The Promise.

Image by ChrisYunker via Flickr

 This superb attempt at explaining part of the background to the continuing festering hostility between the Palestinians and the Israelis has finally come to an end. Channel 4 must take great credit for being brave enough to show the series which would certainly not have been aired by the BBC and predictably a representative from the Israeli Embassy has condemned the programme as being antisemitic and one sided.

 That atrocities were, and are, being committed on both sides is irrefutable but the major incidents shown in the series were all based on historical fact and the programme makers clearly took enormous care in researching the facts and, in my opinion, gave the viewer, for once, an unbiased version of events and enabled them to be more informed and educated on the situation.

 This is what the media, at its best, should be prepared to do - to truthfully  present the facts, without comment or bias and to leave the public to draw their own conclusions from the information provided. I was fortunate enough to have an elder cousin, now sadly dead, who I admired greatly who became a professor in history at Glasgow University. When he died one of the most moving obituaries that I read was from a former student who said that he taught his students to never believe what they read in the history books but to do their own research, if possible, by studying contemporary records and sources and drawing their own conclusions on events.

 At first I thought that the main character, "Erin" - a student filling  in her gap year by staying with the family of a friend with duel nationality who had been called up to do her national service in the Israeli army -  was not only naive but also that her role lacked any kind of credibility. It was only as the series developed that I realised that she was being used as a device by the programme makers to represent the vast majority of the British public who know nothing and care less about the events or the history of the area, which has perhaps the potential to have more impact on our lives than anything else in this century. 

Related articles

• Peter Kosminsky: Britain's humiliation in Palestine (guardian.co.uk)

  Finally I cannot help but reflect that the series draws on an extract from Pity the Nation called The Keys of Palestine written by Robert Fisk in 1990 who has been unquestionably recognised as perhaps the greatest living journalist, writing on middle-eastern affairs today. Not surprisingly Fisk who was then writing for The Times fell foul or Rupert Murdoch for his ability to reveal the truth, and now writes for The Independent. 

Birmingham City F. C. - Eddie Brown

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

 Inevitably and almost reluctantly the time has come for me to write a few words about football. Am I unusual in the fact that within my immediate family I am the only one who watches the game? I am therefore deprived of the opportunity of discussing the relative merits, or otherwise, of the latest match or wonder goal or refereeing incident that covers the back pages of every national newspaper because nobody around me is interested.

 It was a very different game when I started out as a boy in the early fifties when players were still on the minimum wage and the terraces were packed with fans escaping from the drudge of work to watch their team for a few shillings. In those days there was no sponsorship and no top four and whilst you might be able to buy a badge or a scarf from the local supporters club you could certainly never obtain a replica shirt to show your loyalties. What's more in those days you supported your local team regardless of the fact of whether it was Stockport, Kidderminster, Hartlepool or Birmingham. The very thought of of the citizens and children of those areas sporting the shirts of Manchester United or Chelsea or any other team from the far ends of the country would not only have been laughed at but also seen as a betrayal of your local roots. And the only game ever to be watched on TV, if you were lucky enough to own a set, was the F. A. Cup Final in May.

  Two finals remain in my memory from that time - the so called "Matthews" final of 1953 and the Birmingham City V Manchester City final of 1956. The former I remember as I had to cycle six miles, as a nine year old, to watch my first final at a farm which had the only set in the area and the latter because my team - Birmingham - had made it into the final. We lost. Next Sunday, on 27 February we return to Wembley to play Arsenal in the League Cup Final.

  As a Blues supporter I am expecting the worst of course but for my friends, who have been fortunate enough to get a ticket for the match, being there is enough. Regardless of the result they are determined to enjoy the day and the occasion. The difference between 1956 and now is stark. Every player who steps out onto the pitch on Sunday will be a very rich man, in money terms, whereas those who trod Wembley's turf in 1956 were employees, on the minimum wage, and were treated much the same as you and I are today. They were usually contracted for the season and a major injury could mean a lifetime of penury unless they had another trade to fall back on. Those talented or lucky enough might be transferred to a bigger club but for the majority they waited anxiously for the end of the season to see if they were on the "retained list" and were to be employed for another season.

 One of Birmingham's players from those days was Eddie Brown, a centre forward, who throughout his career managed almost a goal every other match. The current Birmingham team are so bereft of the ability to score goals in the Premiership that a goal a match is considered to be a major achievement, despite the fact that we currently have five forwards or "strikers" on our books. Had Eddie been around today there is no doubt that with his enormous talent he would have been a multi millionaire and the papers would have been full of his antics for he was a character in the finest sense of the word. He was self educated and after his career in professional football ended he continued to contribute to the game and went on to get a degree so that he could teach.

 Apart from a lengthy spell at Birmingham he played for four other league clubs but he only stayed two years at each. Unlike now, in those days, it was very unusual for a player to move around as much as he did. When asked about this he replied, "I've only got two tricks and I show them one the first season and the other the next and then it's time for me to move on".

 I don't know who penned his Wikipedia entry but for those who walk out at Wembley on Sunday for the Blues it would be an education and an inspiration for them to take a few moments of their time to read about his life and times. Keep Right on Eddie

                                        





        

Ultra Zionists.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

 I recently watched Louis Theroux's programme on Ultra Zionists. and have to say, although I was not surprised, it left me deeply saddened. What is being allowed to happen on the West Bank is against  international law and yet these Ultra Zionists seem determined to evict the Palestinians from the area and Western governments do nothing to condemn these crimes against humanity.
 But much worse than that it was clear, that when probed by Theroux's questioning, that these people regard the Palestinians as an inferior race in the same way that Hitler regarded the Jewish people as such.  Coincidentally there is a drama serial on Channel 4 at the moment called, "The Promise" which is attempting to explore some of the issues involved, including the role of British during the creation of the Israeli state. I support wholeheartedly the existence of that state but what is going on now is no different to the activities of other terrorist organisations around the world and should be condemned as such.

Related articles

• Louis Theroux: My time among the 'ultra-Zionists' - Louis Theroux - BBC Magazine (richarddawkins.net)

I Have a Dream.

This is, without any doubt, the most inspirational speech that I have heard in my lifetime and one that I constantly return to. And yet most people have heard only small extracts from it. Dear reader please take a few moments out to listen to it and reflect on whether that dream has, or ever will be, achieved. It still points the way forward for us all.

Bankers.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

 These guys are crooks in suits. Basically they are gamblers who use your money to lend to other people at exorbitant rates or they charge massive interest rates to place businesses or homeowners permanently in debt. In so doing they make massive profits and pay themselves enormous salaries on top of which they add huge bonuses.
 Sometimes their gambles go wrong and every person in Britain is now paying off their debts and incurring large tax increases to pay for their mistakes. Despite these mistakes the bankers are carrying on as usual and Mr Eric Daniels, the outgoing chief executive of the Lloyds Banking Group, which we own, is set to receive a handsome bonus of around £2m for failing. The Prime Minister who promised to do something about this during the general election is doing nothing.

 Now surely there is something wrong here. We lent them money, so under their rules they should be paying us back interest at the rates that they charge their customers. Who is the fool?

Related articles

• David Cameron says don't "bash the banks" as RBS fat cat is set to scoop £2.5million bonus (mirror.co.uk)

Native Americans.

Cover via Amazon

 For most Americans their history begins about the time of the Pilgrim Fathers. That is why they visit Europe to see ancient monuments like me, and "To do" the history. And yet in their own land, before they arrived, the Native Americans, had lived for many, many centuries with their own cultures and traditions.

 Back in 1979 I visited Washington DC for the first time and when I raised the topic in conversation it was always met with a nil response. Determined to find out more I visited one of the largest book shop's in Washington and asked to be pointed to the shelves where books on the subject might be found. They had nothing.

 Now we all know about the genocide (or the now more familiar phrase "ethnic cleansing") which took place and the taking of the territories of the Indians by the settlers, and as a boy I remember playing cowboys and Indians, where of course, the Indians were the bad guys. But have you ever seen a documentary or read a book on the subject, dear reader? Perhaps for reasons of guilt, but I suspect because of total dis-interest, the subject has disappeared from the mainstream of history.

 I remember being actively involved in supporting the Civil Rights movement in America where the terrible legacy of slavery was finally addressed and rectified. But no such similar mass movement has been formed to address the grievances of the Native American. To his eternal credit Johnny Cash addressed the subject in an album called "Bitter Tears" but it did not sell many copies.

 Is it not time for an American President to address the issue and apologise to the Native Americans for the terrible wrongs that were done to them?

Hundreds of Herbal Remedies to be Banned.

Image via Wikipedia

 Because of an EU directive hundreds of herbal medicines will be banned from May 2011 when they will have to be licensed and regulated.  The whole cost of this bureaucratic process will cost about £80,000 to register each herb. This means that whilst some of the more popular products with big markets like echinacea will be worth the cost of registering many of the smaller products will be unobtainable simply because the manufacturers will be unable to meet the cost of registration.

 Now herbal remedies have been around for centuries as in the beginning this was all that mankind had available. The harmful ones have long been weeded out and many provide cures or assist with all kinds of ailments and conditions from bruising through to help with sleeping and stress. I have taken some myself and know the ones that work for me and those that don't. I haven't the faintest idea in May whether those few that I occasionally use will be available to me or not.

 Contrast this with the billion pounds industry that allegedly provide cures for the common cold. None of them work and yet the drug companies will continue to be allowed to peddle this expensive rubbish. In fact I see the hand of the drug companies behind the move to have herbal remedies banned.

 Now, when the founding fathers of the EU came together to form the organisation it was with the laudable aim of preventing the wars that had occurred on our continent for centuries to cease. I'm certain that legislation to stop the provision of herbal remedies never entered their mind and yet now the huge legislature within the EU has to justify itself by poking it's nose into every facet of our lives. Soon we will be taxed for farting.

Related articles

• Europe to ban hundreds of herbal remedies (independent.co.uk)