There has been controversy about the line-up chosen by Gordon Brown to form the panel for the Chilcot inquiry. Some of this has been tinged with antisemitism, such as Richard Ingrams’ disappointment that the panel included ‘two Jewish historians’. (His complaint was no surprise: Ingrams believes that Jewish and indeed gay writers should declare their ethnicity or sexuality if they are writing about Israel or gay rights issues. How does he want this to work? A yellow star or pink triangle next to their byline?)

Anyway, George Galloway has now had his say on Chilcot. On his Comment show last night the whiskered-wonder asked: ‘Why wasn’t I put on the panel?’ Good question, George. I suppose those grovelling salutations to Saddam Hussein worked against you. The way you publicly handed money to Hamas probably didn’t help, you know how sensitive people can get about antisemitic terrorism. I doubt your cat impersonations helped much either. The whole business is complicated enough without them having to install flea powder and litter trays at the Conference Centre. Meow!

Shabbat shalom to all my Jewish readers – and a happy weekend to everyone.

I am currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and I’m planning to go and watch the big-screen adaptation of it next week. All this post-apocalyptic drama reminds me of the life-changing drama-documentary the BBC made in the 1980s called Threads, which depicted a nuclear attack on Britian through the experiences of ordinary Sheffield folk.

That description might make it sound like Coronation Street with a mushroom cloud. But it was a truly shocking film which terrified and politicised me in all manner of ways. I was 12 when I watched it. Some years later I looked back on it in an article for the men’s magazine Loaded. This is that article:

Great Moments In Fright Nuclear TV Drama – By Chas Newkey-Burden

Nuclear missiles were never feted for their subtlety or charm, but when I sat down as a 12-year-old lad to watch a film about them, I wasn’t expecting the visual and emotional onslaught I received. Threads was a life-changing moment for a generation of youngsters and the peak of a decade of nuclear paranoia.

The 1980s had begun with the government distributing a public information booklet called Protect And Survive. It instructed the great British populace in the fine art of building nuclear bomb shelters from an ingenious combination of books, doors, towels and Lego. All very Blue Peter. It also assured us: “When you hear the all-clear, this means there is no longer an immediate danger from air attack and you may resume normal activities.”

For those of us in any doubt at all about what exactly constituted ‘normal activities’ in the aftermath of a nuclear strike, Threads offered a graphic account. A comprehensive destruction of society, diseased survivors fighting over the right to eat dead, plutonium-rich sheep, casualties having limbs sawn off without anaesthetic in makeshift hospitals. Not forgetting, of course, the stillborn babies, burning cats, formation vomiting and those mutilated characters tilling a barren earth under a nuclear winter sky. This was truly horrific television, even more terrifying than Grange Hill bully Gripper or those uncompromising Don’t Play With Fireworks ads.

As if in sympathy with the radiation stricken cast, I literally threw up with fear while watching Threads. Although my generation was aware of truly catastrophic events, most were well in the past; whereas the events depicted here were in the future, at a date to be arranged – quite possibly next week. Make no mistake about it, as far as we were concerned during the 1980s, it was merely a case of ‘when’ not ‘if’ the bomb dropped. For months afterwards we walked around stiff with fear, every passing plane momentarily inspected before normal breathing rate could be resumed.

I had an ugly row with my family the day after Threads was broadcast. With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps it was reasonable for Dad to want to keep the door on his garage. And I suppose Mum really was too busy cooking the tea to drive up to the builders’ merchants and procure those sandbags. I guess I shouldn’t have been so disappointed that I didn’t finish building that nuclear bomb shelter. It was hardly the end of the world, was it?

You can watch Threads online here. But do you even want to after reading the above? Sicko…

Did you see Ross Kemp: Middle East on Sky One last night? The former Eastenders star travelled to Gaza to explore life there in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. The second part, next Sunday, will see him travel to Israel.

Last night’s first installment could and should have included more context as to why Operation Cast Lead happened. It is dangerously misleading to focus on the consequences of Cast Lead without giving due weight to the causes of it. That said, compared to a lot of British broadcasting about the conflict it was actually quite well balanced. Hopefully the second part will balance the story further.

It is easy to sneer at the prospect of a soap actor pontificating on such a serious topic, and in fairness his closing statement – “The one thing that I’m absolutely sure about is that the people of Gaza aren’t going anywhere. And neither are the people of Israel” – was rather inane. But the fact is that in many ways Kemp did a more sensitive and balanced job than seasoned professionals like Jeremy Bowen, Jon Snow and Peter Oborne have often managed on this topic.

If we’re going down the road of sending soap stars to the Middle East, who would you like to see out there? Personally, I’d be in favour of a couple of Brookside characters travelling to Gaza and saying to Hamas: “All right! Calm down! Calm down!” And – lest we forget – Coronation Street is a Zionist plot.

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week or two. Having finally managed some time off at the end of a very busy year I’ve been taking the chance to really unwind. I journeyed to Amsterdam where I had a blissful time over New Year. The fireworks at midnight last night were truly breathtaking.

I’ll be back on normal posting form soon. Meantime, here’s a photograph I took of the beautiful Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam yesterday. If you’ve never visited I strongly recommend you do so.