Pride in the Name of Love - from Milton Keynes Glowny to Atlanta Heartsfield
Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good rant, but somehow I’ve managed to keep most of my opinions about the 2008 US election to myself.
Now that we’ve finally reached polling day, I am happy to say that even though I consider myself Conservative by UK standards, I am solidly behind Barack Obama tonight. So what’s Milton Keynes got to do with it? Well, MK is a city I go through regularly on the train, and if we put the jokes about concrete cows to one side, it is actually quite likeable.
If Milton Keynes had an airport, its IATA code might easily be MLK*, which would take us to civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, who is perhaps best known for his “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963. Whatever your opinions on Milton Keynes, somebody had a dream to build it, and if you ever get a chance to fly over it, MK does look like a giant circuit board, complete with tiny cars efficiently moving around its quiet streets.
MLK is featured twice on the U2 album “The Unforgettable Fire”, firstly in the anthemic Pride (In The Name of Love), and then on the final self titled track.
Here’s my favourite bit of Pride^:
Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
So, I’m not going to be staying up to watch the polls (Glowny means Central in Polish), but I do hope to wake up tomorrow to some long awaited good news from across the pond!
(*MLK is actually the IATA code for Malta, Montana; ^ - actually took place at 6.01pm)