Just back from lunch watching the first half of Villa versus Newcastle at my local. (Joey Barton is a dirty…) I live dahn Sarf now so there were about five people apart from me interested in the Midlands against the North-East dotted around the fairly large TV room.

In walks a big black Senegalese bloke I’ve never seen before, sits down next to me with his sandwich, and, without so much as a mention of the (glorious) weather, launches into a conversation about skin colour.