The late, great Paul O’Grady got a mention in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today. The Labour MP Chris Bryant paid rich tribute to him and in the absence of Rishi Sunak, Deputy PM Dominic ‘Psycho’ Raab replied. Raab referred not to Paul O’Grady, but Paul Grayson who was, the last time I looked, a rugby player. Worse still, Raab then decided to make cheap political points, essentially accusing Paul O’Grady of ‘wokery’. I cannot pretend I can read the mood of the nation, but I can read the mood of my social media feeds and they, overwhelmingly, express nothing but admiration and, dare I say it, love for a truly great human being. But first, let’s address the use of the term wokery, which has been weaponised by the hard right as being A Bad Thing. Is it? Hardly.
To be ‘woke’ is to be aware of problems such as racism and social inequality so I’ll put my hand up: I am woke. What’s more, I’m woke and proud. That some people think being woke is a bad thing suggests to me there as some pretty bad folk out there who approve of issues such as racism and social inequality. Why, unless you support racism and inequality, would you attack those who oppose it? Which brings me back to Paul O’Grady.
Here was a man prepared to stand up not just for the dog – he loved all dogs – but also for the underdog. He could easily have remained quiet and simply trousered the proceeds of a lucrative career as a brilliant comedian and TV and radio presenter, but that wasn’t him. Instead, he spoke up for the things he believed in, something that’s not always easy within a right of centre media culture, often run by powerful vested interests. Instead of putting people off, he united people, even those who didn’t agree with him because, I believe, he spoke from the heart.
His Sunday evening show in BBC Radio 2 was much loved by many people but last summer, as part of a dubious campaign to introduce younger presenters, or ageism as we might call it, he was told he would have to share airtime with the comedian Rob Beckett. No one thought to ask the listeners, many of whom saw O’Grady’s natural warmth and compassion as a rare ray of light in this increasingly dark and broken society and he left, signing up for one of the many retirement homes for Radio 2 presenters, Boom Radio. Doubtless many of his fans went with him and they must be very upset at his passing at the age of 67.
My God, even I feel sad, even though I rarely watched his TV shows or, because of the MOR music, his radio show, but millions did. In the case of the latter, it was crass to even think about letting him go.
Hopefully, his legacy will mean that we treat people and dogs better than we otherwise might have done. You can always hope, can’t you? All I will say is that the light has gone out on another great star and life will not be better without him.
RIP Paul O’Grady, or the woke Paul Grayson as a wretched, bullying, out of touch politician called him yesterday.
