Take a walk in the park over the festive season

Christmas is a magical time for a walk in Wanstead Park. A chance to work off any over indulgence on food and drink during the festive period. The weather ofcourse can be a variable. Lots of people hope for snow - a white Christmas. But that has been a pretty rare event over recent times. More commonplace is a clear, chill day, perfect to shake off the cobwebs. A wet Christmas is another fairly common occurrence over recent times. Back in 2019, there was a deluge of rain, causing the River Roding to burst its banks. The water filled up the adjacent Ornamental water and surrounding woodland. It became something of an epic journey just trying to get round the lake. However, the waters quickly subsided, with the now virtually empty, Ornamental water, quickly draining. Today, the Ornamental remains a shadow of its former self, overgrown and waterless. Happily, though, there are now some plans coming together to improve the situation. One addition, this Christmas for those walking in the park are the three longhorn cattle grazing on the plain, by the Perch pond. They have been out for a while now, chewing down the grasslands, whilst encouraging a greater biodiversity. The cows are such peaceful creatures, going about their daily activities, offering a glimpse of the past, as well as the present and future. It is the long and distinguished history of the park that fascinates so many who visit. The former grounds of Wanstead House. The Temple, the Grotto down on the Ornamental. That history always seems especially real on a day when the mist is just lifting over the lakes, with the crows calling in the background. A heron may lift out of the reeds, flying off overhead, like a remnant of a prehistoric age. The multiple colours of the trees, many still clothed in leaf, are another fascinating sight to behold at this time of year. The park is a great place to go at any time of the year, with always something different going on. But at Christmas, there is always that extra bit of magic. So, if you have the chance get out there over Christmas and the New Year. Treat yourself to a warming tea and cake at the kiosk, whilst watching the world go by. It'll be time well spent, for mind and body alike. Happy Christmas

You saw me standing alone by Alex Williams Published by Bucko Media Ltd. £15

Former professional footballer, Alex Williams, tells his fascinating story of involvement as a player, then coach and community activist at Manchester City. The first black goalkeeper to play at the highest level, till his career was tragically cut short by injury, Williams goes on a footballing journey. A boy from the local streets around the old City ground at Maine Road, he progresses to become the first team goalkeeper in 1981. He looks set for big things, having become the regular keeper but a career ending back injury brings all to a halt in 1985. He then plays a few games for Port Vale but the playing side is over. Williams has to endure all the racism thrown at the pioneer black players of the 1970s and 80s. He graphically recalls a fan at Everton creating a burning cross, remnant of the Klu Klux Clan, on the terrace. Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham was at the game that day with his Dad. He recalled the incident, meeting Williams years later. Williams also suffered a hail of bananas at Leeds United and razor blades sent to a hotel City were staying, when about to play Chelsea. Williams also recalls the casual racism of white teammates - defined as banter then but what would be regarded as racism now. Williams is a tough character, enduring the abuse and coming out the other side. He also provided an important inspiration for later players, including Arsenal and England's Ian Wright. He goes onto coach goalkeepers at City and work for City in the Community (CIC). CIC has been running since 1986. It has ploughed millions into community development, addressing all sorts of issues, impacting on young people. One encouraging thing has been how this work has deepened and expanded under the new ownership of the club under Sheikh Mansour. So much negativity, surrounds the role of big money owners in football, it is good to hear some positive impact. The story of Alex Williams is a fascinating one, well told. There is the first person narrative, punctuated with testimonies from the many people he has worked with over the years. City fans will love the book but it has a wider appeal. Williams time in football covers a period of great transition. Many of the players come from the surrounding Manchester streets, when Williams is setting out. There is no Premiership. By the time, he finishes (earlier this year), football is a multi-national, multi-billion pound business. There are still some local players, like Phil Foden at Manchester City, but it is the exception rather than the rule. The game has changed but the work of CIC is a cause for hope. The club has not lost it's roots, which still lie deep in the Manchester community. Published by Bucko Media Ltd - £15 published - Morning star - 19/12/2023 A good read, telling the story of one remarkable man and the changing football landscape around him.

A Christmas Carol provides a message of hope for today

The now annual performance of Charles Dickens' play, a Christmas Carol, at the Old Vic, is one not to be missed. This year, Christopher Eccleston stars as Scrooge in an energetic production, that resonates so strongly in today's world. The Scrooge character has stored away all his wealth, unwilling to even give to charity at Christmas. When asked to donate, he responds saying there are prisons and workhouses for the poor. Scrooge idealises money, luxuriating in the power it gives him. The love of money, though, leaves him a very lonely man. It is only after visitations from the ghosts of Christmas, past, present and future that he mends his ways. The transformation sees the emergence of a much loved generous man, playing a full part in the community. Dickens' play has endured well down the years since it was written in 1843. It is as applicable today, as it was in those Victorian days. The love of money is writ large across our society today. Almost, everything seems to be evaluated as to what it cost. Christmas itself has become incredibly commercialised, a bumper season for retail, but what about the true meaning of Christmas? The coming together, in community? A Christmas Carol draws attention to the polarisation of wealth in society. The class of Scrooge, profiting from other people's debts, while the mass of people struggle by. The Scrooge's of today are the billionaires and large companies who don't pay their taxes, preferring that people get by on the charity of foodbanks. The idea of deserving and undeserving poor was rampant in Victorian England, with the workhouse always awaiting those who fell on hard times. Today, society is moving back in that direction. Rights to welfare support are being rolled back. Recipients of benefits are readily punished, should they fail to jump through every hoop. The welfare safety net is being removed. So, the society revealed in a Christmas Carol is not that far away from our own today. The play though offers hope. Scrooge goes on a journey of redemption, finding fulfilment in his new found generous disposition. He saves himself and many of those around him. The message of the play is that we can all change for the better and with that change transform the society around us. It is a message of hope that can be applied as much today as back in Victorian times. * A Christmas Carol runs at the Old Vic until 6 January.

Time for reality check at West Ham - David Moyes is the most successful manager, results wise, the club has ever had - why, then, do some want him gone?

It's an up and down world being a West Ham supporter, beating Spurs (2-1) away one day then getting thrashed by Fulham (0-5) a couple of days later. All that, having started the week dropping two valuable points at home to Crystal Palace (1-1). But overall it has been a promising start to the season for the Hammers. West Ham sit just outside the top six of the Premier League. They have progressed to the knock out stages of European competition for the third year running. In June, they won the Europa Conference League, the first trophy since 1980. Why, many might ask, given how well things seem to be going, is there a constant griping group who want to see the back of manager David Moyes? Moyes has a claim on results alone to be the most successful manager in the club's history. He's saved them from relegation twice - after the club were put in jeopardy by Slave Bilic in 2018 and Manuel Pellegrini in 2019. Indeed, the first time, having pulled off the escape act, Moyes was snubbed as the club's owners went for Pellegrini, over his claim for the permanent managerial role. The club's form this season has been even more remarkable, given that in effect they spent no money in the summer. The funds received from the sale of Declan Rice and Gianlucca Scamacca funded the purchase of Mohammed Kudus, James Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez and Konstantinos Mavropanos. Yet, arguably the team is better than ever. So why the criticism of Moyes? It mainly comes down to style of play, which is not very exciting. It is quite prescriptive and predictable. Very direct. Hitting teams on the break, rather than dominating possession. An over reliance on set piece goals and balls down the flanks to cross for big men in the middle. Also, an inflexibility to change the system to suit certain players. A feeling of it's my way or the highway. But the approach works, Moyes result record, given the resources at his disposal, must make him in the top three of managers in the Premier League. There is much talk about "the West Ham way", which harks back to the days of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire and more recently Paulo Di Canio. Days when the football was all about attack. You would go to West Ham and always be entertained. The team might lose 4-3 and be fighting relegation more often than not but it was entertaining. I have a lot of time for that approach, after all football is entertainment, it's not war and shouldn't be all about corporate business. The unpredictability, though, obviously still exists, given the Spurs and Fulham results. But the achievements of the Moyes years have appealed to most fans.The purists would say Pellegrini and Bilic were the last two managers to play the West Ham way and look how that ended. Moyes probably won't come back a third time to save the club, after a "big name" has brought them to the verge of relegation. The whispers for the change of manager come mostly from social media based football outlets. They struggle for content much of the time, so make a lot of this stuff up. Quoting "experts" or/and has been players, with a gripe. Deliberately misinterpreting something said that is then taken out of context. The concern is that some of this stuff seems to be getting into the mainstream. Fortunately, it seems West Ham's owners are taking little notice. They stood by Moyes, when results got a little sticky last season and have been rewarded. Why now half way through, what looks another successful season, would they sack the manager or make decisions about renewal of his contract next summer? If, say West Ham won the Europa League, so qualified for the Champions League next season, the club would hardly change manager. Then, what of Moyes himself, who does hold most of the cards. He has done a fantastic job at West Ham, with often limited resources. There must be any number of Premiership, clubs who would employ him. The bigger danger, maybe, is that he walks to a more lucrative job, rather than gets the sack. Something for the boo boys to remember. There is always the mantra about being careful what you wish for - Arsenal fans know a bit about that from the immediate post Arsene Wenger days. Maybe, West Ham fans cannot have it all. They have a successful club, on the verge of good things. The football may not be as exciting as in past times but it's getting there. Why not give David Moyes a bit of praise and support, enjoy the moment, rather than carping about what might or might not be and looking back to an often mythical age?

Time to bust the myths on migration

The national obsession with immigration in this country is often difficult to fathom. The latest furore concerned net immigration figures of 745,000. The throwing around of such figures is misleading, pulling together refugees, economic migrants, students and others in a headline figure that Daily Mail leader writers can then fulminate about. The small boats coming across the channel have become a focus of government policy - despite the relatively small numbers involved. The dehumanising approach of politicians generally explains much of the failure of policy. Crazy schemes like basically trying to scare already frightened refugees into not coming because they could end up in Rwanda, rather than on the gold paved streets of Britain, makes no sense. There is much talk of targeting the traffickers but they are just an effect of the problem. The causes behind the creation of these refugees are things like war and increasingly environmental degradation. Address these causes, if the small boats are such an issue. Maybe , a bit of circumspection on Britain's own role in wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Britain is also a major arms seller. Also, Britain's increasingly backward looking policies on climate crisis. The hierarchy of suffering is another thing difficult to fathom, with Britain having a far more welcoming attitude to those coming from say Ukraine and Hong Kong compared to Afghanistan and Iraq. The mindless attitude to economic migration is even more difficult to understand. In a country with an ageing population and labour shortages, migrant labour is essential to fill the gaps and keep the economy going. The statistics show migrants add to revenues, they are not a drain. True, infrastructural support needs to be provided but the extra tax coming in from migrant workers should meet this need. Migrant workers should not ofcourse be allowed to undercut indigenous workers pay and terms and conditions. Also, why are asylum seekers not allowed to work while they are here, especially given that they can be waiting years to have their claims heard? Possibly, the most ludicrous target in the migrant wars are foreign students. Further education is one of the few growth areas in this country. It is largely kept going by fees from foreign students but apparently some in government want to stop them coming. Utterly ludicrous. As with many other categories foreign students are mostly only here for a limited time, so make a net gain for the economy. In fact taking economic migrants and students as indicative categories, the large number coming in is an indicator of a health economy. Migrants come to get work or learn not as the tabloids myth would have us believe to take benefits. The unhealthy obsession with migration threatens to do great damage to the economic and cultural fabric of society. The categorising of migration as "a problem," helps build fear. The opposition to migration is driven by fear based racism. This is aided by a wilful racist misuse of data by some media to drive sales of their own products. This national racist driven obsession with migration helped bring Brexit (something ironically that has cut the overall wealth of the country and helped create the skill shortages). It will do more damage, if right wing politicians, and their media megaphones, are allowed to create unfounded fears and divisions in society. What is needed is a proper recognition of the pluses and minuses of migration. There then needs to be a humane, efficient and welcoming system develop for all the different categories of migrant. The backlogs need to be cleared. Using people's lives as political footballs is not acceptable.

Fight back - people want people

Is there some sort of fight back taking place against the onward drive of automation, forcing people out of work and ever more into isolation? The thought occurs, despite the onward march of Artificial Intelligence, with all that could bring to the jobs market. The high street has been decimated due to moves to seemingly cut ties between customers and those providing the services. There was an outcry recently when Nat West closed the branch in Wanstead High Street - the last bank to move out it's physical presence. Supermarkets have for some years been seeking to force people onto self service tills, rather than staffed ones. This is aggravating for the customer, who wants to be served by a person. Doubly irritating is when self- service is deserted. It is remarkable to witness empty checkouts, whilst the few that are open have people queuing round the shop. I cannot be the only person who endures taking longer to pay and get out of the shop than you do actually getting the shopping. It is a deliberate policy to force people onto the self- service tills. A number of supermarkets are removing staffed tills in favour of self service. But there are signs of a fightback. Upmarket Northern supermarket chain Booths have restored staffed checkouts. They have found the self-service checkouts to be "slow, unreliable and impersonal." Shop lifting has been a growing problem and people want the personal touch Booths has been described as the Waitrose of the north, operating across Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire. Another stand was made over the closure of railway ticket offices. The train operating companies wanted to close ticket offices, leaving customers stranded in some cases. A successful campaign led by the RMT union saw the government force withdrawal of the proposals, following a public backlash. So there are signs of people taking back control. Not that all change should be resisted. Many automation based changes make life a lot easier. But things need to be viewed in a far more holistic way. The reason for change cannot just be the businesses desire to make more profit for shareholders. Customers and service users must have a say A lot of people are very concerned, as the provision of all sorts of service become more remote and impersonal. People still want a human being to talk to at the end of the day. The removal of human contact can lead to feelings of isolation and anxiety - especially in older people. This should not happen. No one opposes change that makes life better but as some supermarkets, train companies and banks are finding, people want people. They also don't appreciate being treated as just another commodity. The Artificial Intelligence era threatens ever more change but let's make sure the changes work for everyone, not just the bottom line.