Storm Clouds

Kings Heath, Birmingham really was a deserted heath until the 18th century. Then, towards its end, came the upgrading of the track to Alcester to a Turnpike Road, along with the Enclosures and establishment of farms. Then came the railway in the mid-19th century. Wealthy manufacturers, escaping the city filth by building country houses in clean air, were soon followed by a broader population, churches, schools and more modest homes. Our grandson passed a happy morning in a superb late-Victorian-gothic brick-built Methodist chapel. His walk home passed these handsome houses - from a similar time, I assume. The original residents might have had views of heathland - or some farms made out of it. Now they look wistfully on a busy road and 20th century infill. But the clock is still ticking

(The rest of this blip is me long-windedly getting my head around the intersection between the death of a Palestinian footballer and the propoganda firestorm engulfing European football. Feel free to skip) 

Suleiman al-Obeid was born in Gaza city in 1984. He was a professional football player - he played 24 times for the Palestinian national team between 2007 and 2013, including in a World Cup qualifying campaign. Because of his style of play, he was nicknamed the “Palestinian Pele”. He died when an Israeli quad-copter (a 'drone') dropped a bomb on him and others a week ago; they were queuing for food aid at the US/Israeli backed aid distribution point run by the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation". Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian men, women and children trying to reach these "aid" points has become routine

The European football authority, UEFA, posted a message online on Friday “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pelé’. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times.” In response, Mohammed Salah, Egyptian international player, part of the Liverpool team that won the Premier League with 4 games to spare last season, asked dryly “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?”

Possibly stung, at the European Super Cup game last night (where Tottenham Hotspur fulfilled their traditional role of snatching defeat from the jaws of certain victory in the final five minutes), UEFA placed a large banner on the pitch, in front of the players as they lined up for formalities  before the game “Stop Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians” - this was carried on to the pitch by nine refugee children, two from Palestine, others from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Iraq

The barrage of criticism of UEFA has begun. Are they dragging politics into sport? Are they anti-Semitic? Are they invoking the 'blood libel'? The macabre carnival rolls on