The boy pictured front, centre, is my Dad's brother, my Uncle Wull (William, is not Willie or Will but Wullie or Wull). I never knew him. Come the Second World War he was in the RAF, a tail gunner in a Lancaster and he died over what was known as Czechoslovakia in 1944. Indeed, pretty well all of this football team would have gone to that war, all mates. I was thinking about the terrorist incidents in Brussels last night, and Paris and around the world and how the old hippy maxim of peace, love and understanding isn't such a bad idea. Yesterday an expert on ISIS (from Goldsmith's University) was saying that radicalism and recruitment to terrorism was easy in Europe when you had areas such as Molenbeek. I guess we have our own enclaves here in the UK and in an old fashioned parlance they are probably the modern equivalent of what were known once as ghettos, though its much too simple an explanation. Can societal alienation be the biggest factor. The only time I can recall being seriously racially discriminated against (apart from the odd Jock jokes, which are only mildly irritating) was in Southall, Birmingham. I was crossing the road at the lights, in front of an Asda van and he made to lunge forward. I jumped out of the way and the driver and his mates laughed, 'Want some of my Van, white boy?' he shouted. Again, very mild and less than the comments women and gay people get regularly, or the comments that come with being black or Asian in this country. The thing is, it all speaks to and off intolerance and I suspect driving the Asda van said more about the problems being created. Education, employment and opportunity are tools for social mobility. My Uncle Wull along with millions in this country was fighting for a better world, for a better future and 72 years later we are still the recipients of his generosity. Today is good Friday; Happy Easter to those who believe in the Biblical story and also to those who prefer the Easter bunny, and to everyone who believes in peace, love and understanding, its a good message.
