One of my favourite Beatles songs is “A Day in the Life” which includes a line: “A read the news today, oh boy! Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire”. The line made no sense, but for me, a boy from London, it put Blackburn on the map.
And Blackburn was on the map in Amman this week when the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Karimeh Foster was in town. She is Jordanian, born near Bethlehem, brought up in Kerak and a former member of the Jordan Armed Forces. When she was sent to the UK on training over 30 years ago she met and married David Foster from Blackburn. And now she is the Mayor of that town.
This progress says a lot about Karimeh and the determination she has shown in getting ahead through sheer effort and hard work. But it also says a lot about the United Kingdom: a country which celebrates diversity, which doesn’t put artificial barriers in the way of people from different backgrounds and which gives people with ability opportunities. And those who grasp their opportunities and do well get more and better opportunities. Merit is the only key to promotion.
She has also succeeded by being a member of a political party, the Liberal Democrats. People like Karimeh are elected representatives who bring power closer to the people. The system thrives because anyone with talent who wants to serve his or her community can channel their efforts through a party, contribute to the debate and participate in the consensus. And again, merit is the way ahead.
Blackburn is an excellent example of these principles at work. A large industrial town in North West of the country, it was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Its textile industry made it a boomtown in the 19th century. In the 1950s and 1960s it saw large immigration from India and Pakistan giving it a large Muslim minority. Despite the collapse of its textile industry it has succeeded in regenerating itself as a modern industrial town.
One of its most famous citizens was Jack Walker who took over the small family backstreet scrap metal business with a turnover of only £46,000 in 1956 and turned it into the UK’s largest metal stockholding company with 3,400 employees leaving him with a personal fortune of over £600 million. He bought the town’s football club and invested in new players bringing Blackburn Rovers into the Premier League which they won in 1995. And last weekend they beat Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford.
I don’t know whether there are 4,000 holes in Blackburn. But there is certainly opportunity and reward for those willing to work hard to succeed. And Karimeh Foster from Jordan has shown that it can be done.