Not Descended from Fearful Men

A friend of mine sent me a link last week to an old interview of the finest cricket commentator, John Arlott, in conversation with the erudite former England captain, Mike Brearley.
Just before I indulged in some cricket nostalgia, I finally got round to viewing the Youtube hit of the racist outburst of foul and bitter woman on a South London tram. Her rambling diatribe culminated in the very essence of ignorance and racial intolerance, “You’re not British: you’re black.”

I am not sure there could be a greater contrast on the spectrum of human intelligence and understanding than between that harridan and the gentle rythmic prose of John Arlott.
He was an old-fashioned liberal with a generally conservative outlook but also with progressive views on the need for social progress in Britain on class and colour. His unyielding stand against the hateful values of apartheid, tied to the principles of cricket and fair play, during the D’Oliveira affair pricked the conscience of the nation. Britain had to decide in its post colonial era whether it was acceptable to judge people by the colour of their skin and being mainly a people of discerning outlook, we chose to reject discrimination.
Of course, prejudice will never be eradicated but John Arlott was a voice of rare eloquence and persuasiveness at a pivotal moment in our history.

Simple and Plain

Home Secretary, Theresa May, wrote in the Mail on Sunday about the “lessons I have learned” about the August riots. She needn’t have bothered.
La May was, I guess, obliged to attend the LSE/Guardian conference ‘Reading the Riots’ last week which demonstrated plenty of evidence of police harassment and deep poverty of opportunity which is fuelling inner city anger. Once unleashed it allowed mass looting and civil disorder to take place.
However, what we discern from Ms May’s sour article is, she only saw looting. She closed her mind entirely to the notion there could have been any provocation which lead to all this theft, burglary and arson, “they were thieving pure and simple.”
Her response to serial discrimination by police stop and search policy described by one interviewee as “causing us hell” was to say coldly, “good.” These glib words are aimed to encourage the police and the panic-stricken commuters of the home counties she is on their side. But a good Home Sec should not take such pleasure in being so divisive. It is facile to just condemn the criminality: she should have the political guts to admit the police can do wrong and their methods do need modifying from time to time. We already know they search proportionately ten times more black youths than white.
Willie Whitelaw listened to Lord Scarman when he reported on Brixton 1981 and exerted his authority on the police to reform their practices. So did Jack Straw with MacPherson. Theresa May’s trite response demonstrates an unwillingness to learn about the daily urban experience of the young and a reticence to consider them of equal human value to others.
Her example of the good things in society such as the “Royal Wedding” showed a certain remoteness. The idea the deprived in the inner cities should look to the aristocracy to gain a sense of national identity and purpose is beyond absurd..




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up With This We Shall Not Put

Mayor of London Boris Johnson is considerably more adept at getting under Cameron's skin than anyone else including the leader of the Opposistion.
The clear intention of his serial undermining of the PM is establishing himself in the party's mind as Cameron's natural successor. It's working.
He wasted no time this week putting into eloquent terms the visceral hatred of the right wing backbenchers over the rushed plans to fix the Eurozone ("we are in risk of saving of saving the cancer not the patient.")
However, Boris's fundamental point in opposing this closer fiscal union of the 17 was right:: it is just not democracy, dear boy.
The Euro was a political experiment which glossed over significant economic flaws. It rumbled along pretty well while economies showed sustained growth but has now began to unravel as tough times have persisted
It is not pride which is forcing Merkel and Sarkozy into this ill-starred amalgamation of sovereign states: they don't know what else to do. It seems amazing to me that France, a fiercely independent and defiant nation are going to allow their mighty Republic to be subsumed into a super Euro nation.
Maybe they won't, Sarkozy faces an election next year and any candidate settng himself against the plan would have a favourite's chance. Similarly, Angela faces electoral defeat in a few months.
So amusing as it is to see the PM treated like an ineffectual fag by 'school bully' Johnson, it is a petty domestic drama in a Europe close to political meltdown.