Steve Regan, King of Hull - He's Far From Dead 7th March 2006 contd

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P.S. I see that my columns on this website have been getting some response ... which is nice. Well, perhaps nice is the wrong word to describe the diatribe against my royal personage by Joe Hakim, who things I am a 'middle-class suburb-dwelling idiot'. I will decline his offer to buy me a drink and arrange for me to have my head kicked in. I think you'll find I can take care of myself, Joe. On the tough council estate where I grew up I was trained to eat rusty nails, vomit them up, then eat the vomit. That's how hard I am.

I'm puzzled by the 'middle class' taunt. Middle class, moi? When push comes to shove in the class struggle I know which side I am on, believe me. I was born of the Working Class Blood Royale. The rest of Joe's insults were too nasty and personal to discuss here but I must say his passionate dislike of me suggests a dangerous imbalance of emotions. If he can be so upset by mere words, think what would happen if something more concrete were to upset him. I think he has serial killer potential.

As for his assertion that the King of Hull is dead. I don't think so. My voice thunders out from the uppermost struts of the Humber Bridge regularly. It whistles around the top of the Wilberforce Monument and the trident points of the statue of Maritime Prowess on the Guildhall. I am not going to stop writing what I truly feel, however many nasty brickbats come my way. Freedom sings too strongly in my heart for me to allow myself to be censored. Mark Pollard, another of my critics, identifies himself with leftward-leaning, liberal folk, who mistakenly think they speak for Hull.

There was nothing particularly unfair or coarse about Mark's comments (unlike Joe's) about my consistently expressed support from our brave soldiers who are trying to bring peace and freedom to Iraq. But he did, by his assertion that thisisull should 'get rid' of me, prove the paradoxical truth that behind every modern liberal lurks a crypto-fascist who wants to trample over people's freedoms and proscribe any expression of thought that doesn't conform to the standard left-liberal agenda.

Still, nice to hear from you, lads. And I must say you displayed such a strong dislike of my writing that I suspect you are using made-up names and are really fronting for the editor of the Dull Daily Mail. You have only to read the Hull Daily Fail nowadays to realise that the editor, John 'The Meekon' Meehan, wouldn't know a good columnist if one came up and bit him on the arse. It is generally agreed that the paper has become SO boring since the editor, foolishly refused my kind offer of keeping my column going.

I'm informed The Meekon has since been advised by many people in the city to bring back my column - 'the Hull Daily Mail just isn't the Hull Daily Mail without Steve Regan' is a popular and heartfelt refrain - but personal pride prevents him from restoring the most talked about literary phenomenon to hit Hull in decades. But back to the matter in hand. It was also good to read the comments from Kay, on thisisull, who in a neutral sort of way, wrote in my defence.

As she rightly pointed out to Joe: 'If you're not interested in, or have a particular dislike for a person(s) or their writing style - just don't read them. Scroll past, go on to the next, or simply don't click on it to begin with you dumb t***.' For most people in Hull, however, I am vain enough to suspect that the King of Hull remains essential reading. I am grateful to this website, and to others, and to the Methodist Recorder, plus several regional papers around England, for continuing to give me space for my columns. Till next time, your faithful King signs off.

I'll be back. Links to the articles mentioned in this column: /opinions/markpollard/marksreplytoregan.html /opinions/joekingisdead.html' /opinions/joekingisdeadkay.html'

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