Tuesday afternoon with Frieda

After a quiet morning, I picked Frieda up from preschool. Having had a two week break, she seems to have settled back in perfectly well. Being Shrove Tuesday, pancakes were definitely on the menu and we really enjoyed them together.  Frieda also helped me to water the driest pots in the garden.
Jack came to pick her up later, and stayed for a quick, improvised tea (pasta, of course), as he needed to collect Marianna on the way home.  He'd been in Doncaster in the afternoon, working on a photo project with an asylum seeker group. They'd been in a park, setting up some photos; some of these included a Pride flag, as some in the group are gay.  For some, life-threatening persecution of gay people has been their reason for fleeing their homes in the first place.
Anyway,  the flag attracted hostile attention from some local lads, who started yelling homophobic insults and (in one case) throwing sticks. One of Jack's group, who is a volunteer community worker, walked over to try to talk to the most aggressive of the lads. Apparently there was some discussion for around 10 minutes, but then that broke down and became a physical fight between the two of them. At that point, Jack went over and had to separate them. Fortunately he was able to do that, before anyone was physically hurt.
"What a good thing the lad didn't have a knife", I commented, reflecting on recent media reports of knife attacks - some fatal -  in various places in England. I was full of admiration for what Jack had done, but also very conscious of the risks he (and his community worker colleague) had taken. Jack agreed. We went on to chew over what the best (or least bad) options might have been, in the situation. And to reflect on all the increasing polarisation that has emerged in the UK, since the election of the 2010 right-wing government and all the ensuing increases in poverty and social division. It was not a cheerful conversation.
The one practical point on which we could both see some scope for useful follow-up was about the school near to where this all happened. Jack thought that the group of lads who'd started the trouble were probably on their way home from there. Perhaps this is room for some discussion with the school, about some positive interventions on the themes of gender, sexual identity and 'difference' in general.