General Chat

is bigoted and racist as if we are unique.

There are racists in EVERY EU country and we are no better nor worse than any other member state.

Some posters need to enter the real world and not rely on 'soundbites' chosen to reinforce their narrow opinion.

Rant over

:-D

Graffiti seen in Malta a couple of weeks ago - "Africans out".

There's racism even from British minorities. "She's too English" when one Sikh was talking about another.

The people of the British Isles have always led on democracy, abolition of slavery, rule of law. Women' rights, religous freedom. Fascist and communist extremists used not to get any traction. Brits should keep right on truckin' and leave Aaron Banks to party with his thugs.

I wouldn't trust Aaron Banks (using any of the diverse spellings of his name) to tell me whether it was dark outside or not.

Prime example of the 'grown up' behaviour of our political parties yesterday.
Yet another case of 'Do as I say, not as I do'.
I wonder what Banks's brain cell is thinking now?

He won't be thinking of anything other than expanding his business holdings and tipping up donations to whichever political party might look upon him favourably.

I have been watching local news reports from all over Europe before and after the Brexit vote. UKIP are actually mild and reasoned in a lot of their pledges compared to some of our European friends.

BTW I was unfriended by UKIP supporters on another site because I dared to question some of their statements. Their loss not mine ;-)

I am just thankful we have Mrs. May as PM.

The British are sometimes called racists if they stand up for ‘Britishness‘.

Very odd & unnecessary!

on being British

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/08/british-artist-european-writers-politically-neutral

What's wrong with celebrating or promoting the good aspects of 'Britishness'? Only a tiny minority of Britons, regardless of their political leanings or views on the EU, would describe themselves first & foremost as European.

but they are Europeans even when the continent is cut off by fog in the channel it is not an optional thing

and what is "Britishness" anyway?
certainly not something you'll find in the DES school book list

I have in front of me a letter written from Arras to my granny in 1916 from her brother-in-law congrat. her on the birth of my father. BIL was a professional decorated oldier, who fought in South Africa as well as France. He reviled the jingoistic "Britishness" of the times exemplified by Kipling. He was killed just before Christmas the same year. His widow never remarried but was a big fixture in my life. She would never have anything to do with flag waving "Britishness" and she was right.

If "Britishness" means anything at all it means the acknowledgement of our European home and the right of any minority to be different and to disagree. That includes the 48% minority who are against the mad, dengerous and ultimately doomed policy of "brexit".

Liam Fox, David Davis and Bojo will soo enough find out that they are in the real world not a playground. Hammond has already fund out in New York.

I don't really care what Tom McCarthy calls himself, English, British or European. He doesn't half go on though.

I noted that he is donating his fee to the charity, City of Sanctuary which, in turn, is funded by a number of other charities.

It seems to me obscene that so many trustees and staff are dipping into donated monies for salaries and expenses in order to feed the same or a similar outcome. For instance, one of them has a vacancy advertising a salary of £41 k+. Multiply that by the several charities involved and it's not difficult to see how much more could go toward the good cause if charities amalgamated.

I would question why, if you really believed in a cause and wanted to help, would you not do everything in your power to reduce salaries and expenses in order to free up more funds for that cause?

Rollo - European is a geographical definition, not a description of 'self'.

Considering that only 52% of those who voted comprised a small majority, shouldn't your quote regarding Fairness etc also extend to them? In particular "right of any (minority) to be different and to disagree."

As for artist exhibitions. Go out side of Central London and you'll be able to visit temporary art exhibitions put on by local artists. In your ideal world, should they be shunned? What about all the art galleries in St Ives? Should they be forced to advertise work by European Cornish artists instead of Cornish artists? The Turner Contemporary in Margate? They are about to stage a major exhibition of JMW Turner's works. As he was British English, should that be boycotted?

We moved passed the Jingoism associated with WW1. That was over 100 years ago and has little influence on most people’s current attitude. Has it happens; I'd agree that the brain washing at the time was appalling. But that's with hind-sight.

Level playing field and all.......in the past; as of now; most if not all countries display various forms of inward looking jingoism . That in itself does not make someone themselves a bigot or a racist because they may hold some of those value/views themselves to some degree.
Yes WW1 the UK brain washed their people....think the Germans didn't ?
WW2 do you think the Japanese didn't for instance...the list goes on.....

Most people give up justifying bad behaviour on the basis that other people do it too / have done it when they are about 6 years old.

Yes, infantilism and xenophobia are excellent bed fellows but that is no excuse.

My rellies fought in Cable Street against the black shirts. Which side were yours on?

There was nothing in the last Tory manifesto or the Referendum bill to suggest that the UK was aquiescing to a full on fascist government. Quite how T May finds it undemocratic for anybody to object I have no idea.

What happens if she loses the S50 High Court case? Either way it will go to the Supreme Court. If she wins there it will reverse the 1688 Act of Settlement and English jurisprudence since Lord Justice Coke. Why is T May so afraid of letting parliament be involved in an allegedly parliamentary democracy?

Still, we live in strange times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr3ItcGQPC8

Europe is not solely a geographical description it is also an ideal rooted in the democracy of ancient Greece nurtured by the Romans and later spread throughout the seven seas.

Though some hade to admit it from both points of view the British Isles are part of Europe.
Donald Trump may have his great wall but so far shifting the Britsh Isles westwards to a placement offshore from Galveston is beyond even UKIP.

I've no idea whose side my ancestors were on. As dirt-poor ag labs, or smoke-choked London dwellers a couple of streets up from Booth's black, I can only guess. They (the men, anyway) mostly died too young and drank too much.

Did the Romans nurture democracy????? :-S

Britishness, the one example is our ingrained instinct for queuing, it's not only desirable but admirable.

I have been on the wrong end of some elbows in many European countries and to be honest it isn't very pleasant.

Being kind to waiting staff (usually) is another.

Trying to understand non English speaking visitors by helping with a lot of arm waving and pointing is also to be admired. Again try getting directions from our nearest European neighbours if you don't speak their language - you are basically stuffed.

I can get by in a number of languages, thank goodness, but I feel really sad for British abroad who are blatantly snubbed.

Now the above observations do not in any way excuse the exact same rudeness shown by some UK born idiots but it just goes to show we are no worse.

No idea what my parents/grandparents did during the Cable Street riots. One thing I can say - they were like the vast majority of people who only wanted to live quietly, make a living & put food on the table. They didn't have the time to get involved in civil unrest on either side.

Keeping your head down, paying taxes and living quietly is a proven route to Buchenwald or Aleppo.

Europeans show how to queue 1941

http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/spip.php?article577

work sets you free

There is nothing inhrently British about queiing, it was something that started with the rationing in ww1 and persisted into the 70s. The younger generation who do not have these folk memories are no more keen on queing than anywhere else in the world. If they liked to Q you wuld not get so many people using the emergency lane in traffic jams.

Being a 50s child for sure I queue and get annoyed when people jump the Q. Such is life.

Personally, I wasn't justifying bad behaviour. I think things are said and done in the heat of the moment often out of necessity . I have no idea what my relatives may have been doing during the Cable street riots, some might have been in the area but there's no family folk lore to state anyone was that way inclined. Most were just living their normal lives making the ends meet so to speak. Have my relatives fought for king and country proudly over the years yes; have some of them died in such causes yes; have we proudly worn our poppies over the years yes; does that make me racist or a bigot no.