Tune in from 9pm every Sunday on Tameside Radio 103.6FM to catch up with Michael Taylor and Neil Summers. Here's their latest column for the Tameside Reporter...

I read a book over Christmas that I really enjoyed, writes Michael Taylor.

I’d originally bought How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie as a present for my wife Rachel on the recommendation of a fantastic new shop in Manchester, the House of Books and Friends. 

She likes smart and sassily observant modern thrillers. She devoured it in a day and said I would like it too, and I did. It was funny, dark, and very caustic in its account of the lives of the rich and the decadent people the main character wanted to kill. 

It railed at their greed, avarice, and vanity and the emptiness of their lives. One of the main characters, much like Steve Coogan’s character in the film Greed, and in Elizabeth Day’s novel Paradise City, is very obviously based on the disgraced business tycoon Philip Green. 

We like reassurance that the rich and powerful have none of the class or grace, or basic humanity. But they do have all the self-confidence, entitlement, networks and advantages, as Bella’s book doesn’t flinch from pointing out. 

But when I put the book down after reading it to its shocking conclusion I then went and spoiled it all by doing something stupid like looking up the author. 

Bella Mackie’s husband is the Radio 1 presenter and TV star Greg James. Her dad is the former editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger. The thanks at the start of the book include friends like the Financial Times journalist and a former Guardian colleague Janine Gibson. She also thanks her agent, her editor, revealing a fantastic support network. 

None of this makes the book any less good. She genuinely can’t help being brought up so well. And to be fair, she’s grabbed her opportunities and done something really good with that obvious blend of writing talent, imagination and knowing where to start.

Michael Taylor (left) and Neil Summers 

In the past I’ve been into schools and colleges to talk to kids about the chances that life might throw at them. 

The main thing I always encourage is to build their own networks; help one another out, put their best foot forward and never be afraid to ask for advice and help from adults who they want to emulate.

There’s been a lot of chat in the media recently about Nepo Babies; the offspring of A-list stars who follow their parents into stardom. Only recently I enjoyed Glass Onion, starring Kate Hudson, daughter of Goldie Hawn. 

It goes further than that. For a while now I’ve been concerned how so many elite sports players, actors, comedians and musical stars are toffs. The working class kids just don’t seem to get the breaks. 

I have good mates who followed their dads into their professions - journalists, accountants, chefs. You go into what you know, after all. My curse was I was too prissy to muck out cows and didn’t fancy following my dad into farming or the milk business, but I’m sure he’d have smoothed a path for me had I chosen to do that.

And does this high-minded chippy attitude mean I won’t help put a word in for one of my own sons? No, of course not.

In fact, on our show this weekend I’ll be playing a song called Infected Memories by Dan Sheriston, a great singer, who is also gifted by having a very talented producer. He’s called Elliot Taylor, and he’s my youngest son.

You can listen to Michael Taylor and Neil Summers on Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Sunday evenings from 9pm to 11pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

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