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Looking at the UK, why do the Celts always appear to be more passionately patriotic than the English?
Genetically, the Welsh are scarcely any more ‘Celtic’ than the English. Throughout Britain, among people of longstanding British ancestry, Celtic and pre-Celtic genes are predominant. What happened in England is that the Angle and Saxon invaders are thought to have imposed their rule and culture on the ‘Celts’, including the replacement of the Britonic language (old Welsh) with old Frisian, which developed into English. But like many colonialists, the Saxons, Angles, Danes and even the Romans before them, didn’t interbreed with the indigenous people all that much, so they didn’t add much to the gene pool.
Before the arrival of genetic science, it was believed that the Angles and Saxons had ethnically cleansed what became ‘Angle-land’ of its Celtic people, who had either been forced to flee to Wales and Cornwall or had been killed. So the discovery that Celtic and pre-Celtic genes are similarly distributed throughout Britain came as a bit of a surprise.
The only thing that differentiates the Welsh from the English is the language, which is spoken by a minority of the population. It is a remnant of the language that was once spoken throughout England and lowland Scotland. Cornish is a language closely related to Welsh (but uses the letters ‘k’ , ‘v’ and ‘z’, which Welsh doesn’t) and a form of Welsh was spoken in the Lake District until about 400 years ago – hence place names like Helvellyn, Blencathra, Penrith. Even the word ‘Cumbria’ itself has the same origin as Cymru (pronounced ‘Cumry’)
Anyway, my ancestry is English, Welsh and Irish. My patriotism is to the British Isles as a whole, to the land, to our islands, to all our people. My slogan is ‘British, not English’.
Who’s to say? Some sex offenders might pose a risk for the rest of their lives, others might not. And some people who’ve had a completely clean record might become a sex offender in middle age.
The tipping point was when the flower arranging ladies at Gloucester Cathedral were made to do CRB checks and some resigned because they thought it was stupid. Now this government is scaling down the system to a more sensible level – one of the few good things it’s done.
What’s ironic is that someone had to be CRB checked if they were regularly driving other peoples’ kids around, and yet there were no checks on their past driving record.
It depends what the outcome of the revolutions is. If the democratic revolutions lead to weak governments Al-Qaeda will be able to create instability and grab power, so that Arab north Africa all becomes one huge Islamic state with a Taliban type government.
That’s what happened in Iran in 1979, although the fundamentalists were shia not sunni.
The pro-Western Shah of Iran was deposed by a popular uprising that resulted in a socialist government that was swept away within days by a second revolution, the Islamic one led by Ayatollah Khomeini.I don’t defend bullying but sadly it’s part human social behaviour. I’ve witnessed workplace bullying in small companies and in the public sector. I’ve even witnessed it in the voluntary sector of all places, with members of the ‘in’ clique intimidating new recruits to the extent that they give up after their first day.
when Fascism returns, it will be under the guise of opposition to Fascism
I dare say the far-left and the far-right have infiltrated each other’s organisations.
Remember there’s something that unites the far-left and the far-right, and it’s something bigger than mere political ideals, it’s extremism itself. Extremism is the driving force, people are attracted to becoming an extremist. Many people are already pre-disposed to extremism before they decide to join the BNP or become a communist or maybe a radical Muslim.
I want a serious career in politics.
I think that would be very difficult for anyone who’s ever been a BNP activist!
I suppose you could always try writing to George Galloway :D
At least Elton John’s baby will grow up in a very wealthy and privileged environment!
As for gay people becoming parents or adoptive parents, many would make very good parents, probably. But the problem I foresee in many cases is that a child of two gay dads is likely to get picked on and bullied at school. So is it fair to put the parents’ equality before the welfare of the child?
I’m an atheist, so to me the Christmas story is the ‘greatest lie ever told’!
As I get older I find I have less and less respect for religions.
I was reflecting on a photo of ‘druids’ celebrating the winter solstice at Stonehenge, in robes and stuff. First thought is that it all looked a bit silly and contrived. But are they any different from vicars dressing up in cassocks and putting little dry biscuits in peoples’ open mouths or Imams instructing people to kneel on mats facing Mecca five times a day?
Sorry if this is a bit strong, but some of us atheists have strong convictions about our lack of belief!
I accept that people need shrines and symbolism in their lives. Nothing wrong in that but their significance needs to be rooted in reality. I have a favourite place I walk to that has significance in my life, but I don’t surround it with lots of supernatural mumbo-jumbo. I just like being there because it brings back memories.
At the end of the second ‘great’ war most people had had enough and our great leader Churchill was kicked out.
Churchill did get a second bite of the cherry, as he became prime minister again in the mid 1950’s, when he was over 80. He should have quit while he was ahead and left politics as a war hero on a ‘high’ in 1945, but instead he ended his political days as a failed peacetime Tory p.m.
It seems only slang words get filtered you can say anything if you use the ‘proper’ words!
E.g horse manure, masturbate, vagina, testicles, etc etc.
So it’s all just a grammar conspiracy. :lol:
