Manchester, a city with one of the strongest multi-cultural communities in this wonderful country of ours, is, of course, trying to come to terms with the barbaric and devastating attack that occurred last week, the victims, not the perpetrator, deserve to be remembered, talked about and considered, so I will only say that those that died that day, they were the victims of one man’s deranged ideology, they are not, as has happened upon the restart of Campaigning for the General Election, darts to be thrown at some political dartboard, they should not be used to point score!
Yet, within days of the attack happening, the Manchester attack was used as the basis of statements where Theresa May or the Conservatives were held up as having to take a certain soupcon of responsibility for the attack, amazing, the parties should unite and try to work together, this is a situation, a point in the modern world, for it does happen despite our diligent law enforcers and security personnel, that we all have to come to terms with, I despise the fact that Manchester is being used for political gain, it isn’t fair on the victims, it isn’t fair on the city and to be perfectly honest it isn’t right.
Take Jeremy Corbyn for example, yesterday he suggests that ‘Many Experts’ have linked the wars or conflicts we have been involved in with the terrorism that has occured ‘here at home’, this opened the floodgates for the Tories, Boris Johnson, Michael Fallon, even the Prime minister seemed to be queuing up to retaliate, though Mrs May went further, seemingly twisting Mr Corbyn’s words to create a condemnation of the Labour leader’s words, telling reporters that Mr Corbyn was somehow blaming Britain for the attack, despite Mr Corbyn being very clear that the only person responsible for the vile attack on Monday was the man that committed the attack.
This is being seen as a clear sign that the Tories are rattled, this observer doesn’t believe so, I feel that this is an obvious display of the Conservatives twisting the words of their rivals to make them seem like a more favourable choice, however, if Labour had done this to the Tories I would say the same in reverse, hell I’d say it about any party, you can’t simply twist things to make yourself look good.
There is one point that was raised by Mr Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4 News anchor, last night he interviewed Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, about Jeremy Corbyn’s press conference, obviously the tory condemned the Labour leader but Mr Murthy brought up a similar point from a certain Tory and this caught out the Defence Secretary.
Sir Michael Fallon Falls on His Words
When the point was raised, that the words Mister Guru-Murthy had used was actually Mr Johnson’s words rather than Mr Corbyn’s, Defence Secretary Fallon struggled to answer, using the fact that he didn’t have the words being quoted in front of him, somehow making this the fault of the presenter rather than his own fault for listening carefully, for while he was waxing lyrical condemning the idea of allowing pretext for ‘people who blow up innocent children’ this is when Mister Guru-Murthy mentions the person who used these words and Mister Fallon continues, thinking it was the words of Jeremy Corbyn.
Everyone is so eager to harm their opposition that they don’t pay attention and instead just attack, condemn and denounce, surely there are a 101 other topics that could be used, Manchester is a recent addition to the long list of cities that have been struck by terrorists, so they should be allowed to grieve, remember and rebuild without being used as some sort of smoking gun or poison arrow to use against the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems, any party, no matter what, the events on Monday night were distressing and alarming, we should never forget that at the very core of this is a list of 22 people that should only be considered as the victims of one man’s extremism, though we are being told there was a network behind this one figure, he was alone when he murdered and removed those people from this life.
Politics, the campaigning for the General Election may continue but this is one issue that I feel should be left aside, pay respects to the people that were injured, killed, witness and even trying to save lives that night, though do not, do NOT let the attack become some sort of free-scoring subject, whereby the parties can argue or debate til the cows come home about how they will better secure our communities, our country and our livelihoods, for there is one thing, Manchester is a city of poets, of Northern, diligent and industrious people, do not for one second believe that this attack will make them change who they are, though do not for one second believe that this attack should make it easy for us to change our lives, we are here, we are free and we are here to freely live our lives the way we wish.
More on the General Election Campaign soon no doubt, though to end, I wish to put in the poem ‘This is the Place’ the poem by Tony Walsh that has come to signify the strength, enduring spirit and defiance of the city, like I said, this is a place famous for songwriters, lyricists and poets, so let me shut up and allow Mr Walsh’s words to end this subject quite poignantly….
This is the place
In the north-west of England. It’s ace, it’s the best
And the songs that we sing from the stands, from our bands
Set the whole planet shaking.
Our inventions are legends. There’s nowt we can’t make, and so we make brilliant music
We make brilliant bands
We make goals that make souls leap from seats in the stands
And we make things from steel
And we make things from cotton
And we make people laugh, take the mick sommat rotten
And we make you at home
And we make you feel welcome and we make summat happen
And we can’t seem to help it
And if you’re looking from history, then yeah we’ve a wealth
But the Manchester way is to make it yourself.
And make us a record, a new number one
And make us a brew while you’re up, love, go on
And make us feel proud that you’re winning the league
And make us sing louder and make us believe that this is the place that has helped shape the world
And this is the place where a Manchester girl named Emmeline Pankhurst from the streets of Moss Side led a suffragette city with sisterhood pride
And this is the place with appliance of science, we’re on it, atomic, we struck with defiance, and in the face of a challenge, we always stand tall, Mancunians, in union, delievered it all
Such as housing and libraries and health, education and unions and co-ops and first railway stations
So we’re sorry, bear with us, we invented commuters. But we hope you forgive us, we invented computers.
And this is the place Henry Rice strolled with rolls, and we’ve rocked and we’ve rolled with our own northern soul
And so this is the place to do business then dance, where go-getters and goal-setters know they’ve a chance
And this is the place where we first played as kids. And me mum, lived and died here, she loved it, she did.
And this is the place where our folks came to work, where they struggled in puddles, they hurt in the dirt and they built us a city, they built us these towns and they coughed on the cobbles to the deafening sound to the steaming machines and the screaming of slaves, they were scheming for greatness, they dreamed to their graves.
And they left us a spirit. They left us a vibe. The Mancunian way to survive and to thrive and to work and to build, to connect, and create and greater ― Manchester’s greatness is keeping it great.
And so this is the place now with kids of our own. Some are born here, some drawn here, but all call it home.
And they’ve covered the cobbles, but they’ll never defeat, all the dreamers and schemers who still teem through these streets.
Because this is a place that has been through some hard times: oppressions, recessions, depressions, and dark times.
But we keep fighting back with greater Manchester spirit. Northern grit, northern wit, and greater Manchester’s lyrics.
And these hard times again, in these streets of our city, but we won’t take defeat and we don’t want your pity.
Because this is a place where we stand strong together, with a smile on our face, greater Manchester forever.
And we’ve got this place where a team with a dream can get funding and something to help with a scheme.
Because this is a place that understands your grand plans. We don’t do “no can do” we just stress “yes we can”
Forever Manchester’s a charity for people round here, you can fundraise, donate, you can be a volunteer. You can live local, give local, we can honestly say, we do charity different, that Mancunian way.
And we fund local kids, and we fund local teams. We support local dreamers to work for their dreams. We support local groups and the great work they do. So can you help us. help local people like you?
Because this is the place in our hearts, in our homes, because this is the place that’s a part of our bones.
Because greater Manchester gives us such strength from the fact that this is the place, we should give something back.
Always remember, never forget, forever Manchester.
talkhonesty 