HOLD THE LINE

This evening I appear on Kamlesh Purohit's BBC Radio Leicester show for the second Sunday in a row. I’m on my own this time, interviewed by phone about events in the city centre yesterday.

Just before the start of the Vigil for Leicester on Friday, while I was setting up our banner in the Cathedral, I got a call from Namrata Varia, Producer of Kamlesh's show, on which he broadcasts music, entertainment and news from an Asian perspective every Sunday between 2000 and 2200. She asked if I'd be able and willing to be interviewed live on air by phone about the English Defence League demonstration and counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism. When I say yes, she says someone from the station will call me around 2040, Sunday.

I get the call from Dimpel Patel (who is producing the show this evening), asking me to hold the line through a Bollywood song and stories about an auction of cricket memorabilia, after which I'm live on air. No, make that "half-dead" on air. The reception on my iPhone isn't so great in my kitchen; Kamlesh only asks me a couple of questions then says that since the line is poor, we'll cut it short. Fair enough; I don't know what it sounds like on air, but I do have the opportunity to say a couple of positive things about how the demonstrations went yesterday and the Council of Faiths gets some positive exposure.

I would be only too happy for Kamlesh to make use of my services again - only next time, I hope I won't be speaking on the iPhone from my kitchen!