I'm waving the flag!

I was watching Ian MacMillan on a sunday morning show on BBC 1 last weekend  ( I forget the name and where the hell is the Radio Times when you need it) he makes his fortune selling naff poems in his cliche ridden accent, and he actually said something that has miffed me for some time. 

It seems that there is a whole plethora of people out there who feel so ashamed of being British that they chose to deny most people the right to have an ancestral line that goes back further than the 1950's.  It's all well and good when you are trying to engage with people who may have settled in England during the past 50 years or so. Almost like wiping the slate clean and giving everybody an equal starting post.  

Now I know that England particularly but the whole of the UK has welcomed peoples from far and wide during the last century  and I am well in favour of it. It enriches our country and for that reason alone I love it here.  I would hate to live in the England of the 1940's for example. For a variety of reasons including the state slaughter of men and the fact that there were no people from the Asian sub continent and other parts of the commonwealth.  It seems people just wish to shed any notion of an ancestral line longer than 50 years. And it's not the newer communities who do this.  No! It's the people who like to think for other people and somehow harbour a notion of guilt particularly linked to the British Empire. 

There is a widely held belief that whilst the British were building their empire, everybody in England was living in a mansion and eating cucumber sandwiches in the garden out of china pots whilst villagers danced and hit sticks in the air. The Scots were dancing around crossed swords and the Welsh were singing whilst they yanked leaks out of the ground. The harsh reality is that the majority of Brits were working in unbelievable conditions  and living in squalor to pay the taxes that built a rich Britian. This in turn enabled the 300 or so people who were the British Empire to step out and start trading with the world whilst 'treading' on a few feet to say the least. 

I digress. It would seem that many people need to feel like everybody is at the same starting post and I have even heard (heaven forbid) some Asian people use it in an arguement on one of the BBC forums. This surprised me greatly but then it is very easy to use this tool in an arguement as the influential peers empower you to do so. At any opportunity some idiot or other will wind up the proletariat by announcing that they have only just begun to exist. And yet, there is hardly a place on the planet where the movement of a regions peoples have not gone un-noticed. 

Indeed, look at the wonder of India and look at it's peoples whose history and background is as diverse as the UK or anywhere else. Look to the lighter skinned more oriental eyed people in the North East and the differences in people from the north west and the south. Look to Africa to see evidence of people movement.  Look at newer countries like NZ with its 78% British population and the Maoris.  People consider the Maoris indigenous but they settled having sailed south from Polynesia centuries before the Brits got there.  Is that the starting point then?  The northern French are viking in decent (Norman!) The white North Africans are Euro - Arabic in decent as well as the mix of the African and Arab. The 'native' Americans moved north from south American tribes. The Russians are of viking decent but move across the country and wallow in the wonder of it's blood lines fusing from its European blood to that of China and Mongolia.  India was once attached to south America, the Aboriginies were aboriginal somewhere else once upon a time.  In fact all peoples are fused by blood and not dictated by geographical lines that are man made.   Yet 5000 years of history and the Brits who are European ethnically speaking are only allowed to call themselves white. (Which the PC brigade felt the most appropriate name to apportion to the 650 million Europeans.) In doing so, you water down any notion of nationhood. Where did this come from?

So, now we have cleared that up, allow British people to be British. Have a Britain day and make it something that empowers all with the ability to embrace it without any PC notion of it having to be anything BUT British.  Get the flags out, get the beer out but make it accessible to all.  After all, Britain is ( I found this hard to believe too) the 6th greatest holiday destination in the world. (source wikipedia) as well as probably one of the top destinations for people to choose to come and work. Did you know Trafalga Square get's more tourists than Dysney Land USA and London is the worlds most visited city?  Do people outside see something more than we do? Why would that be? Think about it!

There is something Great about Britain and its just a shame that its a feeling that cannot be manifested by those who  feel duty bound to continually brow beat  the aboriginal populous, irrespective of their tribal origins, into a notion of subservient anonymity whilst celebrating the diversity and, in my opinion, the magnificence of newer Britons. For me, this pang of political correctness is a veil to a latent racism or snobbery,  outwardly portrayed to appease a none existent notion and create an appealing aura to its originator.

©SKC

BRITISH TELECOM BAG OF PANTS

Do you know I despise companies like BT and all the utility companies that were privatised. All this enabled a few people to get unbelievably rich on the back of a former state owned business, (surely tax payers already owned it?) and some investors have the illusion that they are rich.

BT proved its worth on two grounds. When I first got the internet I took out their 'unlimited' service knowing I would be hammering the intenet. Unfortunately in BT land 'unlimited' means 16 hours of a 24 hour period! Whilst I do not deny that I later became aware that there it was in the small print, I was totally miffed by the way the BT CSR's were speaking to me like I had just sent their son's to their deaths in an illegal war. Which is contrary to the initial sale where a) the finite detail of the small print was not included in the sales pitch and b) it would have been quite difficult as the sales rep had her tongue firmly up my arse!

When there was the scandal associated with PC viruses stealing from it's customers who were then left with massive bills, BT didn't go after the thieves, probably too close to home!!! No, they went for the victims as it was a softer target. Unlike other countries who saw this for what it was, which was pure and simple theft. And BT, the Big Trusted company did nothing but come up with some kind of plan for people to repay. So they win win win. I wonder if anybody ever considered the notion that it could have been an inside job? 

I was lucky when BT stole from me. My bill was £300 big ones.  Lucky? Well some people had been charged £1000's.   So like most people after they have been burgled, they tend to change the locks on the doors and windows and I changed service provider. If I were French then the state telephone company would have indeed assured me and I would not have been left with a big bill. So I changed the locks metaphorically speaking. I switched to SKY Talk on the premise that they would inded be completely taking over the telephone service within the next 12 months. This never happened and eventually I switched to Talk Talk. This has proven to be the best choice I ever made. It just works. Pure and simple. No hassle, no unwanted sales calls no postie with a broken back as the bills comes through, no just perfect. Not a hitch in 12 months. But! BT thinks otherwise, and in it's monthly mailing to me telling me that buy now I will realise I have made a big mistake and that my new provider is crap! WRONG!  In fact I have never been happier with a phone company since Ionica first hit the streets before dropping at the first fence.  No BT, you're still shite and wild horses would never get me back to you you set of thieving bastards!   Now please stop the monthly mail shot, as, in your current issue that landed on my mat, you are determined to reduce paperwaste and therefore want my email address so you can drop your drivel in there too as well as sell it on to make more money for the set of thieving robbing bastards at the top! THINK AGAIN!

©SKC

Gone but never forgotten!

©SKC

BARCLAYCARD

I was hoodwinked into a Barclaycard 0% balance transfer for 12 months lie by UK bank BARCLAYS earlier this year.  Pleased by the prospect following the credit crunch devouring its way through my life, I happily called them to activate my card and transfer my balance when the card arrived. The gentleman in India advised me that a zero % balance transfer was not applicable to this card.  I still had the leaflet I had picked up in a branch but he would have none of it. Now, I receive weekly junk mail from them.  Naturally I am well miffed by them and would advise you ensure you are actually going to get what you think you are.  Better still, get a better bank!

©SKC

AMIR KHAN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN

I gather there was some people who demonstrated jubilation when our very own English hero, Amir Khan was knocked out in the fight last weekend.  How I despise such childish behavior so typical of some people in this country. Everybody cheering as somebody climbs their way to the top and behaving likewise when they have a tumble. 

This man is an absolute gentleman. He is kind and compassionate and he is a superb ambassador for England (indeed the UK). He is charitable and patient and above that, he is a superb boxer.  How people in this country shoulder people to the top and belittle them when they get there. So he lost a fight! Get over yourself. 

A few years ago, I was at my local Asda and our Amir was there signing copies of his book for the crowds. There was an amazing buzz in the supermarket that evening and an unbelievably long queue to get a copy of his book. He patiently and kindly met with everybody and did not demonstrate any kind of attitude that seems to be at the fore of people in western society.  But then he doesn't need to get lashed up in order to 'enjoy' himself.

When I have been abroad, I have always kept well away from the many Brits whose childish behavior is a national embarrassment as I like to consider myself an ambassador for my country. I don't subscribe to tribalistic behavior nor do I feel the need to consume vast quantities of alcohol to empower me to be the fountain of all knowledge with regard to the ills of this country. I do not need to crawl in the gutter and totally show myself up.  I will, however, scream and rant at my TV when I am watching our national treasure represent our country when he is fighting and he takes a punch. I am immensly proud of Amir and his acievements and I always will support him through good and bad times. After all, it is people like him that raises the profile of the English and we should be bloody well proud of him.

©SKC

9/11

Can it really be 7 years since the WTC was brought down in such tragic circumstances? It has just flown by. I think anyone who has never been to NYC can possibly begin to understand the scale of the disaster and how unbelievable huge the towers were not just height but the width of them too.

The truth will out one day. There is so much speculation surrounding this with so much evidence pointing to an inside job it is very easy to overlook the sheer horror of what happened. The innocent people who lost their lives and those whose lives will never be the same again. Today, that is the most important thing to remember.

©SKC

Envy

I feel quite envious at the moment. Not a particularly nice feeling, but at about this time every four years it happens. There is nothing I can do about it really. You see the US presidential elections seems to take a hold of all our news bulletins. Whilst there are those that disbelieve Mr Icke, it is a known fact that the majority of US Presidents since the founding Brits set up the place have links back to the Royal family. This is not an Icke revelations but a finding of a senior University in the US. So I guess we can expect to see this rammed down our throats up until the time he is safely in the Whitehouse. 

What a shame that we cannot muster the same level of interest as our American cousins but there again,  to delve into backgrounds and roots of the next American president is on a parrallel to delving into the roots and origins of the royal family. Whilst they are not going to surrender their position,  you know what those findings have been!

©SKC