Poor Mickey Chan. Last week, he experienced a horrific injury while playing for the second team. I’m not sure what the actual diagnosis was, but from what I saw, his foot must have become dislocated from the ankle and spun 170 degrees to face almost backwards. It was a traumatic sight and we could only comfort him before the ambulance arrived.

We are hugely appreciative of the ambulance service, but I was a bemused by the process of the helpdesk. Firstly I had to tell them my name, my phone number, what had happened and the name and age of the victim to the first call worker. I then had to carefully explain the location. This took at least a couple of minutes or more. She then put me on hold as I was passed to an ‘advisor’ who I repeated the same information to again. I expect (and hope) they’d sent the ambulance immediately, but it seemed unnecessary for me to explain everything to her before being transferred. Surely, a quick summary would have been enough – she could then pass me to the advisor for the more thorough explanation. Of course I don’t know the system well, but it seemed a long winded process especially if the emergency was even more dire or urgent than ours.

On a brighter note, I’ve been playing fairly well for C4. My fitness isn’t where I want it to be, but is heading in the right direction. Despite not being in top form, I’ve scored eleven goals in the last three matches (should have been thirteen, but two were harshly ruled offside). In the league, we beat St Johns 2nds 8-0 in which I scored a  hatrick and the score line was actually quite flattering towards the opposition. Our team is arguably as strong as it’s ever been and we’re creating all sorts of chances. I know we can hurt teams if we keep solid at the back, and we do seem a lot stronger in all departments. Shu, Duo, Jake, Jonno and Frankie have all added strength and depth to the squad.

Earlier this month, there was considerable controversy over the invitation and appearance of the BNP honcho, Nick Griffin on the BBC’s mainstream political show ‘Question Time’.
I watched most of it on the i-player and quickly deduced that he was simply a wolf in sheeps clothing. An obvious racist with some laughable claims (he shared a stage with a KKK leader, although this KKK group was in his words non-violent. But of course he failed to but needn’t mention, still massively racist) he didn’t do himself or his party any favours. But the controversy is that the BBC presented them a platform for publicity and despite a generally pathetic performance, perhaps there is no such thing as bad publicity. It raises awareness and the more naive viewers could just buy into some of their tripe.

The party claims to protect the values of the ‘indigenous people’ of this land. Panellist Jack Straw challenged him to admit that he meant indigenous white. Somewhat surprisingly and rather amusingly, Griffin claimed that colour isn’t an issue (which is strange as his party’s main concern is precisely that) and followed up his audacious claim by saying that Straw wouldn’t dare tell the Aborigines and the ‘Red Indians’ that they are not indigenous. Quite right, you wouldn’t tell these marginalised people that they had no rights, if just because the English had quite the darkened hand in shaping the history of these people. Double standards, anybody?

Furthermore, being indigenous to a land basically means you were there first. Does that entitle you to more rights to anybody else arriving later? Surely we should live in a free country (world?) where we are all equal. Frequently those that claim rights to a land are beneficiaries of a war-mongering legacy – how much honour is there in that?

I’m not sure what he means by core British values anyway. When were these set and more to the point, what are they?  A society shifts and changes with the times – trends and cultures come and go, but if there is a set of core values, then these should surely be equality, honesty, freedom and a measured sense of morality. I’m not sure where racism and hate fits into that.

Rather disappointingly, it seems the BNP have gained members over the last decade or so. We can only hope that the majority of their support have felt let down by the consistent scandals and failings of mainstream parties and that they are not actual racists. In fact, you can almost understand why people who have been brainwashed with xenophobic propaganda would feel the way they do, although it is of course misguided. When things don’t go well, it’s so much easier to blame and scapegoat somebody or something else.

Having said all of this, we should ALL set an example of being decent human beings – that way there is even less reason for xenophobia. Extremism finds scapegoats to vilify and while this is wrong, what I’m saying is that we should give them no grounds whatsoever to latch onto. For example, it’s fair to say that gypsies have a fairly bad reputation. The police are reluctant to deal with them and the councils just want to pass them off onto to the next county. Whether their reputation is warranted or not is arguable, but it is clear that the anti-social members of their community do quite a lot to enforce these stereotypes and little to subvert them. My own experience has seen them play off the fear they generate and many are just pure troublemakers.
Again and indeed, it is wrong to tarnish a whole community with the brushwork of the extrovert members and again, it’s up to the individuals and the community as a whole to enforce the correct perception and ensure there are no reasons to scapegoat them.

And so what worries me is that we say Britain is multicultural, which I guess can be considered true. However, the multi cultures are too often segregated and insular – preferring to group together in clans. This doesn’t have to be an issue, but in reality this division can promote misunderstanding and exacerbate conflict between these various communities (and the wider public).

It’s just sad that people wallow in hate, and particularly more so when the reasons are so shallow and pathetic. Imagine if we put our energies towards something constructive that would benefit people
There’s a quote, which I will now probably (accidentally) misquote – the meaning of life is to plant trees in whose shade you may never sit.
I don’t think it’s literal – we shouldn’t necessarily become a nation of farmers – I assume it’s to do good deeds without the purpose of self gain.
Imagine if we all did that instead of indulging in petty feuds and superficial hate. The world would be a much better place.

Am I sounding like John Lennon? Mock me, but my point still stands :p

Advertisement