Where’s it all going?
Take a pinch of White man
Wrap it up in Black skin
Add a touch of blue blood
And a little bitty-bit of Red Indian boy
Curly Latin kinkies
Mixed with yellow Chinkees
If you lump it all together
Well, you’ve got a recipe for a get-along scene
Oh what a beautiful dream
If it could only come true
You know, you know
CHORUS
What we need is a great big melting pot
Big enough to take the world and all it’s got
Keep it stirring for a hundred years or more
And turn out coffee-coloured people by the score
Rabbis and the Friars
Bishops and the Gurus
You got The Beatles or the Sun God
Well it really doesn’t matter what religion you choose
Mick and Lady Faithfull
Lord and Mrs Graceful
You know the living could be tasteful
We should all get together in a loving machine
I’d better call up the Queen
It’s only fair that she knows
You know, you know
CHORUS (x 3)
Rusters over the age of sixty might recognise the above lyrics from the pop music hit Melting Pot (1969) by the mixed race band featuring black vocalist Maggie Bell which peaked at Number 3 in the UK music charts in January 1970.
It became a cause célèbre in September 2019 when a UK golden oldies radio station was forced to remove it from its play-list after complaints that it was racist – something that Bell, now 77, vehemently denies.
I mention it today because it seems to me that there’s a small gap between the world as it is and the world as we’d like it to be and that small space in itself has become a rather large battleground in which every individual, every groups or sub-group, every religions and creed (political or otherwise) and those with perceived special interests, or disabilities, or medical conditions, or diversities, or different backgrounds and traditions, all vie with each other for the right to live and be respected as they would wish to be.
And, almost by definition, nobody is every going to get satisfaction.
Of course, it would be fab if everyone could live in their own little universe in which the world as they would like it to be played out as desired – whacky though that thought might be.
But stay with me.
Imagine a world in which UK Remainers could stay in the EU – and Leavers could go off and enjoy Brexit somewhere else.
Or indeed where Labour Party supporters could go off and live in a UK in which Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell ran the country exactly as they would wish to … but so, somewhere else, those who support the Tory Party (depending which wing, right or left, was running it at the time) could live in a similar ‘Tory paradise’.
Or where Liverpool football fans could watch their team win the Premier League, FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League every season … but so also could those of Manchester City, Chelsea, Leicester City … or indeed Fulham FC.
And so on … ad infinitum.
It has occurred to me that in the 21st Century world of weedy, ‘woke’, ‘endlessly entitled’ youngsters – where every dog has to have its day, everything from the past is ‘bad’, everyone takes their news from those whom they agree with and dismisses anyone who disagree with their views as being ‘wrong’, prejudiced, sick or ‘thick’ – there’s a degree to much ‘any old how will do’ and too little sense of national ‘community’.
Here are some links to overnight stories in the media that illustrate my point:
Chantalle Edmunds reports upon a young academic who was upset by male laughter whilst receiving an award for her work into sexual harassment in archaeology, as appears upon the website of the – DAILY MAIL
A ongoing headline story at the moment is the launch of the new movie Blue Story – about black gang culture – which has attracted violence and thereby cinema chain decisions to withdraw it, which move is being widely criticised – see here for a latest report by Josh Halliday as appears upon the website of – THE GUARDIAN
Sebastian Murphy-Bates reports on the news that George The Poet has turned down an MBE because of the ‘pure evil’ of the British Empire, as appears on the website of the – DAILY MAIL
Maya Oppenheim on a new report that says British women are being forced into polygamous relationships, as appears today upon the website of – THE INDEPENDENT
Gordon Rayner and Harry Yorke report on the pronouncement by the Chief Rabbi that Jeremny Corbyn is “unit for high office” as appears on the website of the – DAILY TELEGRAPH
Daniel Martin writes about Jeremy Corbyn’s intention to have the ‘injustice’ of the British Empire taught in schools, as appears on the website of the – DAILY MAIL
Eleanor Sharples has written a piece about BBC political correspondent Chis Mason’s call for more regional accents to be heard on the BBC, as appears upon the website of the – DAILY MAIL
