in some cases, ashamed to be a man.

One victim, who called herself Sarah, told the BBC that police found her naked in the bed of a man when she was just 11 years old and they left without taking any action. The girl, who was in care at the time, tells how she was taken to a house where there were two Asian men waiting, and another girl showed her what to do. The two girls were naked by the bed when police arrived but despite making clear eye contact with the terrified victims, the police left the property, leaving the children behind to be abused until the next day.

When Sarah reported the abuse, which she says went on for over 5 years and involved more than 40 men; she says police accused her of lying.

Another victim, who calls herself Jessica in the article, claims she was groomed for two years by a man who picked her up in his car when she was just 14. Her father went to [police four times to report the abuse but officers told him that if she chose to hang around with these men she was consenting, effectively saying she deserved it.

Others tell of being raped once a week every week while their families were being threatened and intimidated yet police and local authorities did nothing to protect them, presumably feeling the victims deserved it.

It was not just abuse from the perpetrators it was abuse of power by the authorities. People who earned a good living to protect vulnerable children and families betrayed the trust that their position offered them.

It is true the victims deserve justice. They deserve an apology. They deserve an explanation why this abuse went on for years and years without being opposed. They deserve to know that this will kind of abuse will never ever happen again.

In my previous blog post two weeks ago, I called the scandal the perfect political storm. Politicians, social services, police authorities, and the Pakistani community have all been accused. I too called for Sean Wright to resign, but there are still other aspects which remain largely unreported. It is a fact that the vast majority of the victims were poor vulnerable children. Many were in care and many others came from poor working class families. The establishment’s lack of respect for working class females lays at the heart of the events that took place in Rotherham.

This sort of organised abuse and abandonment by the authorities simply does not exist in middle class lives. Imagine a wealthy business man and his well-tailored solicitor walking into a police station to report such crimes being sent on their way or threatened with arrest.

Removing the people from office that were responsible for allowing the abuse is not enough. Stiff prison sentences for the vile men who committed these despicable offences is not enough. There needs to be a mechanism put in place to ensure that this sort of crime can never happen again.

David Cameron and Ed Miliband need to stand up and be counted. They need to apologise to the victims and they need to say which ever one of runs the country in future must absolutely guarantee that this type of abandonment of poor vulnerable working class females will not be tolerated no matter what colour or religion the accused are.

The way the police deal with sexual assault victims needs immediate overhaul. It is unacceptable that a victim be told by police that it will be their word against the attackers. It is unacceptable that child victims are forced to face courts and accused of being liars or called slappers by solicitors. Obviously there needs to be a level of protection from malicious accusations but there must be a system where victims of such life destroying crimes feel comfortable that they will be believed and treated with dignity rather than being forced to relive the nightmare.

Anyone who is employed as a social worker or police officer must empowered to take difficult decisions and be open minded to reports of crimes regardless of the colour of the accused or the social standing of the victim’s family. Communities must stand together and say we will no longer tolerate our young being treated with such little respect; we will no longer tolerate people employed to protect, turning a blind eye to these behaviours.

The Asian community has to stand side by side with neighbouring communities and say this is not acceptable. While we continue to have pockets of ethnic minorities concentrated into areas such as Rotherham or Sheffield’s Page Hall. Integration is the answer. Forget pandering to extreme groups like EDL or the respectable face of racism UKIP and blaming immigrants, forget fear of offending ethnic groups of people, integrating people of all races into all places is the way to solve the problem. Community leaders and local politicians need to do more to help the multi-cultural society we are so proud of, become one community. We need to stop demonstrating against the building of a mosque and take the time to educate ourselves about how vast majority of law abiding peace loving immigrants live in reality.

 If we can begin to have this kind of existence and rid ourselves of the ignorance blighting the lives of victims such as those of Rotherham, we can begin to ensure never again will anyone be afraid to speak out or stand up and be counted for fear of being lambasted

The victims deserve it.

       

 

 

 

Rotherham; the perfect political storm.

An independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation set up in 2013 by Rotherham Council was published on August 26^th. Its findings have placed a spotlight on the South Yorkshire town the likes of which has never been seen before.   The inquiry found that an estimated 1200 children had been sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013.

Although systematic grooming and abuse by predominantly Pakistani men had been reported to the authorities, the terrible crimes had gone unpunished for two decades. The fact that the men accused of trafficking, kidnapping and rape were of Pakistani origin was largely covered up by social services and the police for fear of accelerating racial hatred in the area.

Members of the Pakistani community condemned both the crimes and the cover up.

South Yorkshire police commissioner Sean Wright has refused to step down from his £85,000 a year job despite being head of children’s services during much of the period when the attacks took place, before being elected in 2012. His deputy, Tracey Cheetham resigned this week, saying she could no longer support him (wright) nor could she continue to be his deputy and called on him to also resign. There is no suggestion that Ms Cheetham had any connection to the appalling scandal but feelings are running so high in the town that a local council meeting was interrupted by locals, furious that the grooming and abuse had continued despite appeals for the local police to act.

Deputy leader of Rotherham council released a statement apologising for the council’s failings, but Mr Wright still refuses to stand down although he has now quit the Labour party.

This not only highlighted the abuse in Rotherham but the ridiculous idea that the man charged with holding the police force to account cannot be held to account.   

A document published in 2012 by the home office called Have you got what it takes to be police and crime commissioner states “as PCC you will have a responsibility to hold the police to account on behalf of the public” it goes on to say “you will provide the link between the police and communities”. It also lists other responsibilities as delivering safety and reducing crime.

It is quite clear that not only is Mr Wright not fit to continue in the post but that he should never have been given the role in the first place.

The position of PCC was widely criticised when it was introduced and voting was remarkably low in the elections. Surely now it is time that all PCC’s were removed. Whoever is in charge of the police force must be able to be held accountable.

Many of the victims in Rotherham were vulnerable children in care; children that were already on the books of social services. As head of children’s services it is implausible to believe Wright knew nothing of the abuse happening on his watch. This means he was either incredibly incompetent or implicit in turning a blind eye – either way a vote of no confidence must passed on him and he should be removed and banned from holding public office again.

Rotherham in recent years has been the scene of many demonstrations from groups such as the English defence league and UKIP. The lack of action by Rotherham council for fear of upsetting the Asian communities has done nothing to help that situation but has helped right wing parties like UKIP gain a foothold in the once labour dominated area.

In the local elections in May UKIP won 10 of the 21 seats in Rotherham, and 3 seats in neighbouring Sheffield.  While many will feel this was a protest vote aimed at the main parties and particularly Labours refusal to offer a referendum on Europe.  What it actual does is paves the way for more extreme right wing parties like the BNP to target the area.

Failing to investigate crimes because they may have been committed by Pakistani men is irresponsible and dangerous. Local councils and police authorities must send out a clear message that these sorts of crimes will not be tolerated by people of any gender, age or ethnicity and anybody or group of people found guilty of these crimes must be punished to the fullest. Boys, girls, women and men have the right to feel safe and be protected by the police and the government.

Mr Wright was forced to cancel a public surgery in Barnsley today due to no members of the public booking an appointment. This sends a blunt message to the commissioner who still hangs on despite calls from the prime minister, the home secretary and leader of the labour party Ed Miliband for him to fall on his sword. Let us hope that today’s message that he is no longer wanted gives him the courage to finally do the right thing and go.

This boy.  

 

Although I generally find political biographies quite tedious and self-obsessed, occasionally I enjoy reading them. I recently spoke to a colleague who had just read This Boy by former Home secretary, Alan Johnson. I have always had a bit of soft spot for Mr Johnson, based almost entirely on the fact that he was General Secretary of the communication workers union, of which I used to be a member when I followed my father and grandfather in to working for the Royal Mail when I left school. The colleague who had read the book had done so on kindle but recommended it so I thought I might purchase it for my holiday book (I always take one on holiday each year). Unable to find it in Asda’s best sellers, I decided to venture online and look on Amazon. I soon found a used copy priced quite reasonably at £2.50 in good condition, only read once.

I’m not suggesting the vendor lied, he may well have only read the book once, but it looked as though it had been well handled more than once. The dog eared pages looked like they had been used as a splatter guard and the corners of the cover were torn. In fact were it not for the British heart foundation 99p sticker on the spine, I suspect the yellowed pages may have fallen out.

 

 

Despite its weathered appearance I decided to keep it and read the first couple of chapters before my holiday just to whet my appetite.

Mr Johnson was born in London in 1950. 1950 was just 21 years before I was born in the wintery January of 1971. As I already said, my Dad worked as a humble postman. We lived in a modest 3 bedroom council house, which my parents still live in (although they took advantage of Thatcher’s right to buy in the 80’s). When I was born the house needed lots of work doing to it. The kitchen still boasted an old fashioned pantry and the three gardens that living on a corner plot gave us, needed hours and hours of attention from my Mum to get them to the state of splendor they offer today. Old steel window frames and single glazing offered little warmth in the days before central heating but we had an inside toilet.

What struck me immediately about Alan Johnson’s book was the huge difference between the working class poorness I grew up in and the absolute horrendous poverty that he described experiencing just 20 years prior. With a father that offered little or nothing in the way of house-keeping or paternal instinct, Johnson early years in the slums sounded like they were a hundred years before I was born. I was amazed to think of how far we had progressed in just two short decades. He talks of having no gas or electric in the house until they were moved and then the way they had to put money in the slot to obtain services we all take for granted today, as we did in 1971. Then there was the emergence of TV, which in 1950 was almost unheard of in a council house. By ’71 almost everyone had a set, even though we only had 3 channels to choose from. He talks of playing in the street safely as there were hardly any cars on the road. Although I owned a car before my father finally got rid of his Honda 90 motor cycle, cars certainly were not unusual by the time I was born. Such massive changes are hard to comprehend now days.

20 years ago John Major was prime minister, Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack and Fred and Rose West were charged with murder. The channel tunnel was officially opened in 1994 and Wet Wet Wet’s Love is all around us was number 1 in the charts for what seemed an eternity.

A bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy injuring 15 people and Harry Styles of One Direction was born, as was my first son. All of these things feel like they happened quite recently to me and yet the 20 year gap is the same vast chasm between my birth and that of Alan Johnson.

Fiercely proud of my working class roots, I never considered myself to be fortunate or privileged until I read This Boy.

I wonder how far we will all come in the next 20 years by which time my son will be forty (3 years younger than I am now). Will we still be in austerity enforced upon us by ideological Tory governments or will there be a new party in power?

 It was announced today that Boris Johnson intends to stand once more in next year’s general election. The news came as no surprise really, as many believe he will be the next leader of the conservative party. Whether that will be as Prime minister or leader of the opposition will depend largely on the popularity in the next 12 months of Ed Miliband.

Despite the Tories being consistently behind Labour in the polls for some time, leader Ed is equally as consistent at polling lower than Cameron. This is often credited to Miliband’s geekiness and lack of photogenic qualities. The media would have us believe it is because he is unable to eat bacon sandwich without looking ugly. Others say it due to his links to the trade unions which elected him while others blame it on his brother David, who many still believe would have and should have been a better leader.

Others would say that it is because like the Tories, Miliband is out of touch with the reality facing ordinary people, being paid low wages and living in over-priced properties. Consecutive Labour governments did little to ease the housing crisis, continuing to sell off stock while failing to address the growing waiting lists for social housing. They did even less to repeal the ant- trade union laws that the Tories would strengthen if re-elected in 2015. Prime minister David Cameron insists on referring to trade union pay masters every week in Prime ministers questions in spite of the fact that few of the current crop of Labour MPs have had real jobs any more than the other side of parliament.

Men and women from council estates and trade unions are almost extinct in parliament these days and reading Alan Johnsons This Boy, makes it crystal clear what the current batch miss out on. Alan Johnson understands what it is like to have to have two or three jobs to pay the bills. He understands the needs of council tenants and he knows the issues they face. He understands the community spirit and the pride of working class families.

I have written before of the need for more working class MPs and the need for more trade unionized MPs. Former Labour MP Denis Macshane called for working class shortlists but the amount of MPs who didn’t attend Oxbridge Universities continues to recede. The trade union paymasters of the labour party needs to demand more candidates from a normal background and the system which prohibits all but the wealthy from becoming a politician is in need of a major overhaul. Maybe then, possibly in 20 years’ time I might be able to give a voice back to normal people, stand against Boris and be an MP myself.

 

 

 

Benefit Britain. Life on the dole. What they don’t show:

This time last year I wrote about a TV show called Skint. It focused on a few hand-picked families and highlighted the lack of morals and the lack of willingness to work or even get dressed on our council estates. I argued that the programme did not reflect real life and was by no means representative of the norm.

12 months on and channel 5 bring us benefits Britain; Life on the dole. This week’s episode featured families with lots of children living in workless homes. It focused on the number of children one man had and the number of mothers he had fathered them with. It focused on a single mother with 5 children (all to the same Dad). At one point during the programme, the mother is seen saying that she doesn’t think she should get any more money as the cash she gets buys food and pays the rent but doesn’t extend to luxuries. The narrator didn’t say anything at this point but the camera cleverly panned round to show one of the children sitting playing on an iPad.
There was a separate family on the programme that had so many children that the local council had knocked through into the vacant property next door so that there was sufficient room for the family to live in. The Dad said that he had received hate mail and threats.
Nowhere on the show did it say why any of the people featured didn’t have a job nor did it say if they had tried to get one or indeed ever had one. It did show one dad riding his mobility scooter which he was given due to his ill health. Nowhere did the producers offer any alternatives or solutions; choosing instead to sensationalise and mislead the viewers into believing this is normal. It didn’t give any statistics such as how many families have more than the morally acceptable 2.4 children either.

There was another programme on BBC2 the same night called Police under pressure. This show featured two nearby estates in Sheffield, one which has anti-social behaviour issues and one which has a lot of racial tension. Parson Cross, one of the city’s biggest housing estates, has been the subject of a section 30 order, meaning curfews are in place to stop unruly kids roaming the streets at night, terrorising local residents and businesses. The order has now finished and Police officers are focusing their attention and limited man power on the Page Hall estate, which has had a large number of Romany’s move onto the predominantly Pakistani community. The two groups are at disharmony for several reasons, one of which is the Pakistani resident’s objection to their culture and practice of congregating on the street in large groups. The camera crews interviewed community leaders and Pakistani residents voicing their views, as well as Police officers voicing their concerns that some of the trouble may be racially motivated.

I doubt the programme did much to ease tensions in the area. It briefly glossed over the fact that the Police’s hands are tied by outdated and pointless rules as well as being grossly under manned, due to the government cuts to the force.

It stated that one female officer had been assaulted by a youth on the Parson Cross estate, but failed to offer any explanation as to why the youths had nothing better to do in the evenings.
Why do these shows insist on highlighting the problems and offer no suggestion of a resolution to them? They continue to paint a distorted picture of life in Britain, leading the ignorant viewer to conclude that council estates in Northern cities are awash with feral kids running riot, abusing the authorities at the cost of the hard working tax payer. It is simply not representative of the majority of estates up and down the country. True, there are families like those portrayed on the shows. There are people in this country who are third generation never been employed’s. there are even some people who just knock out children in order to gain child benefit and a home.

 

What does that say about the benefits system and the housing system? Surely if there were sufficient houses built at affordable prices then this would reduce the effects. Like-wise, the very fact that generations of households have never known paid employment is not a reflection of those families but a reflection of the failures of successive governments to address the problem.  

Barely any of our elected members of parliament and none of the current Government is working class. Very few of them have had a job outside of politics. A lot of them are millionaires. I’m not suggesting that this excludes them from having an opinion but it does inhibit their ability to have an educated one. Even the Labour party, the party of the workers, is made up almost entirely of privately educated career politicians- mainly males that have little actual hands on knowledge of council estates.

One simple solution would perhaps be to ask the electorates opinion, rather than passing judgement on it. I have said to several local politicians that no one from any of the main parties have knocked on my door for my views. All of them have denied this accusation.

The conclusion I draw from this is that they come during the day, assuming that as I live on a council estate, I will not have a job. I do.

The main party’s trip over themselves to fight the marginal and the influential seats, but take for granted the vote of people like me. Their assumptions have been instrumental in the rise in popularity of parties like UKIP. In turn the success of UKIP in places like Rotherham opens the doors to even less savoury groups like the EDL and the BNP, who have been travelling around council estates in a mini bus adorned with party propaganda.

Labour leader Ed Miliband plans to stop benefits for young people if he elected to Downing Street next year. While this will no doubt pander to Daily Mail reading, channel 5 watching middle England, but will do little to halt the radicalisation of young people who feel abandoned by politicians and journalists alike. They have no voice, no future, and no respect so what choices do they have? Meanwhile poverty will drive others into crime and further cuts to Police services, not to mention the dwindling respect the force enjoys these days after a sustained attack on them by politicians and news-papers, could see many inner city estates become no go zones.

Our flagship news station the beloved and trusted BBC is quickly becoming the most one sided, biased, censored version of the news available. It refuses to report any demonstrations such as the occupation in London this week end by disabled people. I am not saying I always agree with the methods of these protestors, but surely it is news worthy. Instead the BBC website is dominated by the World cup, which we are no longer involved in and Middle East conflict that we are not yet involved in.

My suggestion is that politicians ask real people what they think and that television producers put out real life documentaries that actually represent real life. It would also help if the press reported news instead of inventing it.

Instead of claiming their utterly rubbish programmes are lifting the lid on life on benefits, they should show random people from a cross section of society and allow its viewers to make an informed decision, rather than a right wing propaganda view.

 

 

 

        The Greatest Show on Earth.

 

If you hadn’t noticed, tomorrow sees the start of the 2014 Fifa world Cup. The anticipation is growing with fans and players alike, wondering if like most people who will read this, we might see our country win the trophy for the first time in our life. Not since 1966 have England won the cup when we defeated arch rivals Germany on home soil. Every year since I have followed the game, the media have built up our chances, convincing even the most realistic of fans, that maybe- just maybe, this could be our year. This year however, seems different. No one gives us a chance this year.

 The expectations of the world are rested on the 22 year old shoulders of Brazilian forward, Neymar.

What is certain, is that for a generation of young fans this will be tournament they will remember forever.

I was too young to appreciate the ’78 competition when Mario Kempes inspired Argentina to victory. Four years later in the summer of 1982 I was an 11 year old football fanatic (and of course expert), that ate, slept lived and breathed Spain ’82. Like many football fans I remember fondly my first taste of world cup magic.

With my Panini sticker book at hand I knew the players of every country in the world, virtually and consumed every shred of gossip, fact and statistic.

Italy’s Paulo Rossi dominated the headlines before the start of the tournament, due to his inclusion in the squad, despite serving two year ban for a betting scandal, which he denied, in 1980. He was initially disqualified for three years, but this was later cut to two allowing his return just in time for the call up even though critics understandably questioned his fitness and sharpness.

In the opening three matches he did little to disprove this being described by one critic as being like a ghost aimlessly wandering the field.

In the round robin against reigning champions Argentina and the strongly fancied Brazilians, Rossi came to life. In the Brazil game he scored a hatrick and went on to win the golden boot and help Italy win the title against Germany.

The tournament for me though was most memorable for silky skills of the Brazilian’s Zico and Eder, and the captain Socrates, according to folk law, a chain smoking hard drinking doctor, who sadly died recently.

My first taste of World cup football left me in awe of players like German, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, French legend, Michel Platini and Norman Whiteside playing for Northern Ireland. Ireland won the hearts of the nation by winning their group, beating hosts Spain on the way.

Four years later, the 13^th Fifa World Cup would be etched in the memory for different reasons.

Mexico ’86 was dominated by the infamous “hand of God” incident that sent England crashing out at the hands of eventual champions, Argentina, or more precisely, the hand of Argentina captain, Diego Maradona, somehow out-jumping keeper Peter Shilton to fist the ball into the net. He followed it up of course with a sublime piece of skill, running from the halfway line before slotting past the hapless Shilton.

Italia ’90 was the lowest scoring tournament in history, averaging just 2.21 goals per game. It was also one of the dirtiest, with a then record 16 red cards shown including one in the final.

For many, the highlight of the tournament was the goal celebrations of Cameroon veteran Roger Milla, who claimed to be 38 but some reports at the time put him nearer 45.  Millar came out retirement for the tournament, at the request of his country’s President, Paul Biya. The tournament was predictably won by West Germany, in their last cup before reunification later that year. England managed to win some silverware though taking the fair play award following Paul Gascoigne’s infamous tears.

1994 saw USA host the world cup. A relatively new Nation to the game the proceedings including much of the razzmatazz one might expect in America. Diana Ross featured in the opening ceremony, missing a penalty before the net felt in half. The tournament was marred by the murder of Columbian player Andres Escobar, allegedly shot dead by a hit men after he missed a penalty.

Argentina captain, Maradona was sent home in disgrace after failing a drugs test. England, under Graham Taylor, failed to qualify.

1998 World Cup was won by hosts France, beating Brazil 3-0 in the final. A strong Brazilian team, featuring the brilliant Ronaldo, were rocked shortly before the game by their star man having a seizure. He managed to get out onto the field but was largely ineffective and the French, dominated by players from Arsenal and Chelsea won easily.

2002 saw the competition held in Korea and Japan. Brazil again won the tournament which saw Ireland captain Roy Keen stealing the headlines, being sent home after telling manager Mick McCarthy to “stick your world cup up your bollocks”.

Four years on and 2006 saw Germany host the competition. Italy ran out winners beating France in the final. French legend Zinedine Zidane was amazingly sent off during the game for a head-butt which was recently voted in one poll as the 4^th most iconic world cup moment ever. I missed much of this tournament as I was in Turkey celebrating my honeymoon, but did manage to witness a Joe Cole wonder goal for England in a Turkish bar.

A rampant Spain side won the 2010 competition in South Africa. Some consider the Spanish team to be one of the best ever and featured several players who may well play a big part in this year’s tournament.

England played a supporting role providing referee Howard Webb for the game.

The brilliant Spaniards will be strongly fancied this year by many, with some believing only the Brazilians can stop them. Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, or just Neymar as he is known could follow in the footsteps of his fellow countryman Pele. The Barcelona player has the hopes of the host nation resting on him, hoping that he lights up the tournament and doesn’t fizzle out like Ronaldo did.

I think he will justify the hype and blow away the opposition, making this one of the most exciting competitions in years. Brazil, I believe will be victorious in front of their home fans despite the strength of the Spanish and the youth of the English. Steven Gerrard will captain England to a relatively successful campaign I feel, surpassing the expectations of the doubting press. The young talent on show such as Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling and Everton’s Ross Barkley and the industrious Arsenal star Jack Wiltshire.  

So sit back and enjoy the show, let’s hope a generation of new fans can watch a first world cup to remember.  

 

  

 

 

 

Veteran BBC Radio Devon presenter, David Lowe was sacked recently for playing a track from 1932 which included in its lyrics the word Nigger. The Sun has got its hat on had the word removed from later versions of the popular song. Mr Lowe, 68 a presenter with the station for 14 years, apologised and said he had no idea the offensive lyrics appeared on that version of the song, but was dismissed.

In contrast, Top Gear present Jeremy Clarkson caused outrage when a pre-recorded show that he asked not to be aired, appeared to include the same offensive word. The clip showed Clarkson repeating the children’s rhyme eeny meanie minie moe. The presented covered his mouth and mumbled a barely audible n-word. Clarkson apologised publicly and was punished with an alleged £12million, three year contract.

Both stories were widely reported in most news-papers and on TV. Almost all of the reports included the phrase N-word but none of the reports used the actual word.

Were they right to not use the word Nigger because its racial implications are so vile and full of hatred that it is deeply offensive and should never be read or heard, or is political correctness gone mad?

There certainly seems to be a belief among some that having an opinion that could be considered by some offensive is absolutely outlawed. While talking to my elderly neighbour recently, she commented on a “coloured” child, and added innocently “that’s been polite, isn’t it- they don’t like being called black these days do they”.  Another neighbour of mine, who lives with and has children with a black Jamaican man was also there and laughed at the confusion the old lady.

We politely corrected her and she went on to ask why then are we not allowed to say black board in schools.

The conversation, which could have come from a 1970’s sit com, was a good example of people being so confused in their fear of offending it hard to know for sure whether one is actually racist or meaning to cause offence or simply ignorant or misinformed. I often hear people at work saying “you can’t say that”.

One could argue also that the English language evolves so much that many once grossly offensive words and phrases are now used as something completely different. Where young people use words like sick and bad when they mean good, is also the case that they use insults as terms of endearment. Sadly I suspect this; to a degree is the case.

A report by channel 4 today revealed that a third of British people consider themselves to either very or a little prejudiced against people from other races.

The Nation centre of social research (NatCen) said that 30% of over 2000 people revealed the disturbing statistic heralded a return to previous levels before an all-time low in 2001 of 25%. NatCen said that racial prejudice has been steadily increasing since the start of the decade.

While the headline of the survey says we are getting less tolerant as a society, the statistics actual show just 3% considered themselves very racist with 27% describing themselves as slightly racist. This from a group of little more than 2000 people, it is impossible to know whether this is representative of the whole of Britain or even what ethnic background the people who answered the survey were from.

Is there a rise or have people just got so entangled in the political correctness web that they are now pre trained to hide any prejudice they may feel. I suspect even the 3% who said they were very racist, would not have readily admitted this if they were to be named or filmed. Anonymity allows ignorance and intolerance to fester and spread underground like proverbial mushrooms.

The tide though seems to be changing, with many people growing frustrated and angry at the lack of debate and lack of representation from political parties. UKIP’s surge in popularity is largely down to angry people seeing angry politicians openly saying they are angry at the number of foreigners flooding our country, steeling our houses and taking our jobs. Of course many of these accusations are absolute nonsense, but because the political elite have been scared to discuss immigration for years, these believers, like my neighbour, are misinformed. The reluctance of Labour to engage in the debate is harmful because the perceived successes of UKIP in areas such as Rotherham and Sunderland opens the door to even more dangerous and extremist groups like the EDL or  BNP. The mainstream parties must put the facts out there for people to make an informed decision before people make a misinformed one and plunge this country into self-destruction.

Unfortunately, Islamaphobia is not uncommon in our country and there are people who are “openly” racist. I use the term openly loosely of course because usually it done with cowardice, hidden behind a shield of anonymity on social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter. Last night I saw some appalling comments aimed at ex-footballer Stan Colleymore, with one tweet saying I will bring up my children to hate blacks you black c@#t. I seriously doubt that the author of those comments would have the bottle to say such things without the armour of twitter to protect him or to Mr Collymore’s face. I do not think however that the moron who wrote the comments should be kept underground and censored. I’m not sufficiently educated to know the origins of the quote but I believe a French politician has been attributed as saying “I absolutely disagree with your opinion but will defend to the death your right to voice it” or words to that effect.

Politicians should not scare monger or downright lie about the consequences of staying in the European Union. They should all engage in the debate and all should agree to a referendum on Europe. Let the people decide in a vote and put the argument to bed once and for all, then we can set about educating the ignorant and the hate filled. What is certain is that while ever the racists, the bigots, the sexists and the homophobes are not allowed to voice their opinions, we cannot begin to confront them and change their beliefs.