The dynamic diversity of our history should give us courage
During the election, right-wing politicians, hacks and proprietors divided Britons so they could get to rule over us
I had been feeling sad and hopeless, but a letter from an 87-year-old and a musical rekindled my optimism this week.
Mr Albert Drew, of Loughton, Essex, responded to my last column in which I tried to understand the rich: “[They] are not just satisfied with their money. Once greed kicks in, it is like a disease without a cure. I hope this helps,” he wrote.
Albert helped more than he knows. He didn’t see me as a “coloured” stranger but a kinswoman, who, like him, cannot accept the proposition that some must make and keep billions so the rest can get to pick up crumbs from under their tables.
On Tuesday, we went to see Bend it Like Beckham, the musical. The film was released in 2002 and became an international hit. It is an affecting story of two ordinary teenage girls, one white, one Asian, who want to be football stars. The writer and director Gurinder Chadha, was a local Southall girl, who too had big dreams.
This version is joyful but more political, responding perhaps toUkip and those who bemoan diversity. In an early scene, men and women of all ethnicities, including Polish plumbers, dance lustily, defiantly. Though they face racism, migrants are robust and determined and the locals accommodate them and sometimes love them.
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