I Miss Blanche

The news of the death of Maggie Jones (aka Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street) has really upset me. I am a devoted Corrie fan…..that peculiar mix of High Drama/Melodrama and Low Comedy packed into 25 minutes. I can honestly say that I saw the very first episode……a time in 1960 when the entire family sat round ONE (yes count it!) TV set.

Blanche followed in the tradition of strong women characters pioneered by Tony Warren (Ena Sharples, Annie Walker & Elsie Tanner) in that first episode……..

In Michael caine “not many people know that” mode, I should point out that in the first episode……three young men returned to the Street…….Billy Walker from National Service, Dennis Tanner from Prison and Ken Barlow from University. Its no coincidence that the Pub is called The Rovers Return……….this indeed is the ethos of the Street……that home is better than “that London” ……real people live in the North.

Of course I have always had an affinity for South Lancashire…….my cousin was for many years a priest in the Diocese of Salford (ministering in Bolton and Burnley) where he was a friend of many of the Manchester United players…….and there is something nostalgic about watching Corrie that stirs up images of Matt Busby, Hermans Hermits, the Hollies, ZCars……and even dare I say Manchester City (boooooo) Liverpool (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) Everton (restrained boos) and the Beatles, Jimmy Tarbuck and Cilla Black, Wakes Week and the Universe Catholic newspaper…….

In my career I was often assigned to Manchester or more usually neighbouring Oldham in the 1970s…….which often meant a trip to Old Trafford (no ticket required…pay at turnstile) or even a Reserve Game…….

Coronation Street…..yes my wife and I are big fans. Even walked on the cobblestones on the Granada TV Tour several years ago.

As a programme it is flawed……Would Ken Barlow or Emily Bishop live in a street like that. No Catholic family in Wetherfield (Salford). No Black family (let us discount the Kelly in the Knicker Factory and the stereotypical Asian Dev the Shopkeeper)…….of course a Black Family has been ruled out as long ago as the 1970s because the Producers assumed that Stan Ogden and Hilda Ogden would be “racists”……

Hmmmm……..there is of course an element of re-cycling of characters…………Killer Tony Gordon is rehashed Bad Guys (Charlie Stubbs and Richard Hillman)….the Windass Family is recycled Battersby Family….and I digress.

This post was supposed to be about battle axe Blanche Hunt………yet the death of Maggie Jones has taken me aback………I think I underestimated just how brilliant Blanche was……..Rest in Peace Maggie Jones.

Blance was a (British) National Treasure…………..let us hope that the Coronation Street producers wrap Norris Cole and Roy Cropper up in cotton wool.

Parasite Yes….Vermin No

Rather obviously Mrs Elizabeth Windsor and her unlovely family ARE Parasites.

But I think its wrong to describe Mrs Windsor as “vermin”. That goes too far.

Owen Temple MP?

I am still on a learning curve about North East England. Some folks have been very helpful. Others slow to reply. Liberal Democrat Owen Temple seems like a nice guy.

Iran 2 England 0

Much amused to see that five more British sailors have been “arrested” by the Iranians. Put them on trial….for……….oh anything!.

Happy St Andrews Day

Alba Abu.

Good to see Alex Salmond raise the Scottish National Flag today and raise the standard of Scottish Independence. It will surely happen. Unfortunately the Labour Party has a vested interest in keeping Scotland within the discredited entity of a “United Kingdom” but the Tories thankfully have a vested interest in cutting Scotland adrift.

Switzerland Goes Cuckoo Over Minarets

I do not care much for the Islamist World. My attitude to the Arab/Mulim  World is that we in the West should have minimal contact. Buy Oil. Sell them stuff. End of story.

They are rooted in a World which is pre-Enlightenment….pre-French Revolution and we should not engage with them. But the banning of minarets is just narrow minded intolerance. Thank God we would not do this sort of thing.

This kinda intolerance is best left to the English…..who not so long ago in Ireland …were ruling that Catholic Churches could only be built  more than a mile from (Anglican) parish Churches. No surprise therefore that Lord Pearson the dotty (ok hes totally mad) leader of UKIP advocates this sorta intolerance. Shame on UKIP.

“I’m The Queen ….Get Me Outta Here”

There are times when it is possible to feel nearly sorry for Elizabeth Windsor…..currently holed up in Trinidad & Tobago with her racist consort at an event known as the Commonwealth Conference. On occasions that I was on assignment in London, I worked in the Kensington area which necessitated me walking past the “Commonwealth” Building every day.

Mrs Windsor who has a certain grace……even if she has a face that is perfect for Radio……..at least tries to manage to look like shes interested in the whole risible nonsense. The Duke of Edinburgh (sic) (the Worlds most unconvincing Scot) has no such grace.

I Gotta Leave Old Durham Town and Fog On The Tyne

For a few weeks now I have been researching North East England. It seems to me that this is an area of England, with which I am not familiar. In so many ways it seems isolated from mainstream England……..all that “When the Boat Comes In” and “Likely Lads” “Ant and Dec” thing……not to mention “haway the lads”, “Blaydon Races” and “Newcy Brown Ale”…………….it seems to me that I know nothing more than stereotypes.

Yet there is so much more than “Fog on the Tyne is all mine mine mine”. Venerable Bede, Lindisfarne.

Yet it does not SEEM to punch its weight POLITICALLY. Peter Mandelson, David Milliband and others…. a London elite who have been or are MPs for an area……where they dont seem to fit.

In an effort to understand North East England better, I have been trying to contact local figures and media and cultural outlets. Very impressed by the correspondence I am having with Chris Mullen MP and the Islamic Diversity Centre in Newcastle has been helpful. First reply today from a prominent Liberal Democrat in the North East and he seems like a nice guy.

Incidently the Roger Whittaker song “Leaving Durham Town”  features the lyric “sitting on the banks of the River TYNE”. (sic) Why has it taken me thirty years to realise this?

The Murphy Report on Child Abuse in Dublin

The above named Report makes disturbing reading for CATHOLIC such as myself. I welcome it and commend not only the Reports authors and the very brave victims who spoke up…….but also the enlightened leadership of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of the Dublin Archdiocese……in marked contrast to his predecessors.

As a Catholic, I understand human failing. What I refuse to accept is the culture of cover up……protecting the INSTITUTION and REPUTATION (and ASSETS!!!) of the Church while not protecting CHILDREN.

Some who know a little about Catholicicism and absolutely nothing about Ireland will see the Report in the context of anti-Clericalism…….as always they miss the point that the Report is scathing about National Instiutions such as An Garda Siochana (the Police) and government agencies such as Health Boards. Likewise the campaigners have always been scathing about NATIONAL Institutions.

The fact is that since Independence the largely Catholic population (including Government ministers) has struggled with the notion of a REPUBLIC (where the PEOPLE are sovreign) and a CHURCH which recognises Canon Law. Those ultra Catholics who put Canon Law on a higher level are at one with ultra Muslims who would put  Sharia Law above National Law.

Today as an IRISH CITIZEN…………….a Catholic and a Republican…..I am optimistic. This struggle has been ended The REPUBLIC IS OUR AUTHORITY. Catholics (like our Presbyterian, Methodist, Muslim, Agnostic, Jewish, Athiest citizens) are entitled to the FULL PROTECTION of our IRISH LAWS. Likewise they are RESPONSIBLE TO our IRISH LAWS.

The Iraq Inquiry

Well at least the British got round to a second Inquiry (Chilcott and Hutton) quicker than they got round to a second Inquiry into Bloody Sunday (Saville and Widgery). As my #1 son is a solicitor, I have no great objection to lawyers making loadsa money out of an Inquiry.

But it strikes me that “War Crimes” is a bit arbitrary. Thankfully the scum from Serbia are being tried and convicted but no Israeli will likely be in court in the Hague. And the Americans have ruled themselves out of ever being charged with war crimes.

Many people would consider Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be war crimes. And bombing Dresden. Yet theres a statue to Bomber Harris in London. So er thats ok then.