tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post3934811799891770399..comments2023-03-25T14:03:38.597+00:00Comments on Why England Needs A Parliament: Linda Grant - "I think people from Liverpool don't think they're English..."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post-19400802795472711892007-10-29T23:21:00.000+00:002007-10-29T23:21:00.000+00:00As to Englishness being sidelined, read my essay o...As to Englishness being sidelined, read my essay on "What England means to em" - http://whatenglandmeanstome.co.uk/?p=79<BR/><BR/>It is a bit odd that Brown's going on about "British jobs for British workers", "Britishness", etc. whilst denouncing the BNP.<BR/><BR/>It's wrong to stereotype nationalities and it's wrong to imply that to be English is to be some kind of fascist. I am a left-winger and quite happy being English. Better a Little England than the bigotted Britain of the BNP and Gordon Brown.Charlie Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770820928636046622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post-40155734216749993822007-10-28T13:19:00.000+00:002007-10-28T13:19:00.000+00:00If we start from the premise that everybody deserv...If we start from the premise that everybody deserves equal respect, regardless of colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation or nationality, then the scapegoating and demonisation of Englishness by so-called liberal types seems quite shocking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post-69438925291248367752007-10-28T11:30:00.000+00:002007-10-28T11:30:00.000+00:00One of the problems is the submergence of Englishn...One of the problems is the submergence of Englishness under Britishness. <BR/><BR/>But I do not think that citizens of England should HAVE to feel English. I like the freedom we have here. It's the denigration of Englishness I find difficult.<BR/><BR/>Linda refers to 'the way it has been co-opted by the far right' - which, a few years ago, was what was said about Britishness. Now Gordon Brown wants us all to feel British because it suits the British project and we must not feel English because we might just start to smell a rat in the devolution wood pile.<BR/><BR/>Englishness has NOT been "co-opted by the far right". That's simply an image the Government wish to project and I resent my national identity being presented in this way by Linda or anyone else. <BR/><BR/>It is true the BNP have tried to make hay with the Government's unfair devolution settlement, but they remain a British unionist party. Last time I heard, their leader was Welsh. <BR/><BR/>Even if the BNP were not British (and despite this, Gordon Brown still touts British as being wonderful), it is not right to consign a whole national identity to the right wing dumper bin and consign those who profess to be that nationality to a life of hostility and ridicule.<BR/><BR/>It's time these anti-English generalisations and bigotry stopped.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05136739620289407113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post-36912788272235814712007-10-28T03:52:00.000+00:002007-10-28T03:52:00.000+00:00I think that a lot of people who are the children ...I think that a lot of people who are the children of immigrants think that they aren't English until they actually go to their parents' homeland. I remember that during a holiday in Ireland as a child, a boy asked me if I was from England - a concept I had not considered as I'd not been out of the country before.Charlie Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770820928636046622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25091781.post-19708402672878805482007-10-27T19:49:00.000+01:002007-10-27T19:49:00.000+01:00Linda Grant immediately tags those who consider th...Linda Grant immediately tags those who consider themselves English as being right-wing fascists. She's a bigot of the first order - we must respect her ethnicity, she thinks ours is contemptible. She'll happily put you down as being absolutely hateful as soon as you say you are English. That's the type of person she is. She's a racist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com