Meera Syal in Shirley Valentine
Finally on Friday night, I got to see Shirley Valentine.
I found it very uplifting and just as Shirley broke out of her old life into her new, it encouraged me to try to do the same.
As I suspected, the play shows that good writing and drama, transcend races and nationalities. It was not wrong in any way, to see an actress of Indian origin playing an archetypal Liverpudlian housewife.
And long may it remain so!
A Heartwarming Story From The Open
With just a few holes to go in the Open Golf, it looks increasingly like Louis Oosthuizen will win it. But behind the South African’s performance, there seems to be a story, that may feaure in tomorrow’s papers.
Oosthuizen’s caddy, Zack Rasego is black and according to this report in the New York Times, it would appear that he came up the hard way, by working as a caddy at Sun City. Here’s a taste of what is said.
Rasego, who once caddied for the South African icon Gary Player, has been with Oosthuizen since 2003, when Oosthuizen’s management company helped put them in contact. They have developed a close working relationship and communicate frequently on the course in Afrikaans.
The faltering image of South Africa as a “rainbow nation” has regained some of its luster with the successful staging of soccer’s World Cup and a renewed sense of common purpose between the country’s black majority and white minority.
Rasego, who is one of the few black caddies on tour, and Oosthuizen, who is white, are aware that they reinforce that image but do not wish to focus on it.
“As South Africans, we are a rainbow team,” Rasego said. “But really it’s politics aside. It’s a sport. We cannot put politics into sport.”
Let’s hope nothing serious happens to them in the last few holes.
Britain’s Rainbow Nation
In the Times yesterday, there was this report.
One woman’s dogged research has produced a unique and uplifting portrait of modern Britain seen through the eyes of children from every corner of the planet.
Caroline Irby, a freelance photographer and writer, spent 15 months trying to find, photograph and interview a child born in each of the world’s 192 countries and now living in Britain.
The photographs that Irby took will be shown at the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green from May 7th. I shall go if I get the chance.
Leopards Don’t Change their Spots
The Times has a dramatic picture on the front this morning. It shows one of their reporters being manhandled by someone from the BNP. Here’s the first paragraph of the article that accompanied the picture.
One man grabbed my nose and tried to remove it from my face. I was seized and shoved out of the door towards a parked car. I threw my hands out to steady myself. A BNP thug snarled: “Don’t touch people’s cars mate.” Obviously, I offered no resistance.
Apparently, the BNP were objecting to an article in The Times on Saturday.
I don’t object to that article and feel it is a sound analysis as to the prospects of the BNP. But I do worry about its conclusions. If there’s one thing we don’t want it’s for the BNP to gain a foothold in Westminster. Without that after a couple of years, they will probably return from whence they came.
Does Ali Dizaei Wear a Wig?
Surely not! But just look at the pictures of him on the Internet and in today’s Times.
Just search “Ali Dizaei” in Google Images.
In some he has virtually no hair and in others he has lots! You will also notice that the pictures taken before the latest court appearance show him with a large amount.
Commander Ali Dizaei
This case does not show the Police in a good light.
Dizaei has been found guilty of misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice and will spend some time in jail. It blew out of a row over a web site outside a London restaurant. I’ve tried the web site today and it is no longer there!
I’ve never met Dizaei, but he has been in the media in various negative stories over the last few years.
At the time, I gave Dizaei the benefit of the doubt and put it all down to things like racism and jealousy. Was I wrong? Read the stories and judge.
It illustrates though that if you are high-profile member of a minority, women, Asian, black, Jewish or whatever, you probably have to behave as impeccably as the cleanest of the majority. But then so does everybody else.
Dizaei did not and he paid the ultimate price.
In one quick stroke though Dizaei has hurt all those good officers from minorities, who by hard work have managed to climb up the rather slippery and difficult ladder of promotion.
I hope we have heard the last of Dizaei. But I fear not, as he will probably use all methods to clear his name.
Nick Griffin Humour
There’s quite a bit of humour surrounding Nick Griffin and the BNP.
Two things made be laugh like a drain.
Kelvin MacKenzie in his robust way, said that on Radio 5 last night, that Griffin had had a severe rogering! It was the way he said it though! You’d expect nothing less from Kelvin.
Danny Baker commented this morning on the radio about the news that one-in-five people might think about voting for the BNP. He dismissed it by saying that nine out of ten men might like to give Jennifer Aniston a baby, but that that was unlikely to happen.
Welcome to the Nick Griffin Comedy Hour
This must be one of the funniest programs for some time. A lot of heavy boots were used to good effect and in Bonnie Greer’s case some very well-placed stilettos.
Unfortunately, how many of his supporters will find it so and will still believe his totally objectionable views.
He says you’re British if you’ve only been here for seventeen hundred years. So that’s me on the next boat out, then! Most of my family came here to escape persecution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Is There Racist Opposition To President Obama?
I’ve always respected Jimmy Carter. He drew a lot of short straws as President, but I think since leaving office he has shown himself to be a proper statesman. Often this is the test of a good politician, as when they are removed from the ties and responsibilities of office, they show their true colours and dreams. Sometimes they lose all respect and rightly so.
So when Jimmy Carter says that opposition to President Obama is racially based, we should all listen.
Jesse Owens and Lutz Long
Most people know the story of how Jesse Owens annoyed Hitler, by winning four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But what is less well known is the story of how his German rival, Lutz Long, helped him to qualify for the long jump final.
According to Owens, Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum of 7.15m required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to safely advance to the next round without risking a foul trying to push for a greater distance.
Owens then beat Long in the final. They corresponded by letter until war broke out. Owens lived in a lot of poverty and Long was killed in the war.
The authorities at the World Championships have also remembered the rivalry and marked it in an appropriate way. This was from Tom Fordyce’s blog on the BBC.
Owens too is long gone, killed by lung cancer 29 years ago, but the two men’s families have kept the transatlantic bond strong. When Owen’s grand-daughter presents the medals on Saturday, she will be joined by Long’s grandson Kai. The symbolism of the moment will be lost on nobody.
Let’s hope that 2012 takes place in a similar atmosphere to the successful games in Berlin.
The Anonymous Widower 