I was giving some thought the other day
About the word "community"
And how being Scottish, Irish or Welsh
Can be boasted with impunity.
And how a multitude of ethnics
Within the population
Can claim a similar title
And do it with immunity
Yet if someone says they're English
Have you noticed - there's every chance
They'll be ignored or even derided,
With looks at best askance!
............................................................
.
Dear MC., Thank you for your comment on my poem The Nation State. I believe that we are, more or less, of one mind. I shall try to desist from anymore comments as we could be responsible for serious civil unrest. You are spot on about London. Regards. Keith
Colin - a most interesting read from your "Welsh" arts input.
Wales has never lost its ability to produce great art and
artists, or, for that matter, politicians of stature. From a
population perspective, it punches above its weight
in these fields: witness the reputation of its singers for
example. It also has a front rank symphony orchestra in
the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with its roster of
international conductors.
But the fact remains that England, with its substantially
greater industrial origins and population, is able to offer
its own formidable range of the above in greater relative
numbers. London on any given day offers an unmatched
range of material across the artistic spectrum without
the need for "festivals"....international or otherwise.
London has risen from a Roman city (when the latter
didn't bother too much with what lay beyond Hadrian's
Wall) to achieve its centuries-old status as a world
centre of pretty much everything. Even country-
dweller William Wordsworth had to admit its splendour
when passing through (on a Dover-bound stage, I seem to recall).
Lads! lads! lads!
It was a joke!...I was just having a traditional English whack at my Co- Britonians in Scotland, Wales, and (despite my name) Ireland (I missed out the Isle of Man somehow).
(so was the peein` thing)
Where`s your English modesty...(or English sense of humour.? ) ?
All comments gratefully received and read. Thanks to
everyone giving their views.
There's a readiness to attach "blame" to deeds past (or
even present) to the English identity instead of praise
where it's due, with a blithe tendency to forego the fact
that numerous other lands and their rulers have been
busy acquiring empires/colonies/wealth at the expense
of others just as busily if not as successfully as the
English....perhaps the more civilised "Romans" of recent
times for what has been given to the world in the wake
of the above. We cannot change the past but compared
with the contemporaries of those days, we have no more
to apologise for - and arguablya lot less! Witness how
many still use our language (thanks Keith) and the legacy
of residual "systems" (the law, medicine and railways
anyone?), and choose to come here to live if they can.
My ask is simple; why is the term "English" so
rarely heard in use now? Is there a policy in existence to
"absorb" the identity in the convenient contemporary (more globally acceptable?) appellation: "British"?
Colin - the Cornish have a connection with the Welsh,
and, of course, trade beyond our shores, and have felt
(with some historical justification) ignored by a distant
Parliament and its national considerations when its
people were in need of more direct and deserved help
and attention back in the day. As a Devonian (born),
I can't recall my fair county being so remorselessly discontented, but we had Drake and Gilbert, and a more
easy-going frame of mind to see us through the hard
times of the past. Moaning wasn't at the forefront of
our mental state...more milk and the hope of some honey perhaps? ? But we had pride in being English, I can
tell you that much.
Colin and Harry, we may ask where is our culture? We have a language which is incomparable and I say this as someone who speaks Spanish every day, German and Arabic. We have a temprament which no other nation has, one of being calm in the face of adversity. Our writers and poets are world acclaimed as is our inventiveness. We do not need traditional clothing or emblems because we know who we are with supreme confidence. Thanks to all. Keith
Hear,Hear, M.C.
The sooner we purify our pure English culture
from all the detritus of sporrans, leeks, and shillelaghs the
better.
the other day a foreign- looking guy alongside me in the gents smiled and asked: Eur-a-pean? (I nearly punched him
till I realised that he only was asking was I a peein` ?)
MC. Thank you for this as it is so very true. From experience to be proud of being an English person can even be attributed to being an extremist or a fascist. I find this strange. I am an Englishman and what a gift it is to be as such. Keith
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M.C. Newberry
Sun 27th Aug 2017 16:59
Keith - what fun though!!