March Hares
Saturday 2 has the look of another busy day about it. And I'm off to Heaton Park in neighbouring Manchester Blackley constituency where my running club Salford Harriers are hosting, and hoping to win, the Northern 12-stage and 6-stage road relays, not far from where one of three Marches as Manchester's contribution to the European Day of Action Against Racism marches begins.
Tying the two together our Ethiopean star Thomas Abyu kicks off the effort in fine style to lead the first 5-mile leg from start to finish and post the second fastest time of the day overall. Thomas recorded 63 minutes for half marathon as a teenager and was in his national squad.
But now he is waiting for a date for his citizenship ceremony and hoping to represent GB, perhaps get onto lottery funding. Back in Ethiopia hundreds of runners are effectively paid by sponsors to be full time athletes, even at local club level.
It's very different here. Last weekend he won the Wilmslow half marathon and good money, shortly before he and club mate Andi Jones did a training run for joint second place in the Liverpool half and another payday. But when he runs for the Club in championships there's rarely any "pay".
He has been whisked from his security job at a hotel near the airport to the race and will be whisked right back immediately afterwards.
A few legs into the races we are still doing OK. Third in both men's and women's races. But now I must dash to take part in the North Manchester march led by family friend Farhat Khan.
Yes, THE Farhat Khan. The one with 10,000 plus signatures and thousands of individual postcards on her Farhat Khan and Family Must Stay petition. The one who is just the third immigration case Graham Stringer MP has ever escalated to personal pleadings. The one the Immigration Minister says must have enough initiative to hide from her murderous husband back in NW Frontier Province as she has run such a good campaign.
"Rather perverse" said Stringer of that comment. The Farhat Khan who has worked as a consultant for various government agencies here, who was singled out as an award winner by Eastern Eye, and who last year was invited to Buckingham Palace to recognise "her contributions to British life".
Told to 'behave' at that gathering she was none the less approached by Royal princes and diverse celebrities eager to discuss her case.
This is an extraordinary case. Though no-one would want the bar moved up to Farhat's level for other worthy asylum cases it beggars belief that she has not been granted exceptional leave to remain.
Farhat and family originally arrived in England some months before the latest amnesty arrangements guillotine date. But unfortunately she was kidnapped and taken back to house arrest by her mother in law before lodging her claim for asylum.
At this time her brutal husband was working in Canada, a short plane ride from Pakistan in this day and age, and for this reason alone the Tribunal ruled against. Her appeal, based on the fact that the husband was back in Pakistan and continuing to issue death threats, also fell. And so far the Minister has not agreed to extend the amnesty or use discretion.
One interview with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Manchester was attended by a member of the Consular staff from Pakistan. This woman who knew Farhat from the rich social whirl back home assured IND staff that there was no way whatsoever that Farhat would be living in a small council house in Cheetham Hill and facing racist abuse with her family if there were not a genuine fear of honour killings in her home province.
The march is a tremendous success. Huge police attention extends the throng. And an amazing choir of young Congolese men and women chant and rumba for the whole hour and a bit past Cheetham Hill Advice Centre where Farhat was employed as a multilingual advice worker until the Home Office clamped down on that, down Waterloo Road past the African Asylum project, down Cheetham Hill Road, past the Jamia Mosque, the Irish World Heritage Centre, the Jewish Museum housed in a former Portuguese synagogue.
Manchester is built on immigration. The permanent exhibitions in Urbis which we pass next attest to this. What are the figures? 30% Irish heritage, 10% Asian, 10% African and Caribbean, 5% Chinese and Vietnamese, 5% diverse European refugees, the rest mostly migrants from the countryside for factory and labouring work over the last two centuries or else student and professional migrants for the Manchester buzz.
The BNP are a constant threat to this. Not too far from a North West euro seat. Often standing in the odd ward in Manchester but even more of a threat in Oldham, in Ashton and mid Lancashire.
Unfortunately the Tories are playing to this audience. They have almost doubled the percentage of the electorate identifying immigration as a key issue since January with their nasty campaigns and statements.
The Lib Dems have moments of clarity when they do contribute to the anti-fascist effort as they should. But for the most part are not much help on this. Which is a theme I may come back to. With examples.
Meanwhile we reach Albert Square. Close by Brasenoze Street where a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln stands, recognising the solidarity of the Manchester textiles workers in helping bust slavery.
The guys and girls from the Congo are still milling, still smiling, still melodising. Some tending towards the "sapeur" culture epitomised by Paris based Papa Wemba - an artist which I once presented in Manchester in another life. Who knows, perhaps a few of these joyful citizens have been in Mr Wemba's ensembles down the years? He has form.
Marches from the gay village and from South Manchester have joined up at Whitworth Street and now join the Northern throng to hear speeches from Farhat, journalist Mansoor Hassan, Graham Stringer MP and Manchester's deputy mayor Cllr Afzal Khan.
This last a man who commissioned a bhangra tune for the 2004 election, clearing yet another Lib Dem out from North Manchester. Both North and East Manchester are now Lib free zones. Much against the trend in Cheetham Hill with its high Asian and antiwar population and with a history of fierce electioneering with outbreaks of slander.
The loser there goes on to be the Lib Dem candidate in Manchester Gorton, tackling the amazingly popular Gerald Kaufman.
Anyway, off I dash back to my car and on to watch the closing stages of that running race. Disaster has struck in my absence. Two of our star runners have developed medical problems during their legs and we have lost a full eight minutes on the leaders as a result.
Both prove OK after tests and the Club works back to sixth place, easily qualifying, as did the women, for the National Championships in three weeks time at Sutton Park.
It is a beautiful day and the park is full of fun seekers as well as hundreds of runners. Others may be visiting the 1982 Papal Memorial on the hill overlooking the changeover area. But it is not pilgrim Catholics who threaten the race. Unbelievably the kiddies road train drives through the course at least once. And Fairground revellers too must cross the course. At least one runner is wiped out by a loose dog, being removed by ambulance after what seemed like an hour of treatment.
One of the course marshalls is Kenny Dobson. Many years ago he tried to join the Labour Club in Ancoats only to be told by the very old Labour committee and specifically one Billy Egerton that it was "full". So he went down the road and joined the Liberal club. The rest is history.
Kenny is now in is second stint as a City Councillor. And remarkably it was in the City Centre 2004 and not on his traditional stamping ground of impoverished estates where he made his comeback.
Perhaps not so remarkable really as those estates will remember his downfall. His rise was helped by local heroics as a poll tax striker, something which Labour attack politics helped cement rather than undermine, but it was the demon drink which brought his decline to laughing stock.
He has I think made a full recovery. But the stories among the Labour ranks are many and various. For example that being the dogsbody-in-chief who distributed most of the Lib Dem Focus leaflets he was able to take his pick of wards and insist he was selected. And for example that although he has not touched a drop for years he does not hesitate to tell his old drinking mates that he hates rich city centre residents. The people he now represents.
Tremendous irony is at play. Focus in the city centre presented "Dobbo" as 'Ken Dobson' the Lib Dem expert on public art, recycling, and the erudite editor of the Focus. To this day the Town Hall website lists the Opposition Office as his telephone contact, he doesn't speak at meetings, and he obviously doesn't do casework. In fact he told me on election night that he was being advised to stay away from the ward and that he was looking forward to using his Council allowance to fund his mature studies and his voluntary sports work.
He used to run for our Club, and then Sale, and now for some reason he has started his own. But I like Kenny. He just not very good as a Councillor. And as a marshall he has yet to learn that fetching yourself an icecream or distributing fliers for another race instead of paying attention is not the done thing.
I decide not to hit the city centre leaflet trail tonight.
Tying the two together our Ethiopean star Thomas Abyu kicks off the effort in fine style to lead the first 5-mile leg from start to finish and post the second fastest time of the day overall. Thomas recorded 63 minutes for half marathon as a teenager and was in his national squad.
But now he is waiting for a date for his citizenship ceremony and hoping to represent GB, perhaps get onto lottery funding. Back in Ethiopia hundreds of runners are effectively paid by sponsors to be full time athletes, even at local club level.
It's very different here. Last weekend he won the Wilmslow half marathon and good money, shortly before he and club mate Andi Jones did a training run for joint second place in the Liverpool half and another payday. But when he runs for the Club in championships there's rarely any "pay".
He has been whisked from his security job at a hotel near the airport to the race and will be whisked right back immediately afterwards.
A few legs into the races we are still doing OK. Third in both men's and women's races. But now I must dash to take part in the North Manchester march led by family friend Farhat Khan.
Yes, THE Farhat Khan. The one with 10,000 plus signatures and thousands of individual postcards on her Farhat Khan and Family Must Stay petition. The one who is just the third immigration case Graham Stringer MP has ever escalated to personal pleadings. The one the Immigration Minister says must have enough initiative to hide from her murderous husband back in NW Frontier Province as she has run such a good campaign.
"Rather perverse" said Stringer of that comment. The Farhat Khan who has worked as a consultant for various government agencies here, who was singled out as an award winner by Eastern Eye, and who last year was invited to Buckingham Palace to recognise "her contributions to British life".
Told to 'behave' at that gathering she was none the less approached by Royal princes and diverse celebrities eager to discuss her case.
This is an extraordinary case. Though no-one would want the bar moved up to Farhat's level for other worthy asylum cases it beggars belief that she has not been granted exceptional leave to remain.
Farhat and family originally arrived in England some months before the latest amnesty arrangements guillotine date. But unfortunately she was kidnapped and taken back to house arrest by her mother in law before lodging her claim for asylum.
At this time her brutal husband was working in Canada, a short plane ride from Pakistan in this day and age, and for this reason alone the Tribunal ruled against. Her appeal, based on the fact that the husband was back in Pakistan and continuing to issue death threats, also fell. And so far the Minister has not agreed to extend the amnesty or use discretion.
One interview with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in Manchester was attended by a member of the Consular staff from Pakistan. This woman who knew Farhat from the rich social whirl back home assured IND staff that there was no way whatsoever that Farhat would be living in a small council house in Cheetham Hill and facing racist abuse with her family if there were not a genuine fear of honour killings in her home province.
The march is a tremendous success. Huge police attention extends the throng. And an amazing choir of young Congolese men and women chant and rumba for the whole hour and a bit past Cheetham Hill Advice Centre where Farhat was employed as a multilingual advice worker until the Home Office clamped down on that, down Waterloo Road past the African Asylum project, down Cheetham Hill Road, past the Jamia Mosque, the Irish World Heritage Centre, the Jewish Museum housed in a former Portuguese synagogue.
Manchester is built on immigration. The permanent exhibitions in Urbis which we pass next attest to this. What are the figures? 30% Irish heritage, 10% Asian, 10% African and Caribbean, 5% Chinese and Vietnamese, 5% diverse European refugees, the rest mostly migrants from the countryside for factory and labouring work over the last two centuries or else student and professional migrants for the Manchester buzz.
The BNP are a constant threat to this. Not too far from a North West euro seat. Often standing in the odd ward in Manchester but even more of a threat in Oldham, in Ashton and mid Lancashire.
Unfortunately the Tories are playing to this audience. They have almost doubled the percentage of the electorate identifying immigration as a key issue since January with their nasty campaigns and statements.
The Lib Dems have moments of clarity when they do contribute to the anti-fascist effort as they should. But for the most part are not much help on this. Which is a theme I may come back to. With examples.
Meanwhile we reach Albert Square. Close by Brasenoze Street where a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln stands, recognising the solidarity of the Manchester textiles workers in helping bust slavery.
The guys and girls from the Congo are still milling, still smiling, still melodising. Some tending towards the "sapeur" culture epitomised by Paris based Papa Wemba - an artist which I once presented in Manchester in another life. Who knows, perhaps a few of these joyful citizens have been in Mr Wemba's ensembles down the years? He has form.
Marches from the gay village and from South Manchester have joined up at Whitworth Street and now join the Northern throng to hear speeches from Farhat, journalist Mansoor Hassan, Graham Stringer MP and Manchester's deputy mayor Cllr Afzal Khan.
This last a man who commissioned a bhangra tune for the 2004 election, clearing yet another Lib Dem out from North Manchester. Both North and East Manchester are now Lib free zones. Much against the trend in Cheetham Hill with its high Asian and antiwar population and with a history of fierce electioneering with outbreaks of slander.
The loser there goes on to be the Lib Dem candidate in Manchester Gorton, tackling the amazingly popular Gerald Kaufman.
Anyway, off I dash back to my car and on to watch the closing stages of that running race. Disaster has struck in my absence. Two of our star runners have developed medical problems during their legs and we have lost a full eight minutes on the leaders as a result.
Both prove OK after tests and the Club works back to sixth place, easily qualifying, as did the women, for the National Championships in three weeks time at Sutton Park.
It is a beautiful day and the park is full of fun seekers as well as hundreds of runners. Others may be visiting the 1982 Papal Memorial on the hill overlooking the changeover area. But it is not pilgrim Catholics who threaten the race. Unbelievably the kiddies road train drives through the course at least once. And Fairground revellers too must cross the course. At least one runner is wiped out by a loose dog, being removed by ambulance after what seemed like an hour of treatment.
One of the course marshalls is Kenny Dobson. Many years ago he tried to join the Labour Club in Ancoats only to be told by the very old Labour committee and specifically one Billy Egerton that it was "full". So he went down the road and joined the Liberal club. The rest is history.
Kenny is now in is second stint as a City Councillor. And remarkably it was in the City Centre 2004 and not on his traditional stamping ground of impoverished estates where he made his comeback.
Perhaps not so remarkable really as those estates will remember his downfall. His rise was helped by local heroics as a poll tax striker, something which Labour attack politics helped cement rather than undermine, but it was the demon drink which brought his decline to laughing stock.
He has I think made a full recovery. But the stories among the Labour ranks are many and various. For example that being the dogsbody-in-chief who distributed most of the Lib Dem Focus leaflets he was able to take his pick of wards and insist he was selected. And for example that although he has not touched a drop for years he does not hesitate to tell his old drinking mates that he hates rich city centre residents. The people he now represents.
Tremendous irony is at play. Focus in the city centre presented "Dobbo" as 'Ken Dobson' the Lib Dem expert on public art, recycling, and the erudite editor of the Focus. To this day the Town Hall website lists the Opposition Office as his telephone contact, he doesn't speak at meetings, and he obviously doesn't do casework. In fact he told me on election night that he was being advised to stay away from the ward and that he was looking forward to using his Council allowance to fund his mature studies and his voluntary sports work.
He used to run for our Club, and then Sale, and now for some reason he has started his own. But I like Kenny. He just not very good as a Councillor. And as a marshall he has yet to learn that fetching yourself an icecream or distributing fliers for another race instead of paying attention is not the done thing.
I decide not to hit the city centre leaflet trail tonight.
posted by Chris Paul at 8:00 PM
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