A Politically Correct Lucia in Sweden

In Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, the 13th December is observed as St. Lucy's day (or Lucia for short). It's one of the few Saints' days still observed in northern Europe.

Wikipedia has a section on this tradition:

In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, Lucy (called Lucia) it is venerated on December 13 in a ceremony where a girl is elected to portray Lucia. Wearing a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head, she walks at the head of a procession of women, each holding a candle. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucia's life when she was sentenced to be burned. The women sing a Lucia song while entering the room, to the melody of the traditional Neapolitan song Santa Lucia; the Italian lyrics describe the view from Santa Lucia in Naples, the various Scandinavian lyrics are fashioned for the occasion, describing the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness. Each Scandinavian country has lyrics in their native tongues. After finishing this song, the procession sings Christmas carols or more songs about Lucia. A similar version occurs in Scandinavian communities and churches in the United States.

You'll note that all the girls in the procession are in white; it's part of the tradition.

Not in one Swedish church procession, however:

Those who expected a traditional Lucia procession of white in the Country Church were horribly disappointed that the politically correct-pestilential fog has settled even at this Swedish tradition.

Instead, the kids wore different colours to represent different nationalities and this debacle is said to be a symbol of diversity. [above, photo credit Ulf Johansson.]

Skelleftea district's Lucia Jessica Erickson was dressed in white, but her bridesmaids wore dresses of blue, red, brown, green, yellow and grey.

Behind the initiative lies Anette Novak, editor of Norran, along with Lions "to embrace diversity" - a decision that was taken after the September elections.

Ah yes, altering traditions for absolutely no reason to "embrace diversity" - it all sounds awfully familiar.

Would it be impertinent to ask if there might be one day in Sweden where that country's culture, history and traditions could be "embraced" as opposed to mocked?

It seems even this change wasn't a change far enough for some:

Of course you would think that it would have been better if Lucia candidates were of different nationalities. When the idea came upon us the process of Lucia admissions had already started and when we selected, we estimated ability to sing and then chose the nominees.

- Mats Allansson, Lions [Swedish youth club organisation.]

Why, Mats, would I think that it would have been better if the candidates to take part in a Swedish national tradition in a Swedish church in Sweden were not Swedish?

What normal person could possibly think that, and why?

I suppose people like Mats, of course, look forward to the day when there are a minority of Swedish people in Sweden and everything can be so gloriously diverse - won't that be something to embrace, eh?

Anette Novak, whose scheme this was, chimes in:

The Suicide bomber in Stockholm made this quiet rally for diversity, for love and for all people, scarily topical. We must show that we are united.

United you are Anette - with people like the bomber in wishing to change Sweden beyond recognition, to destroy it in its current form, I would have thought.

What else could be behind such nonsensical zealotry - a taxpayer funded grant, perhaps?

It's sentiments such as the one above which made Sweden vulnerable in the first place - by pretending all people are the same, all cultures are the same, and we are all interchangeable.

How does denying Swedish girls the chance to be in the procession in favour of foreigners next year help with "unity" in any way?

The Swedish people need to wake up to the social engineering, defend their country and defend their traditions.

Hat tip: Politiskt Inkorrekt.

11th November

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Today we pay tribute to all those who have fallen in defence of our country - and continue to follow their orders and do their duty, no matter how obscure or futile the cause.

God Bless them all.

The West Must Continue to Apologise for its History

The following story beggars belief in its simpering tone and purely one-sided judgment:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The descendants of an African chief who was hanged and decapitated by a Dutch general 171 years ago reluctantly accepted the return of his severed head Thursday, still angry even as the Dutch tried to right a historic wrong.

The head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered last year in a jar of formaldehyde gathering dust in the anatomical collection of the Leiden University Medical Center. The Dutch government agreed to Ghanaian demands that the relic be returned.

On Thursday, members of the king's Ahanta tribe, dressed in dark robes and wearing red sashes, took part in the hand-over ceremony, honoring his spirit by toasting with Dutch gin and then sprinkling the drink over the floor at the Dutch Foreign Ministry.

But descendants of the chief said they were not consoled.

"I am hurt, angry. My grandfather has been killed," said Joseph Jones Amoah, the great, great grandson of the chief.

The chief's head was stored elsewhere at the ministry and was not displayed during the ceremony. It is expected to be flown with the tribe members back to Ghana on Friday.

Tribal elders said after the hand-over that they were also angry because they had been sent by their current chief only to identify the head, not retrieve it. Taking it back without first reporting to the chief would be a breach of protocol, they said.

"We, the Ahanta, are not happy at all," said Nana Etsin Kofi II.

The head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in 1838 in retaliation for Bonsu's killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were displayed as trophies on Bonsu's throne, said Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who discovered the king's head when he was working on a historical novel.

The elders demanded the Dutch government provide aid to their tribe to appease the slain chief.

Nana Kwekwe Darko III, who tipped the gin on the floor in a Ghanaian tradition of respect for the dead, dabbed tears from his eyes afterward and said he wanted the Dutch to build schools and hospitals for his people.

Ministry spokesman Bart Rijs said that 10 who came from Ghana had agreed before the ceremony to take the head home. The official transfer was between the two countries' governments, he said.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen used the ceremony to apologize for Dutch involvement in the slave trade. Ghana, then known as Gold Coast, was a base for Dutch slave traders.

"We are also here because of our mutual desire to lay to rest episodes in ... history that were unfortunate and shameful," Verhagen said. "Our common past also includes the infamous slave trade, which our traders engaged in and sustained and which inflicted so much harm on so many people in so many parts of the world."

Ghana has lobbied for the head's return since it was discovered.

"Without burial of the head, the deceased will be hunted in the afterlife. He's incomplete," Eric Odoi-Anim, a Ghanaian diplomat in the Netherlands said after the discovery. "It's also a stigma on his clan, on his kinsmen, and him being a (high-ranking) chief — this is even more serious."

It was unclear what would become of it once it reaches Ghana.

Berima Asamoah Kofi IV, a traditional chief who now lives in the Netherlands, said the Ahanta chief would ultimately decide its fate.

"Whatever he says, we are going to do," he told The Associated Press.

A few points immediately spring to mind; we can overlook the parts about one of the chiefs now living (no doubt very well indeed) in the country of evil racists his people are so angry with, and the attempts to blackmail the Dutch for more aid; those things are pretty standard, unfortunately.

What struck me the most was how the reason the chief was beheaded was not mentioned until the writer had attempted to garner sympathy for the Ahanta; he beheaded two *missionaries, and displayed their heads on poles.

Presumably the missionaries were there to spread Christianity, and er, build schools and hospitals, as they did in so many parts of Africa and what is now the Third World?

But let's not let a little thing like objective reality get in the way of self-flagellation.

I'll bet whoever that Dutch General was, he'd rather be dead than see what has become of the country he served, simpering to backwards tribesmen and crying over history, whilst refusing to look at the where the true evil in the world lies at this very moment.

*The text actually says emissaries - my mistake. I suppose you could argue that makes it even worse; emissaries are simply there to make contact and convey messages between rulers, rather than spread their own ideas and culture.

Perspectives on the D-Day Anniversary

At the D-Day commemorations on Saturday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the following:

"Sixty-five years ago in the thin light of grey dawn, more than 1,000 small craft took to a rough sea on a day that will be forever a day of bravery.

On that June morning the young of our nations stepped out on those beaches below and into history. As long as freedom lives their deeds will never die. On D-Day the sounds of liberation on the march were heard across Europe.”

Ironic for a man who has done more than most to undermine freedom in this country and eradicate its unique character.

This anniversary is seen as a victory for freedom. In many respects, the ultimate victory for freedom.

But freedom can only exist when the will to maintain it exists. Regular contributor Dr. D commented:

With people like this less than 70 years ago, it is hard to understand why the UK is allowing itself to be overrun today. These people did not just rollover and accept servitude.

In many respects he is correct. It seems the erosion of our identity and the holes in our knowledge of history has a lot to do with our current woes, including the double-edged threat posed by Islam and mass immigration.

We have lost our will in the face of a brutal, implacable foe. Historically, those who lack the will to survive do not survive. Why should they?

GalliaWatch provided more food for thought on this subject.

Compare this, the speech given by Winston Churchill to Parliament on 4th June 1940 in which he promises that Britain will never surrender, to remarks by an ancient but until now forgotten enemy of Western Civilisation.

A brief transcript:

"Even though large parts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old."

Now, a quote taken from our oldest enemy and modern threat to freedom - Islam.

Sura (9:29) - Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya tax with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

The Islamic scripture:

"Our onslaught will not be a weak faltering affair. We shall fight as long as we live. We will fight until you turn to Islam, humbly seeking refuge. We will fight not caring whom we meet. We will fight whether we destroy ancient holdings or newly gotten gains. We have mutilated every opponent. We have driven them violently before us at the command of Allah and Islam. We will fight until our religion is established. And we will plunder them, for they must suffer disgrace."

Here is what Churchill, who fought in the Sudan, had to say about Islam:

“How dreadful are the curses which Islam lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.

A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.

No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.

Far from being moribund, Islam is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -the science against which it had vainly struggled -the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”

I suppose the message here is that freedom is not free. As we reflect on the events which occurred over 60 years ago, it might be pertinent to take stock of what is happening in our major cities today.

Anniversary of the D-Day Landings

Commemorations for those who died in and those who survived the D-Day landings, the largest invasion fleet the world has seen, have been going on since yesterday.

Yesterday British paratroops were honoured by a German Bundeswehr band and cheered by French veterans and civilians. These men were dropped ahead of the landing beaches a few hours before the main assault to capture bridges and neutralise concrete gun emplacements.

Of 750 men from 9 Para dropped to spike the gun batteries at Merville, just 150 actually reached the target, many of them wounded. They still managed to destroy the guns before they could decimate British forces landing on Sword Beach, however.

To honour them, men of the current Parachute Regiment did a jump, some from a Dakota of the era.

At midnight the men of the Ox and Bucks light infantry who landed by glider to capture the crucial Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal were commemorated.

This was followed by a huge firework display all along the 60 mile front of invasion beaches were so many British, Americans and Canadians lost their lives.

Over 17,000 Britons were killed during the invasion.

All week veterans of each nation have been honouring each other; taking flags and banners to war cemeteries to remember fallen comrades in moments of quiet reflection, interspersed with applause and tears from crowds of onlookers.

Some amazing stories have come to light; here is the tale of Charlie Truman, 91, whose life was saved by a framed photograph of his wife Joyce.

Grandfather Charlie Truman, now 91, survived a machine gun attack on the beaches of Normandy thanks purely to the silver-framed photograph.

He was one of 150,000 Allied troops who landed on the shores of Northern France on June 6 1944.

As a 26-year-old infantryman with the Suffolk Regiment, he was one of the first soldiers to brave shells and mines of German-occupied territory.

A mile inland from Sword beach, Charlie was mown down in a burst of machine gun fire as his company stormed a German stronghold with fixed bayonets.

But the bullet flying towards his chest was deflected by the silver frame holding a picture of his young wife Joyce - that Charlie had stashed next to his heart just hours before.

Speaking from his home in Crowland, Lincs., Charlie said luck and love had combined to save his life that day.

He said: 'I was darned if I wasn't going to have that picture of Joyce with me in the battle.

'The bullet hit a corner of the silver frame and deflected through the arm of my tunic. The doctors told me later that it definitely saved my life.

'It was only much later when I'd recovered that I saw the damage to the picture and realised I'd be dead if I hadn't been carrying it.'

Charlie and Joyce met and courted at local dances in Crowland before marrying on Christmas Day in 1940.

During the war Charlie carried a photo of Joyce with him in an envelope, but was given a silver frame to keep it in by a family he billeted with in Weymouth just before D-Day.

As the troops made their way across the Channel they were told to leave their packs in a heap on the boat.

But Charlie could not bear to risk losing his beloved photo, so on a last minute impulse tucked it in his tunic for safe keeping.

He said: 'There was no guarantee I would get my pack back. I don't remember being scared but I wanted Joyce with me.

'I didn't know that it was going to make the difference between life and death.'

The nine-inch by four-inch solid silver frame still bears the mark of where a tracer bullet aimed directly at Charlie's heart deflected off the metal and hit his arm instead.

Another bullet caught him in the lung but he was picked up by army medics and ferried back to the Royal Hospital Haslar in Portsmouth.

There he hovered between life and death and doctors sent five-months pregnant Joyce a telegram to say her husband was seriously ill and could die.

Charlie was even taken off resuscitation and read the last rites, before the thought of his unborn child pulled him through.

In hospital, he showed Joyce his photo and it was only then that the couple realised the bullet-scared frame had saved his life.

They went on to spend 61 years of married life and have two daughters together before Joyce's death in 2001.

The frame now sits in pride of place in the regiment's official museum in Bury St Edmunds in honour of her memory.

Colonel Tony Slater of the Royal Anglian Regiment, which was created in 1964 after the Suffolk and Norfolk regiments merged, said Charlie's story was incredible.

He said: 'It is a fantastic bit of history and another important part of the story of the Suffolk regiment.

'When they landed on D-Day their objective was to take a hill three miles inland, codenamed Hillman after the car, going uphill in the open air towards heavily fortified Germans.

'What started with Charlie Truman being wounded and the luck of the photo frame saving him went through to extraordinary acts of bravery by many of his comrades that day.

'The regiment was in the thick of heavy fighting in Normandy and Charlie was one of the lucky ones.'

Colonel Slater said of the 650-strong battalion that landed on D-Day around 120 were killed and three of four times that many were injured.

He added: 'It is incredible talking to these men who survived how much was down to pure luck.

'It was a case of the man standing 10 yards away got hit by a bullet and they did not. There was no rhyme or reason to it.'

Five D-Day veterans and 91 serving members of the Royal Anglian will attend a ceremony on Hillman hill in Normandy tomorrow to commemorate those who died.

Frail Charlie, who suffers poor eyesight, will visit Crowland war memorial and mark the day in the company of fellow veterans.

For me, this sums up everything. A hundred thousand individual stories locked together to make history. It is surprising just how much is down to luck and chance.

God bless, Charlie, and God bless each and every one of those men who fought for freedom that day - especially those who paid the ultimate price and didn't come back to tell their tale.

Forced Conversions and Radicalisation in Bulgaria

Bulgaria fell under the Islamic yoke in 1393, and it wasn't free of Ottoman and Muslim influence in any meaningful sense until the late 19th Century.

Here is an account from Wikipedia:

In 1393, the Ottomans captured Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, after a three-month siege. In 1396, the Vidin Tsardom fell after the defeat of a Christian crusade at the Battle of Nicopolis. With this, the Ottomans finally subjugated and occupied Bulgaria.^[29][30][31] A Polish-Hungarian crusade commanded by Władysław III of Poland set out to free the Balkans in 1444, but the Turks defeated it in the battle of Varna.

Some accounts of the five centuries of Ottoman rule highlight its violence and oppression. The Ottomans decimated the Bulgarian population, which lost most of its cultural relics. Turkish authorities destroyed most of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses in order to prevent rebellions. Large towns and the areas where Ottoman power predominated remained severely depopulated until the 19th century.^[9]

The new authorities dismantled Bulgarian institutions at anything above the village or communal level, and merged the separate Bulgarian Church into the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, although a small, autocephalous Bulgarian archbishopric of Ohrid survived until January 1767.

Bulgarians in the Ottoman empire had to endure a number of disabilities; they paid more taxes than Muslims, they lacked legal equality with Muslims, they could not carry arms, their clothes could not rival those of Muslims in color, nor could their churches tower as high as mosques.^[32] Bulgarians who converted to Islam, the Pomaks, retained Bulgarian language, dress and some customs compatible with Islam.^[30][31]

Well, it seems that despite Bulgaria's membership of the European Union, Muslim influence is again on the march - but this time the threat isn't from Turks but Saudi Wahabists.

Here is an article by a Bulgarian MP which tells of the situation in some of Bulgaria's southern villages:

Despite Bulgaria's European Union membership, some regions of the country need a second liberation from Ottoman yoke, the Bulgarian Member of the Parliament (MP), Yane Yanev, stated, cited by the Bulgarian news agency, BGNES.

Yanev, who is the leader of the opposition "Order, Law, Justice" Party (RZS) spoke Monday in Blagoevgrad as reported by the local BGNES correspondent.

The leaders of RZS visited Monday several villages in Southern Bulgaria to meet with alarmed teachers and parents, who have presented concrete evidence of the imposed conversion to fundamentalist Islam in the region.

The example of the village of Ribnovo, in the Gurmen municipality, has been presented as the most striking one. In Ribnovo, the school principal, Feim Issa, had imposed full dictatorship on the teaching staff, forcing them to wear traditional Muslim clothes, and encouraging female student to the same. Issa has been illegally appointed as principal with help of the local mosque's leaders and is actively supporting the religion teacher at the school, Murat Boshnak.

Boshnak is, reportedly, an individual with suspicious past and unclear educational background. He is not holding even a Bulgarian high school diploma, but has graduated from a religious school in Skopje, Macedonia. Ribnovo residents allege that Boshnak has specialized in Saudi Arabia and is forcefully making parents to sign requests for their children to study the Islam. He is also demanding that children address him as "aga' instead of "gospodin" (Mister), had prohibited girls from attending the last prom in civil attire and issued a ban on celebrations.

Boshnak later organized a trip to Turkey with funds from an Arab foundation. Only one girl had attended the prom. Parents, who refuse to follow the fundamentalist rules, are being cursed during services in the local mosque.

Yanev had established similar examples in the village of Satovcha, where the school principal regularly attended classes in radical Islamism in an illegal local fundamentalist school. The principal was currently on maternity leave and, in order to keep the school under control, had appointed her own husband to replace her.

The residents of the villages visited by Yanev are not Turks; they are all Bulgarian-Muslims, speaking only Bulgarian language.

The RZS leader stated he was appalled by the extreme violations of the rights and freedoms of Bulgarian citizens, embedded in the Constitution. RZS distributed to the media video postcards, showing how radical Islam is quickly taking roots in the country, under the courteous watch of the ruling tri-party Coalition.

Yanev and his colleague Dimitar Abadzhiev vowed to signal the State Agency for National Security (DANS) about the citizens' rights violations in the region, which, they say, are sabotaging European values and leading the way of Islam in Europe.

I think this situation makes a very important point; once Islamic influence is entrenched, it does not die.

If Bulgaria, with just over 12% of its population Muslim, is a bridgehead for Islam in Europe, then what of Turkey and its aspirations to join the EU?

More importantly, what about the fact that Muslim Albania has already applied to join, and this was not really covered in any great depth by the media?

The future of Europe has the potential to be bleak as things stand, without inviting these Trojan horses to join.

VE Day

According to the Mail, when French President Nicholas Sarkozy gave a speech yesterday to commemorate the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny and the unconditional surrender of Hitler's forces, he made not one mention of Britain's sacrifices during the conflict, despite lavishing praise on US forces.

I would like to pay tribute to all those who contributed to Europe's freedom; Britain, the US, but also those who so often get overlooked - troops from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Rhodesia (all of whom were represented in the Battle of Britain at least); Canada; the free Poles, the free French and the free Dutch.

I think it is quite clear to see that Nicholas Sarkozy is not a man who knows a lot about, or at least interprets very much from history.

Statue of Sir Keith Park Deemed 'Too Traditional' for Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth has been empty since it was constructed in 1841.

In the mid-90s, someone came up with the bright idea of using it to showcase contemporary art, and some pretty hideous concoctions ensued; there was a statue of a pregnant, naked disabled woman, a plastic cast of the plinth placed on top in a kind of mirror image, and a strange model of a tree with its roots wrapped around the plinth.

The next bright idea has seen members of the public apply for the privilege of waiting in a queue and taking it in turns to stand on the plinth for an hour in the pose of their choice.

Is this nonsense really becoming of Trafalgar Square, built to commemorate one of Britain's greatest naval victories?

Not really.

But planning officials at Westminster Council disagree. They claim that the 'provocative art' is actually the highlight of the square, and the rest is quite boring. They said as much when they turned down a proposal to place a statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, head of Fighter Command over South East England and London during the Second World War, on the fourth plinth, saying it was 'too traditional' and would 'clash' with the other rubbish they already have planned.

New Zealander Sir Keith is the man whose strategic genius is credited with winning the Battle of Britain. The vanquished Germans called him 'the defender of London'.

It seems even helping to defeat Hitler doesn't buy you much favour with the trendies these days.

Sir Keith is exactly the sort of man who should be standing in Trafalgar Square. He was an air ace in the First World War, but also fought as an ordinary combat soldier. Here is a brief run down of his extraordinary life and service to this country:

Sir Keith, a New Zealander, fought in the First World War as an artillery man at Gallipoli and the Somme.

On 21 October 1916, Park was blown off his horse by a German shell. Wounded, he was evacuated to England and graded 'unfit for active service'.

In 1940 he was made Air Vice Chief Marshal in charge of RAF 11 Group Fighter Command, responsible for fighter defence of London and the South East.

During the Second World War, the Germans called him 'the Defender of London'.
After the aerial battle was won he served in Egypt, Malta and south-east Asia. He died in 1975, aged 82.

RAF pilot Douglas Bader, who fought in the Battle of Britain, said that 'the awesome responsibility for this country’s survival rested squarely on Keith Park’s shoulders'.

He also found time to fly around Britain in 1919, an age when air travel was still in its infancy.

The mealy mouthed bureaucrats at Westminster Council will find space in Waterloo Gardens at St. James's for Sir Keith's statue, and will place him so he appears to be gazing east, eternally scanning the sky for enemy aircraft.

Despite Sir Keith's heroism and contribution to the war effort, he is not widely known in Britain.

One of the commenters on the article opines:

I'd much rather see modern art then ANOTHER statue of some war hero. There are too many of these around.
- Harry, London, 5/5/2009 17:05

There's gratitude, eh?

We all ought to be thankful that back then duty counted and there were 'so many' around willing to sacrifice everything to defend this country and what it stood for.

A Past Perspective on Piracy

With the news over the weekend that Israeli security guards defending an Italian cruise ship with over 1,500 people on board had driven off a group of Somali pirates who attacked the vessel, it seemed interesting that Monday was the anniversary of the Battle of Derna in 1805, in which the US flag was raised in victory on foreign soil for the first time.

This was the culmination of the First Barbary War, fought by the fledgling United States against the Barbary pirates.

The Barbary pirates were feared throughout Western Christendom; they generally seized ships and their crews and demanded ransoms, but they also carried out slave raids along European coastlines. Some historians believe that up to 1.25 million European Christians were carried into slavery in these raids - some from as far north as England and Iceland.

The Barbary states demanded tributes from nations that wished to be safe from these attacks by signing a peace treaty.

The war can be largely attributed to the tenacity of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; they saw the fact that the US Congress had budgeted for tribute to the Barbary states as a matter of dishonour.

In their roles as ambassadors to Britain and France respectively, they sought out the reasons why a people which they had not harmed sought 'to do them injury'.

Here is the answer they received:

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied:

It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. [2] [3]

Sound familiar? For all who say that the Somali pirate problem is all about poverty and lack of opportunity, or Somali resentment of the West, they need only click on the Wikipedia link above to think about an alternative perspective.

The situations are remarkably similar. For more detail, I refer you to this excellent video from Occidental Soapbox, in which he examines Leftist excuses for the 9/11 attacks and why many Muslims hate the West and wish it great harm.

In response to this, he asks: why did they hate us in 1783? Why did they attack Americans, kill and enslave them, a mere seven years after the Declaration of Independence? Nearly two centuries before modern Israel existed? Before Reagan bombed Libya, Bush Iraq, and all the other excuses used for Muslim violence and grievances against the free world.

These questions are more pertinent today than they have been at any point since the Barbary War - yet many don't even know that such an event occurred, let alone why.

You would think with the danger we face, it would be taught in every school - but then that might be racist rather than tolerant.

Best to just pretend it's not happening - which seems to be the modern West's solution to everything else.

J. G. Ballard 1930 - 2009

The British fantasy writer James Graham Ballard died on 19th April at the age of 78.

His unique and often controversial work coined the term 'Ballardian', such was its impact and originality.

Among his most famous works is the novel 'Empire of the Sun', a fictional work which draws heavily on his own experiences as a civilian internee of the Japanese military during the Second World War.

Born in Shanghai's International Settlement, he was 13 when the Japanese invaded and his family were sent to Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre.

Japanese war crimes and brutality during that period are fairly well-documented, particularly regarding Chinese civilians and Western POWs. However, it is not widely known in the West that over 200,000 Western civilians, mainly Dutch, British, American and Australian were captured and interned by the Japanese for the duration of the war.

Many suffered terrible abuses, and there were summary executions, widespread starvation and mistreatment and even cases of Dutch and Australian women forced into prostitution for Japanese soldiers.

In 2008 Ballard released his memoirs of this period, and they are well worth the read. The Mail published a serialisation on Saturday.

Ballard recounts how he knew something of the horrors which were happening around him, but being very imaginative and being a child gave him some much needed escape; he started ff in awe of the Japanese, particularly the pilots, but found a new fixation when American Mustang pilots would fly low over the camp on their way to bombing raids.

He managed to take mainly positive experiences from his ordeal, and treated the internment as a bit of an adventure. It must have had profound effects deep down, however, because much of his fiction was filled with themes such as the misery of modernity and the limits of the human mind.

Here is an extract:

Looking back, it puzzles me that my parents decided to stay in Shanghai when they must have known that war was imminent.
But the cotton works were my father's responsibility and duty then counted for something.

In March 1943, my parents, four-year- old sister and I were interned with other foreign civilians at Lunghua camp, a former teacher training college outside Shanghai, where we remained until the end of August 1945.

Our assembly point was the city's American Club. There we found a huge press of people, mostly British, sitting with their suitcases around the swimming pool, many of the women in their fur coats.

Some of the men carried nothing apart from the clothes they were wearing, confident that the war would be over within days. Others had strapped tennis rackets, cricket bats and fishing rods to their luggage. Together we waited at the tables where Americans had once sipped their bourbons.

Then we were taken to Lunghua, my last real childhood home, where I would spend the next two-and-a-half largely happy years.

Many found his work controversial; he is best known for 'Crash' a novel about the sexual fetishism derived by a couple from car crashes.

However, many of his lesser known works were truly great works of fiction, despite their often eerie detachment from all known reality.

Ballard was not only a great writer who will be sadly missed, but a member of the dwindling group of people who remember a Britain before what we have now, who knew there was worse than the 'evils' of Western civilisation - because they had the misfortune to experience it first hand.

Rest in peace.

ANZAC Day

I would like to pay tribute to the many brave Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died for the British Empire & Commonwealth.

Today is the anniversary of the 1915 Gallipoli landings, in which countless young men were slaughtered at ANZAC cove, and also at the British landing sites.

Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

With thanks to MKS and Koalsa69.

When the Strands of History Merge: Holocaust Memorial Day, Hitler & Ahmadinejad

Today is a national day of mourning in Israel as the Holocaust, the slaughter of Jews and others perpetuated by the Nazi regime is remembered, those who died commemorated.

There are many lessons for the modern world to be found in the suffering those people endured, the way some overcame all the odds to survive and many others were simply not so fortunate.

It seems that these lessons are never heeded until it is too late, however; how ironic that on this day, which is also Adolf Hitler's birthday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed to Switzerland by the Swiss premier and allowed to address a UN conference on 'anti-racism' in Geneva.

Many important states chose to boycott the conference; sadly, the United Kingdom was not among them.

Much was made of the fact that when Ahmadinejad began to spread his poison and outright lies about the Israeli government at the podium, several diplomats walked out, including the British ambassador to the UN.

They should not have been there in the first place, however; Ahmadinejad is a notorious anti-semite. He calls the Holocaust 'a myth', and has called for the state of Israel to be wiped off the map. What were the diplomats who attended expecting him to say?

It was fairly obvious that this run up to Durban II and Durban II itself will be an outlet for undue criticism of Israel, whilst ignoring the sins of any Muslim state. That is exactly what happened last time, and it is why many civilised nations are boycotting the conference this time, and showing it up for the joke it is.

Allowing Ahmadinejad to speak goes beyond a joke - even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon admitted that he used his speech to 'divide' and 'incite'. I'll ask again - what did he expect?

Many states have tried to reaffirm the spirit of the earlier conference; this means that Islam will be placed beyond criticism on the pretext of protecting religions from 'defamation', and the crimes of Muslim and other regimes will be ignored in favour of spewing obsessional hatred about Israel.

Here's what Ahmadinejad said:

'Following World War II they resorted to military aggressions to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering.

'And they sent migrants from Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine.

'And in fact, in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.'

He then went on to call Israel a 'cruel and repressive racist regime'.

Obviously his own treatment of Kurds, Jews and other ethnic and religious minorities, not to mention women, simply does not matter; all of our focus should be on Israel, the only free nation in the Middle East.

As this nonsense becomes increasingly mainstream and dangerous, the words of Shimon Peres on Holocaust Memorial Day ring true:

"Nazism was defeated, but anti-Semitism is still alive. The gas has evaporated, but the poison remains."

Quite. Whilst Islam is immune from the criticism it constantly issues to everyone else, it always will remain - the UN should be fighting its attempts to silence the free world, not aiding and abetting.

As Burmese dissident Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said: “Please use your liberty to promote ours”

That is the founding ideal of the UN, and it is sad to see how far it has deviated from it.

Watch the rest of Ahmadinejad's speech, along with demonstrators dressed as clowns and wildly applauding Arab diplomats, here:

Spain Must Apologise for its History

It emerged on 9th April 2009 that the descendants of the Moors, the Muslims who invaded and conquered the Iberian Peninsula, want an apology from the Spanish government for the expulsion of the 'Moriscos'.

Moriscos were part-Muslim citizens who generally converted to Christianity after the reconquista.

Spanish Muslims are agitating for the apology, billing the Spanish Inquisition's move against 'anti-Christian' influences as Europe's first case of ethnic cleansing against Muslims.

All this is very telling.

Because the elephant in the room is this; if the descendants of those who drove out the Moors must apologise to the descendants of the Moors for asserting their independence, then why should the latter not apologise to the former for invading, colonising and subjugating them for the best part of 700 years?

Can you imagine if the families of British soldiers and colonial officials killed by the Mau-Mau demanded an apology from the Kenyan government?

There would be mirth in many quarters, but also outrage at their tenacity.

Because the world doesn't work like that, does it? Only White, Christian Westerners can ever be guilty.

Of course, apologists for Islam will launch into a lecture about how Al-Andalus represented the pinnacle of Islamic and European civilisation at that time; it had art, culture, a thriving Jewish community etc etc etc.

But the fact is, it also had Dhimmis, Jizya, and blood taxes. It had a form of Devsirme, enslaving Christian boys for the Muslim army, and also a system whereby the independent Christian provinces in the north had to deliver a certain number of virgins for the harems as a form of tribute.

Are these the hallmarks of an enlightened society? If this is indeed one of the most enlightened Muslim societies which has ever existed, does that not indeed tell us something?

If the enlightened aspects alone atone for the sins, then why is the same not true of Western colonialism?

Do our gifts of art, literature, music, civil service and government institutions, democracy, secular law before which all are equal, technology, medicine, education not allow us to be forgiven for the stains on our record?

Well, no - in fact, they not only don't allow us to be forgiven, but they don't even deem to prevent us from becoming a despised and hunted minority in our own lands.

In some senses, I don't blame these Spanish Muslims; they are simply taking advantage of a system we created, whereby people of all kinds and cultures are given respect where it has not been earned. Unfortunately for us, that is a Muslim specialty.

For if an apology is forthcoming, aren't there quite a few people that representatives of Islam should be apologising to? They are asking people to regret a normal part of history. As KGS at Tundra Tabloids put it:

Remember folks, wars, expulsions and domination of the other have happened throughout the history of the world, but yet it's only the Muslims who want to remember only what "the others" have done, never what they themselves have inflicted upon the Non-Muslim world.

Exactly.

Here is the full story from the Times:

It was the start of one of the earliest and most brutal episodes of ethnic cleansing in Europe, so Spain is, understandably perhaps, a little reluctant to mark the occasion.

Four hundred years ago today King Philip III signed an order to expel 300,000 Moriscos - or part-Muslims - who had converted from Islam to Christianity.

Over the next five years hundreds of the exiles died as they were forced from their homes in Spain to North Africa at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.

There are no plans to mark the date officially, although the occasion is being remembered in a series of exhibitions, conferences and public debates.

The anniversary comes days after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, met Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, in Istanbul to celebrate the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations, which is intended to foster friendship between the West and the Islamic world.

Some Muslim writers and Spanish and Moroccan campaigners believe that Madrid should apologise for the wrongs committed during the 17th century. Juan Goytisolo, a Spanish novelist, said:

“Official and academic Spain retires into the fortress of cautious silence, which reveals obvious discomfort. The expulsion was the first European precedent ... of the European ethnic cleansings of the last century.”

The anniversary highlights once again the uneasy relationship which exists between modern-day Spain and its Moorish, or Muslim, past. Muslims conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century after arriving from North Africa but, centuries later, their armies were finally expelled in 1492 after the victory of the Catholic monarchs King Ferdinand of Castile and Queen Isabella of Aragon.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims who remained in Spain were forced to convert to Christianity, but many continued with their Muslim names and ways of life, defying all attempts to create a Catholic state.

After military losses to the Protestant Dutch, King Philip signed a decree on April 9, 1609, to expel these reluctant converts, in a move he hoped would strengthen his kingdom.

Historians record the brutal conditions in which many hundreds were killed during the forced resettlement in North Africa over the next five years and Spanish society was, in fact, weakened economically and politically as a result - particularly in areas such as Valencia and Aragon, where the majority of the Muslim converts had lived.

Historians and writers have urged the Government to use the anniversary of the event to make overtures to the Islamic world. José Manuel Fajardo, a Spanish writer, said: “Mr Zapatero has an opportunity to transform one of the most tragic episodes in the history of Spain into an opportunity for a re-encounter between the West and Islam.”

However, a spokesman for the Government said: “There are no plans to mark the anniversary.”

The defeat of the Moors in 1492 and the expulsion of the Moriscos from 17th-century Spain has become a politically sensitive subject, with Osama bin Laden referring to it in repeated calls for the restoration of al-Andalus, the former Muslim kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula.

Ah yes, 'friendship between civilisations', 'respect'. These words are clearly meaningless, though - because all such concepts have to be mutual, and they're clearly not. You'll notice also that it does not mention apologising to the Jews who were also driven out, despite their obvious respect for everyone else on the planet.

Does the Muslim world seriously think it has nothing to apologise for?

Ultimately it seems the Muslim world has a sort of merged superiority and inferiority complex - on the one hand they're noble warriors spreading enlightenment at the point of their swords, but on the other they're history's eternal victims, unfairly picked on by everyone around them.

Does the author of the article serious think Osama bin Laden will be satisfied with an apology? If anything, it will embolden such characters, by showing them just how weak and ashamed to exist the modern West has become.

Fjordman Fights False History

Over at Gates of Vienna the noted Norwegian blogger Fjordman has published a review of two books which distort the extent to which Western Civilisation and its scientific advancements owe a debt to Arab Muslim scholarship.

Below is an excerpt:

Stephen O’Shea of The Los Angeles Times has reviewed the book The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization by Jonathan Lyons. I will publish a longer and more thorough rebuttal of this book at some point in April, either at Jihad Watch or at Atlas Shrugs. I will publish a review of John Freely’s related book Aladdin’s Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World next week at The Brussels Journal.

I have read both of them, and Freely’s book is the best of the two, or the least bad, since he at a minimum has some understanding of the history of science, which Mr. Lyons in my view does not. That doesn’t mean that I would recommend buying his book; there are better and more balanced titles available on the market. Stephen O’Shea in his very positive review claims that “Dust will never gather on Jonathan Lyons’ lively new book of medieval history.” I strongly disagree. I consider The House of Wisdom to be a bad case of poor scholarship.

Lyons’ book is 200 pages long, Freely’s Aladdin’s Lamp 255 pages. Neither of them mentions the terms ‘Jihad’ or ‘dhimmi’ even once in their books about Islamic culture. This says a great deal about the current intellectual climate. I didn’t notice these words while reading the books and they are not listed in the indexes. The authors certainly don’t devote much time to debating the violent aspects of Islamic expansionism through the Islamically unique institution of Jihad, or the fates of the conquered peoples. Is it a coincidence that whatever useful work that was done in the Islamic world happened during the first centuries of the Islamic era, while there were still large numbers of non-Muslims living in the region? We don’t know because the question is never debated by these authors, but it deserves to be.

It's an excellent read - head over there to read the rest.

The Great Escape

In March 1944, 'Harry', one of the many tunnels built by interred Allied airmen in Stalag Luft III in Żagań, Poland was completed satisfactorily. The events that followed, by all measures courageous and tragic, would become the stuff of legend - spawning the film 'The Great Escape'.

Many of the US airmen who helped to build the tunnel were transferred just before it was considered safe, so on the evening of 24th March 1944 - a moonless night, therefore considered most desirable - 76 men managed to escape from German captivity, many of them all too briefly.

The tunnel came up short of the pine forest it was supposed to lead into, but 76 prisoners managed to go through it and emerge outside the camp before the 77th man was spotted by a guard and stopped at 5 am on 25th March.

The 76 men who escaped comprised 21 British, 6 Canadians, 6 Poles, 5 Australians, 3 South Africans, 2 Dutchmen, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Norwegians, a Belgian, a Greek, a Lithuanian, a Czech and a Frenchman.

Of these men, 73 were recaptured; the only ones to reach Allied territory and safety were the 2 Norwegians, Per Bergsland and Jens Müller, and one of the Dutchmen, Bram van der Stok.

It is said that Hitler initially ordered all of the 73 men who were found shot, but relented under pressure from Goering. As it was, 50 were still murdered, selected by General Artur Nebe.

17 of the survivors were sent back to Stalag Luft III, 2 to another PoW camp, whilst 4 were sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to be worked to death. However, they managed to escape again, tunneling past double electric-fences, razor wire and specially trained guards, although they were recaptured.

They included Sydney Dowse, who died in April 2008 and 'Jimmy' James, who died in January 2008.

A small ceremony took place earlier at the site of the camp, in memory of the brave men who died.

These men and thousands like them encapsulate the spirit of this country, its history and our civilisation. They refused to give up their status as free men and submit to tyranny, no matter what the personal cost.

May they rest in peace.

When the Strands of History Come Together

Glancing at Wikipedia's 'on this day' section, I notice four events occurred which at first seem quite separate from each other, but actually have a strong relationship if not to each other, then to the modern world.

On 23rd March 1775 Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give me death," speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses. This speech is credited with convincing said house to commit troops to the American Revolution.

On 23rd March 1933 the German Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which effectively gave Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers over Germany by ensuring any decisions he made could bypass the Reichstag.

On 23rd March 1940 the Muslim League drafted the Lahore Resolution, calling for greater autonomy in British India.

On 23rd March 2007 Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 Royal Navy personnel and imprisoned them for 12 days.

All of these events still seem relevant when you look at current affairs. In the first we see a patriot lamenting the state of his nation and the treatment of his countrymen by what he sees as a tyrannical force completely out of touch with the populace and its customs - Geert Wilders, anyone?

The analogy is far from perfect and obviously they have some completely different goals, but the similarity is there - both free-born men who wish to decide their own fate, not be at the behest of outside forces or traitors in their own land.

As for the Enabling Act in 1933 - there are many chilling similarities between this law and the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004, a New Labour nonsense foisted on the British people for use in an 'emergency'. We also have the Terrorism Act and the ID Cards Act.

The political Left spend much time discussing the rise of the 'far-Right' and how Europe should have learned its lessons from fascism the first time around, but another thing people should have learned is giving the government, any government, unlimited power is a terrible and potentially tragic error.

Even if one see the current British Government as benign, which I do not, there is no telling what the government of tomorrow will be like. The Civil Contingencies Act basically allows the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to bypass Parliament on a range of issues, temporarily suspending any Act of Parliament but the Human Rights Act 1998 (naturally, the least useful piece of legislation must remain).

This includes suspending the right to trial by jury, and taking on powers nominally reserved for the Sovereign such as suspending Parliament or even suspending elections. It also includes all of our ancient freedoms and liberties, generally found in the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 and the Bill of Rights 1689. Of course, these are the rights which our soldiers are dying to spread to far-off deserts.

As for the other two events - to me they encompass the idea that nearly 70 years apart, Muslims are still trying to blackmail the West to get their way through violence.

Of course, the British and the Hindus and Sikhs were far from blameless during the partition of India, but the demands made by the Muslim League are largely responsible for the ongoing insurgency in Kashmir, and the belief of many Pakistanis that more of India belongs to them than is contained within Pakistan's borders (that and, of course, India's large Muslim population).

Perhaps not explicitly, but like all ideas of Islamic supremacy masquerading as civil rights, it's there in the background.

That leads us neatly on to the incident in 2007. At that point, we were probably almost at war with Iran due to groups they backed, armed and funded being responsible for many British deaths in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, they had to add insult to injury - from Wikipedia:

Iranian military personnel seized 15 Royal Navy personnel during 2007 and held them for 12 days. On 23 March 2007, 15 British Royal Navy personnel, from HMS Cornwall, were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and were subsequently detained off the Iraq-Iran coast. In the course of events, the British forces claimed that the boat was in Iraqi waters, but the Iranian side insisted that they were in Iran's territorial waters. A year later a British investigation report[1] was released which stated that the area in which the incident took place was not covered by any formal agreement between Iran and Iraq.[2][3] The 15 personnel were released on 4 April 2007.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unexpectedly announced the release of the captives halfway through a long press conference on the afternoon of 4 April 2007.[99][100]

"On the occasion of the birthday of the great prophet, and for the occasion of the passing of Christ, I say the Islamic Republic government and the Iranian people — with all powers and legal right to put the soldiers on trial — forgave those 15. This pardon is a gift to the British people."[20] When returned to the UK the group claimed to have been put under "constant psychological pressure" from the Iranian authorities.[21] In addition, British equipment including secure voice communication kit and navigational hardware has not been reported as being returned.

Ahmadinejad reiterated the statement that Iranian waters had been breached, and he praised the border guards who detained the British personnel. Abolqassem Amangah, commander of Iran's southwestern Maritime Border Patrol Guard was awarded the third degree medal of bravery for stopping the sailors. Ahmadinejad also criticized the British government for sending the mother of a child to the battlefield, and asked the government "not to prosecute them for their confessions." The release was announced after the British government supposedly sent a letter of apology to the Iranian government, accepting the breaching of their border, the illegal insertion of military units in Iran and the promise that Iranian territory would never be violated again. However, the British government denies that such a letter exists, and says that the release was performed without any agreement from both sides.[101]

After the conference, the Britons met Ahmadinejad outside the presidential palace, where they reportedly showed their appreciation for their release.[70][102] Later Tony Blair said he was glad and stated that he "bears Iranian people no ill will."[103] They were released on 5 April 2007.[104] Whilst in Iran one of the sailors stated that when interviewed by British media at home, he would say nothing different than comments he has made in Iran about being well treated by the authorities. "I would not say anything different to here and I will be completely truthful. I will definitely promote Iran actually; there is a lot of ignorance in the UK about Iran and the people".[105]

The release was presented to suggest that it was an Easter "gift" to the British people; to this end the captives were not released to British consular officials but placed directly aboard British Airways flight BA6634 (flown by franchisee British Mediterranean Airways using Airbus A321 G-MEDL), a direct flight to the UK, on the morning of 5 April 2007,[106] landing at about 12 noon local time.[107] They were given gifts of CDs, Persian candies, pistachio nuts, books, vases and handicrafts by the Iranians. After a briefing on board at London Heathrow, the press were allowed a short photographic opportunity, before the personnel were flown directly to Royal Marines Base Chivenor in north Devon by two Royal Navy Westland Sea King helicopters for medical checkups, a full debriefing and meeting with their families.[107]'

An extraordinary incident, a classic example of Islamist attempts to blackmail free nations. However, I don't fee our own version of the Enabling Act did anything to prevent this, and it won't the next time it happens, even if it occurs on our own soil.

It will just gradually erode the differences between free countries and those that aren't lucky enough to be free.

On balance, I think this is one of the many, many reasons why I prefer Geert Wilders to George Galloway.

A Lament for England

With thanks to Rob Atkinson:


Goodbye to my England, So long my old friend

Your days are numbered, being brought to an end

To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh that's fine

But don't say you're English, that's way out of line.


The French and the Germans may call themselves such

As may Norwegians, the Swedes and the Dutch

You can say you are Russian or maybe a Dane

But don't say you're English ever again.


At Broadcasting House the word is taboo

In Brussels it's Scrapped, in Parliament too

Even schools are affected, staff do as they're told

They must not teach children about England of old.


Writers like Shakespeare, Milton and Shaw

The pupils do not learn about them anymore

How about Agincourt, Hastings , Arnhem or Mons

When England lost hosts of her very brave sons.


We are not Europeans, how can we be?

Europe is miles away over the sea

We're the English from England, let's all be proud

Stand up and be counted - Shout it out loud.


Let's tell our Government and Brussels too

We're proud of our heritage and the Red, White and Blue

Fly the flag of Saint George or the Union Jack

Let the world know - we want OUR ENGLAND BACK!!!!


A fine sentiment.

However, all is not lost. After militant Islamists disguised as anti-war protesters disrupted a homecoming parade for British soldiers, several other parades went ahead with huge crowds supporting the troops and not a word of dissent, politically correct or otherwise. Here you can see 150 troops from 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) marching through Derby.

With thanks to regular contributor Dr. D for putting me on to this video:

The Alamo

On this day in 1836, the Texian defenders of the Alamo were overwhelmed by the third wave of Santa Anna's Mexican forces, having defeated the previous two attacks and inflicted heavy casualties.

My paternal Grandfather is a big fan of all things 'western', and I grew up with the story of these free men and their heroic stand to remain so on the land they'd built and cultivated as a symbol of that special magic that makes America.

Is is estimated that during the siege (which began on 23rd February) the Texians, largely volunteers, managed to inflict 400-600 casualties on the Mexican Army. High end estimates state 257 of the 260 men in the Alamo mission were killed.

I see these men as heroes and salute their courage, and I feel their story and the Texas Revolution in general contains many valuable lessons for the modern world.

I suppose time will tell if it is folly to compare the ambitions of these men with the ambitions of those currently colonising the south-western United States and the Western World in general; but you would think with examples like this, we would be able to learn that massive population changes do matter and can have far-reaching consequences.

Still, politics aside, I would like this post to be a tribute to the brave men who died in one of the great battles of later Western Civilisation, and what they achieved - their families becoming free as part of America.