debts of honour

 At Valentine's park, Il. Stop to stare at the strange assemblage of people around you at the playground. Wonder what old Enoch would have made of it all. One hundred years ago, when he was born, the ethnic and religious composition of people would have been quite different. Here there were Sri Lankans, Gujratis, other Indians that you couldn't place, Paks, some Africans, a few Chinese people and a number of mixed race people as well. Horrified, perhaps? Or maybe not...

You see a six year old podgy kid, desi, walks by stuffing down his flake 99 with great relish, wearing an Eng-er-land t-shirt. Most of the parents speak in English with their kids and, just like everyone else, make sure their own children wait their turn. The hijabis are out in full force and most  people are cool with that. It's just the way it is.

You have to think, though, if anywhere else there'd been as rapid a change in society as there's been here..well, maybe the problems would have been of a different magnitude. And of course, putting your red hat on, you have to say that race is really a red herring in that the fundamental changes in society have come about with the decline of manufacturing, Thatcher, globalisation, the decline of the public (Sennett) and a host of other factors. The best thing that can be said about ol' Enoch is that he knew Welsh. Apart from that he was, to be quite frank, a bit of a wanker.

~~~

Now, really must put in some effort to find Michael Foot's book, 'Debts of Honour'. Since you are reminded of him every time you walk past the Gay Hussar, you ought to try and scoop it up soon, to repay a debt to an honourable soul.

~~~

In one of your more pessimistic moods you get the terrible feeling that not only is socialism on its last legs but that the very notion of the social is on the decline. Of course, it might be countered that there's always been a  certain roughness to the 'north'  and if we extend our historical horizons a bit we might be inclined to say there's been an improvement in manners, civility ( N. Elias)