Vanishing England

Townhall.com ^ | Cal Thomas

[Kaslin]

"There'll Always Be an England" - popular World War II song

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - Perhaps there will not always be an England. An exodus unprecedented in modern times, coupled with a record influx of foreigners, is threatening to erode the character of the land of William Shakespeare and overpowering monarchs, a land that served as the cradle for much of American thought, law and culture.

The figures, making headlines in London newspapers, tell only part of the story. Between June 2005 and June 2006 nearly 200,000 British citizens chose to leave the country for a new life elsewhere. During the same period, at least 574,000 immigrants came to Britain. This number does not include the people who broke the law to get there, or the thousands unknown to the government. Britain's Office of National Statistics reports that middle-class Britons are beginning to move out of towns in southern England that have become home to large numbers of immigrants, thereby altering the character of neighborhoods that have remained unchanged for generations.

Britons give many reasons for leaving, but their stories share one commonality: life in Britain has become unbearable for them. They fear lawlessness and the threat of more terrorism from a growing Muslim population and the loss of a sense of Britishness, exacerbated by the growing refusal of public schools to teach the history and culture of the nation to the next generation. What it means to be British has been watered down in a plague of political correctness that has swept the country faster than hoof-and-mouth disease. Officials say they do not wish to "offend" others.

Hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers are about to be granted "amnesty" to stay in Britain. The government's approach is similar to that pursued by President Bush, who failed to win congressional approval for his amnesty plan. In Britain it appears likely to succeed. Migrants will be granted immediate access to many benefits, including top priority for council housing. Taxpayers will foot the bill.

The Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, called the policy a "stealth amnesty." Again, in a comment reminiscent of the debate in America, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: "This is yet another example of the Alice in Wonderland world of human rights. If you break British law for long enough, you acquire rights not penalties."

British media have carried stories about an Italian immigrant who murdered a schoolteacher and was sentenced to life in prison. He is about to be released after serving just 12 years. The government wants to deport him to Italy, but a combination of British human rights legislation and European Union law are making it impossible to do so. This does not bode well for deporting Islamic terrorists who call for the overthrow of the government and incite young people to acts of violence.

Abraham Lincoln said no nation can exist half slave and half free. Neither can a nation be sustained if it allows conditions that result in mass emigration, while importing huge numbers of foreigners who come from backgrounds that do not practice assimilation or tolerance of other beliefs. When one factors in the high number of abortions (one in five pregnancies are aborted in England and Wales), the high birth rates of immigrants (15 times those of white Britons), it doesn't take a population expert to predict that the days of the England we have known may be numbered. The problem for Britain and the United States isn't just the change in demographics. It is the reluctance of both countries to inculcate the beliefs, history and, yes, religious ideals, which made our nations so successful that others wanted to come and be a part of them. The difference between many of the current immigrants and those of the past is that the previous ones wanted to become fully American or fully British. The current ones, in too many cases, would destroy what makes our countries unique. And the "leaders" of Britain and America refuse to stop it.

The greater tragedy is that the people of Britain have little say in any of this, so they are taking the road of last resort. They are leaving.

[driftless2]

"the trip"

loved the trip. The only bad thing that happened was losing my glasses at Stonehenge. You might be interested to know that in the States a number of people have taken it upon themselves to duplicate Stonehenge in some fashion. In western Nebraska near Scottsbluff my wife and I visited Carhenge where the creator piled a bunch of wrecked autos on top of each other in the exact same dimensions as Stonehenge. There are other re-creations throughout the U.S., but the English original is still the best.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Well...if things don’t work out and you’d care for a warmer climate, you’re welcome here in the Missouri Ozarks. Taxes and cost of living are low, fish and game are plentiful and we speak nearly the same language.

[padre35]

The UK seems to be awashin Knights...Jedi Knights that is:

“About sixteen per cent of the UK population stated that they had no religion. This category included agnostics, atheists, heathens and those who wrote Jedi Knight.”3 “At the time the Census was carried out, there was an internet campaign that encouraged people to answer the religion question “Jedi Knight”. The number of people who stated Jedi was 390,000 (0.7 per cent of the population).”4 An urban myth developed and some people believed that this many votes would make Jedi an official religion, however this is not true.

“Just over 390,000 of the 52,000,000 people in England and Wales wrote in ‘Jedi’ on their census form. The ‘Jedi’ response was most popular in Brighton and Hove, with 2.6 per cent of Census respondents quoting it, followed by Oxford (2.0 per cent), Wandsworth (1.9), Cambridge (1.9), Southampton (1.8) and Lambeth (1.8).

So it would seem that “confirmation” has been traded for “padwan” in the UK......

Church attendance:

National Attendance
1979 12% [17] -0.20/year
1989 10% [17] -0.28/year
1998 07.5% [13, 14] -0.17/year
2005 06.3% [13]

http://www.vexen.co.uk/UK/religion.html

Now before the idea that low church attendance is the be all and end all of societal problems be advanced, it should be noted that Socialization of the UK, along with a “Top down” sort of outlook are just as important factors IMO.

For me, there is not much difference in welfare and everyman for themselves in the course of a nation’s decline socially if not economically, a country can be prosperous but souless easily. And that loss of “centre” is what leads to the idea that the UK is drowning in immigrants.

And one man’s cynicism is another man’s realism is a great example of cynicism, with no dominant view point, that is very true, when “Work hard and follow the rules and you and your family will do fine” starts to not work, then cynicism will follow.

The UK remains very prosperous on paper, why isn’t it felt throughout the region? Spoiled citizens or actual lack of a chance to “make it” even if they aren’t a PhD?

[Greg F]

Chesterton, “The Flag of the World;”

http://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/orthodoxy/ch5.html

[VOA]

bump

[yankeedame]

And the worst thing is the tea bags - the biggest threat to the Empire since Ghandi.

Oh fiddle-faddle! If Britain had been an empire in fact as well as in name, then Ghandi would never have been a threat in either. Ah,well, I suspect that's the price you pay for being known as a good loser.

[sam_paine]

Abraham Lincoln said no nation can exist half slave and half free.

So he set the slaves free in the Southern half and left the others to rot in the North half.

[GBA]

There will be a point when the Brits return to sanity. These things are cyclical and generational. The generation that comes of age has questions about who it is and what its national heritage is. The British have a rich history and have contributed more than any other nation to civilization and the world’s growth and prosperity. The spectre of “colonialism” or “post-colonialism” won’t blight the British conscience for much longer.

[Wallace T.]

I must question some of the numbers in this chart. First off, Nigeria is 50% Muslim, making a church attendance figure of 89% rather unrealistic, unless mosque attendance is counted. Ireland's numbers look excessively high as well. While high church attendance numbers may have been characteristic of traditionally Catholic Ireland until about 40 years ago, the effects of secularism, liberal theology in the Catholic Church, and recent immigration from other countries (presently one out of ten residents of Ireland is of foreign origin) make the claim of 84% church attendance very suspect, certainly on a weekly basis. OTOH, the statistic for 2% church attendance in Russia seems low. This number may be based on a citation from the Russian Interior Ministry, which I found in Wikipedia, that said weekly church attendance is less than 2%. Even if his number on weekly attendance is accurate, the other statistics, including the one for the United States, may be based on monthly attendance.

Within the United States, there are wide variances in church attendance, with the figures in the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rocky Mountain states (excluding Utah) and the New England states being quite low, vs. much higher figures in the South and the Plains states. Dallas and Nashville are far different than Seattle or Boston, as Poland and rural Ireland are from Moscow, Berlin, or London. Furthermore, of the largest Western European nations listed (Germany is oddly absent from the list) in the EU, only Italy has a church attendance rate (45%) comparable to that of the United States. Look at France (21%), Britain (27%), and Spain (25%), and you can determine that the EU average is considerably below that of the US.

[UKrepublican]

Ping

[britemp]

‘Just out of curiosity...Where do you live? And would you mind posting where the statistics came from, as well?’

Isle of Wight - 98.7% white anglo-saxon celtic christian yet only the 100th most ‘white’ community in the UK. . . . . . ;-)

The figures are from the 2001 UK Census, and since then immigration has reduced. You can probably look it up easiest in the CIA factbook:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

and scroll down to the ethnic groups section.

Or you can go straight to the relevant section in the census itself:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/rank/ewwhite.asp

As you can see, although there a re a few areas that drop into the 50-60% the vast majority are way above 90%.

Just goes to show how your perceptions and the actual facts can differ greatly. :)

[Carry_Okie]

Chesterton had Joyce's talent for words, but could also write a metaphorically rich and meaningful story.

[television is just wrong]

ENgland has become enveloped with the muslim faith, and is doomed into extinction.

[britemp]

‘There are other re-creations throughout the U.S., but the English original is still the best.’

Fairs fair - the rocks are Welsh! :)

Personally I always think Stonehenge slightly less impressive than Avebury with it’s ‘Spaceship Runway’! :)

[Bahbah]

I’m worried, UK. I really am.

[britemp]

‘The UK remains very prosperous on paper, why isn’t it felt throughout the region? Spoiled citizens or actual lack of a chance to “make it” even if they aren’t a PhD?’

Your source is as laughable as the person who wrote it all!

http://www.vexen.co.uk/vexen/index.html

Please, if you want to quote stats, stick to official ones, not interpretations by undergraduates and pressure groups.

[UKrepublican]

I’m certainly concerned as well. Sadly so much of the public is too stupid and ignorant of what is going on in the country.

[britemp]

‘If Britain had been an empire in fact as well as in name, then Ghandi would never have been a threat in either.’

Yes, I suppose having direct rule over one quarter of the worlds surface and one third of her population from a small wet island doesn’t really count as an Empire, despite being the largest one ever. . . . .

[britemp]

‘Well...if things don’t work out and you’d care for a warmer climate, you’re welcome here in the Missouri Ozarks. Taxes and cost of living are low, fish and game are plentiful and we speak nearly the same language.’

Thank you for your generous offer, I enjoyed my time living in the US, but my home will always be England! :)

[padre35]

My source is laughable?

It’ what google brought me, do we now have to do background research on quoted sources as well as quoting them?

I’ve never heard of vexen, there numbers do seem to be in line with what I have run across on the ‘Net though.