I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transport whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel... I have seen the strength of America in the inexhaustible resources of our people. In the days to come, let us renew that strength in the struggle for an energy-secure nation."

He went on to point out that the US could not carry on regardless regarding water wastage and identified this resource as a major issue in future conflicts, something which came true in the recent Israel/ Lebanon War where access to water was the main Israeli war aim.

He refused to pander to the people, and challenged them directly to end the ridiculous reliance, a seeming addiction to oil.

His opponent in the 1980 Election described Carter as casting a "malaise" across the Nation.

Ronald Regan, backed by all the major oil companies defeated Carter, doubled US oil consumption, made America responsible for 25% of all CO2 emissions and ran up a trillion dollar debt based on the premise that consumerism, that Carter argued against from a moral standpoint as well as a practical one, was the cure all for US ills. Wrong, wrong and wrong.

Reganomics, so called, was basically stick your fingers in your ears and go la, la very loudly if anyone pointed out that actually problems, serious, scary and very long term were being stored up. Such people were depressives and enemies of the American Dream.

America is, without doubt the greatest country on Earth. A nation based on the idea of meritocracy, and that you can be successful if you put the work in. Everything ironically as a Socialist I aspire Britain to be like. No vested interests, no Class System and yes to a sense of pride in the nations values, and a sense of community and help for the less fortunate.

In addition the US, until George W. Bush had a very strong anti war tradition where it was understood that armed conflict should always be the last resort.

Apart from Teddy Roosevelt’s ill-starred adventure in the Philippines, Iraq was the first US pre-emptive was based on economics. The idea of the America as the great Imperialist, hoovering up smaller nations for financial gain is simply a myth peddled from those who should applaud the USA as the home of Liberty and Freedom, a Nation built on such hopes and aspirations.

But, and it’s a biggy, despite the Clinton era the USA has some appalling Presidents and you get the feeling that a lot of Americans do indeed feel that consumerism and how much stuff you have is all that matters, and that they really don’t give a damn about the damage that their oil addiction is doing to themselves and the rest of the World.

This Election puts me in mind of 1992 in the UK.

You have a Party that is discredited by a previous leader (for Thatcher read Dubya) but with a new guy in charge who, despite having no charisma seems to have a knack of appearing moderate and competent. His opponent is passionate, believable and is offering change, but when you scratch the surface there is actually not a lot on offer.

Obama has backtracked and qualified virtually every plank of his programme from Iraq (troops home at first but now "on a timetable that is safe" i.e. never), the aim of universal health care access, which has been down graded from a promise to an "aspiration", and he is determined to put pressure on Iran in a Kennedy/ Cuba leading to the Bay of Pigs fiasco kind of way.

McCain seems to have blown it with the insane choice of Red Neck extraordinaire Sarah Palin, plus his astonishing September statement on the economy which he described as "basically sound" despite all the evidence to the contrary.

But Obama has only an average of 6% of a lead and if history repeats itself across the Pond then pollsters have to be aware that voters will not want to seem out of kilter with the general anti Republican mood, rather like voting Tory became a dirty secret here in 1992 meaning that the outcome could mirror that UK election. Major won with a record vote (more than Blair ever got) despite being behind in all the polls.

There is a lot of guff talked about the US being "ready" for a black President. Lets be honest here. Obama was brought up by a white parent in a white environment, and whilst he has done well I feel there is a large amount of tokenism abroad here.

He is safe, not from the projects and charismatic and whilst I hope he wins, no one should be kidded and I believe that a Hilary Clinton win would have signified a bigger shift in attitudes because although race is less of an issue, gender sure is in America today.

Obama should eschew any Kinnock like triumphalism and the activists must make darn sure they get their vote out if the Democrats are going to win on Tuesday.

The reality is that we matched Chelsea for large chunks of this game. The reality is that against a team that was one kick away from winning the European Cup we created opportunities and defended with discipline. The reality is that Ashbee kept Deco the Portuguese maestro in check and the reality is that Andy Dawson is proving to be a true Premier League defender against all the odds.

The reality is also that we conceded possession too easily which allowed Chelsea’s midfield to pull us around and tire us mentally as well as physically. The reality is that if football matches go to predictable form, we will struggle on Saturday at Old Trafford and against the technically superior sides.

But as we have seen, football is notoriously volatile. Who would have predicted Arsenal chucking away a two-goal advantage twice to their North London rivals? Or that United would drop points at Everton?

We can definitely take many positives from last night as Chelsea’s opener saw Lampard shin one over Myhill, who like the England man himself was expecting a cross, and the killer second strike resulted from a massive mix up in the Tigers defence and the ball fell to Anelka to side foot home.

At one nil Daniel Cousin produced a mazy run leaving the two times Champions defence in tatters. His clinical strike beat Cech all ends up but then cannoned back off the inside of the upright.

Marlon King should have converted a Dawson centre, whilst Geovanni tested the Chelsea keeper from two free kicks.

Chelsea are a fantastic side and the score doesn’t lie. We will lose a good few more games this season but as long as we keep the team spirit, work rate and make effective use of set plays, a top half finish is not an unrealistic aim.

Despite the absolutely brass monkeys weather and the score, the atmosphere was amongst the best I can remember and the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the introduction of Dean Windass, on the bench for the unwell Folan.

Hull City: Myhill, McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Dawson, Marney (Garcia 71), Ashbee, Boateng (Halmosi 62), Geovanni, King (Windass 84), Cousin.
Subs Not Used: Duke, Hughes, Mendy, Ricketts. Att: 24,906

Hot on the heels of fellow Lefty Mark Steel, Jeremy Hardy played to a full Hull Truck on Sunday night as part of the City’s Comedy Festival.

I always get the impression with Hardy that he is in constant battle with his inner snob, but then again he is a regular on the Aren’t I So Clever BBC2 panel game QI, and Radio 4’s the News Quiz which, whilst being very funny has a White Boys Grammar School Club air to it. Very BBC.

Hardy is one of those Lefties who is embarrassed by being Middle Class and thus tries to emphasise that he is not real Bourgeoisie, “plenty of Clerks and Civil Servants”. I detest this stupid credentials game. You are what you are and as long as you try and do the right thing who cares?

What’s wrong with being aspirational, working hard and taking the chances that life has to offer via educational achievement?  What’s wrong with wanting a comfortable place to live with a safe and crime free environment?

I used to work with a bloke whose stock response when discussing issues was; “Well, what would you know about anything living in Kirk Ella!”.

Whenever I had a letter in the Hull Daily Mail about politics or something like that he would say; “ The Reds Under the Bed in Kirk Ella”.

As though being a Socialist and political activist is somehow impossible if you are Middle Class.

I tried Council Estate Living, not through choice and frankly was sick to death of it.

But I prefer Kirk Ella any day of the week.

No drunk people coming home. No crashing of glass. No coming and going to the drug dealer on the corner. No sound of my car being scratched (or stolen, or broken into). No balling and drunken arguing of the couple a few doors down which would then go sickeningly quiet. No drug needles in the morning outside my gate. No having to sort people out (not that I minded too much). No going to see certain people to resolve neighbour problems. No having to read letters to people because of their illiteracy etc…… The list goes on…. And on.

I’m not saying it was totally bad, I made plenty of good friends and but is there really is a better sense of community?

On Planet Guardian/New Statesman the Working Classes are eulogised but the columnists would never live this life themselves in a million years.

But that’s a whole debate on it’s own….

Hardy was very funny and the political stuff was on the money, especially regarding the Tories and, unlike Steel he avoided the cheap laughs against the Labour Government.

I did object though to his over the top stereotyping of the Armed Forces. Not everybody was brought up with Hardy’s opportunities and the Forces offer a lot for Working Class youth looking for security, stability and a sense of purpose in life. Blame the politicians, not the rank and file.

Otherwise I really enjoyed this show, and clocking in at about two hours it was good value for money without losing momentum and audience engagement.

 Talking of Class John Prescott had a show on BBC2 (Monday 9pm and iPlayer) and whilst there is a lot of blather around this subject, the only way to prevent 78% of the top 200 Company CEOs and 81% of the Judiciary coming from Private Schools is to get rid of them over time by a) abolishing their status as charities and b) having an education system based on social engineering to prevent your postcode being the over riding determinant of your life chances.

A young woman takes a painful journey into her past and discovers the darkest sides to humanity….

To say this is a “difficult” record is like saying Lou Reed himself is a complex character, i.e. a statement of the bleedin obvious.

It really is an album suited to what Carl Jung describes as the “second adolescence”, when we have had our kids and are realistically very much embarking on second part of our lives where hopefully we are more reflective, mature, tolerant and have a greater understanding of the more existential stuff. Why we are here, what we hope to achieve for ourselves and more importantly for our fellow travellers in this life.

Thus at 19 I had no clue as to what this record was trying to say, perhaps because I was blinded by what I considered to be certainties, self evident truths, those of Socialism and Reason which were discussed long into the night over endless cups of coffee, beer and fags.

This sort of academic, University based introversion is crucial in personal development as you test your beliefs and values in an environment where if you make mistakes it doesn’t really matter and I truly reckon that I came out the other end a person who was ready to get down and dirty in the so called real world from a position of having mulled over some important issues to do with meaning and purpose.

Thus my core values and belief systems (that we do stuff much better together than on our own) were put in place and then I had to figure out how to make that work for the betterment of Society through my teaching career and the Labour Party. The “real” world if you like. Pragmatism. Putting these values into action in a modern context.

My Father in Law played a huge part in this. He was very interested in my job and what we were trying to do in the Labour Party and his emphasis on getting the relationships right before the political theory was totally spot on.

We argued like mad about the philosophical direction of the Left, and I couldn’t get my head around why he voted for Blair in the 1994 Leadership election but the idea of Principles Without Power Are Futile was his mantra. Rightly.

Look what we’ve done. If we had done it the Hard Left way we would be theoretically pure but the Country as a whole be wrecked beyond repair.

That’s why the dawn of 2^nd May 1997 meant so much to us…

The point is that Berlin is the perfect exposition of the visceral, horrible and brutal side of the unfettered, misogynistic and hate filled economic system that is Capitalism.

Caroline’s miserable life and experiences put me in mind of Ken Loach’s films put to music, especially Cathy Come Home and 2006’s C4 masterpiece It’s a Free World where we see just what men are capable of and how Society is completely run against the interests of women.

But it’s the acceptance of her lot that is the most depressing but resonant truth of this record. Losing the will to fight. It only happened to me twice. Once on Donny Station in July 1987 and again during the worst ravages of my treatment in December last year. It’s indescribable. Horrible in retrospect, it the realisation on the way back that’s the killer feeling as, at the time you actually feel quite calm and almost elated. “The Bed” from this record best articulates this.

If you want to understand the hidden truths of our world, and maybe find something out about yourself in the meantime then buy this record.

Rich and I saw this show in Nottingham and the film is a good representation of the experience, particularly as there are no audience shots. Rock crowds are ugly, overwhelmingly male, and sad. We don’t need to see ourselves ta very much.

 Hull Screen is rapidly unravelling due to the Council’s lack of will meaning a grand total of thirteen people saw the three screenings of this picture. The film selection has been poor of late, which doesn’t help; Norwegian Eskimo Basket Weaving docs ain’t going to pay the bills, and the environment of a lecture theatre is both hot and uncomfortable, plus the sound is poor. Sort it or lose it.

For a former member of the Socialist Workers Party and (dis) Respect, Mark Steel is actually funny, sensitive and has a knack cute of observation regarding the more bizarre facets of human existence.

There is one simple reason why I always dislike the SWP, well two actually. One; the members always seemed to be privately educated so the term “Workers” is especially inappropriate and two; they supported the IRA in the ‘Eighties as being in the vanguard of class struggle. Yeah right. Murder is cold-blooded murder in my book.

And as for (dis) Respect…. Giving succour to Islamic racists and misogynists seems an odd position for people on the Left to take.

All that aside most of Mark Steel’s live stand up show is belly laugh out loud funny, but clocking in at nearly three hours, Mr. Steel may like to take on board that maxim about “Leaving the audience wanting more” rather than leaving us losing the will to live.

The political stuff was there but didn’t dominate to the extent that I thought it would, but the lame slagging off of the Labour Government from a guy who earns his living in the cocooned world of the media was depressingly predictable.

Steel’s forte is how he moulds everyday life into a funny routine, but there is enough variety to suit a range of tastes, but heckling the audience is a bit passé, or is that because I was the first target due to fiddling with my phone to ensure it was off? Probably.

 Overall this was a good show, if a bit long and it could do with paring by about half and hour.

England thrashed a poor Welsh side by a record 74-0 margin and ran in 14 tries in the process. For the purposes of blowing away end of season cobwebs the game provided a useful run out for eight of the fringe players already on the plane such as Hull FC recruit Mark Calderwood, and for the likes of Hull KR stars Peter Fox, Shaun Briscoe this was an opportunity to seal a place on the stand by list.

Wales, shorn of retirees Harris, Briers and Cunningham started brightly but once the impressive Harlequins loose forward Rob Purdham went over in the sixth minute, it was one way traffic and you had to feel for the Welshmen, although the Bridgend contingent will know really know for sure what the requirements of Superleague football are.

Steve Ganson did little to endear himself to the 11,000 fans who turned out for the game by referring a Welsh touchdown right near the hooter to the video ref, who denied the visitors some deserved consolation points. It felt mean minded to us, and the rest of the punters who were cheering for a Welsh score.

What does this tell us, and more importantly Tony Smith about our World Cup chances?

Not much is the honest truth and I just hope that we are not writing obituaries for the World Cup dream next month which bemoan lack of preparation.

We cannot afford ANY slip-ups when the real action commences against Papua New Guinea, as the spectre of an awkward semi final eliminator against a rough and very ready Tonga looms if we do not put the Pumals away in the group opener.

Having said that I am quietly optimistic about our chances in this tournament as both Australia and New Zealand are in transition, and we have some very good young players, Roby, Graham, Lee Smith and Westwood spring to mind, allied to the experience of the likes of Wellens, Peacock and Morley mean that we have a very good mix.

If Pryce and Burrow can combine and play to their full potential, then we will be a team that others will have to worry about in the later stages.

For what was effectively a trial game I felt that full price tickets of £20 was a bit steep meaning that for an “average” family the match price would have been £64 for four people.

It’s the second time Conor and I have been to the Keepmoat and it reminded us how we are spoiled at the KC both by its parkland location and it’s views from the top tier of the West Stand.

England: Briscoe (Hull KR); Fox (Hull KR), Shenton (Castleford), Sykes (Bradford), Calderwood (Hull); Gleeson (Warrington, capt), Myler (Salford); Fielden (Wigan), Higham (Warrington), McCarthy-Scarsbrook (Harlequins), Westwood (Warrington), Hock (Wigan), Purdham (Harlequins).

 Interchange: Hodgson (Huddersfield), Langley (Bradford), Griffin (Huddersfield), Clubb (Harlequins).

My sum total knowledge of how the Stock Market works could written on the back of a postage stamp, but something that was said on the Today Programme this morning made me wonder…

It was explained that a lot of selling is computer generated, automated as it were. The computer programme picks up that a certain type of share is vulnerable and then this triggers mass selling without much input from the brokers.

 Why don't they suspend computer selling and only allow actual people to buy and sell for a while? That way the nebulous concept of “confidence” could actually be restored to this chaotic situation.

We travelled to Leeds last night in expectation of seeing the Dirty Pretty things in concert, but when we arrived we were told the gig was off due to Carl Barrett having laryngitis.

Fair enough. These things happen but my suspicions were aroused because a) the band are splitting up after this tour and b) the support band was cancelled citing the same excuse on Monday with no announcement of a replacement. Any band in Leeds would jump at the chance to be on that bill so my feeling was that this was all a bit convenient.

I rang the venue today and they were cagey. A simple google search uncovered the promoters (Futuresound) so I rang them direct. The girl on the phone was alarmingly honest and told me that as the band were indeed splitting, “they couldn’t be arsed to play last night. They are only going to do some of the shows on sufferance to avoid being sued. But not if they can get away with it”.

Blinkin flip. What a shower. Needless to say Carl Barrett has bombed in my estimation.

 One consolation is that Pete, Rich and I were spared the humiliation of being pointed at by a load of kids as the sad old men in the room. It could have been Legally Blonde 2 all over again….

The Tories and the Right have no answers for today’s problems. Fact. David Cameron was like a rabbit trapped in the headlights today at Prime Ministers Questions as everything he stands for is now discredited.

The system of unregulated free market economics is unravelling before our eyes and today the British Government announced partial Nationalisation of the baking sector.

Many on the Left have argued for this for years but have been vilified as “extremists” or “idealists not living in the real world”.

The “real world” of Capitalism now comes knocking on the door, cap in hand asking for handouts from the taxpayer as, twenty years down the line the Thatcherite chickens come home to roost.

I began my political life as a Socialist, first in the Labour Party from 1984 onwards whilst being associated for six years with the Militant Tendency. 

Militant made many mistakes, to many to catalogue here, mainly due to the over active egos of it’s leading activists who fell straight into the trap that Lord Acton warned of in the 19^th Century about how “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

It was a narrow sect, and this is the trouble with Marxist groups. Unless you can build a mass membership and true Party democracy then such organisations become too narrow, too focused on theory, too obsessed with ideological purity and fail to take notice of why they exist at all; to build a better and fairer Society based on the needs of the many, not the few.

Socialism is about what’s achievable in a modern context, about compromise, about a move away from the “politics of denunciation” (c. A. Hodgson), about building relationships across traditional socio- economic boundaries, and about making the economy work for the benefit of the majority in this country, and across the globe.

And this is why what I propose has to be done in the context of the Labour Party. It is the only show in Town, and whilst it has many flaws, what it has achieved for the people of the UK over the last eleven years will last for generations… provided we recognise that we must look forward, renew ourselves and not be stuck in the past.

The test of Society is how it treats the Have Nots via pragmatic and fair treatment of those more fortunate.

The Labour Government, as far as it’s values go ticks these boxes through the New Deal, the creation of record employment levels (we can carp about what those jobs are, but it’s a foundation and a commitment to the goal of full employment), record spending on the NHS and education.

Then there is SureStart, which illustrates how the Government is in for the long haul rather than cheap electoral advantage, as the results won’t be seen for a generation.

And for the Middle Classes there is the millions pumped into households through Tax Credits, sustained low interest rates and real terms tax cuts. Despite what the Daily Voting Labour Gives You Cancer Mail might say Middle England has done mighty well out of this Government.

There have been mistakes a plenty along the way, such as the 10p tax fiasco and the way in which the Government seems to be inert to the needs of households under severe pressure form the rising cost of utility and basic household bills.

How come we can find £30 billion for a pointless nuclear warhead system, and bankroll the Iraq War whilst real terms poverty is on the rise for the bottom 1/3^rd income households? It’s a fair question about basic priorities.

The current fiasco in the Banking System means that the Government will offer a monumental £500 billion in guarantees, which is offset by the taxpayer taking shares and having real and tangible leverage over those in charge. “Bankers getting sweaty beneath their White Collars” as The The put it on the Infected album.

"In reaching agreement on capital investment the government will need to take into account dividend policies and executive compensation practices and will require a full commitment to support lending to small businesses and homebuyers.”

This is the Government directly controlling policy and practice for High Street Banks, and is basically saying “enough is enough” to unregulated speculation, lending based on extreme risk with the hope of massive short term profit and allowing the people via the Government a direct say on what gives in the banking sector.

Wholesale Nationalisation is neither practical, nor neccesserily desirable. But the Left has an historic opportunity to make the case for greater public say in the direct day to day running of the economy.

Each financial institiution responsible for lending in this country should have a chunk of it’s shares owned by the Government on behalf of the people.

These mickey mouse, but ultimatley cruel and inhumane lenders such as Ocean Finance which leech on the false and unrealistic advert driven hopes of working people should be thoroughly investigated by the FSA and if there is the slightest sniff of sharp practice such as over lending to deliberatley trigger default and huge fees which then are turned in to “consolidation loans” by the same company under a different name, be shut down with no compensation. In fact these parasites should be prosecuted.

The Treasury Committee MUST ensure that the CEOs of each of the Banks and insurance firms should appear in front of them, complete with open and transparent accounts on a regular basis to ensure that these companies don’t take our money and then carry on regardless once the spotlight has moved on.

Now the argument appears not to be whether the Goverenment should take the Banks into Public Ownership, but how much of a stake we should take, meaning there is a basic acceptance amongst the Government, institutions and the nation as a whole that State intervention is both neccessery and desirable.

The Left should make the argument that this kind of stake should extend to the ultilities, transport and other areas where it is vital that the Public interest is represented.

This should go hand in hand with a renewal in our democracy, to show a sceptical Public that this is a fresh start, that because the Government will be representing them at the heart of the economy then they must have the opportunity to be fully involved.

Therefore where the Government becomes a sharholder these companies must have elected employees on the Board of control, and full Trade Union recognition and involvement in decision making must be implemented because in tandem with the Directors these are the people who really know what is going on.

Where it appears inevitable that a company such as Northern Rock is going to go to the wall the Government should make the former owners, not the workers bear responsibility. Therefore such companies, backed by the Government should be placed under the control of Workers Councils, fully elected who will undertake restructuring and move the firm forward. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas so the fear of some kind of wacko take over is simply a scare tactic from the media.

On a more general level the Left should argue for greater local control, both at work and in the Community by arguing for elected Heads of Council Services, especially for Policing, Refuse and Recycling and Social Services.

Part of this should see an end to the stupid, costly and anti democractic tendering of basic (and any other) Council services, from waste collection to IT provision which must be accountable, transparent and cost effective to the tax payer.

While I’m at it, here are a few more ides to throw into the pot.

Crime… (Stuff I’ve observed via Samaritans work)

• All judges and magistrates are subject to election and recall.
• Fines must be proportionate to income.
• Prisoners must be allowed the maximum opportunity to develop themselves as human beings. People should only be imprisoned within a short distance of their own locality
• Prison life must be made as near normal as possible. The aim of prison should be rehabilitation, as well as punishment. Within prisons there should be a wide range of cultural facilities. Medical treatment must be via the general health service. There must be provision for daily visiting hours where possible.
• Worthwhile prison work must be made available. It must be paid at full trade union rates and limited to seven hours a day.

• Cells must be self-contained and for one person alone.
• Prisoners must be allowed access to books, newspapers and periodicals.
•  Incoming and outgoing letters can only be checked for contraband - they must not be read nor censored.

Small Businesses and Farms.

• . Secure rights of tenure for owner-occupiers, small farmers and small businesses, with low rents.
• Cancellation of debts to banks arising from disproportionately high interest rates. Provision of low interest rates for small businesses.
• Guaranteed prompt payment of bills by big business to small businesses.

Pensions and the Elderly.

• No compulsory retirement. Right to retirement from age 60 for all workers - at 55 in unpleasant and dangerous jobs.
• The stare pension should be at the level of the minimum wage, and should be paid to everyone who has retired.
• Old people should have the right to decide how they live. There should be no compulsory institutionalisation. The state must provide what is needed to allow elderly people to live independently if they so wish, for as long as they are physically or mentally capable of doing so.
• Social clubs for the elderly should be democratic and subsidised by the state, nor charities.
• The comfort and dignity of the dying must be ensured at all times. The creeping use of euthanasia must be stopped.

Young People.

•  The provision of housing for youth to enter of their own choice for longer or shorter periods when they lose their parents or choose to leave them.
• Compulsory education up until the age of 16 and from then on within a fully democratic system. Education should be free and of a polytechnic nature: that is, rounded to include technical skills as well as academic.
• No private schools.
• Students over the age of 16 should receive grants set at the level of the minimum wage.
• The right of every young person on leaving education to either a job, proper training or full benefits.
• Remove all obstacles to the participation of youth in social life. Votes and the right to be elected from the age of 16.
• The provision of a broad range of sports and cultural centres under the control of elected representatives of youth.
• The extensive provision of education and counselling facilities on all sexual matters.

Women.

• Turn formal equality into genuine equality. Socially, economically, politically and culturally there must be equality of opportunity. Open 24-hour crèches and kindergartens to facilitate full participation in social life outside the home: that is, trade unions, political organisations, , cultural activities, etc.
• Open high quality canteens with cheap prices. The establishment of laundry and house-cleaning services to be undertaken by the state. This to be the first step in the socialisation of housework.
• Fully paid maternity leave three months before and six months after giving birth (the partner to be provided with six months' paternity leave).
• Free contraception on demand.
• Provision for either parent to be allowed paid leave to look after sick children.
• Maximum six-hour working day for all nursing mothers.
• Decriminalisation of prostitution. Criminalize those who attempt to purchase sex.

Estranged for years, three generations of women are forced together in the grandmother’s remote Wexford cottage through the slow death from AIDS of the youngest woman’s son, who inadvertently introduces the protagonists to the reality of life for gay men in Ireland at the turn of the Millennium.

Colm Toibin has produced an absolutely outstanding novel, and for me his genius lies in writing simple and controlled prose whilst exploring the rawest of human emotions.

There is no hysteria or hyperbole in the text, and yet the reactions that it provoked within me were extraordinary because Toibin places the reader right in the thick of the interactions between the characters, and you can feel their responses, often in quite a visceral way in lots of scenes.

Helen’s brother Declan is in the final throes of an AIDS related illness, and Toibin’s descriptions of the agonies he suffers are right on the money. I had severe meningitis last year which involved being out of it for three days, terrible headaches, retching, added to with hallucinations from a combination of morphine and heavy duty sedation but it was the effect on those observing that fascinated me.

Helen’s father died when she was ten. The relationship between daughter and emotionally detached, cold and yet grieving mother really struck a chord. At one stage in the wake of my Mum’s suicide things got so bad between my Dad and me that someone almost said something. And in the Blackwater Lightship we see the consequences of suppressed emotions across the generations as Granny, Mother and Daughter explore the real meaning between past events and their impact on Declan’s unfurling tragedy.

“Slagging” is a great Irish term for the banter that goes on in families, but in this novel Toibin acknowledges it’s role in helping to gloss over unmentionable subjects, and one of the best passages in the book sees Paul, part of Declan’s gay circle explain to his dying friend’s mother the travails of coming to terms with unconventional sexuality in a Society which largely refuses to recognise certain facts, and how humour can be a tool to cope but ultimately also be a means of unhealthy repression.

This is a triumph, a book that flows at a wholly natural pace unravelling complex emotions in such a simple way. I haven’t enjoyed a book so much for a long while.

The Blackwater Lightship reminded me of what a great author Colm Toibin is. I read much of his stuff in the mid ‘Nineties which included the non fiction tour de force In Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border where he demonstrated real understanding of the roots of the conflict, and the Story of the Night which was the first major Irish novel to discuss gay issues, but in a context where it’s the relationships and not the activity itself that counts.