Anti immigration and England being 'racist'

The Left hate Britain. Above all they hate England and Englishness. George Orwell noted this 80 years ago. He remarked on how the British Left, unlike, say, the Italian Left or the Polish Left, hate their own country. When you hate something, you want to destroy it, and if you can't destroy it, you want to change it. The Left have used their influence (they dominate academia, the arts and the publishing industry) to transform people's sense of identity and belonging. Before they could do that, however, they had to make them ashamed of their history. It's like an abusive husband. To gain control over his wife, he breaks her self-esteem and teaches her to hate herself. Once he's done that, she's putty in his hands. Take a look at the history books in Waterstones! Row after row of books attacking British history and demonising British heroes. Radio 4 can't even discuss a British writer like Tennyson or George Eliot without linking them to colonialism in some way.

But the Left have also used mass immigration. Andrew Neather, a speechwriter for Tony Blair, said that the Labour party planned to use immigration to "rub the right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date." That has been achieved. I no longer live in a country with a shared history and a shared identity. I don't feel English-British anymore. I never asked for multiculturalism and I never voted for it. It has simply been IMPOSED on me.

I noticed a while ago that I'd stopped watching TV and had started watching repeats of old shows like Brideshead Revisited and Colditz and Monty Python. I'd also started re-reading Dickens and Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse. I suddenly realized that I was desperately clinging on to an identity that had been stolen from me. What has been done to the people of this country is a f-ing crime.

I'm not even angry anymore. I'm just done. I no longer feel any loyalty or duty to this country. I read in the paper today that we're closer to war in Europe than at any time since 1939. Well I won't be involved. My great grandfather was wounded in WW1, and my grandfather fought in Burma in WW2, but I wouldn't lift a finger to defend modern Britain. And I've told my sons that I'll come back and haunt them if they ever fight for this country. My left-wing neighbour flies a Palestinian flag, and another neighbour flies a Jamaican flag. No one bats an eyelid. But when English flags appear we have people complaining. I don't know why the Left are constantly whinging. Their victory is complete. They've won. They've got what they wanted, and they can go and fight for it.

The Left hate Britain. Above all they hate England and Englishness. George Orwell noted this 80 years ago. He remarked on how the British Left, unlike, say, the Italian Left or the Polish Left, hate their own country. When you hate something, you want to destroy it, and if you can't destroy it, you want to change it. The Left have used their influence (they dominate academia, the arts and the publishing industry) to transform people's sense of identity and belonging. Before they could do that, however, they had to make them ashamed of their history. It's like an abusive husband. To gain control over his wife, he breaks her self-esteem and teaches her to hate herself. Once he's done that, she's putty in his hands. Take a look at the history books in Waterstones! Row after row of books attacking British history and demonising British heroes. Radio 4 can't even discuss a British writer like Tennyson or George Eliot without linking them to colonialism in some way.

But the Left have also used mass immigration. Andrew Neather, a speechwriter for Tony Blair, said that the Labour party planned to use immigration to "rub the right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date." That has been achieved. I no longer live in a country with a shared history and a shared identity. I don't feel English-British anymore. I never asked for multiculturalism and I never voted for it. It has simply been IMPOSED on me.

I noticed a while ago that I'd stopped watching TV and had started watching repeats of old shows like Brideshead Revisited and Colditz and Monty Python. I'd also started re-reading Dickens and Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse. I suddenly realized that I was desperately clinging on to an identity that had been stolen from me. What has been done to the people of this country is a f-ing crime.

I'm not even angry anymore. I'm just done. I no longer feel any loyalty or duty to this country. I read in the paper today that we're closer to war in Europe than at any time since 1939. Well I won't be involved. My great grandfather was wounded in WW1, and my grandfather fought in Burma in WW2, but I wouldn't lift a finger to defend modern Britain. And I've told my sons that I'll come back and haunt them if they ever fight for this country. My left-wing neighbour flies a Palestinian flag, and another neighbour flies a Jamaican flag. No one bats an eyelid. But when English flags appear we have people complaining. I don't know why the Left are constantly whinging. Their victory is complete. They've won. They've got what they wanted, and they can go and fight for it.

I think @KTheGrey was referring to the fact that J K Rowling was born in England, along with other renowned writers such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, George Orwell, Beatrix Potter The Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens to name a few. Our literacy culture has had an effect worldwide.

But a lot of these features are also Scottish, Welsh and N. Irish- especially rugby and JK Rowling! Also free parks and museums, pop music, drinking tea....

I mean, how much of what you have just listed as English is not found in the other 3 nations of Great Britain?

Chill out love. I'm sure there's some Morris dancing you can go to somewhere this weekend.

Mass immigration and uncontrolled borders are not a good thing. There is nothing racist about that.

You can add all the fluff to try and label people as racist, it doesn’t work anymore. And you are not doing any favors to race relations by being in denial.

The Left hate Britain. Above all they hate England and Englishness. George Orwell noted this 80 years ago. He remarked on how the British Left, unlike, say, the Italian Left or the Polish Left, hate their own country. When you hate something, you want to destroy it, and if you can't destroy it, you want to change it. The Left have used their influence (they dominate academia, the arts and the publishing industry) to transform people's sense of identity and belonging. Before they could do that, however, they had to make them ashamed of their history. It's like an abusive husband. To gain control over his wife, he breaks her self-esteem and teaches her to hate herself. Once he's done that, she's putty in his hands. Take a look at the history books in Waterstones! Row after row of books attacking British history and demonising British heroes. Radio 4 can't even discuss a British writer like Tennyson or George Eliot without linking them to colonialism in some way.

But the Left have also used mass immigration. Andrew Neather, a speechwriter for Tony Blair, said that the Labour party planned to use immigration to "rub the right's nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date." That has been achieved. I no longer live in a country with a shared history and a shared identity. I don't feel English-British anymore. I never asked for multiculturalism and I never voted for it. It has simply been IMPOSED on me.

I noticed a while ago that I'd stopped watching TV and had started watching repeats of old shows like Brideshead Revisited and Colditz and Monty Python. I'd also started re-reading Dickens and Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse. I suddenly realized that I was desperately clinging on to an identity that had been stolen from me. What has been done to the people of this country is a f-ing crime.

I'm not even angry anymore. I'm just done. I no longer feel any loyalty or duty to this country. I read in the paper today that we're closer to war in Europe than at any time since 1939. Well I won't be involved. My great grandfather was wounded in WW1, and my grandfather fought in Burma in WW2, but I wouldn't lift a finger to defend modern Britain. And I've told my sons that I'll come back and haunt them if they ever fight for this country. My left-wing neighbour flies a Palestinian flag, and another neighbour flies a Jamaican flag. No one bats an eyelid. But when English flags appear we have people complaining. I don't know why the Left are constantly whinging. Their victory is complete. They've won. They've got what they wanted, and they can go and fight for it.

Well England is not Scotland or Wales or Ireland - hence the name Great Britain and now United Kingdom. The Union Jack has three flags in one to symbolise unity.

English culture - drinking! Also fighting and swearing. And puddings and cakes and custard on everything except clog dancing. Tea before anything else when you go round someone’s house. Apologising whenever somebody pushes / elbows / interrupts you. Or whenever somebody notices you exist.

Awful folk music, frequently involving somebody asking their father to dig their grave. The Proms, pop, wild poetry and plenty of it. Community choirs.

Ridiculous sports like rugby and cricket and netball.

Literary novels about the difficulties of being a woman, often written by women. Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Agatha Christie, JKR, Hilary Mantel.

Actors and artists which we export mightily. Public parks and free museums.

Obsession with the weather and complete inability to make any adjustment to deal with it. Beautiful countryside made of mainly mud but sometimes leafy and flowery and blue skied. Coasts of cliffs and pebbles and sand. Cold water swimming and obsessive love of our pets.

Global language of infinite local variety, dialect and accent.

Religious tolerance for the last 4 centuries.

Like all countries, England has lots of culture. Like all cultures it is not exclusive it just is what it is and not something else.

I think one of the problems is that it's difficult to separate specifically English cultural practices from wider British ones, and I don't know why it's even desirable.

Say there's a folk session in a lovely old pub somewhere near the Scottish Borders, say Northumberland. As far as I understand it there's a distinct Border culture that spans both Scotland and England, so some of the songs sung would be from that. Then I'm sure some Scottish ballads from further North would creep in, as well as a lot of folk songs from Northumberland. Some songs from say Norfolk or Essex might be sung, but they would probably be more alien in style than many of the Scottish ones!

Yorkshire has a distinct culture. Essex has a distinct culture. Cornwall has a distinct culture (and doesn't at all consider itself English, although it officially is. Not a single St George's Cross to be seen down here!). They can all be included and celebrated as part of British culture, but English culture seems to more define itself by what it isn't, rather than what it is. Hence, it is a pretty fragile construct.

To conclude: British culture is a culture of inclusion. English culture is a culture of exclusion.

Thank you for attending my lecture 😆

The Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan summed up the English for me when he said ‘ The English have a fierce reputation for conquering the world… invading loads of different countries and then getting upset when those people follow them home’ … amen brother!

So, you are unable to define "English culture"?

Okaaay....

@crackofdoom well, perhaps some were, others are not. It's all about perception - a bit like English folk who take pride in seeing their nation's flag displayed in their home nation - for most it is patriotic, for the xenophobes, it's racist.

No, don't mistake my amused observation to be anything more than it is. Given your conclusion upthread: "English culture is a culture of exclusion." I feel no need nor desire to dissuade you from your prejudice as you seem comfortable there.

Btw, I have seen the St George's flag flying in Cornwall. Must be the Grockles and Emmets. 😂 Must say though I've seen more St Piran's flags.

There's something perverse about a user called FirstNationsEnglish defending the "English" who are absolutely not a "first nation" - if anything more of a "mongrelisation".There's more "first nation" in the Scots, Welsh and Irish than in the English.

I genuinely wonder how the men with DV records, who attend these protests, reconcile the two.

Ah, yet another thread simply for the fulfilment of the anti-English xenophobes. Folk who scream 'racist' and yet the irony of their own hatred and prejudice expressed on this thread, is lost on them. 😂🍿

Re-read what you wrote.
Flagshag away, it’s a free country. But racism is racism in any form and the fact that other countries also have people being racist is neither here nor there.

Oh, I thought we were having quite an interesting discussion on British/ English culture! But since you obviously have a keen interest in the subject....how would you define English culture?

I am ethnically Indian. Over the last month, my sister has been spat at, my kids have had go home shouted at them from a car (both born here, both mixed race) and an uncle has had graffiti on his house. We get on with life and are no different to anyone else, but life for us is getting tougher and it is in no way our fault.