“There’ll always be an England”, sang some short-sighted fellow, and though he may have reckoned with foreign nations seeking its destruction from without, he may not have reckoned with the acquiescence of the English to the wishes of those foreigners within who seek its banishment; and if it now seems to you that an Englishman’s home is unconscionable, you have a soul mate in the shape of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, who in a customary leap of opinion, believes that, “If the cricket is won, many more white Britons will give up on Britain and take refuge in England”. (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, “My hopes of progress are turning to ashes”, The Independent, 12th September 2005.)
.....How dare we! In our own land too! It must seem regrettable to Ms Alibhai-Brown that an English nation existed long before the political union of this island, and it must seem no less deplorable that on this island there are still Englishmen living in a place called England that has not yet been forgotten.
.....I am of course swimming against the tide; for we must now be good little boys and give the place up at the behest of mean-spirited foreigners who wouldn’t give tuppence for it.
2 comments:
Good post, you're spot on. This subject has been covered by the England Project and the CEP.
You might like to think about joining the Witanagemot Club, you'll be venting your English spleen to a larger and more appreciative audience.
Yasmin Alhibai-Brown really is a nasty bigot. Good for you for speaking up.
It is noticeable she rants on against England, the only country without distinct national representation in the UK, but not Scotland, with its own parliament, or Wales, with its own assembly. Both countries were as active as England in the British Empire, which Ms Alhiba-Brown has something of a fixation with. To say she detests it as is an understatement, but she seems to attribute the whole venture to "the English". She's obviously well versed in our history (grin)!
I'm sure the governing bodies of Scotland and Wales would be quick to tell her where to get off if she stuck her bigoted boot into them, and she knows it. But England has no Parliament for itself - only a UK Parliament, ruled by the Scots and Welsh. There is no parliament to speak up for England - and Ms Alhibai-Brown knows that, too. So not only is she a bigot but a coward to boot.
Devolution has left many England-related issues to be addressed - such as underfunding here, the West Lothian question and scandals such as the availability of life saving cancer-related medication in Scotland and Wales on the NHS, but not in England.
By ignoring devolution, and by rigidly sticking to her old fashioned and frankly hateful anti-English/England bigotry (why on earth did she come here?!), Ms Alhibai-Brown shows she is not fit to write for a children's comic, let alone a national newspaper.
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