Real Talk

Excellent advice for all racists and xenophobes.

Gloria has been my friend for over 20 years. She's Manchester born and bred, and one of the kindest, funniest, warmest, most big-hearted human beings it's ever been my privilege to know. Today, she was tailgated and nearly run off the road - deliberately - by a driver who glared at her with a loathing and contempt that scared her stiff.

Did I mention the colour of her skin isn't white?

This is just one of dozens if not hundreds of similar incidents I've heard about since the EU Referendum. Not just in the news. From people I know. Doesn't even matter if they were born in the UK or not. They look 'a bit foreign.' And that's enough.

Also, as of this moment, I have several friends who've lived in Britain for years but now have no idea whether or not they'll be able to stay.

Real talk: I do not give a FUCK, right now, if you voted Leave ‘but aren't racist’. That's not the issue. Whatever your reasons, every racist piece of shit in the UK now thinks that 52% of the population agrees with them and has just given them the green light to turn on anybody different.

So if you voted Leave, then you need to stop saying 'I'm not racist' when you hear about stuff like this, and instead you need to stand up and SPEAK UP. Make it clear to the racists that they do not speak for you. Because you, more than anyone else, are the ones they need to hear that from. They think you agree with and support them. Tell them, loud and clear, that they do not.

The Day After

Sometimes all you can really do is take one small step, make one small gesture. It's nothing, it's pathetic, nowhere near enough. But it isn't worthless. Because it is a start.

I managed to squeeze out about 500 words yesterday, in between staring in horror at social media and raging in impotent fury while my blood pressure climbed to danger levels. This morning - stepped away from it and listened to some soothing music while picturing peaceful seashore and lakes (yes, really - it actually helped) then started writing again - two scenes of a chapter, then a quick spell on Facebook, rinse and repeat as needed.

Words so far: 750 and climbing. And in a minute or so, I'll add more to the count.

Writing has always been my life-line, what has helped me make sense of and function in this world. It wasn't yesterday's awful news that stopped me writing yesterday: it was whipping my own rage and sorrow to non-stop hysterical fever-pitch on social media.

Tonight, we're seeing some friends. There will be good company. There will be time with my beautiful wife. And in between then, I will carry on writing this novel, getting it finished as soon as I can to as high a standard as I'm capable of. Apart from anything else, I have that cover to live up to.

The worst elements of the political right in Britain have won a victory. (And I know not everyone voted Leave for right-wing/racist reasons, but nonethless the result has redounded to the advantage of those people.) These snakes have fucked up many good things and will despoil far more before we're able to put an end to their evil, but we will. I hope. I'm trying to believe that we're better than I fear.

In the meantime, today, the one victory I can deny them is this: I will write. I will continue to create. It is not enough. It is very little. But it's the one thing I can stop them taking away at this moment.

The Reapers in the Black Road embody all I hate and despise: authoritarianism and selfishness, cruelty and contempt towards the powerless. They're what happens when you give people like Gove, Farage, IDS and Theresa May guns and absolute power. In the world I've created, at least, they will be fought. And with luck, they will be destroyed.

May the same befall they and all their kind in real life too.

ETA: Final word count: 3,277

The work goes on.