Manchester, united.

I can’t claim to be a football fan but even a layperson such as myself has been mightily impressed by Gareth Southgate’s leadership of the England men’s team, and by the team members themselves. To my mind, they’ve all exhibited the best of what it means to be English over these past few weeks and I applaud them. I also agree heartily with Tyrone Mings’ eloquently expressed sentiments about the government’s culpability in encouraging the racist abuse aimed at Rashford, Sancho and Saka - and at all Black English people - these past few days www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/13/england-tyrone-mings-criticises-priti-patel-over-racism-remarks?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other. Once again, I’m thoroughly ashamed by the words and deeds of our so-called leaders.

M lives just a couple of miles from the Marcus Rashford mural in Withington, so it seemed right to go over this evening and add our own tributes. This man is a hero to me - and is a role model for all of us. I’ve added a few Extras too.

I know I’ve linked to Dave’s song ‘Black’ before, but he’s another young Black Englishman who we should all be proud of https://youtube.com/watch?v=mXLS2IzZSdg