John Coopey

WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION

by John Coopey

Thursday 28th July 2022 10:22 am

“Send them back home” or “Turn their boats round”

Or “Pack them all off to Rwanda”

“We don’t need them here to dilute England’s stock

This way we will make Britain grander”,

How have we become so uncharitable

To those who would flee from abroad

When once we would open our arms to such folk

And welcome them into our ward?

The Flemings, the Huguenots or Europe’s Jews

The banished Ugandan Asians

We welcomed the Windrush immigrants too

When we were a kinder nation.

We show little kindness to others in need

Despite pretending we care

But pull up the drawbridge tight these days

What’s ours is ours not to share.

So stand by the grave of lost charity

And mourn its inhumation

But remember a better Britain, my friend,

When we were a kinder nation.

🌷(7)

◄ MAN! I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN.

‘EYUP! IT’S YORKSHIRE DAY ►

Comments

M.C. Newberry

Tue 2nd Aug 2022 16:43

In this simplistic altruism on display we seem to be casting aside
what enabled this country to become what it is, a land that has
permitted others to take up a home. Spare me the mists of
time ideology and get real about what is best for our country
now and for the future. We are not a bottomless pot and owe
it to our forebears to retain what they lived and died for...a
sense of identiiy and the preservation of a glorious countryside,
not to mention support services that can actually care for our own. . .

John Coopey

Tue 2nd Aug 2022 15:02

Now you’re talking, Kevin!
And MC, I’m not sure you realise that the more you post on this the more you prove my point that we were indeed a kinder nation then.

kJ Walker

Tue 2nd Aug 2022 13:18

MC
Yes I do dispute any earned right to live in this country.
My grandparents on both sides fought in the war. Indeed many of my ancestors have earned great distinction in both world wars.
They fought for this country because that is where they happened to be born. And I happen to have been born here too. It is as I say just a coincidence of birth, and I don't think that I have any more right to be here than anyone else.
Incidentally I can trace my ancestry back to the Mowbray's who came over with William the conqueror, maybe I should f*** off back to France

John Coopey

Mon 1st Aug 2022 17:34

Interesting, MC. But your Suffolk ancestors will have had ancestors. At some point in that line there will be foreign blood. Lucky for you they were welcomed into Britain otherwise you might have been born less “privileged”, French (say) or Indian or Arab. Who knows?
What we do know is that unless you can trace your ancestry back to Neolithic Britain, you will find, as all of us would find in this mongrel nation, that we are cross-breeds from various immigrations.

M.C. Newberry

Mon 1st Aug 2022 12:18

Would that be before or after the Anglo-Dutch war? 😉 I'd never dispute the varied origins of those who decided to settle
here or the fact that they, like the parents of HM The Queen,
were of "home and abroad" bonds of matrimony. Love knows
no boundaries, they say. When I last checked, my own
ancestors derived from 1700s Suffolk and S.E England. Some
served (and two died) in the armed services; another was a
coachman on the Dover Road during the French Revolution,
I visited the location on Shooters Hill where an inn still stands
and the opening chapters of Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" has added resonance for me. Others scraped a hard living in
the various trades of their times, occasionally as inn-keepers and the like. I hope to fork out more dosh in due course to commission further reliable enquiries into the family history.
It has provided a fascinating insight into the past on both a
personal and general level and the last report promised
further success in going back further via the different records,
ecclesiastical/parish etc. that were kept in typically thorough
fashion, albeit that the spelling of names could be a bit
casual/problematical !

John Coopey

Sun 31st Jul 2022 22:32

So from what immigrant stock do you derive, MC? Mine is Dutch. The queen’s is German. It’s not so bad once you get used to the idea that you have immigrant blood in you.

M.C. Newberry

Sun 31st Jul 2022 17:52

IC - Aguably our greatest monarch, Queen Elizabeth the First (Good Queen Bess) took action to limit immigration which she
declared to be in the interest of the well-being of her nation.
Certainly, over subsequent centuries, there have been numbers
from varied origins who have been granted the privilege (and
it IS a privilege) to seek a home here for various reasons, often
due to persecution. You quote a number of them yourself.
It seems that your current theme can be accused of "simplistic
altruism" when, hot on the heels of those from Afghanistan + all those - legal and illegal - from other lands inimical to our
religious and social values, comes the arrival of 100, 000
Ukrainians. Hardly justification for saying we are a less kind
people than before. Check with Good Queen Bess.
KJ - you dispute any earned right to live in this country.
Would that apply to those who fought
and died in its service so that what
they knew and valued could survive, those images surely indelibly marked in
their hearts and minds as they went off
to war. I am of WHOM I was born. As,
I'm sure they too will admit, so are the
most recent arrivals to these shores. People and origins are an interwoven
fabric that serves to guide their futures.

John Coopey

Sat 30th Jul 2022 15:20

You’re so right, Kevin. And unless you can trace your genealogy back to when Britain lost its land bridge to Europe in Stone Age times, we’re ALL from immigrant stock.

kJ Walker

Sat 30th Jul 2022 11:38

Good point well made John.
Non of us have EARNED the right to live in this country... We live here by coincidence of birth.
To then deny that right to others who have made great sacrifices to get here is totally wrong.

John Coopey

Sat 30th Jul 2022 09:02

I’m sure Uganda’s Asians would have been thankful that you weren’t counting heads at the drawbridge in the 1960’s, MC. Likewise, Europe’s Jews in the 30’s and 40’s. Should we send back today’s Ukrainians because “we’ve got enough”?
To paraphrase JFK, did we ask what they could do for us or did we offer what we could do for them?
Yes, we were a kinder nation once.

M.C. Newberry

Fri 29th Jul 2022 22:08

Share or relinquish? You do not address the basic vital questions
of supply and demand across the spectrum of social and environmental well-being. How much is enough? Answer that!

John Coopey

Fri 29th Jul 2022 20:12

The fundamental division between us, MC, which underpins your questions is whether we’re prepared to share our wealth or hoard it.
Thanks for the Like, Brenda.

M.C. Newberry

Fri 29th Jul 2022 17:58

Well meant and well said. Perhaps it's a combination of things
that have resulted in today's situation concerning attitudes.
Our size - a third of that of France, our nearest neighbour from
which we see so many leave for these shores; the truly mind-
boggling rise in the population in recent decades - equal to
the population of Greater London (look it up!), with its knock-
on effect on the environment and vital public services under
catch-up pressures that are not diminshing - rather the reverse;
These - and the distinct feeling that the resident peoples of
these islands are under some sort of global siege from the
dissatisfied."deserters" from lands that need THEIR people to
work for them - not depart for places whose own peoples have
sacrificed so much - may indicate just why the old hospitality
factor is wearing thin right now. Not forgetting the security
aspect of undocumented aliens that adds to justified concerns
for the future. What fidelity do these people owe to the UK?
and its age-old Christianity-based way of life? Just asking for
the purpose of sensible clear headed debate. ..

John Coopey

Thu 28th Jul 2022 23:05

Thankyou, Stephen. We were better people then.
And thanks for the Like, Stephen A.

Stephen Gospage

Thu 28th Jul 2022 21:37

A splendid poem, John, and a plea for common sense, which seems to be in short supply at the moment.

John Coopey

Thu 28th Jul 2022 16:02

Indeed, Greg. It’s a good job it wasn’t our generation considering whether to let Europe’s Jews in during the 1930’s/40’s.And thanks for the Likes, Frederick, Tom, Holden and Russell.

Greg Freeman

Thu 28th Jul 2022 10:48

Well said, John. Cutting off our noses to spite our faces. By barring entry to so many looking for a better life, and ready to work for it, too, we're actually weakening ourselves.

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