No Barriers: In the Wake
A Game of Two Halves
First Half
So much of our language and discourse,
So many of our idioms and metaphors,
Have their provenance in our imperial past,
A maritime, sea faring history
(Slavery and buccaneers too),
The littoral not literal but figurative:
Figurehead, in the wake, becalmed, in the doldrums,
Above board, cut of one’s jib, even keel, foul up,
First rate, go overboard, groundswell, know the ropes,
Keelhauled, not enough room to swing a cat,
Overwhelm, pipe down, taken aback, take the wind out of your sails,
Three sheets to the wind, tide over, toe the line, true colours,
Try a different tack, under the weather,
Warning shot across the bow,
Windfall …
At last!
We’ve made land now:
We can see the wood for the trees,
Barriers too:
Barricade, blockade, boundary, fence, hurdle, impediment,
Limit, obstacle, wall, bar, confine, ditch, enclosure,
Moat, gully, palisade, rampart, trench, obstruction, restriction,
Stumbling block, check, encumbrance, trap, bias, bigotry, chauvinism,
Discrimination, injustice, enmity, preconception, sexism,
Misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, ageism, antipathy, aversion,
Contemptuousness, snobbery, narrow-mindedness, partiality,
Unfairness, prejudice …
But as times change and words change meanings,
So we seek to create a society with No Barriers,
A level playing field,
Where all can achieve in a world of equal opportunities,
And where you put a metaphorical
Red line through all the negativity above,
And instead add your thoughts below,
As to how we create No Barriers:
Second Half
The half kicks off with some thoughts of Y7s at Archway School:
Don’t get distracted by I-phones and a selfie selfish world,
But think of others as a way of overcoming your and others’ barriers;
Overcome fear, anxiety, shyness,
And work to the best of your ability;
Believe in yourself;
Achieve your dream;
Grab your wheelchair;
Find your Utopia;
Be a helper for the World;
‘Dark … I will never be free …
Not good enough, not worthy,
Trapped in a fortress filled with gloom and dusk.
Never free.
One day, I will climb mountains, swim channels.
I’ll wave to my neighbour and smile to myself,
Oh this happy day.
Distant though …
A glimmer of light catches my eye …
I wish, upon my star,
For a life with no barriers.’
Extra Time: No Penalties
First up, Neville Southall, once of Everton and Wales,
Now at a special needs school, in Ebbw Vale:
‘It’s all about uniting people …
If you unite all LGBT people, there are millions.
If you do the same with the mental health people
And all the charities came together,
It would be powerful …’
Secondly, Danny Rose of England,
And how keeping depression to oneself might not be the best thing:
‘I was diagnosed with depression which nobody knows about …
my mum was racially abused …
I haven’t told my mum or dad,
and they are probably going to be really angry
reading this, but I’ve kept it to myself until now’;
Next up: Colin Grant in his review
Of The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephania:
‘Zephania confirms that art can serve as an instrument of change.
The people’s poet has written himself out of the life that was mapped out for him.’
Bejamin Zephaniah:
“I don’t believe the glib sentiment that if you simply ‘follow your dreams’ you’ll make it.
Maybe if your talent matches your expectations you’ll make it but you might not.
There might be cultural or class barriers stopping you.
And if you don’t make it, you’ll need your own internal sense of self-worth to fall back on.”
Now we’re off to Dunfermline with its new playground:
An inclusive playground for differently-abled children:
No barriers, instead, swings and roundabouts for everyone,
Just as it should be for the Windrush generation,
There should be no bureaucratic barriers
And stumbling blocks and injustice;
Next up, Stan Collymore, an echo of Walter:
‘My dad’s from Barbados, my mum’s white …
Now is the time for the Rooney Rule,
Guaranteeing minorities
Proper consideration for positions’;
Now for Daniel Bell-Drummond and the Platform Initiative,
To widen involvement in county cricket:
Daniel, from the inner-city, and just one
Of the handful of mixed race or black cricketers today:
‘Going to Dulwich Prep and Millfield
has played a massive part for me.
Those are big advantages.
It’s definitely more a class thing.’
Now over to Arts Council England,
And its report on the arts and diversity:
‘there remains a large gap between organisational aspiration and action’;
And Penguin Random House:
‘Giving a platform to more diverse voices will lead
to greater richness of creativity and stories rather than stifling them’;
As was observed in the wake of Lionel Shriver’s Spectator feature:
‘Equality and quality are not exclusive”,
That’s worth repeating, I think:
Equality and quality are not exclusive”;
Now for Jay Clarke after his Wimbledon debut:
He is hopeful that his performance and will result in kids from working class backgrounds,
And BAME backgrounds, trying to follow in his footsteps and overcome the barriers,
That stand as metaphors alongside tennis nets on tennis courts;
Inclusivity is key to our local football team, too,
Forest Green Rovers, with its Community Stand,
‘A covered standing terrace’, where
‘FGR supports local schools, uniformed groups, sports clubs & community groups
With discounted/free tickets to matches;
School children and if appropriate their teachers receive free tickets to a match.
Community Parents, family members and siblings are welcome too, with half price tickets;
U11s can attend matches for free all season’;
And who can forget last spring at FGR’S New Lawn?
REFUGEES WELCOME EFL;
Inclusivity too, we hope after the World Cup:
We now have fewer people playing sport in our country
And more obesity in our country than before the Olympics,
Women’s football is booming so well done the women,
So many barriers they have had to vault,
Let’s hope others can follow after them;
And well done Stuart Langworthy,
England Over 60’s Walking Football manager,
Talking about his local team down the road in Gloucester
And their attitude to No Barriers:
‘We have players with a hip replacement,
One with a triple heart bypass,
Three players who have had heart attacks,
Several players with diabetes,
A great many who are differently abled,
And a player with Alzheimer’s,
Who all who once a week are learning how to play
The beautiful game, with no barriers.’
So let’s finish there,
Seeing the wood for the trees,
As we did at the end of the first half:
But the view, like the game,
Is beautiful now:
Where are the barriers?