Extreme Nationalism
Thoroughly English Experience
Whilst Sat in the grounds of a cathedral enjoying a well known brand of Italian coffee and a lemon tart soaking up the late summer Sun one can’t help basking in the full and ancient English experience. (with Italian coffee).
In many religious spaces there are avenues of tree lined paths casting dappled shade, benches for the weary walker or deep thinker to sit. It is not uncommon to see a war memorial and in the current mass remembrance of the Battle of Britain the patriotic fervour inevitably intensifies.
Unlike many articles concerning Englishness this is not repeating the “what did they fight for?” or “what was the point of the world wars?” These are well documented elsewhere.
In a bizarre moment of caffeine and sugar fuelled mental aberration, an unfortunate thought came to mind concerning some extremists.
There are a great many people who are very vocal on their beliefs and wishes for people of foreign decent or foreigners to be expelled from the UK.
Their passion for the maintenance of a purely English England, Welsh Wales and Scottish Scotland (Ireland’s case is a little less clear) is absolute. It is fanatic to the point of blind religious faith and so its contemplation in a cathedral close is probably appropriate.
Of the two world wars, the second was by far the fiercest attack on public liberty. People were taken away and executed for religious belief, race or even racial appearance, sexual orientation and the odd crime here and there. The Nazi purist system was applied with full vigour, no exceptions.
Had they succeeded there would be a single nation, purebred with no foreign people in the main society. Foreigners would have been used for slave labour, living in concentration/extermination camps.
This sounds very much like the ideal those national front parties are trying to pursue and of course the ultimate irony is that had it been achieved as a result of either world war, we would all be speaking German and of course the idea of Englishness, Welshness or Scottishness would be routed out.
Although the extreme of Nazi style thinking was trying to unite nations through war and conquer it ultimately failed because those unloyal subjects were set against living in a fascist dictatorship and ultimately overcame it.
Where then would the national frontiers go, how can they enforce their doctrine on a country where a growing proportion of its populace are indeed of foreign decent yet they are as British as the next person and by the same entitlement as English people, that of birth.
It seems then that the change they are fighting for is as unattainable as it is unpopular.
As it is Sunday at the time of writing, one can’t help but wonder how many people are now settling down to ‘Antiques Roadshow’ with a cup of tea and that extra slice of apple pie left over from the Sunday lunch.
