The Left’s war on Britishness

The Spectator ^ | Issue: 23 July 2005 | Anthony Browne

[Eurotwit]

[Eurotwit]

"Sometimes it takes a foreigner to open your eyes. A Norwegian diplomat told me long ago that he was taught at school, as British kids aren’t, that Britain gave the world industrialisation, democracy and football — its economic system, its political system and its fun."

God bless Britain :-)

Cheers.

[struggle]

Good article.
However,

"... and in 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet."

I think there is a former presidental candidate that would beg to differ.

[Ciexyz]

Here's hoping the Brits are on the right track for rekindling national pride.

[John Filson]

bttt

[mrsmel]

I always admired the Britain of bygone days,the Britain that was proud of itself,even its insularity. The present Britain(at least as presented to the world by its leftist media)is either a weak imitation of what it thinks America is(again as presented by our own largely liberal/leftist media,at least until recently), or a wanna-be "cosmopolitan"(in the worst sense of the word)nation. I know that the Britain of "Mrs Miniver" was perhaps somewhat a caricature,but isn't a caricature kind of a distillation of the truth? Anyway,that's the Britain that I admired and respected,the one with those values and that faith in itself and that dignified self-respect.

[Steely Tom]

Ahhh...

I take a back seat to no one in my admiration of, and affection for, England, Mr. Browne, but.

The pocket calculater was not invented by Sir Clive. One could plausably argue that the inexpensive scientific calculator (transcendental functions, scientific notation, cost less than $100) was invented by him. I know; I had one. Got it in about 1975. It had six decimal places of precision and was painfully slow. Came out way after the HP-35, which was the real first scientific calculator, and cost almost $300 when first introduced. At that time, $300 would get you almost 1000 gallons of gasoline.

Laid eyes on a pocket calculator for the first time in 1971. It had six-segment (not a misprint) vacuum-florescent display tubes.

(steely)

[truemiester]

We in the good ol' USA could learn from this. If others think you are week or self-loating they will fight you to knock you down. If thye percieve that you can not be knocked down they will scrape and grovel to be like you or at least your friend. We do nothing but get people in the 3rd world killed by not being strong and proud.

[warsaw44]

I would say however, that the vast majority of Americans love their country fiercely. I would not even consider " self loathing " as part of the American character - with the exception of a tiny minority.

[mrsmel]

Unfortunately,so much of that tiny minority are our media people and newsmakers. It makes me wonder how much of the "New Britain"(remember that awful slogan "cool Britannia"?) is reality,and how much of the "true Britain" still remains somewhere,left to itself and unseen or unrecognised by their media("public relations")and therefore by everyone else.I've always wondered if any of the really truly "Britishness" of Britain remains anywhere.I can't wait until I can go there one day and find out for myself. I intend to avoid London like the plague(hehe)and get out to the countryside and villages just to see. I don't have any romantic notions that there are untouched places left,of course(in these days,I don't think there are any left ANYwhere),but surely the life and character can't have been squeezed out the entire country.

[ScaniaBoy]

Hallo 'twit,

Sorry I haven't been able to follow the last Tour threads - too much work!

Have you seen Expressen today? It appears that one of the main suspects for the terror attacks in Londn is languishing in Sweden. The good man is threatening us (Sweden) with "the ultimate punishment" if he is extradited.... oh my!

Actually there are previous threads on FR re this ex-Lebanese, Osama wannabe. Tonight I'll write about it and post some links.

Cheers,

Scania

[pau1f0rd]

mrsmel, I'm a huge fan of London. You can find true Britishness there like nowhere else. But of course big cities are not to everyone's taste. England is still full of traditional villages with cricket pitches, ancient pubs, Norman churches and beautiful countryside.

[AzaleaCity5691]

The reason that no country will ever be able to successfully invade America is because well, we are a nation of real men and we know how to use guns.

[MadIvan]

To be honest, the Brits have it coming. Especially when you consider what they did to the Irish.

I see. Innocent people who are doing nothing more than going to work in the morning "have it coming".

You're no better than the Al Qaeda scum, troll.

Ivan

[mrsmel]

I'll believe you,since you've been there and I haven't:) I just get the impression of London being a series of "towns"(ie "Chinatown","Little Italy",etc,like in New York or other big cities),and not having much of its essence left,except self-consiously,like a theme park or something. I would love to be wrong! And maybe I DO have just a teeny bit of romaticism left about it all,after all I grew up reading Barabara Cartland and watching Miss Marple and Masterpiece Theater,LOL. I would love to be wrong though.

[mrsmel]

The drooling troll probably thinks that the people in the WTC and on the planes had it coming too.

[pau1f0rd]

I live in 'Constable country' just an hour from London so I'm lucky to have the best of both worlds - countryside and city. I'm a sucker for the whole 'Olde England' stuff too. The thrill of London has never diminished for me. I hope you do manage to come one day.

[mrsmel]

Thanks, I hope it'll be soon. I'd love to have at least a couple of months to try to really get to know things a little. Your situation sounds ideal! Are you British,or an import:)?

I feel like I'd love to live there,in a little village(if I could ever get my husband to live there),but it's my understanding that "outsiders", especially foreigners,aren't especially welcome in the out-of-the-way places,where I'd want to live,but if they'd have me,even as an outsider,I think I'd like it.Of course, I can't say for certain,without having been there,but I feel like I would.

Constable,as in the painter?

[counterpunch]

Why is Jeff Goldbloom burning that flag?