A disunited Manchester
WHO are the victims of terror? Who are the intended victims, and if there’s a difference, does it matter to the people who call themselves terrorists? MANCHESTER: A YEAR OF HATE CRIME (C4) began with a few seconds of distressing footage from the May 2017 attack on the Manchester Arena. In the main though the focus was on the aftermath and the twisting, two-sided nature of the public response during later months.
Soon after the attack people packed out the city centre to mourn the dead, call for peace and celebrate tolerance. They also packed it out to wave fists and threaten. Individuals used hashtags and tattoos to mark their love of Manchester, their defiance of the attackers. Others set fire to mosques and attacked ordinary Mancunian Muslims in the streets.
As well as fighting terror the police found themselves fighting hatred. But perhaps that had always been the point for some.
One local, Shaher, had thanked a group of men as they’d pointed out a flat tyre on his car. Once he got out however they called him a terrorist and attacked him with a bottle. “They must know, obviously, deep down, he’s not a terrorist,” Shaher said. “He’s a Muslim.”
Like others engulfed by this surge of vitriol, this born-and-bred Mancunian wondered how long his hometown would be safe.
The attackers possibly had this goal in mind from the start. They wanted not just to spread fear among non-Muslims but among Muslims too, making them think that life in the West was impossible.
Motives were similarly mixed among some members of the non-Muslim community. Tommy Robinson, formerly leader of the English Defence League, organised a UK Against Hate demonstration in the city. You’d have struggled to see a more hateful event. You wondered how many of the 3,000 who turned up saw themselves as patriots and how many were just thugs in search of a fight.
The ugliest acts are given fake dignity if they’re wrapped in a flag or a cause and that makes us wonder whether we’re using the wrong words to talk about them.
As plenty of leaders said in last night’s programme, someone who kills in the name of Islam is not a Muslim. Maybe it’s time to stop talking about terrorists, too.
If you murder for a cause you’re just a murderer.
Jamie Oliver’s come a long way from the days of The Naked Chef. Whatever new guise he takes on though it’s clear from shows like JAMIE’S QUICK & EASY FOOD (C4) that the passion for grub hasn’t gone. He still gets excited about the thing that’s in the oven behind him, he still comes out with his own down-to-earth way of describing things.
“Everything here is like best mates,” he enthused, as he dished up some green beans to go with pesto chicken wrapped in flaky pastry. Better still, he scorned mallets and rolling pins to flatten the chicken breasts with his bare fists. The difference between the old Jamie and the modern one, perhaps, is down to confidence.
He doesn’t have to lay on the charm with a trowel anymore and it seems all the more genuine as a result. It is matched by the honesty of the concept. In contrast to many “quick” and “easy” recipes, these really are. Each dish is stripped back to five ingredients and just enough Jamie sprinkled on top.