Many English people can't understand why some Scots support the Scottish National Party and the EU at the same time. The fact is that nationalism comes in degrees from tribalism to imperialism. British nationalists embrace England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales but they reject European federalism.
John Tyndall refused to accept that the old dominions were entitled to their own nationalism; he thought they should embrace British nationalism. I have never been to Canada but I have lived and worked in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and I can say with certainty that they each have their own identities and aspirations. JT imagined that the Afrikaners are British but they would not agree with him, like the Irish, they fought long and hard for their independence from the British Empire.
British imperialists believed in our divine right to rule over lesser races. This idea lasted until February 1942 when General Percival surrendered the British garrison at Singapore to General Yamashita. But attitudes often lag behind history and the British, myself included, were still celebrating imperialism long after the Union Jack had been lowered on yet another black dictatorship.
When Britain ruled half the world only the Irish fought for independence within the British Isles but now that the Empire has gone we are witnessing an upsurge of Scottish and Welsh nationalism. But it's not at all clear what 'independence' means in a global economy.
Nationality is a state of mind. British passports can be bought in the street markets of Karachi, but the possession of such a document does not make one British. Europe is another state of mind, it's not just the landmass between the Atlantic and the Urals, it's the great civilisation that we are part of. Patriotism is all very well on the sports field, but petty nationalism always results in hostility.
The idea of Europe united as a collection of nation states is gaining popularity but without a unifying philosophy such a union is unlikely to succeed. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed from the Slav nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the new kingdom hardly got going when it was devastated by the Second World War. The invading Axis forces dismembered Yugoslavia before they were driven out by the Partisans under Marshal Tito. He died in 1980 and within a decade Yugoslavia had disintegrated. Tito was a Croat who lived in Serbia, and he was a communist who defied the Soviet Union. His authoritarian regime united the country but when he died ancient resentments emerged and the Balkans took a giant step backwards.
Archeofuturism
Our friend Piers Mellor has alerted us to the website of the Archeofuturist Front. www.archeofuturist.org
This movement was inspired by Guillaume Faye (pictured) the so-called "Mad Bastard" of the French New Right who died last year. He attempted to combine the virtues of the old and the new. Archeofuturism has been described as "the organic principle that heralds the marriage of antiquity with postmodernism." Guillaume Faye predicted "a convergence of catastrophes." His philosophy respected tradition whilst welcoming modernity. According to Faye, the inherent genius of the white race is not dead but merely dormant. He predicted that the 21st century will see a revival of European solidarity and a great reawakening of the European spirit. Let's hope that he is right.
This website will be of no interest to insular nationalists but those of us who can see beyond the White Cliffs of Dover will welcome the Archeofuturist assurance that the future belongs to us. The Coronavirus pandemic will challenge liberal capitalism as nations try to keep millions of unemployed workers on the dole. Existing problems will get worse and underlying tensions will emerge. A complete revolution of the spirit could be just what we need.
The Lamp Posts of Baghdad
According to the Home Office, crime in the UK fell in 2006, but few people trust figures from a government that was involved in the Lord Levy 'cash for peerages' scandal and the Tessa Jowell affair. The perception is that crime increased under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Dave Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. The 'Metro' of Fri 1st Feb 2019 reported that the UK has dropped three places to 11th in the latest international league table of corruption. We are currently preoccupied with the Coronavirus pandemic but when we get back to normal corruption will still be with us.
Bill Bratton (pictured) achieved a remarkable reduction in crime as chief of the NYPD in the 1990s. He did this with his Zero Tolerance policy which prosecuted all crimes including corruption. We cannot hope to reduce crime while we are governed by crooks.
The following piece is from Nation Revisited # 6 Jan 2006.
The swift arrest and sentencing of the two rapists who killed the British girl in Thailand contrasts sharply with our own creaking police and courts. If these evil thugs had committed their crime in the UK they would probably never have been caught. If they had been caught they would have got off on some technicality or been given a light sentence of which they would serve less than half. Britain is no longer a civilised country but a collapsed empire in the final stages of decay. Everything fine and decent is anathema to the perverse lunatics who control us: patriotism is politically incorrect, pride in being European is even worse, love of the English language and culture is eletist. Everything repulsive is glorified including discordant music, meaningless lyrics, idiotic fashions, and infantile behaviour.
Our traditions are ridiculed and our faith has collapsed under political pressure. If you report a robbery to the police they are more likely to arrest you than look for the criminals. If you have been careful with your money the State will rob you but those who arrive with nothing are showered with handouts.
Parents who discipline their children are pilloried but perverts who rape children get piddling prison sentences. Drug dealers openly sell their wares on the streets while the police look the other way. Our politicians are not just useless they are corrupt and utterly contemptible.
When Saddam Hussein led the 1968 Iraqi revolution it was reported that the lamp posts of Baghdad were groaning under the weight of corrupt politicians hanging from them. What a sight that must have been.
Living in the Past
Every generation is critical of its children but we continue to make progress. In 1933 the Oxford Union debating society voted by 275 votes to 153 for the motion: "This House will under no circumstances fight for its King and Country." Questions were asked in the House of Commons and the newspapers condemned the motion, but when the war came our young people did fight, as bravely as their fathers had fought in WW1. And those that survived went on to have children of their own that became the Hippy generation, with flowers in their hair. But fashions do not influence DNA and their potential was undiminished.
The Daily Telegraph is obsessed with the idea that we are becoming a nation of illiterates, either as a result of “liberal” teaching methods, or because of a general decline in intelligence. It’s true that some kids leave school unable to read and write but that has always been the case. Some have psychological problems and others are mentally deficient. But the majority of school leavers have sufficient education to go to university or take apprenticeships. Of course, the older generation thinks that standards have diminished, but they have always held this view. Things were always better in ‘the good old days.’
The East Asian nations dominate the educational league tables but the UK is in the second group of nations, between Australia and Germany. Our educational system generally provides the graduates needed for British industry. It’s true that we import some skilled workers but we also export them. Things could always be better but they are not nearly as bad as the Old Guard would have us believe.No Police = Chaos - Mark Webb
The normal no plan, plan is in place. The plan that has no plan. Bolton to face restrictions and a bar in Cardiff to shut, but Morrisons in Camberwell told everyone that they didn't have to queue up anymore. No social distancing required. Then confusion as we then had one social distancing queue and one non-social distancing queue.
Going back four or five years we talked about a virus coming in from abroad. Mass spreading of infection via human vectors. It's all come to pass. It's a very selfish and lazy generation of young people and on the whole they really don't care as they think that (wrongly) they cannot and will not be infected. It's very clear from people's general behaviour that the virus is spreading. It's clear that the State attempted to cover up deaths in care homes and then amongst the homeless population. They cannot fiscally risk another nationwide lockdown, as the country would just go into meltdown, however, as we approach Brexit without a deal, the overall effect will indeed be like another lockdown. I've spoken to a few small business owners and they are all saying that a further lockdown would finish their hard-pressed businesses for good. The High Street was looking pretty empty pre-lockdown (much thanks to Amazon) and is now solely focussed on the night time economy. Of course, that breaks all social distancing rules and we are back to square one. Humans as vectors.
So I see the State going one step further than just censoring the general death rate, putting things down to old age, long term ill health, or unknown pre-existing medical conditions; with the winter flu season right around the corner, expect the following:
Firstly, people who have recently had C-19 and survived will have a weakened immunity to the Winter Flu (WFV) having damaged lungs from the Covid. I think that having both Covid and WFV at the same time, even in a very healthy person would prove to be a very complex set of conditions to overcome. If the flu season hits along with crashing out of the EU, trade will suffer. The current set of clowns in charge will borrow and borrow and everything will fall on the taxpayer. But the taxpayers will not be paying tax they will be using the NHS in record numbers. The migrants will leave. They have no loyalty to us. The EU hates the UK and will do everything in its power to wreck the UK economy.
I am sitting at home typing at coming up to 1am on Sunday morning with an illegal musical event playing very loudly from about 9 o'clock on Saturday evening. The police have been called by several residents. There are hundreds of people, not one wearing a mask, listening to the music. This will doubtless go on for many hours yet. No police = chaos.
Good Old Boris
The Coronavirus pandemic has come back for the second time, the government's advice changes on a daily basis, the country has a national debt of two trillion pounds, immigration to the UK has risen to 270,000, and 'Good Old Boris' has decided to ignore international law.
They say that countries get the kind of government that they deserve. If that's true we must have been terrible people to be afflicted with a prime minister who rules by emergency powers. Boris Johnson has gone back on every promise. He has made more U turns than a London taxi, and he is utterly contemptuous of public opinion.
He was elected with a massive majority by the votes of traditional Labour Party supporters in the former industrial areas of the Midlands and the North of England. In an act of collective madness they put their faith in a reckless clown with a long history of telling lies. Now, the consequences of their stupidity are being felt.
We can't blame Boris for the Coronavirus pandemic but we can blame him for dragging out a trade deal with the EU to impress his followers. And for appointing the former editors of the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph to important positions in broadcasting.
We will eventually get over Boris Johnson, just as we got over Henry VIII. He was a homicidal maniac who executed 72,000 people, when the population was only 2.5 million - that's 2.8 percent. He was described by the author Simon Sebag-Montefiore in 'History's Monsters' as: "a lustful, egotistical, paranoid and tyrannical monarch." Who does that remind you of?
Comments
Please use the facility at the end of this blog to leave your comments and see what others have to say. But don't post ad hominem attacks, we are interested in ideas not personalities.
European Outlook
All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. We seek reform by legal means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:
"We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with other people."
This blog will appear occasionally in support of Nation Revisited which is posted monthly.
No comments:
Post a Comment