When Friends Write Books

I have a couple of book projects I'm writing up at the moment. One is at proposal stage, the other is an idea. Having been through the agony and the ecstasy of the writing, pitching and publishing process before, I know what's in store. More than anything though I'm grateful for the support of friends and family. 

It got me thinking about friends who have also written books recently and have therefore been on a similar trek to the peaks and valleys of getting a book out. I'm not trying to make out I'm part of some northern renaissance movement, akin to The Frankfurt School or The Bloomsbury Set, but I am very, very proud of each and every one of them for their efforts and the end result.

I've reviewed a few of them already - so you can click through to see what I liked about the books by my University friend Shobna Gulati, our neighbour David Nolan and Manchester icon Vikas Shah.

Three of the other authors I met on Freshwalks, which says something about the network that has been created. Mark Sutcliffe joined us on a West Pennine walk just before lockdown and we became good mates quickly. Slightly by design, we would speak weekly in a scheduled group chat and I was always interested in what he had to say about anything. He's written a beautiful, handy and warm guide to walks in Lancashire, and as he inscribed in the front, 'three down, 37 to go', reminding me we've made a great start together. The epithet 'warm' is the most important here because I read a lot of walking guides that are very utilitarian. Alfred Wainwright owes his popularity to his authenticity - grumpy, shy and eccentric. I'm not saying Mark is any of these, but his love of the land, and what he encourages you to experience, is quite something.

I've also had the pleasure of walking with Natasha Jones and Martin Murphy, two very different personalities, but in their own very unique ways, really inspiring and equally fascinating. Murph's book takes you through his life story as a Special Forces soldier and applies lessons to leadership in relatively safer environments. Natasha boldly takes on the challenge of addressing toxic masculinity. It's a neat, digestible and challenging guide to tackling the root causes of poor mental health amongst men. 

I've written before about the completion of my MSc thesis in political science this year. Genuinely, two of the friends who inspired me on this journey were Mike Emmerich and Jack Brown. Mike's history of modern British cities is also cited in my thesis as a key source text and he makes a well-argued case for further devolution. Jack's work on London is really challenging to a lot of the orthodoxy around inequality and the power of the capital city.

Andrew Graystone and I worked together on a short-lived political project. He's such a brave and inspiring force, and I literally can't keep up with his output. The title above is a really smart guide to social media use from a Christian perspective, but he has a new book out soon that is far more expansive.

The last physical book launch I went to was for Penny Haslam's How to Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous. I was so pleased for her, for how she successfully created this massive and impressive calling card for her business. Because of the work I do around brands and events hers is probably the closest to my sweet spot of lived experience and knowledge and I can say without fear or favour that she is spot on with her advice. 

The next book launch I'm going to will be for Dave Haslam's latest, a short form essay about English revolutionaries in the sixties and seventies. I'll review it when it arrives. And then there are other friends, like me, who are at different stages with their own projects. 

I'm proud of all of them. They have created something special and lasting in their own very honest and personal ways and I don't hesitate in recommending each and every one of them.

The 143 greatest songs, one per artist, a partial and personal list

What is it with blokes and lists, eh? A few years ago I hit on the crazy idea of putting together a list of my top 100 songs, with the rule that you can only have one per artist, the 2017 version is here, and the first attempt in 2011 is here. 

Spotify has given us the means to create and curate lists to our heart's content. On my Spotify, which I now spend an enormous amount of time on, there are lists galore. You can link to those here, and I'm leaving everything open for people to copy and share. But not collaborate, I can't let go. You'll also find every episode playlist for our Music Therapy radio show on Tameside Radio, if you ever wanted to get easy access to the songs. They're not always the right versions though, especially as I have a proper DJ as a partner on this project, who has a superpower for finding rare grooves and hidden gems. 

The 100 seemed inadequate. Especially as I discovered I can't count and that there were 112 songs on the 2017 version.

As if by magic, I stumbled upon the 143, a music blog curated by Andrew Collins, the former editor of Q and a prolific writer. He's utilised the same formula where you can pick just one song per artist. He started at 50, but it was a definitive, heroic, primal list of songs that were massively important to him. He kept going and stuck at 143. Where Andrew absolutely excels is the commentary around each song. That's a really impressive project and as you'd expect from a music writer of his calibre, it's a work of real quality that I don't think I could match.

And just to be absolutely clear, again. These are memories, some are deeply personal, some are dedicated to lost friends, to broken hearts and to better times ahead, but all are in some way connected to the sheer raw power of music. Maybe I will, but this is enough for now.

All of my Heart, ABC

We Could Send Letters, Aztec Camera

A Day in the Life, The Beatles

One Last Love Song, The Beautiful South

E=MC2, Big Audio Dynamite

Let Em in, Billy Paul

The Day Before You Came, Blancmange

Union City Blue, Blondie

There's a Reason Why, Blossoms

Tinseltown In The Rain, The Blue Nile

Subterranean Homesick Blue, Bob Dylan

Could you be loved, Bob Marley and the Wailers

Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen

Nobody Does It Better, Carly Simon

Father and Son, Cat Stevens

Ain't Nobody, Chaka Khan

The British Way of Life, The Chords

Under the Milky Way Tonight, The Church

Straight to Hell, The Clash

Let's Go Out Tonight, Craig Armstrong

Bloody Revolutions, Crass

Weather With You, Crowded House

Boys Don't Cry, The Cure

Instant Crush, Daft Punk

Life On Mars, David Bowie

Dignity, Deacon Blue

California Über Alles, Dead Kennedys

Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode

There, There My Dear, Dexy's Midnight Runners

Romeo and Juliet, Dire Straits

I Touch Myself, Divinyls

Jolene, Dolly Parton

MacArthur Park, Donna Summer

Ordinary World, Duran Duran

You Don't Have to Say You Me, Dusty Springfield

The Killing Moon, Echo and the Bunnymen

One Day Like This, Elbow

Getting Away With It, Electronic

Stan (Featuring Dido), Eminem with Dido

Paid in Full, Eric B. and Rakim

Missing, Everything But the Girl

Lost in Music, The Fall

Love See No Colour, The Farm

Do You Realize?? The Flaming Lips

Weekender, Flowered Up

Welcome to the Pleasuredome, Frankie Goes to Hollywood

My Sweet Lord, George Harrison

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Heron

La vie en Rose, Grace Jones

The Message, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Heron

Your Evening of Swing (has been Cancelled), Half Man Half Biscuit

Wrote for Luck, Happy Mondays

Zeus and Apollo, Hatchback

Silver Machine, Hawkwind

Temptation, Heaven 17

Beautiful Girl, INXS

Love Train, Holly Johnson

Open Your Heart, Human League

Visions of You, Jah Wobble

When You're Young, The Jam

Tomorrow, James

Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley

Annie's Song, John Denver

Ring Of Fire, Johnny Cash

Atmosphere, Joy Division

Cloudbursting, Kate Bush

The Gambler, Kenny Rogers

Sunny Afternoon, The Kinks

Aria [with Michael Gambon - Layer Cake speech] Lisa Gerrard

All Woman, Lisa Stansfield

Rattlesnakes, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

Wasting My Young Years, London Grammar

Idiot Child, Madness

Madam Butterfly, Malcolm McLaren

Working Class Hero, Marianne Faithfull

Motorcycle Emptiness, Manic Street Preachers

Teardrop, Massive Attack

What's Going On, Marvin Gaye

Fade into You, Mazzy Star

Anchorage, Michelle Shocked

Irish Blood, English Heart, Morrissey

Express Yourself, N.W.A.

True Faith, New Order

New Dawn Fades, Moby

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon, Neil Diamond

Time Of No Reply, Nick Drake

Into My Arms, Nick Cave

Don't Speak, No Doubt

All Around the World, Oasis

If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Because the Night, Patti Smith

No Tears to Cry, Paul Weller

Being Boring, Pet Shop Boys

Reachin, Phase II

Cruel, Prefab Sprout

Purple Rain, Prince and the Revolution

Pretty In Pink, The Psychedelic Furs

Common People, Pulp

Losing My Religion, R.E.M.

Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead

Open up Your Arms, Ren Harvieu

Run for You, Richard Hawley

Orange, Richard Lumsden

Please Read The Letter, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones

More Than This, Roxy Music

The Greatest Love of All, Kevin Rowland

In Dreams, Roy Orbison

The Spirit Of Radio, Rush

Over the Border, Saint Etienne

The Word Girl, Scritti Politti

The Great Rock n Roll Swindle, Sex Pistols

We are Family, Sister Sledge

Run, Baby, Run, Sheryl Crow

Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinéad O'Connor

Itchycoo Park, The Small Faces

How Soon Is Now, The Smiths

Say Hello Wave Goodbye, Soft Cell

I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher

Ghost Town, The Specials

Black Coffee in Bed, Squeeze

Suspect Device, Stiff Little Fingers

I Am The Resurrection, The Stone Roses

No More Heroes, The Stranglers

Ever Changing Moods, Style Council

Good Day to Die, Sunhouse

Give A Little Bit, Supertramp

It's My Life, Talk Talk

Let it Happen, Tame Impala

Reward, The Teardrop Explodes

Heartland, The The

Song to the Siren, This Mortal Coil

Up Against the Wall, Tom Robinson Band

Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc

Wide Open Road, The Triffids

Red Hill Mining Town, U2

Lucky Man, Verve

Story of the Blues, Wah

And A Bang On The Ear, The Waterboys

Teardrops, Womack and Womack

Baba O'Riley, The Who

Seven Seconds, Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry

September blog challenge

I need to get my mojo fired up and my writing head on. I've created a whole load of deadlines and expectations for the month, that will keep me motivated. However, I've also set myself the blog a day target as well. 

I've done this before in July 2019 and November 2020. I may even get around to covering some of the topics I promised to cover last time, but didn't. Like on our radio show, I do requests, but reserve the right to not do ones I don't like.

In short order, and on the list are:

• Academic writing v journalism
• Refugees
• Magazines
• Debate and disagreement
• Networks, why we need them, and why we don't
• 24 Hour News vs Slow news
• Family
• Friends
• All Those Things That Seemed So Important
• Aesthetics
• Devolution and Democracy
• Living with medical conditions
• Welsh Nationalism
• Some book reviews
• The 143 (not a bus route, a music list)
• Folk horror
• Kinder Scout, my complex relationship 
• Cumberland

Just to be clear, I don't often suffer from writer's block, but I am old enough to recognise that I work best under pressure. I should also at this point link to the Big Issue in the North, which published my feature on the BBC. I'd love you to buy a copy from their digital archive, here.

I also do a weekly column on music (mainly) for the Weekender section of the Tameside Reporter and Glossop Chronicle. One of the recent ones is here.

I was also involved in the Inset Day at Aquinas College yesterday, which prompted this piece on LinkedIn. 

So, which me luck and I hope this works.

My Sounds of the Season 1983/84

So I've done my Sounds of the Season on Rovers Radio, like a Desert Island Discs for Blackburn Rovers fans. Usually, I do the interviews, but this was my turn to be in the hot seat.

You can link to it here. But this is the preamble.

Honestly, in many ways 1983/84 was a bang average season for Blackburn Rovers, not many memories feature in the history books, compared to what came several years later. The crowds were really low, in fact, we hit a new low. But it was really memorable for me for all sorts of different reasons, just going to Rovers, them becoming part of my life, was one of the emerging pillars of my identity, as were music, ideas, fashion, amongst others.

On the pitch, Simon Garner had a great season. Norman Bell got injured in the first game and never played again. So Garner was partnered with Chris Thompson mostly while Miller or Brotherston or Patterson provided the crosses. This season saw the emergence of Simon Barker alongside an ever-present John Lowey in the centre of midfield.

At the back, it was still Baz, Faz, Keeley and Branagan, in theory, but David Glenn filled in for Baz for most of the season, and all-rounder David Hamilton popped up wherever he was needed. Terry Gennoe was a solid presence in goal, with a cup run, an unbeaten league run, strong home form, on paper it looks like a good season, but too many draws meant although we finished 6th, it never felt like a promotion push. Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday were comfortably ahead, Newcastle finished third and Manchester City had to endure another season down in the doldrums. 

It was however a great year for music. A massive turning point, a breakthrough. Just look at the choices I make and think what it must have been like to be alive and excited by all of that happening for the very first time.

Culturally, this period of time probably had a more profound and lasting influence on me than many of the later years. I bailed out of my Grammar School a year into sixth form and enrolled at Lancaster and Morecambe FE College instead, and instantly felt so much more at ease. Some of the things I got into later I quickly backed away from, but there is a reasonably straight line from the person I was in 1983 to where I am today, which I am very comfortable with.

It was also a pretty violent and racist time. There was always tension in the air, a sense it could kick-off, especially as you were hunted down at away matches, or when the bigger clubs arrived at Ewood. I also could have relayed scrapes at nearly every match I mention here, but I survived. 

These are my Sounds of the Season, 1983/84. Do give the show a listen if you want to hear the rest of the story. I’ll dedicate it to Chris Heath (RIP), Nick, Phil, Tony, Mick, Daz, Dave, Neil Fell, Phil Shaw, Lancaster and Morecambe FE College, Baz Dootson, and an apology to Louise Stokes for not returning her David Bowie LP.

The Songs

My Ever Changing Moods - Style Council

Modern Love - David Bowie

This Charming Man - The Smiths

Thieves Like Us - New Order

Boys Don't Cry - The Cure

Ain't Nobody - Rufus and Chaka Khan

Nelson Mandela - The Specials

White Lines (Don't Do It) - Grandmaster Flash

The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen

The Day Before You Came - Blancmange

The meaning of football

It was always going to be an emotional return to Blackburn Rovers. For me, it’s been gradual. A long in the planning trip to Euro 2020 that took me and my friend, Steven, to his home city of Glasgow for Ukraine v Sweden; a pre-season friendly at one of the English non-league’s new challenger clubs, AFC Fylde, and another warm-up at home to Leeds.

For different reasons, they all had something special about them that rather brilliantly lined up the main event of yesterday.

It’s been an awfully long time away. It would have been very easy to give up all of what I’m about to say. The first home league game at Ewood Park felt remarkably like the last one some 500 sleeps ago. That it was also against sneaky Swansea and with a weak referee was but a coincidence, but that the full quota of regulars sat around our berth on row 11 of the Riverside was a moment of affirmation of a sense of belonging. The players led the 10,000 crowd in applause pre-match for all those we’ve lost in this dreadful pandemic. I daren’t look, or speculate, at the empty seats behind us, that these prime spots aren’t once again populated by familiar faces and, though nameless, characters with who we have formed a bond. And it was delightful to take our friend Ian Herbert as our guest, one of those many people who we have got to know through football and who is always great to be around.

It was also about the rituals. One of which is held in my hand, in the shape of a Clayton Park Potato and Meat Pie. On another occasion, we’ll pop into Leavers Bakery on Bolton Road for a fix of the very best pre-match pie in all of football.

But there’s been a heck of a lot to dislike about football lately. The greed, the scramble to appeal to the vanity of an oligarch to bail out every club in the great unseemly gamble to not fall victim to ‘beware of what you wish for’. The Euros represented the best and worst of football, even for this Anglo-Welshman. A blend of hope, pride, and shame.

As for our team, despite the optimism of Rod Liddle in the Sunday Times who seems to think the ever-improving Blackburn Rovers will finish in the top six, without acknowledging that we’re about to see our best player leave through the same exit door as ten other former first-team regulars, the mood amongst the fans is gloomy. Tony Mowbray seems to have lost what mojo he ever had and is at least honest enough to admit the financial situation is grim. Though we were good for the win yesterday there are still too many players out of position (Rothwell, Gallagher, Dolan and Diaz, notably), the late substitutions disrupt any capacity to control a game fully, and there’s an unhealthy obsession with giving valuable Championship playing time to squad members of the Under 23s, of Everton, Manchester City and Liverpool, rather than those of Blackburn Rovers. That said, the stand-out player for me yesterday was homegrown John Buckley, who at times looked Tugay-esque.

I could have said all of that from the comfort of my sofa. That I didn’t is a tribute to the powerful draw of football, its culture, its rituals and our friends. Between those two Rovers matches have been three new grounds ticked off the list - FC United (159), Hampden Park (160) and AFC Fylde (161). I have a few in my sights this season, but probably will only barely stay in the 80s in my quest to ‘do the 92’.

Steven, with whom I've shared so many great memories, also helped us make a new one as he took me to Cathkin Park in Glasgow to visit the eerie remains of the home of Third Lanark, once a real force in Scottish football. The three sides of a bowl of terraces remain, as are the crush barriers, the pitchside wall, and if I’m being spiritual, a presence of what went before. It’s a tale of corruption and sectarianism I’m keen to discover more about. It’s proof that it’s more than just an old building, but a relic of our true human experience. So yes, forgive the obsession, but I’m oddly fascinated by stadia, where they are and where they were. I still have a frisson of excitement and anticipation in Manchester’s Moss Side on the approaches to the old Maine Road. I always look up from the train as it arrives at Bolton and eye-up the site of the old Burnden Park. But this was something else entirely. 

We’re going to make more memories this season. Mostly in the company of Blackburn Rovers, but also Lancaster City, Matt Jansen’s Stockport Town and maybe a few other random days out too. Hopefully, the Rovers ones will be surprisingly happy ones, but to be really honest, whatever happens on the pitch, they are going to be far better being there than not. Ask the ghosts of Third Lanark.

The Unlikely Accountant

 

I was really humbled to be invited to be a guest on Victoria Mortimer's excellent podcast The Unlikely Accountant. In a very crowded market it really stood out as being authentic, warm, informative and it really piques my curiosity every time a new episode drops. I hope this half-hour chat comes across as OK. We explore some interesting issues around authenticity in business, the old chestnut about the values and attributes of certain professions, debate, but also about mental health, social media and the importance of being nice. 

Spring summer telly review

Here's a bit of a round up of some TV drama series we've watched. I'll review a few docs and films shortly, but this is a bit of a mixed bag. 

Bloodlands (BBC) - terrible. I genuinely don't know how Ged Mercurio was involved in this. It once again showed one of the inherent weaknesses of BBC Drama, a childlike analysis of historic political issues, where good liberals revisit sins of bad bigots through a consistent and modern lens. 

Deutschland 89 (Channel 4) - every bit as good as I was expecting from the unlikely communist James Bond.

Disappearance (BBC) - really attractive French people eat steak and chips, pizza and ice cream, never get fat, and act really strangely when one of their daughters goes missing. Quite dark, but definitely very French.

Line of Duty (BBC) - I quite liked the ending. I thought it was neat and clever. That's sort of the point, there is no dark criminal mastermind. Everything else has been said. It's good at getting the suspense going, but the plot twists and red herrings are sometimes almost as comic as the needless jargon. 

Unforgotten (ITV) - ITV has got better at these kinds of dramas recently. Nicola Walker in particular really shone out in this well-told, well-acted, well-produced tear-jerker.

The Terror (BBC) - If you sold me the basic premise of a Victorian shipwreck drama I'd struggle to believe it would work, but there was something new and different about this impressively acted series.

Investigation (BBC) - true story, set in Denmark, relating to a disappearance of a girl on a submarine owned by an eccentric entrepreneur. Painstaking and soul-destroying work.

Occupied (Netflix) - Unfortunately this got worse with each series. What started out as a smart take on a futuristic geo-political drama (Russia annexes Norway with EU support) just got silly and too focused on a personal melodrama. 

Startup (Netflix, then season 3 on Amazon Prime) - The premise was good, and seeing Martin Freeman as a shady FBI agent was particularly pleasing, but the stand-out star was Edi Gathegi as Ronald. There are elements of Breaking Bad (ordinary people, organised crime, way over their heads) but overall it didn't reach those heights enough. That may be a high bar to have set, but on reflection there's enough to crave a fourth season. 

Colony (Netflix) - season 3 of this alien colonisation dystopia finally made it to the UK after 4 years. A bit of a mess, seemed to jump ahead and then around with very little context or explanation. 

Baptiste (BBC) - the return of the French detective to a new series set in Hungary was let down by some strange time shifting, but to be fair it picked up towards the end. Some of his policing techniques (compared to the master sleuth he was in The Missing) were as bizarre as they were hopeless. Interesting take on radicalisation in modern Europe.

The Pact (BBC) - alright, there was a cartoon bad guy, some hammy predictable writing, but loaded with really fine British actors. Also, nice to see a Christian character that has flaws, but isn't ultimately trashed as a total hypocrite and is prepared to act selflessly.

Lupin (Netflix) - the second season of this stylish and moral French caper was every bit as charming as the first. Again, a dastardly bad guy, unlikely coincidences and a certain wit made it an easy watch.

And finally, the best thing we've seen for ages - Time (BBC) where two of English acting's greatest talents convey the raw terror of life in our prison system. Obviously I've no direct experience of life behind bars (and Time is a reminder never to find out) but the constant terror and bullying and mental illness is genuinely disturbing. Most impressive of all was the sense of pointless, wasted disasters that have led to people ending up in jail.

Well done Dawn Butler says Centrist Dad

Even as a fully formed Centrist Dad, I can applaud wholeheartedly what Dawn Butler did in parliament this week. I've seen commentators and others having a dig. The more I think about it, the more I approve.

She called Boris Johnson a habitual liar, and he is. 

She did it at the end of a session in parliament and was booted out for a day. Big deal. 

It's been a crap week for the wretched Tory government. Cummings, the ping chaos, the ill-judged attack on Marcus Rashford, a terribly delivered speech by Johnson on levelling up, and the drip drip of buffoonery and lies from Johnson just keeps coming. 

All that Dawn Butler did was channel the content of a widely circulated video by Peter Stefanovic which details all the times Johnson lies. He does it without thinking, it's always about the moment, how to wriggle out of a corner until the next embarrassing encounter.

I know this is going to sound monstrously patronising, but what she did is the best of the left of the Labour Party. They are protestors, they are populists who play to the gallery, they are unsubtle. Good. Use that energy. I don't think she should be anywhere the leadership of a serious political movement, but for this disheartened and fed up Centrist Dad it was so good to see.

Passed Masters

So I passed my MSc!

If you want to view it, it's here.

I'm genuinely really pleased with the end result, and honestly think it has something different to say. As I outlined here, much current political science doesn't get what's truly different about Mayoral Combined Authorities, nor do political commentators understand Andy Burnham.

It wasn’t a smooth ride, it got sent back by the examiners last year for being “descriptive” and “journalistic” amongst other critiques. I was defeated initially but on a stern climb up Skiddaw the advice of good friends was that the only person to blame, and who could do anything to make it better, was me.

The "journalistic" barb hurt the most of all, because that's literally my identity. I felt a snobbery from academia towards people who are good storytellers, but it also woke me up a bit and sharpened the writing. I didn't compromise on what I hope was clear writing, but I did show a little more respect to the political scientists who I sought to walk alongside. 

Another difference between journalism and academic research is the requirement to anonymise interview sources, which also means I can't thank them by name. However, I can say that Andy Burnham’s model of running the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is something unique and worthy of further study (and compared to Whitehall and Holyrood is remarkably accessible).

So I must thank Dr Rory Shand and Dr David Beel for supervising me and helping me to weave a golden thread throughout, Professor Jean-Noël Ezingeard for encouraging me to do it in the first place, and Michael Stephenson for supporting me to finish it with a flourish.

I was originally inspired to do this by Dr Jon Davis, Dr Michelle Clement and Dr Jack Brown and their dynamic approach to ultra-contemporary political history at The Strand Group at King's College London. They have a brilliant network throughout Whitehall that is led by their taught course on the workings of government. I'm slightly disappointed I'm not around to build something around our devolved politics, but I'm sure others will pursue that path, maybe my good friend and mentor Professor Andy Westwood at the University of Manchester.

If anything, the whole exercise proved to be a very useful exercise in better understanding communications and brand strategy. And journalism.

* I enquired as to whether I could get a distinction, a merit, or a star. But you can't, you just pass, or you don't.

'Beyond the Bomb' Manchester moves forward

I was reminded today that it was 25 years since the IRA tried to blow up Manchester City Centre. I was in the city at the time for the Germany v Russia game at Old Trafford. 

It was also 5 years since my dear friend Neil Tague released this wee film he'd made. It makes me quite emotional watching it today. What a journey we've all been on.

Remember Me? by Shobna Gulati reviewed

Grief is by its nature very very difficult to write about. We pack in the loss, the ache, the loss of that joy of life as it was. Much harder is to really say what you feel, what the difficulties of life’s journey have been. All of them.

Shona Gulati’s account of her mother’s death is some of the most beautiful and raw writing I’ve ever experienced. It is powerful, it is painfully honest, and nothing is left out.

What also isn’t left out are the specifics of a difficult and complicated relationship with her family. And while these particulars don’t make for comfortable reading, they do build up the sheer weight of honest grief that comes from a relationship that wasn’t without its complications.

But if all families are complex and often have unbearable tensions - and clearly many in Shobna’s were to be resolved, or unresolvable, by the end of this book - so too is the experience of dementia. In this case it was the caring responsibility and the very particular circumstances of Asha Gulati’s condition. There aren’t many comforting words, or successful coping strategies, save for an acceptance and an understanding that it isn’t just forgetfulness, or senior moments, but a far more upsetting deterioration.

This is a brave book. But more than that it is a book with a serious and heavy expression of the one word that was so missing between Shobna and Asha all of their lives. So much was left unsaid, but it’s been said now. Love. Love. Love.

World in Motion or Three Lions? Actually, both

 

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The best football song ever is New Order’s World In Motion.

I don’t just say that because I’m a New Order fan, I say because I’m a football fan. It just is the best of them all, there’s nothing else to say. 

The first ever official England song was Back Home, recorded for the 1970 World Cup, when England were defending world champions. It was written by legendary Irish songwriter and composer Phil Coulter and by Scotsman Bill Martin and featured the vocal exertions of the whole squad, filmed belting it out wearing tuxedos on Top of the Pops. 

Sadly it trigged a lamentable run of squad songs for major tournaments by our home nations that never really got any better until, of course, World in Motion in 1990. 

 But for England fans no song has captured the mood on the radio, the terraces and in the fan zones quite like Three Lions, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s anthem recorded for Euro 96 with Ian Brodie of the Lightning Seeds. The chorus of ‘it’s coming home’ still rings out whenever England are playing. 

 I suspect it has stuck partly because it was a song created by fans, for fans, rather than for the team. Even now you hear chants to that chorus almost as often as you do to the tune of Go West. Most of these, if we’re honest, are pretty unimaginative. And part of the problem is that crowds collectively have had this stuff served up for them as football becomes increasingly part of showbusiness. 

 One of the many things I have grown to dislike about modern football is the pumped in music in order to create atmosphere in stadiums. Not all clubs are fortune enough to have matchday DJ like Tameside Radio’s Dave Sweetmore, who entertains the punters at Rochdale FC’s home games. 

For a couple of season my team, Blackburn Rovers, walked out to the instrumental bridge of Coldplay's Viva la Vida, a rousing soaring anthem about a guilty liberal wrestling with his childlike understanding of religion. I never understood why. 

 My personal nadir for pumped in, pumped up music was the use of Status Quo's Rockin' All Over the World in February 2002 at Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium as Rovers paraded the League Cup. It spoiled a genuine moment of joy. 

 I saw a clip last week of the Liverpool fans on the Kop terrace singing Beatles songs and Cilla Black’s Anyone Who Had A Heart, I suspect they had a prompt from the tannoy, but they weren’t drowned out the way those examples were and it feels like a beautiful collective moment. 

 Still, if you really want an example of a football crowd giving you a proper ‘hairs on the back of the neck’ moment, go and find the video clip of Hibernian fans singing Sunshine of Leith at the Scottish Cup Final in 2016. 

 And remember as you enjoy Euro 2021, there’s only one way to beat them, and that’s round the back.

(From the Tameside Reporter, Weekender, June 10, 2021)

SAS Who Dares Wins

 

My guilty pleasure on TV at the moment is SAS Who Dares Wins on Channel 4. I watch it on catch-up as it clashes with our radio show. 

The added ingredient this year is that we know one of the contestants. Sean Sherwood was a teacher at Harrytown when our lads went there and when I was a Governor. He was absolutely great with them and they all have very happy memories of their time with him. Max and Louis in particular were part of the team that won the Stockport Schools football cup in 2015 that Sean coached. It was, he has said, his greatest achievement in education and something all of the lads recognise was done against all the odds. I remember watching the game in abject disbelief, fully expecting a plucky defeat, but they found a sense of belief and courage that surprised everyone. That proved to me that their coach had a fundamental winning mentality. So to see him on this gruelling stage fills me with admiration and expectation. Obviously it's going to be hard to win, but we're four weeks in out of six and he's right in the mix. So yes, it won't surprise me in the slightest that he'll win.  

The Burnham Effect

There was much that was wholly correct in last week’s excellent special edition of the New Statesman on the crisis of the left. 

Everyone from Tony Blair to Lola Seaton (and the editor Jason Cowley) understandably focused on the myriad of things that Labour has got wrong, badly wrong. Ed Miliband started the trend of embarrassment about what Labour achieved in power from 1997 to 2010, but the current leadership seems similarly blind to the remarkable stories of where Labour in power is inspiring, unifying, and electorally successful. Labour won well in Wales, but also in Greater Manchester. Andy Burnham didn’t just increase his share of the vote to 67.3%, but the overall turnout; and if you were counting, won a majority of votes in every single council ward, all 10 city or borough councils, and all 27 parliamentary seats, even the nine currently held by Conservatives following the collapse of the Red Wall.

An advantage for incumbent Mayors played out well, as it did for Ben Houchen in Tees Valley and Andy Street in the West Midlands, but something is working for a devolved Labour Party rooted in its place and backed up with an imaginative, well-branded, and inclusive campaign. 

Much existing national political commentary, like academic literature, has struggled to interpret the nuances of such agile and networked figures as Mayors in UK politics who have made distinctive choices on both priorities and tone. As I said in my blog for UPEN, the Metro Mayors seem to work in practice, but not in theory. 

As it's my magazine of choice, I fondly hope the New Statesman will look to cast its critical eye on the cities and regions (and Wales) in a vital examination of the direction for the left.

A new King or Queen of the North – Mayors and their networks

On the eve of the Local and Combined Authority Mayoral elections in the UK, I wrote a blog for the Universities Policy Engagement Network looking at the role Metro Mayors play and how universities can engage with them.

As we approach a new set of elections this May it’s worth looking at the impact on policy of the Metro Mayors.

Through this pandemic and lockdown, UPEN members rightly have focused on the changing Westminster drama that has provided an opportunity for the whole machinery of Whitehall to absorb new thinking to address a unique and (hopefully) once in a generation challenge. UPEN also has a subcommittee looking at opportunities to impact policy at a local level, but the very patchwork of powers is itself a conceptual challenge for us to frame a consistent strategy across Higher Education.

It took the spectacle of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham standing on the steps of Manchester’s Central Library in a North Face jacket to highlight the role played by Metro Mayors. At issue was the financial support to regions in various stages of lockdown. What Burnham drew attention to wasn’t just the inequity of the support offered but the very manner in which he was able to wield power. He may have the power to fire the chief constable of the police (which he has done), the combined authority of ten local councils also has control over health and social care budgets, but most of all he can set a strategic course and provide leadership.

It’s a reminder of the limits of Mayors, but also of their promise. Nowhere in the list of direct powers devolved to this layer of governance is there a requirement to address street homelessness, or to create a voluntary scheme for good employment. There are opportunities to fundraise by co-operating strategically with government. Yet Burnham has defined his first term by those very issues, and sought to increase the powers of his office. None of this would be possible without the widespread support of business leaders, networks of third sector organisations and, occasionally, local celebrities.

Much existing political science and urban studies literature has struggled to interpret the nuances of such an agile and networked figure in UK politics. Inspirational and populist leaders are nothing new, but the Mayors are one of those new structures that seem to work in practice, but not in theory.

Hopefully further research will be equal to that challenge.

It’s provided an opportunity for colleagues across disciplines at Manchester Metropolitan University to provide intellectual ballast to a number of policy initiatives started by the Mayor. Foremost of these has been the evaluation by the Decent Work Centre of the Good Employment Charter. It’s a piece of work that is ongoing, but places the University’s academics right alongside the processes of policy development and builds relationships between the wider bodies. More directly, the city region’s low carbon energy strategy has been directly informed by the work of the University’s Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, a well-recognised beacon of expertise in developing a future hydrogen economy. The director of the Centre has presented at the Mayor’s Green Summit, but more significantly has brokered a partnership deal between the University, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Trafford Council, Carlton Power, Cadent Gas and Electricity North West to join forces to set up a hydrogen production hub at the Trafford Low Carbon Energy Park – a green energy storage facility, which already consists of a number of Net Zero industrial projects in support of UK Government objectives.

It’s fair to say that other city regions are someway behind Greater Manchester on the development of a policy making culture around its Mayoral Combined Authority. West Midlands and the Liverpool City Region have fewer powers vested in them, West Yorkshire is only now on the brink of electing its first Metro Mayor, and none of them have a figure as recognisable as Burnham on the ballot. What they all will have however is a hunger for ideas and initiatives that can propel them into the kind of position where they get talked about as ‘king of the North’. For the moment though, that’s a title Burnham has a firm grip on.

Last day at Manchester Metropolitan University today

Some personal news. Today is my last day at Manchester Metropolitan University after 5 very enjoyable years.

I first worked in the Vice-Chancellor’s office soon after Malcolm arrived, then for the past two years have been part of Public Affairs, with Michael Stephenson and Josie Sykes, in the wider Communications team. I’d like to think I’ve been able to contribute to the University’s strategic progress over that time, particularly acting as an advocate with the business community and local government in Greater Manchester. 

 

I’m grateful to so many people for the opportunities that the last five years have presented, and for the support from peers and colleagues during a challenging time over the last year of working remotely. 

I’m particularly proud of what we achieved with MetroPolis, the University’s own think tank, a great asset for the University in projecting our research to policy makers. Hopefully this will continue to have a positive effect on the standing of the University, but more importantly to create better policy to improve people’s lives.

I hope to stay in touch with so many friends that I’ve made in my time at the University and to apply all I’ve learnt from you in the next phase of my career. 

Mobile number is the same, and we haven't done so already, we could always do the LinkedIn thing - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeltaylormanchester/ - either way, it would be great to stay in touch.

Labour pains

I've realised I've just come through a period of reading and study of politics that has been to the exclusion of so much else that I enjoy. Now that I've submitted my thesis on devolution, I think I may be immersing myself in new concerns. So consider this a bit of a last hurrah on politics for a while.

As I write the news is consumed by the harsh spotlight being shone on the shoddy actions of the government. A couple of weeks ago Keir Starmer was being written off as a loser for not running the government closer in the polls. I'm less interested in these kinds of Westminster village issues, more in the big picture, societal changes that have been the driving force behind politics, but also behind consumer and social behaviours.

In Despised, why the Modern Left Hates the Working Class, Paul Embery rages with anger at the disassociation of Labour from the traditional working class, he deliberately doesn’t say white, but that's what he means. He then aggressively prosecutes the culture war, pushing back on so-called irrelevant niche issues - immigration, gay rights and feminism - all such efforts collapse when the agenda is dominated by Windrush, It’s A Sin and the murder of Sarah Everard. What was that you were saying, Paul? OK, as you were. It's a shame because there is a need to examine party allegiance even if it seems the forces are stacked against Labour and progressive parties under the present electoral system.

He also seems to conflate the wooing of the middle classes of middle England under Tony Blair with the desertion of the working class in favour of a new constituency of trendy middle class liberals. That’s not quite what happened. 

A far better explanation of the electoral schism is identified in Rob Ford and Maria Sobolewska's Brexitland, or in an Economist piece on the "Barratt Britain" of towns with new houses where young families aren't interested in the culture war, aren't ravaged by austerity and don't hate the country they live in. Life could be better, but it isn't as utterly miserable for them as the last two Labour leaders said it was. "There is an egalitarianism to Barratt Britain. Accountants, teachers, sales reps, plasterers and driving instructors live on the same street, and the smaller choice of pubs and restaurants means they socialise together, too. As long as mortgages remain affordable and petrol is cheap, it is not a place that worries much about politics."

In The Dignity of Labour Cruddas is better on all of this societal change until he constructs a straw man argument that says there are advocates for a stance that Labour doesn’t need the nativist working class anymore because they’re dying out and a new base is emerging in Remainia. The fact this argument isn’t cited or sourced is evidence it probably doesn’t seriously exist. 

Chris Clarke drafts three world views that often overlap, the dark knight, the puppet master and the golden age. It provides plenty of evidence for the kind of inclusive politics that I have consistently supported, but know is landing very badly, having lost control of the Labour Party and tactically failed to stop the rise of populism from the right. Much as I agree with much of what he argues, and understand that Labour needs to be sensible again, I got the impression that the primary goal of the book seems to be to conclusively settle a twitter dispute with Owen Jones. I gave up on that a long time ago. 

East London MP Jon Cruddas has the potential to be an important thinker and he at least takes seriously the charge that the working class have abandoned Labour. The points about the organisational strength of Labour in Dagenham leaves you wanting more and sounds quite familiar with what has happened in Manchester, where a vibrant ground campaign can at least arrest long term seismic shifts, but can also serve to listen and reflect how people are living their lives.

Labour is more than anything a party in desperate need of a compelling narrative, a strong sense of what they are for. Starting with work, our relationship with our jobs and careers, isn’t a bad start for a party so rooted in the workplace, after all the clue is surely in the name.

I badly overestimated the appetite for a centre-ground alternative to Johnson and Brexit, I genuinely thought educated, non-racist, fair-minded people would reject it. The trouble was they feared Labour's alternative even more. These are all decent contributions - even Paul Embery's has merit - but I'm kind of all Laboured out now.    

Hosting at Invest North 21: Selling the north to the world

Had a wonderful time hosting this final session at the Invest North 21 conference last week, Selling the North to the World organised by The Business Desk. The discussion was great, but I'm probably more excited by the way the new podcast rig looks and sounds.

I was joined by Collette Roche, chief operating officer at Manchester United Football Club, James Mason, chief executive for Welcome to Yorkshire, Sheona Southern, managing director at Marketing Manchester and Kerry Thomas – head of marketing – Blackpool Cluster – Merlin Entertainments Group.

We covered so many great things our tourist sector is gearing up to market as the economy reopens. But the spirit of the people was a constant. “Friendly”, “Down-to-earth” and “Hospitable” were just some of the attributes which will be used to help maximise the North’s attraction to international visitors, according to our panel of experts. I was pleased to slide in references to Freshwalks, my DJ work and Tame Impala, which hopefully added something.

Hope you enjoy it. It reminded me of a couple of things, I really enjoy doing this kind of thing. It's not for me to judge whether I'm any good at it, but the feedback was good. There's a link to coverage of the session here.

A new column in the paper - Music Therapy

I've started writing a weekly music column in the Tameside Reporter. It's a bit of a plug for the show and a chance to share a few stories around the music me and Neil play every Sunday night. This one however is more about the therapy side of things. Hope you like it.

Link is here.

Mermaid's Pool by David Nolan reviewed

It dawned on me half way through The Mermaid's Pool that I was far more familiar with the universe it depicted than I first appreciated. It takes a rare skill as a storyteller to do this. Not only has David Nolan carefully and painstakingly crafted characters and a realistic backdrop, he's also planted seeds in your imagination in his first novel, Black Moss, set nearby, but with a seemingly different storyline, era and location. There are overlapping characters, but not in an overt way, not as a centrepoint, but as a landscape. Obviously part of the reason I liked the book as much as I did is because it's got bits in it that I know about and am a little bit obsessive: British fascism, Kinder Scout, rave music and local politics. So often I read books about worlds I know something of and when a vague detail isn't quite right then it ruins it for me. Again, it's a skill of a journalist and writer of David Nolan's quality that he never slips up. I trust then that the depictions of police procedure and cancer care are as well researched. All that said, the real pinnacle of Mermaid's Pool is the story. It is pacy, shocking, violent, but also very well structured. You think you've worked out plot twists, but there's always a surprise in store. Highly recommended and I can't wait for the third in this Manc Noir trilogy, The Ballad of Hanging Lees.