Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"the idea of 'British' implies a false sense of unity" - Valleys Race Equality Council

The Telegraph has just run this story here.

What appears to really offend is the Anglophobia which the Telegraph article implies. ( Since I haven't read the report I could accept that the quotes give the wrong impression ). See extracts quoted below:

    New guidelines for town hall workers state that "many Scots, Welsh and Irish resist being called British" and says people from ethnic minorities should be called "British Asians" or "Chinese British".
....
    "the idea of 'British' implies a false sense of unity"

No mention of the English here ( not that anyone gets called British English - ever, nor can I see any point in doing so ). This looks like the typical Anglophobia present in many of the home nations.

Of course the irony here is that the Welsh are what's left of the British tribes after the Roman and Anglo-Saxon invasions. So of all people you would think they would stick up for the idea of being British ?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

the irony here is that the Welsh are what's left of the British tribes after the Roman and Anglo-Saxon invasions

Nope. The Romans (Tacitus if I remember correctly) described Britannia as being inhabited by a Germanic people speaking a language little different from the "Belgae".

Today, Frisian speakers on the northern Dutch coastal areas speak a language closely related to English. "Bread, butter and green cheese is good English and good Friese" - it sounds and means the same in both languages, "Brea, bûter, en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk".

Then there's the genetic analysis of chance preserved bodies from thousands of years ago which show an almost identical genetic assay.

We've always been here. The Anglo-Saxon (and Jute, Dane, Norse, etc.) invasions were closely related peoples trying to take over after the Romans left. But the majority of the base population of England have always been here.

Just as Europe is split amongst different language groups, the same applied and applies to the British Isles. The idea that we displaced the original inhabitants is just a particularly nasty little myth.

Unknown said...

This is not about the Welsh, it is about the Plaid Cymru minority, constantly trying to cause conflict.

Letters From A Tory said...

Ha, the thought of the Welsh being snuggled up next to England in an orgy of British spirit makes me chuckle.

Simon Fawthrop said...

What a load of bollocks, the Army has used the terms sine at least 1972 when I joined, and they no a thing or two about creating unity.

We were all engorged to enter Brit/Eng, Brit/Scot, Brit/Ire or wherever we came from on forms that referred nationality. This instruction came for a very proud Welshman who was Company Clerk and or very proud Scots Guard Sergeant Major. If they had no problem with the term British then these idiots shouldn't. (I mean the council staff and the "citizens")

This best sums up it:
"Wales rugby legend Gareth Edwards, who won 53 caps for Wales and 10 for the British Lions, agreed, saying: "This is political correctness gone absolutely mad.

"I'm very proud to be Welsh and if anybody asks me where I'm from, I'll say Wales. But I'm also British and I've played for the British Lions and I'm very proud of that as well. I have no issue with being called British, none whatsoever.""


And while I'm on it why does Caerphilly need over 9,000 employees FFS. I bet the don't argue that it the British tax payer that funds so many.