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Diamonds in the Mud
Something unusual happened in Britain during the spring of 2020. As the nation went into lockdown to fight a killer pandemic our view of what constituted a hero changed.
Suddenly celebrity businessmen, actors, sports stars, singers, even royals seemed irrelevant. The people we were truly in awe of were the low-paid lifesavers, so much so that we stood outside our homes every Thursday to applaud them.
As spring turned to summer and the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum, action was taken against those from past generations who had been feted, such as Bristol slave trader Edward Colston whose statue was hauled down. It felt as though the country was re-evaluating the notion of heroism. But how did we arrive at such a skewed version of it?
‘Diamonds in the Mud’ asks why the British have traditionally been taught to venerate kings and queens, generals and Eton-educated Prime Ministers, while, a few notable exceptions aside, those who changed history from below rarely got a look-in.
It does so by telling the stories of a selection of working-class heroes the award-winning writer has met through life and journalism. Men and women who rose from humble backgrounds to change the world. Some in a huge way, others in a smaller way, but all made the people they came from immensely proud.
From relentless matriarchs like Doreen Lawrence and the Hillsborough mothers to Omagh bomb victim Donna Marie McGillion whose stoicism told the men of terror they wouldn't win; from football men like Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley who brought their people joy to the Fans Supporting Foodbanks group and Marcus Rashford who fed the poor; from class warriors like Dennis Skinner to glass-ceiling breakers like Barbara Castle; from trade union leader Jack Jones who fought fascists in Spain to Muhammad Ali who inspired a generation of British black people to stand tall; from sacked dockers who opened a social justice hub for all-comers to NHS nurses who lost their lives on the Covid frontline as they battled to save others.
The book argues that these are the type of heroes we should be teaching future generations about. That, perhaps, if children in state schools were taught about the achievements of those from the same class as them they would have a fraction of the confidence enjoyed by public school pupils and realise that they too have the capability to change the world.
And maybe Britain would become less of a cap-doffing nation that teaches ordinary people the main thing they need to know is their place.
Suddenly celebrity businessmen, actors, sports stars, singers, even royals seemed irrelevant. The people we were truly in awe of were the low-paid lifesavers, so much so that we stood outside our homes every Thursday to applaud them.
As spring turned to summer and the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum, action was taken against those from past generations who had been feted, such as Bristol slave trader Edward Colston whose statue was hauled down. It felt as though the country was re-evaluating the notion of heroism. But how did we arrive at such a skewed version of it?
‘Diamonds in the Mud’ asks why the British have traditionally been taught to venerate kings and queens, generals and Eton-educated Prime Ministers, while, a few notable exceptions aside, those who changed history from below rarely got a look-in.
It does so by telling the stories of a selection of working-class heroes the award-winning writer has met through life and journalism. Men and women who rose from humble backgrounds to change the world. Some in a huge way, others in a smaller way, but all made the people they came from immensely proud.
From relentless matriarchs like Doreen Lawrence and the Hillsborough mothers to Omagh bomb victim Donna Marie McGillion whose stoicism told the men of terror they wouldn't win; from football men like Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley who brought their people joy to the Fans Supporting Foodbanks group and Marcus Rashford who fed the poor; from class warriors like Dennis Skinner to glass-ceiling breakers like Barbara Castle; from trade union leader Jack Jones who fought fascists in Spain to Muhammad Ali who inspired a generation of British black people to stand tall; from sacked dockers who opened a social justice hub for all-comers to NHS nurses who lost their lives on the Covid frontline as they battled to save others.
The book argues that these are the type of heroes we should be teaching future generations about. That, perhaps, if children in state schools were taught about the achievements of those from the same class as them they would have a fraction of the confidence enjoyed by public school pupils and realise that they too have the capability to change the world.
And maybe Britain would become less of a cap-doffing nation that teaches ordinary people the main thing they need to know is their place.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published August 5, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 18, 2023
There was a shift during the pandemic – however temporary it might have been – towards championing the ‘ordinary’, everyday people who staff our crowded hospitals, organise foodbanks for those less fortunate in our communities, and those who toil in low-paid jobs to keep our societies from collapsing. In “Diamonds in the Mud”, the veteran journalist Brian Reade attempts to highlight these working-class campaigners and fighters, whom he describes as “the ones who rose from humble backgrounds to transform the world”.
“Diamonds in the Mud” is structured around a series of ‘profiles in courage’, where Reade writes about heroes such as the Hillsborough campaign groups and Doreen Lawrence, the incredibly resolute Omagh bomb victim Donna Marie McGillion, and the NHS nurses who lost their lives from Covid-19. By writing profiles of such inspirational, ‘ordinary’ citizens, Brian Reade states that he wants working class children to realise that if they had “a fraction of the confidence enjoyed by public school pupils ... (they would) realise that they too have the capability to change the world”. Reade also profiles some of those totemic figures of the British Left such as Barbara Castle, Dennis Skinner, and the trade union leader Jack Jones ... but he also quite puzzlingly and self-indulgently includes a chapter on the Liverpool managers Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley (oddly this also by a distance the longest chapter in the book).
While I agree with most of the sentiments he expresses in “Diamonds in the Mud”, Reade is rarely subtle. His sledgehammer denunciations of sundry royals and Tory big-wigs can be overly didactic, and this book is far stronger when it tells of the genuine everyday heroism of the healthcare workers, campaigners, and activists whose lives he has chosen to spotlight. But, you could easily counter that if you’re trying to fight a rearguard action in a class war declared against you by the Tories, then subtlety is a luxury you can ill afford.
One further reason to buy this lively and frequently moving book is that Brian Reade has very generously pledged to donate every penny of profits from “Diamonds in the Mud” to fund that temple of radicalism in Liverpool city centre, The Casa bar.
“Diamonds in the Mud” is structured around a series of ‘profiles in courage’, where Reade writes about heroes such as the Hillsborough campaign groups and Doreen Lawrence, the incredibly resolute Omagh bomb victim Donna Marie McGillion, and the NHS nurses who lost their lives from Covid-19. By writing profiles of such inspirational, ‘ordinary’ citizens, Brian Reade states that he wants working class children to realise that if they had “a fraction of the confidence enjoyed by public school pupils ... (they would) realise that they too have the capability to change the world”. Reade also profiles some of those totemic figures of the British Left such as Barbara Castle, Dennis Skinner, and the trade union leader Jack Jones ... but he also quite puzzlingly and self-indulgently includes a chapter on the Liverpool managers Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley (oddly this also by a distance the longest chapter in the book).
While I agree with most of the sentiments he expresses in “Diamonds in the Mud”, Reade is rarely subtle. His sledgehammer denunciations of sundry royals and Tory big-wigs can be overly didactic, and this book is far stronger when it tells of the genuine everyday heroism of the healthcare workers, campaigners, and activists whose lives he has chosen to spotlight. But, you could easily counter that if you’re trying to fight a rearguard action in a class war declared against you by the Tories, then subtlety is a luxury you can ill afford.
One further reason to buy this lively and frequently moving book is that Brian Reade has very generously pledged to donate every penny of profits from “Diamonds in the Mud” to fund that temple of radicalism in Liverpool city centre, The Casa bar.
September 10, 2024
Brilliant. A book all people should read to know of the lesser known hero’s of the world. The people that take a stand against others who would rather take than give.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews