RAMBLING ABOUT RACISM WITH CLARE BALDING
When Guy, 63, a white, middle-class, Tory-voting writer met Hussein, 22, an African-born, inner-city, Conservative-hating Muslim, they assumed they had little in common. Then they decided to walk through Britain’s countryside to get to know each other…
IAM enduring diagonal sleet and a howling gale on the side of a mountain, shouting about racism to Clare Balding. No, not a weird dream, but a happy reality. My friend and co-author Hussein Sharif and I are recording an episode of the presenter’s charming BBC Radio 4 programme Ramblings in which she joins guests for a countryside walk.
Our journey (literally) began when I met Hussein at a family celebration. He was a disaffected 20-year-old Muslim living in a London tower block, I was a well-off, white, middle-aged writer living in an 18th century manor house in Somerset.
We were thrown together because his sister Salma is my son James’ partner.
Whenever I am seated at a dinner table, I take the view that those on either side of me have something interesting to say. It’s a personal challenge to scythe through the small talk and harvest a decent conversation.
In this case, the surly young man I was placed next to on a May afternoon in 2018 looked a tough nut to crack. “I have often seen men like you depicted in the media, but I have never actually met and talked to a young, inner-city Muslim,” I told him.
He replied, with a smile: “I have often seen white, middle-aged, privileged men like you depicted in movies or the news, in fact you’re everywhere, but I have not actually met one either.You are my first, too.”
We had a bit of a laugh and started talking.
Hussein, who had arrived in Britain at the age of eight from Kenya, had dropped out of university because of panic attacks and anxiety. I confessed to being pretty anxious myself, and suggested we go on a walk together, as exercise helps my wobbles.
I planned a hike of 40 miles northwards on the Offa’s Dyke footpath, along the WelshEnglish border.We started at Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire and aimed to get to Llangollen on the River Dee, in Denbighshire.
I said it would take four days. In fact, it took us two years, with our snail-like progress, breaks for work commitments, and the pandemic. During this time we made friends, fell out, told stories, encountered strangers, argued, laughed, and got very sore feet.
We enjoyed the majestic beauty of the Shropshire Hills, and I muttered angrily at the occasionally unfriendly attitudes of people towards Hussein. Usually, my jolly “good morning” and “lovely day for it” greetings, which I sprinkle around as I hike, are met with similar remarks.
WALKING beside Hussein, I noticed a strange reticence; people passing silently or even pretending not to see us. I also became acutely aware we never met any other black people on the path. It was as if they were banned from the countryside.
Hussein said rambling was “White people s***”. Along with things like rock climbing, skiing, and keeping dangerous pets. The list was long and much debated by us. These were activities for those with too much time and money and not enough challenge.
Hussein said he had all the challenges he needed negotiating life. I learnt a lot about Britain, and a lot about Hussein’s view of Britain as a recent immigrant. In the one-horse town of Montgomery, I was falsely accused of shoplifting just because, as far as I can tell, Hussein was black.
A shopkeeper followed him down an aisle, and accused me: “You’ve just put those batteries in your pocket”.
I responded with, “How dare you?” and showed I hadn’t. Outside, I fumed with anger, but Hussein shrugged; he was routinely followed in shops and often accused of theft. Yet I know him to be one of the most law-abiding men I have ever met.
My lectures about how rich and wondrous British country and culture are began to sound off-key, as Hussein told me about growing up in Tottenham: police helicopters routinely hovering overhead at the end of a school day, and being asked by MI6 to join the intelligence services were two of his more memorable stories.
Our conversations led us to write a book together, Foot Notes, published last year without much fanfare.
Although it is primarily about race and nationality, it’s also a series of very silly events that befell us. I hope it shows that if a dry old man like me and a fiery youth like Hussein can find common ground, anyone can. After Clare’s Radio 4 producer Karen Gregor got in touch, we decided to re-walk the final miles of our original hike, and end up at an Elizabethan manor house called World’s End tucked away in a dramatic gorge six miles from Llangollen.
We finally recorded the programme in December on a truly foul day. A tree had fallen across the lane to our starting point, necessitating an hour-long detour, but Clare’s intrepid resolve was never to waiver.
Fit as a fiddle, she set off into the deluge at a smart clip. Hussein and I tried to keep up, slipping around in the mud. At our first stop Clare pointed at my wet chinos and laughed. That was a theme for the day and I was very happy to be the butt of her friendly teasing.
“You are a bit of a prat,” she said at one
‘We made friends, fell out, told stories, encountered strangers, argued, laughed, and got sore feet’
point. I took this as a compliment from the great Clare Balding. “But I like your book,” she added. It’s true I have been known to say some blunt, even stupid, things, particularly on sensitive subjects like race and gender.
BUT I am proud not to filter my thoughts, and to accept that they are my truth at the time of speaking and writing. I am happy to admit that I harboured some extremely un-PC thoughts and opinions in the past, and even some in the present. But, importantly, I pride myself on being able to change my mind, and young Hussein changed a lot of my outdated views.
For instance, when black people complain they are not made welcome by white people I now tend to agree with them.
I’m not sure if I changed Hussein’s opinion of anything.Though when asked by Clare, he said he had grown to appreciate and love the landscape of the Borders. So that’s a win.
She drew Hussein out by joking how awful it must have been to have walked 40 miles with me, and I hope the warmth of his personality and the depth of his challenges, personal and political, come across.
He was, despite his attempts to hide it, utterly starstruck.
Hussein and I have discovered our initial differences fade into insignificance behind our shared humanity, our desire for everyone in Britain to thrive and a newly-discovered admiration for that British cultural icon, Clare Balding.
It is everyone’s job to get involved in the debate about multi-racial Britain. It’s our country.All of us.
And having new people arrive and get involved is a massive opportunity, not a threat, if we are courageous and generous enough to grab it.
●●Ramblings: To The World’s End, North Wales with Clare Balding, is on BBC Radio 4 at 3pm today. Foot Notes by Guy Kennaway and Hussein Sharif (Mensch Publishing, £20) is out now. For free UK P&P on orders over £20, call Express Bookshop on 020 3176 3832 or visit www.expressbookshop. com