Not the greatest review I've ever seen: ...Barnes’s sceptical attitude to progress would make the philosopher John Gray blush. Barnes writes that the “French Revolution, abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement” were “suppressed by a few meaningless concessions for a minority of people”, but “on the greater scale nothing really ever changed”. These “meaningless concessions” include getting rid of a monarch, abolishing slavery, giving women the right to vote and making race discrimination officially illegal. Elsewhere, Barnes is obtuse and offensive. He wonders why calling a black man a monkey is racist: “Why can’t a black man look like a monkey, like some white men do?” When writing about a former Juventus player called Medhi Benatia, Barnes asks whether calling someone a “Moroccan ****” is a racial insult. Benatia cut short an interview because someone expressed that abuse. In that same passage Barnes asks: “Can you racially abuse Jewish people?” He asks because “if the Jewish people are a race, what race does a black Jewish person belong to?” Barnes argues that “from a legal perspective, it will be impossible to come to a conclusion about racist intent in the cases I’ve just mentioned”. Good grief. Barnes is confused, and the purpose of this book is unclear. He thinks racism is a massive issue, but his grasp of what constitutes that racism is remarkably narrow: apparently, insulting certain ethnic minority groups does not count. The book is also badly written, a jarring mixture of pub-level chatter and pretentious language. Barnes has read a large number of books but has digested none of them. It’s hard to imagine this book being worse, but in a note at the beginning Barnes thanks his family for improving his original manuscript. Small blessings.
I think he has digested plenty of books. Have you seen the size of his stomach. Soon to appear on my three hundred pound life. Will never be held in the same regard as Luther and others of that era who still love the club dearly. Jimmy Barnes sees us as relatively meaningless compared to his time at the bright lights of Cesspool.
I saw an advert for a new TV programme he’s on earlier on today. The celebrities on the show need to wear their own rubbish for two weeks or something like that, obviously he’s got a lot of it. Pretty apt, and it sounds like a new low for television:
You've lost me there Willis. What is or who are Cold Chisel ? I wonder how much further we can scrape the barrel. Knowing the human condition there is plenty to scrape down further. Most of the rubbish he is carrying looks recyclable.
Apologies Willis never heard of this but I can see where you are coming from. This could be a question on Only Connect. London Borough, famous footballer, newsreader picture of agricultural buildings.
