Does Life mirror Art or vica versa?

Earlier this year the long awaited novel by John King came out called Skinheads. Not your media guttural trash but the story of three generations of a family: Terry English, original ska-loving skinhead and boss of a mini-cab firm; Nutty Ray and Lol, son of Terry,a fifteen-year-old.

Terry is sick and not sure he's going to make his fiftieth birthday, but is kept going by his music, his lovely mod-girl assistant Angie, and his discovery of the abandoned Union Jack Club, which he decides to clean up and re-open. I won’t say anything more but it’s a great read from the author that wrote Football Factory (totally different from the film), the excellent Human Punk, White Trash and The Prison House. I would encourage you to read his novels if you are stuck for choice. You’ll be digging out your old Harrington and back into the DM’s before the weeks out! Go to London Books

I said to someone who I’d enthusiastically bought the book for as a present that I was doing a Terry English!! It was a coded message letting him know I was unwell. Here is a book that I really enjoyed earlier this year and I’m mimicking the main character! So does life mirror Art or vica versa?

Last night wasn’t great. I got home before 4 and slept till 5.30pm – wrapped in that lovely rug by the way! I took the dog for a walk but it was cold. I was tired and hurting. I ended up distracted from the Chelsea game (roll on Sunday!) and started doing odds and ends on the computer.

Today I’m still feeling poorly. In anticipation of what was meant to be my period in hospital I had arranged a haircut by my pal Paul McIntyre at Purdeys on the Green. I still attended and now look the part with a number 2 fit to fight with. It was Jose’s battle cry in the 2006 pre season “"Look at my haircut. I am ready for the war.”

I’m going to war on cancer! Thanks Paul!

i guess what I'm getting to in the end is that the books look at a part of our culture, one that is generally misrepresented by the media who perpetuate a normal nuclear family image. But with the revelation of my condition, how many people there have been who have survived or have been touched by the issue in hand. By having it out and breaking the taboo is one of the first steps to helping others out of the nightmare. We are human beings, all touched and we should be more open about it than brushing it under the carpet.