Thoughts From A Devonshire Farmhouse

The English flag...?

THOUGHTS FROM A DEVONSHIRE FARMHOUSE

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My theme this month: England for the English?

No this is not going to be a racist rant against immigrants, so don't press the delete button :-)!

(Although this post will probably offend anyone who is racist or anti-immigrant - but if they press delete and 'unfriend', well no loss...)

I'm proud to be British... well, usually I am, but the immigration issue, world wide, has been turning rather worrying recently, although maybe not even recently? The racism has been there bubbling as an undercurrent like a long-dormant volcano for many years, pre WWI, WWII, the 1950s, the '60s ...sadly right up until today.

Britain - that's England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: the UK. G.B. That funny-shaped island to the left of Europe on the right-hand side of the Atlantic ocean. Not just Britain, though, the matter of immigration seems to be the main bone of contention for almost everyone, in whatever country: USA, France, Germany... (add your own choices.) What is particularly worrying is the nastiness that is, once again, emerging, and not just from the discontented ordinary people in the street, but being fuelled, even encouraged, by governments and leaders who, quite frankly, should damn well know better!

Let me get one thing quite straight. I'm proud to be British because we are, on the whole, a democratic nation of tolerance and welcome. We value people who equally value their country, whether they were born as British or wish to become British. I have absolutely no disgruntlement against anyone wanting to come to Britain to settle here. Anyone who wants to work, raise a family, live in Britain as a British person is more than welcome. No matter what colour their skin, what religion, what beliefs or what culture. People are people - and I have every sympathy with those poor souls who wish to flee from their country of origin in order to seek a better - safer - life. Especially those who flee from war and oppression. Can you really blame them? If the boot was on the other foot, would you not also want the same?

But illegal is a different matter to legal.

I'm not supportive of illegal immigration into Britain. Primarily because these people risk their lives and the lives of others by foolishly trying to cross the English Channel, and funding the smuggling gangs. It's about time that our government got to grips with arranging for these people to legally apply to come to Britain, whether as asylum seekers, to study or to work.

And while on the subject I am utterly fed up with the UK Conservatives moaning about how Labour's ideas are not working. The enormous problem we have - hundreds of illegal immigrants being housed in hotels for instance - is a TORY left-over from their bad management, especially during 2020/2021 Covid. They did sod-all to try to solve the problem - and now put the blame on everyone else. And no, deporting to Rwanda was not a good suggestion. (Did they have any worthwhile suggestions anyway?) Did they do anything sensible or useful? Electing Liz Truss and Boris Johnson as Prime Ministers? Kemi Badenoch? (*eye roll*) I'm not over impressed by Labour either so far, BUT they have many years of incompetent mismanagement to undo. Whether Labour will be any better remains to be seen.

What we can't have, is the wretched outright nasty, dangerous, Nigel Farage. He is awful. With him in charge the UK will become as bad as the present US. MEGA - Make England Great Again? We're already great mate - you're the one trying to ungreat us!

No comment about these two...

Where would we be without our wonderful foreign nurses, doctors, shop assistants, carers, cleaners ... fill in the rest of the list for yourselves. And when will the USA wake up to this as well? Come on people, we need our legal migrants. Migration, the movement of people has been happening ever since before the Ice Age - thousands of years ago when 'we' and the other now extinct 'human' races moved out of Africa.

Welsh? The word is an English word. It means 'Foreigner'. The name given by the English. England is called England because of the English ... 'Englalond'.

So 'England for the English? Ah but the 'English' were illegal immigrants, crossing the Channel by boat during the 400-600s after that other lot of uninvited immigrants had come in their boats and settled here, some 400 years earlier - the Romans. (And then the Normans in 1066, but the English won in the end, because the Normans eventually became English.)

And the Scots were originally Irish. (I know, it's complicated.)

I came across "England for the English" quite often during my trips to the Battle of Hastings re-enactments at Battle in Sussex during several early Octobers. On the most part all of us there attended to commemorate the most famous date in English (even British?) history - 1066. I passionately support King Harold II and detest that Norman tyrant usurper, Duke William of Normandy. (OK so it was 959 years ago - so what?) He had no right to the English throne, and Harold should have won.)

That is not my point. There were a few people at Battle with alternative agendas. "England for the English", implying outright xenophobic and racist preferences. I was shocked when I eventually realised this fact. I was, I admit, politically naive. This alternative way of thinking had not occurred to me.

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I did not write Harold the King because I thought present-day England should be for the English. I wrote it because I was fed up with history books and such always starting with the Norman Conquest. At least that has now changed! (I started writing Harold in 1998 and it was originally published in 2000, 25 years ago.)

This is what irritates: the English were illegal immigrants who crossed the Channel (illegally on the most part, aside from a few who were invited by the Roman-British) and took the land by force or infiltration. No, the didn't push the pre-English Brits further and further west into 'Wales' but either killed any opposition or intermarried. The true people of 'England' are the remnants of the Britons, the Celtic peoples from pre-Roman times. So the Welsh, the Irish, the Scottii tribes - the Cornish, the Devonians. Most northerners are not English either - most are from Viking stock, from Denmark, Norway, Finland...

Statue of Boudicca, a true 'Brit'

According to my maternal DNA I an 75% BRITISH. Which means my very distant ancestors were Britons, were here before the Romans and well before the English. Also, for the record, on my maternal grandfather's side there is a Welsh connection. Well, he was a Jones after all!

England is not for the English is it? We're all here, together.

What is worrying is this growing and expanding unease of confrontation. What happened to the collaboration that tried to secure lasting peace after the end of WWII? What has happened to that saying "Love thy neighbour"? The United Nations, alas, is falling apart. It shouldn't be, but there's no authority there now to stop the horrors is there? Personally I think the HQ ought to be moved from the US to somewhere like Genever.

Why is this spiteful intolerance expanding into hatred? Unease and distrust is morphing into the growing threat of not just one war but are we on the verge of another world war? Aren't we running like blind fools towards the unthinkable? And who is it fuelling this unrest? The dictators. Putin and his cronies, and the wanna-be pseudo dictators - I include Farage and his USA mates.

All those people who recently hung the English flag from lamp posts and such in a not very subtle way of declaring for Farage's Reform party really should think about things. Remember the B.N.P, National Front, The English Defence League and such-like parties - blatant racists who spread vile hatred.

Is Farage racist? Probably not but he is spouting racist rhetoric and stirring up a hornet's nest by rabble-rousing those who are racist and xenophobic. By following Trump's disgraceful ideals is Farage any better? We cannot condone the illegal people coming here, but to advocate deporting those who have legally been here for years? Who work, who pay their taxes, have families are settled as English? I also agree that to become a Citizen should be taken seriously - follow your own culture and religion by all means, but accept that Britain is British by priority. And be proud to do so. Can the Reform supporters not see the danger in supporting Farage? What will be next - oh, that is obvious as with Trump: anti-LGBTQ, anti-women, anti-abortion. Anti anyone who disagrees with the lies and irresponsible hatred-sewing.

I'm not a UK Labour supporter but I agree with everything our P.M. said in his speech yesterday. Where, for Farage and his followers is the PRIDE in being British? What has happened to it?

A looming war will not be caused by the immigrants who are seeking work and safety, but by jumped-up white men who are arrogant, narcissistic, misogynistic, sexist racist twats.

I worried last night that perhaps I had better delete this post. Might it offend? Might I get negative, vindictive feedback? I thought hard about pressing the delete button.

Then came to my senses. These are my thoughts, on my blog, and if you don't like them, well that's your problem, not mine.