In 2016 I wrote this and I am going to say it again
If I were English I would be ashamed to be English today. If I were British I would be ashamed of being British today.
If I were English I would be ashamed to be English today. If I were British I would be ashamed of being British today.
Being of mixed
European heritage, despite having been born in the East End of London
I have never "felt" English as
such. A Londoner certainly but not English.
The EU referendum
result confirmed my lack of affinity for the nationalist,
xenophobia which appears to be inherent in many who claim to be
"English".
As for the
open-hearted working people who used to inhabit these islands when I
was a kid, where are they? "Give you the shirt of his back"
they used to say. Not any more it would seem. All too eager to
believe a £350 million a week lie, no matter how many times it was
proved a lie.
Where did they all
go. Was it succumbing to Maggie's siren song of owning your own
home, if you could buy it off the local council at a huge discount.
Are they all too young to remember the days when there was protection
from exploitation by belonging to a trade union? Is everyone so aspirational to be a millionaire that the devil can take the rest.
It is so difficult
not to feel sad that over seventeen million people in this country
were taken in when they were told to ignore the experts and were
willing to listen to millionaire politicians with messages of
nationalism paraded as patriotism and selfishness disguised as a desire
for independence.
What is worse of course is that the referendum campaign legitimised overt racism barely hidden by the mantra "we are being over run by immigrants" and "we don’t have the room" ignoring the fact that there is more green space used as golf courses in places like Surrey than there is farmland, let along affordable housing.
What is worse of course is that the referendum campaign legitimised overt racism barely hidden by the mantra "we are being over run by immigrants" and "we don’t have the room" ignoring the fact that there is more green space used as golf courses in places like Surrey than there is farmland, let along affordable housing.
And perhaps the
saddest part is that this trumpeted independence is almost certainly
going to be a mirage for most of the ordinary people of this country.
The same old tories are going to be in charge for the transition
period and at the end of that it will be too late.
