Brian ReadeDiamonds in the Mud

On those thankfully rare occasions that journalist Brian Reade's column doesn't appear in Saturday's Daily Mirror, I feel like a cheated man. I admit loyalty to that newspaper - in particular for it's pro Labour stance - but Reade is the main reason I purchase it. 'Frank, Fearless, and Funny' it states above his page; but add principled and politically astute to that and you're only halfway there.'Diamonds In The Mud' is - as Jimmy McGovern points out - "A powerful , Vital and Visionary Book".Reade is 100 per cent correct when he questions the excessive deference and glorification showered upon Monarchs, war leaders, and old Etonian politicians while the working class heroes who've actually contributed something worthwhile to our lives are rarely, if at all, mentioned in this country's history.Whether lovingly detailing the lives and crusades of political firebrands like Dennis Skinner, Barbara Castle, and Jack Jones, the indefatigable women who fought for justice against great odds - Doreen Lawrence, the Hillsborough mothers - the late great Muhammad Ali and of course our gallant NHS, Reade's book is a life affirming triumph that really ought to be part of the National Curriculum.Just why Reade is never invited onto programmes like 'Question Time' is a mystery to me. Nothing would please me more than to see this dry witted writer knocking a few smug, self satisfied right leaning politicians from their perches { maybe I've just answered my own question there....}.While not fiction, 'Diamonds In The Mud' could well emerge as the 21st century's 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists'. At a time when a certain self serving tussled haired miscreant is chummily referred to in first name terms by a sleepwalking public, this riveting book makes for essential reading.

Reidey the award winning journalist and celebrated Patron Saint of Big Scouse causes, has produced what Jimmy McGovern one of Liverpool’s best ever playwrights describes as “a powerful, vital and visionary book”. Power and vitality resonate from the first page of the prologue where we are introduced to the young journo in his early twenties listening to advice given by a former Japanese POW. Like so many other uncelebrated working class heroes, he had returned home from the Second World War emaciated, broken, without any recognition or reward from a country rich in rhetoric and hyperbole about a land fit for heroes! The indisputable, reality then and now is that “heroes come cheap in this country, son, never forget it”!Brian’s from a breed of journalists of powerful principles and genuine pashion, never tolerating injustices, so there was no worry he’d suffer historical amnesia over the sage POW’s advice, and also of family warnings that as a graduate of posh Warwick University he would ever be allowed to assume airs and graces!The result, after over 40 years of fine tuning his craft as a wordsmith is an inspiring, irreverent broadside against a zeitgeist of dissimulation and Government contrived culture wars and what I see as a riveting appeal for a resuscitated “history from below”, a People’s History. There’s little evidence of “red sails over university campuses” today “but in my day” there was. It was fresh, inspirational, a bottom up brand of history that “rescued” and celebrated “real heroes”. It was not whether such “extraordinary ordinary men and women” changed the world or not, but today “in an age when being worshipped for doing nothing comes easy”, Reidey reminds us, (and hopefully my former history chums), that Working Class diamonds “are…humanity’s real heroes.” Right on Saint.

I have read the authors previous books and always enjoyed them but this is on another level. It is about working class heroes of all different types and is an inspiring if sometimes upsetting read.The best chapters are the ones involving mother's, particularly the Hillsborough mums and Doreen Lawrence, their fortitude in the face of their terrible losses is beautifully expressed.A fantastic book, it will likely be read by left leaning people but is really a book for anybody who believes in the good in people

Like its title, a diamond of a book. A hard read at times, issues we sometimes prefer not to think about are laid bare for us to ponder. These aren’t perceived inequalities, you’ll see example after example of how this Government chooses to look after its own. I give thanks to the powerhouses Jack Jones and Barbara Castle. My Dad was a docker and it’s a travesty that the casualisation that was remedied all those years ago, reared its head again to the detriment of so many people. This book made me laugh and cry. I’m a Liverpudlian now living in Portishead and no longer part of a union which I paid subs to for 28 years. I plan to rectify and hope others do too. It’s 2022 and United We Stand has never been more relevant.

Diamonds in the Mud was one of those books that everyone needs to read. It awakens memories and also teaches you some lessons about life as it is today.

Liked everything about the book

Well written and factual information.

Very enjoyable read