I take it all back!

Well, at least some of it. Last night we watched a wonderful programme about Welford Primary School in Handsworth where the children speak 17 different languages as their first language and the number is rising all the time as families arrive in the area from eastern Europe. The head master, who should be knighted immediately, said this wasn't a problem. It was in fact both part of a process that had been going on for centuries and something that enriched the community. Everybody seemed pleased to be there and to feel themselves to be or to be becoming British as festivals, customs, food and languages were shared. Oh yes, and the older children were learning French as well!

The night before we saw a programme about the hard working Polish immigrants to Peterborough who also seemed pleased to be there and put the workshy, benefit dependent spotty adolescents of the town to shame. It was a nice moment when a random interviewee complained that more rubbish was being thrown onto the street. "Eastern Europeans?" inquired the interviewer. "No, the English" was the reply.

Both programmes should be compulsory viewing for all those who think that Britain is going to hell in a hand cart.

Watching the Telly

Spanish TV is dreadful. Even the good bits are amateurish compared to British TV. The news, for example does very little analysis, especially of international events (I am told that radio is better and I must admit we do like listening to the classical music programme on Radio Nacional de Espan(y)a which is like a less snobby version of Radio 3). Items are accompanied by film of the utmost banality with only a loose connection to what is at issue. Alternatively we get gruesome shots of dead bodies, body parts or-if all else fails-traces of blood smeared across pavements or walls in the wake of a crime.

But what is happening to the BBC? We have just watched two of the programmes in the White Series which, I guess, must be about the impact of immigrant culture on the white working class. The first was a programme what centred round a working men's club in Bradford and its struggle to stay alive as the world changed around it. Your heart had to bleed for the utter hopelessness of the committee members but what sentimental nonsense it was! We were encouraged to believe by the voiceover of the producer/director/interviewer that what was being lost was a golden age of social cohesion and working class warmth. In fact these communities, not of the white working class but more accurately of the unskilled white working class, were always narrow and bigoted. If you fitted in you were fine but woe betide anyone whose opinions, lifestyle, sexuality, aspirations etc. etc. etc. were different from the majority. Last night we watched a play about a young girl who fled her chaotic drug taking, alcohol abusing white family and converted to Islam, taking refuge with her Muslim next door neighbours. It was beautifully acted but traded in stereotypes-white family life in ruins, Muslim families cosy and warm with food on the table-and easy answers as at the end when the white mother divorced her brutal husband by repeating "I divorce you" three times, as far as I am aware not an option available to Muslim women. We look forward to the programme about Polish immigrants tonight!

It's March!

And here are some of the flowers in our garden. Actually, today has been quite cold out of the sun because of an unusual wind coming from the north, but it turns towards the end of the week and we are back to summer!

A whole new meaning...

This photo gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Shop till you drop." I didn't take the photo....but I did buy the hat!