Stand up for the Minstermen!

290 York City fans came to Huish Park yesterday to watch their team lose 1-0 against fellow strugglers Yeovil. We clapped them before the game and many of us commiserated with them after. They are bottom of the football league, we are second bottom. Last year the Somerset Levels were flooded and this year it’s York.

Not once in the 90 minutes did we chant at York, we showed a degree of respect and we got the same back. It looks like they drove back last night to a whole lot more trouble.

Being nice is something I value and I’m prouder to be a Yeovil fan because we are. It’s not that we know how to take the micky- we know when.

We are the Yeovil- we do what we like!

Well done to WASPI but…

I should be happy that yesterday WASPI reached 100,000 on its petition and will get its complaints aired in a formal way. As I’ve written here, I don’t agree with all the complaints nor the solutions they are demanding, but I do agree that the issues around the changes to the state pension are not properly understood and that WASPI can bring the pensions debate a step forward. So I support the general thrust of their campaign.

But I don’t support the behaviour of both women and men using twitter to try to flatten all opposition. The abuse thrown at Ros Altmann, Frances Coppola and others who have argued against the campaign has been anything but nice.

Twitter has its trolls, we know who they are and if you find yourself offended you should block them. But when tweets get retweeted by people you know nothing about, who know nothing about what you said, then the wisdom of the crowd turns into the howling of the mob.

We are our own stewards

At Yeovil we are self-regulating, we are a small crowd, most of us know each other and people know what is acceptable. On the rare occasions where people are out of order, they are told “sit down shut up”. Where we are threatened, as happened at a recent game at Plymouth, where stewards got it wrong, we will protect the innocent.

I’d like to think that people like Altmann, Cumbo, Shaw and Coppola can speak as they please on twitter and know they will get support from people like me, who look up to them for their superior intellect, academic rigour and eloquence.

It is a mark of a civilised group – whatever the society – that they self-regulate and ensure that manners are maintained.

This is no country for such men

I am particularly angry with those men who have taken to beating up on women on twitter. I have seen proud women cry at this bullying . Bullies  have no manners, these are men behaving badly.

Social media gives brilliant women a voice that until recently might never have been heard. It is a voice that should be heard and not suppressed.

I appreciate that among the noise, some comments have been made on this blog suggesting that I lack empathy with the suffering of women. But it is different to respectfully disagree than to berate and bully.

Plenty of banter but respect throughout

Social media can quickly turn anti-social. People can hide behind their screens, use false persona and take perverse pleasure in hurting others. But this hurting serves no purpose. Kicking a York fan when he or she is down, when their City is being flooded, is not part of the game.

I listened to the “non league show” this morning, heard about Petersfield’s stand being blown on its roof, about small clubs helping out other small clubs. Plenty of banter but respect throughout.

Throughout Christmas, my friends Jo and Matthew have been distributing food to people who have fallen on hard times. Plenty of banter but respect throughout.

If we are to make things better, whether on the terraces, in the food banks or for the older people who benefit from the work of my colleagues in the pension industry, we need to remind ourselves throughout, of the needs and feelings of others.