Excellent & level headed analysis, Nick. I could be so measured.
To summarise my opinion: how tf dare she! She's no more English than I'd be Cree or Japanese if I happened to have been born in their *indigenous* homeland. Her behaviour is disrespectful & stinks of very premature gloating by a would-be coloniser (a bit like Hadrian demeaning the Jews by calling Judea Syria Palestina but without the succesful empire & glory..cos..look at Birmingham).
I'd never claim to be English. I have an English father - with English, Scots & Irish heritage - and an Italian mother. But, I suppose, I'm not trying to taqqiya my way into high office in a foreign land.
I’ve said this myself about Ben. The Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria’s father) risked life and limb, over miles and miles of carriage rides, to get his wife to England so that his heir would be born in England. If Ben wants to become any kind of commentator on English history, he needs to study it first!
There’s an African athlete who runs for Ireland and the commentators always say “here she comes with those long Irish legs”. No. She has long African legs but wears an Irish vest. They seem to have it in the contract that they have to say it though.
I grew up being told you can't be English if you're Catholic. At Catholic schools I was bullied because I was dirt poor in a grammar school of the aspiring middle classes. Co-op football boots, not Adidas. A uniform from Oxfam. Teachers worse than the kids. Poverty is always accompanied by addiction, poor mental and physical health, violence. Apols for the autobiography, but I had to remake myself from the ground up to survive. Many don't. The biggest divide remains class, and I ain't got none.
Class is certainly a massive factor. We just did a whole Lads’ Hour on it. Of course, by the time I went to school it was the disastrous comprehensives, which destroyed my chances in life from the start despite my very high grades. Plenty of bullying too, and no one needed a reason. Being spat on or assaulted with chairs was standard.
As for the Catholic part, you’ve attacked people on here for being Protestant so I suppose that’s some revenge.
I wondered why.. never mind. For nuance, if any is necessary, the individual you probably mean hasn't been slow to criticise Catholics elsewhere. Which he's fully entitled to, and criticism isn't bullying or you'd be "bullying" Shabana Mahmood which is patent nonsense. I find the idea of a state religion an oxymoron, and am happy to debate anyone on that point of our island story. I'm surprised that individual thought themselves personally attacked, rather than a disagreement on state doctrine, and nonplussed at the fall out for the channel.
To get back to your video, it's almost certainly true that Shabana and the rest of the top table of British political life still think they're punching up.
An angle I have not heard content creators really examine is if people can immigrate, be considered Scottish (or English or Welsh) then at what point do they get to shape the identity?
This is especially concerning for the smaller nations and I am worried there will be a time in my life where I'll be considered the outsider for not assimilating to cultural practices that were brought here via importation.
I think a good way to deal with this is to acknowledge that people can have a cultural identity but make it clear that they should have no right to shape it.
Your second paragraph already happens frequently. See for example football fans attacked for not wanting the play to stop for Ramadan. But what mainly happens is everyone is alienated to varying degrees by the prevailing ideology, which is against all culture.
The madness never ends. Maybe having what these people think in the open will do some good? I doubt it's popular outside their bubble.
I’ve been waiting for this content! So much going on, it’s amazing you can wade through it!
Thanks mate.
Great breakdown, Nick. The denial of our ethnicity is a political battle which we must fight on every front.
Excellent & level headed analysis, Nick. I could be so measured.
To summarise my opinion: how tf dare she! She's no more English than I'd be Cree or Japanese if I happened to have been born in their *indigenous* homeland. Her behaviour is disrespectful & stinks of very premature gloating by a would-be coloniser (a bit like Hadrian demeaning the Jews by calling Judea Syria Palestina but without the succesful empire & glory..cos..look at Birmingham).
I'd never claim to be English. I have an English father - with English, Scots & Irish heritage - and an Italian mother. But, I suppose, I'm not trying to taqqiya my way into high office in a foreign land.
Ben doesn’t know his history. Queen Victoria was born in London, her father was born in London, and HIS father (George III) was born in London.
Victoria was a 4th generation immigrant Ben.
I’ve said this myself about Ben. The Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria’s father) risked life and limb, over miles and miles of carriage rides, to get his wife to England so that his heir would be born in England. If Ben wants to become any kind of commentator on English history, he needs to study it first!
So we’ve got a Pakistani telling us what being English means. Does anything surprise you anymore?
Thanks Nick!
BBB on the topic here: https://youtu.be/E5ikGGmIyv0?si=TGMu4fcrKpJdXZp7
There’s an African athlete who runs for Ireland and the commentators always say “here she comes with those long Irish legs”. No. She has long African legs but wears an Irish vest. They seem to have it in the contract that they have to say it though.
I’m disappointed in Ben over this. The monarchy in no way defines who we are as a people, and hasn’t since the Norman invasion.
I grew up being told you can't be English if you're Catholic. At Catholic schools I was bullied because I was dirt poor in a grammar school of the aspiring middle classes. Co-op football boots, not Adidas. A uniform from Oxfam. Teachers worse than the kids. Poverty is always accompanied by addiction, poor mental and physical health, violence. Apols for the autobiography, but I had to remake myself from the ground up to survive. Many don't. The biggest divide remains class, and I ain't got none.
Class is certainly a massive factor. We just did a whole Lads’ Hour on it. Of course, by the time I went to school it was the disastrous comprehensives, which destroyed my chances in life from the start despite my very high grades. Plenty of bullying too, and no one needed a reason. Being spat on or assaulted with chairs was standard.
As for the Catholic part, you’ve attacked people on here for being Protestant so I suppose that’s some revenge.
I wondered why.. never mind. For nuance, if any is necessary, the individual you probably mean hasn't been slow to criticise Catholics elsewhere. Which he's fully entitled to, and criticism isn't bullying or you'd be "bullying" Shabana Mahmood which is patent nonsense. I find the idea of a state religion an oxymoron, and am happy to debate anyone on that point of our island story. I'm surprised that individual thought themselves personally attacked, rather than a disagreement on state doctrine, and nonplussed at the fall out for the channel.
To get back to your video, it's almost certainly true that Shabana and the rest of the top table of British political life still think they're punching up.
Brain exploding 🤯. Native British islanders are ethnically white!
Hi Nick,
An angle I have not heard content creators really examine is if people can immigrate, be considered Scottish (or English or Welsh) then at what point do they get to shape the identity?
This is especially concerning for the smaller nations and I am worried there will be a time in my life where I'll be considered the outsider for not assimilating to cultural practices that were brought here via importation.
I think a good way to deal with this is to acknowledge that people can have a cultural identity but make it clear that they should have no right to shape it.
Your second paragraph already happens frequently. See for example football fans attacked for not wanting the play to stop for Ramadan. But what mainly happens is everyone is alienated to varying degrees by the prevailing ideology, which is against all culture.