Must make for some interesting conversations with his neighbours in Antigua.

your point, caller?

from recreating and distributing that. Move on.

Stephen Hawkins' drunken rant.

on here sleep soundly at night, with a crystal-clear conscience?

you know that is NOT what I mean

But again begs the question, does what an artist you like thinks, affect your opinion of their music?.Let's face it, Van Morrisson or Lou Reed would never sell a record if sales were linked to pleasantness.
Pretty disgraceful though and like Costello can't see how anyone can act as an appologist for it.

I really can't be bothered. I enjoy The Word blog, but hardly a day goes by without someone screaming out their liberal credentials. "Nasty, nasty racists". Recently it was a YouTube clip from the 80s, of Rusty Lee and Faith Brown. Then there was the Love Thy Neighbour clip. They were of their time. We've moved on. Racism isn't nice. It is an affront to humanity, but I happen to believe that there are worse crimes.

It hadn't occurred to me before that the racist rant delivered by Pink in 'In the Flesh' was inspired by Clapton's, however there do seem to be similarities.

Hard to believe that this is the same man who wrote 'Tears in Heaven'. However, I guess the difference is that he wrote that while sober.

Equally hard to believe that the man who, for example, made an album with BB King and an album of Robert Johnson covers, is a racist. Again, I suspect the difference is sobriety.

Do express our hidden truths when drunk? Personally, I generally just talk shite.

I don't think people finding the rant offensive is a "liberal" thing. I'm sure a lot of "conservatives" would be appalled by it also. Racism, especially lately is not something to be taken lightly.

Ahhh.... the Thought Police are in the building. You don't know me, so don't presume to think you can judge me.

Enoch himself was sober, gained a significant amount of popular support & was on the brink of becoming leader of the Conservative Party. Those were different times.

at the time. That doesn't excuse it but, in his autobiography, he has much to say about his state of mind and health.

Perhaps best to read that before casting aspersions about 'He hasn't apologised"

His book,what does he say about his remarks?

Not sure the West Brom thing is forgivable whatever decade it was.
Wish I could deal with my Ferrari dependancy.

I always wanted to know the story of that ramble Eric Clapton made onstage. Was that a continous rant or intersperced throughout the concert? That certainly sounds like a solid opinion of someone who doesn't like black people rather than some drunk idiot saying stuff he didn't mean or understand.
Has he a history of any other racist comments?
What is this about Elvis Costello? Can some one give me a link to it or some info please?

had documented anti-semitic views, long before the formation of the National Socialist Party - Phil Spector is a murderer and we all know what Gary Glitter is -does this mean Ride of the Valkyries, Be My Baby and I Love You Love are without merit?

come out with this guff? When he went back to his hotel room after the show and turned on the cassette player to listen to some Robert Johnson or Charlie Patton, wouldn't it have ocurred to him that what he'd just said onstage was totally at odds with his love of black musicians and black music? Boh...

standing in for EC?

that Clapton did apologise (after a fashion) via the letters page of the NME the week following the shitstorm. No longer have my copy to hand unfortunately so can't check, but I remember the phrase "some black guy grabbed my old lady's bum". Maybe more of a self-justification than an apology, come to think of it.

....of which there is no actual record.

What else can we look forward to in this vein?

* The dialogue leading up to the murder of Nancy Spungen by Sid Vicious?
* The self-piteous maunderings of other well-known drunks like Johnny Cash, Lowell George, George Jones, Janis Joplin and Shane MacGowan?
* What about the murder of Lana Clarkson by Phil Spector?
* Or Chuck Berry filming women in the lavatory?
* Then there's Ian Brown threatening to chop a stewardess's hands off...
* ...or John Lennon singing "Baby you're a rich fat Jew" in a song about Brian Epstein on a Beatles B side?

Any of these any use to you? Why not line these guys up and assassinate their character and works. Or do the perceived "rebel" credentials of these cases get them a free pass in the reprehensible behaviour stakes? As opposed to Clapton who for some people who ought to get out more is seen as the sole representative of evil on this earth. There's something about the raking over this event thirty years later that smacks of the clueless smugness of the students union. Stand up if you hate really boorish displays of naked prejudice. Ooo, me, sir!

Anybody who's had any kind of interaction with Clapton or Costello knows that they're decent people. Anybody who's been as drunk as Clapton was in his drinking years doesn't know exactly what they said at the time but probably suspects some of it was reprehensible. And anybody who hasn't been as exposed, prodded and subject to public scrutiny as a big rock star has not a clue what kind of drivel they might have uttered at some stage.

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is either.
I think crass opinions are a little closer to home than a mid-1970's Eric Clapton concert.
On a bus the other day one nice fella was playing to the top deck a song whose lyric went (roughly).....
'I hate faggots, I hate faggots, I hate faggots, I'm gonna kill that faggot'.
I looked up the lyric and found out it had been a big hit earlier in the year.
Jolly good!
I got off the bus.

On Saturday Night Fry: "You've taken anti-racism to the ludicrous extent of actually being anti-racist"

I've never been to a Clapton gig where he's talked as much as this, even when pissed? Maybe he said a few of these things (granted, still bad,) but nearly 3 odd minutes? I dont buy it.

Anyway, he's worked with enough coloured musicians over the past 35 years, I dont see them having much beef with him.

Was a long time ago and he was drunk. Not that we should forgive just for that but totally pointless to bring it up again now.

People arguing the toss about whether drink makes you 'tell the truth' or not are missing the point of the mental state you'd have to be in to drink that much in the first place. I've read Patti Boyd's book and was shocked at how much her and EC were downing as they got up in the morning never mind by the evening...and I imagine her book was toned down compared to the truth.
I'm not much of a Clapton fan musically but I admire him for trying to sort his demons out. The smugness of the youtube clip at the top there beggars belief and is a long way from the honest anger and positiveness in both rock against racism's stance and Clapton's own efforts at self-improvement.

I could not give a monkeys what views on whatever any *rock star* has on anything whatsoever, whether it be Clapton, Bono, Sting, Tiny Tim or the drummer from a local pub band, BUT we do live in a Democracy which therefore allows free speech... SO I careth not a jot if Clapton is a racist, I still think he is the finest guitarist I have ever heard.

are political correctness (preferably 'gone mad') and the Thought Police - they're the ones that screw it up for people like us, the man (men?) on the Clapton omnibus

While I agree with the general disapproval of being told what to do and think, the phrases "political correctness (gone mad)" and "Thought Police" have surely passed their sell-by date by now? Maybe that's what you're getting at, Kenny.Boz - it's hard to gauge the level of irony in forum postings sometimes.

It's lazy to throw these around, just because someone might have a more liberal or left-leaning view. And I will be happy to sod off to China/North Korea if I don't like it.

As for Clapton, I was a serious young man in the late 1970s and this outburst completely turned me off him. He personified why punk had to happen. I wouldn't hold it against him now though, for all the reasons above.

I do take issue with "Wonderful Tonight". If I ever meet him, he'll have rivers of blood coming out of his hooter! (because I will have punched him squarely on the nose)

" ... drunken remarks about Enoch Powell on stage in Birmingham ... that was never meant to be a racial statement. It was more of an attack on [the Labour] Government's policies on cheap labour and the cultural confusion and overcrowding that resulted from what was clearly a greed-based policy. I had been in Jamaica just before and had seen countless commercials on TV advertising a 'new life' in Great Britain, and then at Heathrow had witnessed whole families of West Indians being harassed and humiliated by the immigration people, who had no intention of letting them in. It was appalling. Of course it might have also had something to do with the fact that Patti had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi Royal family - a combination of the two perhaps."

Not having ever heard his remarks I took this at face value, but it doesn't really sit comfortably with what you hear above.

Powell's main argument - albeit itself dressed up in inflammatory language - was that unrestrained immigration would lead to a volatile and potentially violent situation not least because of Labour's policy of multiculturalism - no requirement to conform to British mores, and no effective attempt to educate the existing population about their new neighbours. To that extent Powell's prediction was becoming a reality in the economic downturn of the mid-70s and racism was on the increase.

That the implementation of multiculturalism was failing in practice would have been plain for anyone to see at the time, and I am not sure that any cultural commentator today would seek to defend Labour's policies of the time. That is not to call for repatriation or a ban on immigration but rather to acknowledge that the social impact of immigration was not properly considered or addressed. To that extent I do not have any problem with Clapton's comments in the 2004 Uncut interview. The difficulty is trying to tiptoe through this particular minefield where every comment is likely to set off an explosive reaction from some quarter.

Having said that, Clapton's references to Jamaica and a criticism of Government policies just doesn't ring true, and I suspect were in 1976, and remain now, an after thought as part of an attempted explanation - do you think he was travelling economy at the time or were HM Customs harassing immigrants in the first class lounge?

Clapton does chronicle 1976-77 as one long drunk, and I would guess that his comments were more personal, and an appalling drunken reaction to a perceived slight on Patti than any thing else. The gloss of the 'political' explanation is merely an early example of spin.

P.S. Sorry I'm late.

If you are serious, and I am not sure you are, would your intention of "punching him squarely on his nose" be more of an act of badness than his words?
Sticks and stones, and all that...

...how can you still play guitar when that drunk? - I know that Townshend, Page, Clapton, Richards et al seemed to manage it, but I can barely form a chord after a few pints.

Sorry its late but have been away for a couple of weeks. However for what its worth I want to add my two penneth:-

Clearly Enoch Powell had racist views but I believe that his speech was somewhat misunderstood. It alweays seemed to me that he was warning of dire consequences for social unrest if a liberal policy of immigration went unchecked. Rather than being derided for what his views were I think it is reasonable to also accept that his speech in retrospect was prophetic and much of what he had predicted came true years lter with the race led Toxteth and Handsworth riots. Living in Birmingham at the time of the Handsworth riots I do not believe anyone can say they were anything other than race riots in an area of Birmingham almost exclusively inhabited by an Afro-Caribbean population. I dont condone the riots that took place but surely we can see that the population that conducted them did so out of frustration with the situation they found themselves in. A situation that Powel had warned against. Unfortunately I think Powell was conveniently tagged a racist by the press in the same way that Tony Benn was also tagged a commie rabble rouser. Both tags are convenient and inaccurate.

Regarding the comments by Clapton and Costello and I am sure numerous others I can say that from personal experience alcohol certainly does alter the personality and it is by no means unlikeloy that you will come out with a complete load of rubbish totally at odds with your normal personality. I hope to God that some of the crap I have come out with whilst pissed is not taken as being my normal behaviour. I have vowed not to get in that position again and I think you will find certainly with Costello that he is now teetotal as I believe Clapton is too. I think we can assume that they have learnt from their mistakes.

But as has been remarked on earlier he still seems to be rather a fan of Mr.Powell.
Still, am very glad he has overcome his demons so at least now he will keep any such views to himself. Wish he'd play more like he did in the 60's though.

that this democratic land has a problem with free speech. I didn't personally know Enoch Powell so I dont know if he was racist or not. The point I was making is that aspects of his 'rivers of blood speech' made more sense than they were given credit for. Also, I have seen Clapton live and he had numerous black musicians in his band. His musical heroes include Buddy Guy, BB King and many other black musicians. That doesn't indicate to me that he is racist. I have to say that you appear to be making an argument for the sake of it about a subject that has little relevance in todays society.I believe that the majority of people in this country are happy to live in a multi-racial society and in Birmingham where I can speak from experience we embrace the multi-ethnic make up of this city. However to sweep all problems under the carpet because they may be construed as racist is plain wrong. Knife crime is predominantly an Afro Caribbean problem and is one area of crime showing a marked increase - to keep quiet about it for fear of angering the black community is not the way to solve the problem.I think if anything the Music industry in general is more prone to promoting racial harmony than any other industry and if you want to harp on about views expressed by Clapton 35 years ago thats fine but it doesn't mean we have to believe that he still holds those views. 35 years ago I thought I knew everything now I realise I knew very little. Give the guy a break for Christs sake.

so much has been written on some - admittedly offensive - remarks made by a drunken rock star thirty odd years ago. Let's face it, those views could have been heard, I'd wager, in virtually any pub in britain at that time. Doesn't make it right, but that's how things were then - get over it and move on. And why spend time 'recreating' it to put on youtube!

What is all the fuss about? Racism, come on is it all that bad? Lots of people were racists years ago and now everything is fine. The fact that Mr Slowhand is a racist, has made quite a tidy living out of "black" music... blah, blah, blah. Bargepole... you don't have to feel guilty about all those Clapton records you prefer to proper blues music. You can also live in a world where what people did in the racist past should be forgotten... Those silly billy black people always kick up way too much of a fuss.. don't they???? I also think Jewish people can bang on about the past as well, if I am not mistaken... So lets take a leaf out of old bargepole's book and "get over it!"

Or there again... exposing Clapton as a pissed up racist, how ever many years ago... is important. I had heard about the outburst but had no idea just how fowl it was... What an arsehole (alcholic or not - an unresearved appology is needed)
We are waiting Mr Clapton. Even if bargepole isn't.

You waiting for an apology from every other person who made a racist comment 35 years ago? If so you are wasting your life.
Stuff happens - we all say and do things we shouldn't say or do - if you have to go round apologising for every comment made it would be a pretty sad indication of the lack of tolerance in our open society. I hear things i find offensive or disagree with almost on a daily basis - I neither seek nor expect an apology. It is just viewpoints and surely we have the right to express them? This site is becoming something of a shrine for the intolerant amongst us. We will be getting preachers on here next.

I have heard Black people there call each other the N word without taking offence at it. In fact they do it as a joke - seems they have a sense of humour unlike some round here.
Why dont you get over yourself. This moral indignation is all bollocks. You think they don't have derogatory names for white people too? Does it really matter? I have Jamaican friends who make jokes about their own people and have no problem with doing so. Should we berate everyone that tells an Irish joke or an Essex girl joke? - sorry I just cannot accept that this is really the problem you portray it as being.

and I'm exhausted. Everyone's falling out over something that happened more than 30 years ago. He clearly didn't mean it. Jesus, get over it.

Anyway, my one and only Eric Clapton story involves my old boss going to interview him. When she left she realised her tape recorder hadn't worked and was standing outside the buidling in tears. Along comes Eric on his way out, sees her crying, hears her story and agrees to be interviewed all over again right there and then. And this was in the Eighties.

What a nice man!

A short list of black people who have worked with Eric Clapton includes Tina Turner, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, BB King, Robert Cray, Billy Preston and Chaka Khan. This excludes the black people in his regular touring band. To a man I would imagine they are all aware of the speech he made 30 plus years ago yet they all choose to work with him.It is reasonable therefore that they either didnt take the comments seriously or dont have a problem with them. Why therefore is everyone jumping up and down on here wanting to lynch him? It would be more relevant to question his sexual morals but then again I doubt that would be seen as politically correct with the added Brownie points that are awarded for being so.
The derogatory words he used were of the time and I certainly dont hear them being used these days.It is the same with terms used for gay people. They are out of date and out of fashion. I am not sure why Youtube has even put this on their site.Perhaps we should have a new site for every ill-judged remark ever made and hang the worst offenders. I still contend that principally he was arguing the case for a politicians statement on the dangers of unchecked immigration rather than being racist although I accept his choice of wording was wrong. He is not a politician and neither am I but surely we have a right to consider the comments of our politicians and form an opinion on their views. It is democracy in action. If you want to talk about racist politicians I am pretty sure the likes of Maggie Thatcher wouldnt stand too close scrutiny although they temper their comments in a more acceptable language.
Finally I have to say I suspect Eric Clapton has done far more for the good of Black people than anyone posting on this blog.

Eric has worked with black people.. so that's okay then. The only thing is all the above mentioned don't live in this country (with possibly the exception of Ms Turner) and they are rich successful, famous musicians. I am sure Eric doesn't hate all black people as long as they don'tlive in this country and do the sort of jobs that we do.

Go Mikhail, Doug B and badartdog etc... it is good to see that a large number of Word readers have read more than the Word and experienced and thought about so much more than so many 2009 little Englanders.

I think it is tragic that so many don't seem to understand why this is a big deal. The guy said terrible and offensive things and could so easily say sorry - "I was a pissed fool and regret every word." But the thing is I don't think he does. Which is the problem. So when he sings old Robert Johnson songs (no way as well as Mr Johnson, by the way) you know that if RJ was a lawyer or train driver living next door to Mr Clapton today, in England, EC would look out of his window as Mr Johnson left for work every day and think - "there are too many of "them" here and he should go back to where he came from.......but if he writes a good tune or two that I can use to feather my nest, I will..." ARSEHOLE ....

Come on Eric.. someone must have told you about You Tube.. and blogs like this... Make a statement.. clear the air. I wonder if BB, Tina, etc have heard your little outburst in full?

I just played it again.....anyone that thinks Clapton does not have to say sorry for that, how ever long ago, should be ashamed of themselves.. or just stupid...or just plain racist! Shocking!

which has already gone on far too long, to the pc thought police as they continue their slow but inexorable strangulation of this thread.

that the conversation was 'allegedly' made and the voice is not Eric Claptons. I wasnt at the concert, I doubt any here were so none of us know verbatim if that is what he said. Rab100 your arguments dont add up - is the problem that he 'allegedly' made the comment about black people that live here or that he 'allegedly' made the comment about black people. If I was black and offended I would be offended whether I lived here, the USA or the Congo. It is interesting that in your words 'rich famous black people' dont count in the same way. And you have the audacity to imply I am being racist? You dont know the first thing about me or my politics so get off your bloody soapbox you idiot.

I hesitate to prolong this thread but I have to take issue with the tone of your posts Rab, for the reasons many have pointed out above. It's no doubt too woolly for you, but the overwhelming evidence (as far as we can know anything about the life of a rich rock star) is that he is essentially a decent human being. Where do you stop with the demands for apologies? Because countless artists (many of them Word-friendly) have done reprehensible things in their time.

Maybe he doesn't want to take the easy way out and say a pat 'yes, I was a very naughty boy, I feel terrible about it' like others have done. He has a ready made 'excuse' of alcoholism that he could use if he felt inclined. I actually respect him more for not taking the easy route. Not condoning what he said, but he, like a great many people at the time, held those views honestly. The easiest thing in the world would be to say 'you know man, I was really out of it'.

You see Mr Turner, you are so wrong on so many counts. I do know all about your politics and I don't want to know you, although I fear I might know you way better than you think. I like my soapbox and am always flattered when I am told to get off it... especially by apologists for racists..

Dougie J... you know you are so right... lets all just love each other and say: "I was really out of it" .... What a great excuse... "I was just following orders" "I was really out of it" "it was years ago" ..... "get over it" You have convinced me!!!!

The make up of our society was completely different. Racial integration was feared. In retrospect that fear was completely misplaced but we were dealing with an unknown entity. Skinhead thugs perhaps helped Britain more quickly adopt an aversion to racial bigotry but I remember the days well and they were completely different to todays society. Now the fear is not of the Commonwealth immigrants but the East European immigrants who 'take our jobs'. Anyone with an insight into the open borders policy of the EU will know that this influx of Eastern Europeans actually created a wealth and a dynamism in our economy that didn't previously exist. I firmly believe that this has been beneficial for the country but the problem is that popular papers that have the ear of the population prefer to take a more provocative standpoint. The whole crux of the argument is do we harp on about the 'ill judged' comments of a Rock Star made 35 years ago that dont really have any relevance today or do we move on? In hindsight I am not sure this posting should have been put on the site because it is detracting from the generally happy nature of the site. I am happy to debate the point until the cows come home but I guess it is better reserved for other sites devoted to such topics. I love the diversity of the site but such topics provoke inflamed opinions - if any words I have uttered have offended that was not their intention but it is a contentious issue.

actually sound like you have a guilty confession to make. Were you a thug in another life? When exactly did I apologise for racists?
I dont make racist comments and never have. That doesn't mean I have to close my eyes to the problems that have existed in this country as much for the immigrant population as for the native population. If you check the unemployment statistics for the UK 3 or 4 of the top 10 worst hit areas in the country are in areas of Birmingham with a dominant immigrant population. I detest that more than you will know - it is not right for them and it is not right for Birmingham. It promotes a culture of crime that is in no-ones interest. Yes Clapton may have been speaking from a position of ignorance but Enoch Powell wasn't. He was worried when the immigrant population was anticipated to rise to 50,000 per annum. In 2007 the actual number was 565,000 or more than 10 times the number he was fearful of. Thankfully we have not had the widespread civil unrest that he warned of but it could still happen. Fortunately we have a very tolerant society - somehow you seem to want to believe otherwise. I dont know your age but if you were a teenager growing up in early seventies Britain you will know that racism was extremely prevalent then. It sickened me then as much as it would now but as I said and others have echoed It was a completely different environment. An aspiring rock star wouldnt make those comments now of course but David Bowie for one also showed some vulgarity in his views on the matter. It was a vogue I am afraid.

and I don't remember racism being "extremely prevalent." Certainly, it was more common than it is now, but, among the people I mixed with, at least, it was completely unacceptable. I remember as a child in the 60s hearing a lot of casual racism, but my impression is that this had more or less disappeared (among the educated middle class anyway) by the mid-70s. Clapton's speech would have been a lot less shocking in 1966 than it was in 1976. A great deal had happened in the meantime - society had undergone pretty drastic changes. I remember hearing reports of his remarks and being very puzzled and disturbed by them.

So, in case anyone is getting the impression that Clapton's racist remarks were simply a reflection of views that were widely held at the time, let me say: that's not how I remember it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race

with your comments but unfortunately I didnt grow up in an educated middle class neighbourhood.Skinheads were the order of the day where I lived - I lived in as much fear of them as did any of the local black or Asian population. I was you see a 'hippy'. I got beat up for wearing an Afghan coat and a tied dyed teeshirt so I am speaking from experience but admittedly my own personal experience when talking about the views that were prevalent where i lived. The situation was pretty unusual in as much as the first Afro Caribbean family to arrive in my school was when I was about 10 years old - particularly class mate Carl Herbert became my best friend at school over the next 6 years and we were pretty inseparable. I think it is fair to say that the school I was at was very fair and accomodating to both Carl and his family and those that joined the school afterwards. In that respect I am eternally grateful that I wasn't personally in a situation of experiencing poverty. I dont think we can blindly assume that Clapton is categorically a racist on the basis of comments he made so long ago - I have read subsequent interviews where he has refuted the racist allegations. I could be wrong but didnt he have black girlfriends at some point?
Anyway right from the off I was not defending him per se but defending his opinions that Enoch Powell had some valid points in his argument.Namely that unfettered immigration without proper provision for social infrastructure would cause the unravelling of our society. It very nearly has done on a number of occasions during the intervening years. For the record I think Enoch Powell as a person was pretty odious but that doesnt however mean that he would never have any valid points of view whatsoever. The world we live in is not black and white (no pun intended).

I was also on the hippy side, as were most of my friends & so we were targets for the local skins. I think your story about your friend Carl is more indicative about prevalent attitudes than Clapton's remarks. I, too, remember the first black families arriving in the sixties & the way suspicion and prejudice gradually gave way to acceptance and tolerance. It wasn't unusual for people to talk of "wogs" in the early sixties, but, by the mid-1970s, such language marked you as a racist.
I'm not saying Eric Clapton is categorically a racist. People are complicated & a mixture of conflicting, contradictory views and impulses. All I'm saying is that, by 1976, it certainly wasn't considered OK to express such views - hence the furore that greeted his remarks & hence the fact that we hippies still find his language and his opinions shocking. As for Enoch Powell, I think history has shown him to be wrong: there weren't "rivers of blood", there was, by and large, a gradual acceptance of the immigrant community.

as a card carrying Guardianista I'm going to say something rather transgressive here: while Clapton's pissed-up outburst may have been rather uncomfortable and wrong-headed, the actual source of his reference, Enoch Powell, was less so.

Last year I took the time to read a full transcript of Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech and think that it is actually rather misunderstood. What I read wasn't a racist polemic but a generally well-considered (if in hindsight misguided and rhetorically overwrought) piece of thinking. Some of the things Powell warned about did happen. Things like Handsworth, Brixton and Toxteth were the kinds of incident that Powell foretold a decade before they happened, largely for the reasons he predicted. There were (and, if we would admit it, still are) many incidences of racial and ethinc tension in our society. Powell did get that part right.

But he got plenty wrong. The 'endgame' wasn't as Enoch foresaw it. We have not been overrun by immigrants. We have acepted many, and most have arrived and become part of the fabric of British scoiety in the right spirit (some more than some of the indigenous Brits). In fact, in some ways there is an argument that we have accommodted more than many other nations; immigration is something that Britain has a tradition for, and also something that sits very uncomfortably with the vision of history that the likes of Nick Griffin would have us believe.

We do not live in a perfect country, though we do better than many others. Remembering the words of Enoch Powell is actually quite helpful to make us remember ho far we have come, but how far we still have to go.

Just after Eric had said it we looked at each other and said here was the guy who championed black blues music saying this.
It was a strange thing to say in Birmingham, but by the end of the concert it was forgotten. It was only next week's edition of the NME that drew attention to the remark via its letters page.

You echoed my thoughts pretty accurately and you have more lucidly put forward the argument I had tried to make. There have indeed been some consequences in the intervening years that were predicted by his speech. I re-read the whole speech during the discussions taking place on this site to ensure I hadnt misunderstood what I thought to be the case. Some of his comments were pretty unacceptable but we have to understand that he was fighting for the well-being of his constituents in his mind and trying to address their concerns. The problem with racism is that it fluctuates in its aggressive nature depending on the state of the economy and the lot of the general population. People living comfortably in a nice house with secure jobs are less likely to display racist tendencies than the same people having lost their job, their family, their home who are very likely to lash out and blame the easy target such as the 'immigrant' worker who 'took their job'. Powell was partially referring to this but he did so in an inflamatory way. Clapton didnt have the nous to avoid falling into the trap but the likes of Bowie, Costello, Weller and I am sure very many more have made stupid and crass comments that would have been better left unsaid. I for one will draw a line under this discussion. It has been interesting!!!

Anyone else had that 'proud to be white'? e-mail from Michael Richards yet?

If anyone was in any doubt, the admirable Snopes.com has confirmed it's a fake http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/proudwhite.asp

It's a fascinating example of how these things spread, as part of you thinks it might be genuine, given his unfortunate tirade at a heckler during one of his stand-up shows.

it's safe to go back in the water...

Dougie. I'm sure it will soon........ doh!

DougieJ what is Barry ferguson like these days? As a Birmingham supporter I am interested in your views. I recall him being a decent player but with Carsley at 36 and Bowyer at 34, Ferguson at 31 doesnt significantly lower the age of our midfield. Has he got any pace/

I was happy that we sold Bazza. I was one of the few Rangers fans (that I know) who supported Paul Le Guen's efforts to rid the club of the "booze culture". Bazza, along with McGregor and Boyd, should have been shown the door. Instead, Mr Murray decided to play to the gallery and PLG was shown the door. Admittedly, results had been less than good, but as he'd only been at the club 6 months, I don't think he was given a chance.
That said, Bazza IS a good player. As for pace -- I've seen milk turn quicker. Or, as someone once said "his pace is deceptive -- he's slower than he looks".

Anyway,good luck for the new season.

Just found out they have an official website
http://www.rockagainstracism.info/

Supported by Franz Ferdinand (though does any band have a whiter audience?)

Tom Robinson on RAR
http://www.tomrobinson.com/trb/rar.htm