The Cross of St George and the Rise of the BNP

[Stace]

Somewhat disturbing is the continual association between our national flag and the emergence of Right-Wing political groups. Such is this link that the media seem to revel in the matter. Shamefully, it seems now that ordinary englishmen cannot use their flag to express pride in their country, heritage and birthright without the frankly ludicrous claims of allegience to radical politics

What's the general consensus on here

[John Self]

My view is that pride is a function of choice and you cannot be 'proud' of the accident of birth which determined what country you are from. I can be proud of my work or achievements but not of my nationality any more than I can be proud of my gender or hair colour (unless I changed them of course :wink: ). But then I come from a place where flags are invariably used as 'polodogal' symbols and are best avoided generally.

[Wavid]

I am not sure if I am being excessivley pedantic in pointing out that the cross of St George has little to do with the BNP, who prefer to wave the Union Flag, of course. Apologies if I am. The English flag has instead been reserved by, I believe, the English Democratic Party, who not only would like to see the UK leave the European Union, but also England leave the UK. Marvellously bonkers, but I wouldn't want to meet any of them on a dark night in (probably) Burnley.

To my mind, flag waving is never a good thing, no matter how patriotic you are. It's probably rather inflammatory, and looks a little daft to me. The English have never had a particularly strong national identity, which I would consider a good thing, which has led to this being by and large a tolerant place to live. In terms of a British identity, I would imagine that such a thing has never existed.

And, without wanting to appear to be picking on our Stace (especially as I enticed the poor chap over here again) why would anyone want to 'use their flag to express pride in their country, heritage and birthright'? I'm not sure how or why the need to do this would ever arise.

[ono no komachi]

My view is that pride is a function of choice and you cannot be 'proud' of the accident of birth which determined what country you are from.

I think that you can feel proud of your nationality, in the same way that you can feel shame when your countrymen behave badly - it's possible to feel that your own identity has associations with a collective identity.

The media has made much of the potential misreading of the use of the flag, but there has also been reasonable publicity given to the idea that this emblem is being reclaimed to a large extent by Joe Public to simply express support for the English in their sporting endeavours.

Not being English (and being in the slightly odd position of living in a town that is half Welsh and half English) I find the rash of fluttering red crosses mildly irritating, but not intimidating or sinister in any way. Of course, I might feel differently had I ever suffered at the hands of someone using it as an excuse to be bigoted and abusive.

:oops: John, I couldn't find 'polodogal' in my Shorter OED, please could you relieve my ignorance?

[John Self]

It's supposed to be a phonetic interpretation of the way Northern Ireland's egregious politicians say the word "political" - lifted from Steve Bell's cartoons in the Guardian. I tend to presume (wrongly) that it's obvious just because I use it all the time. Sorry.

[gil]

In order to assist other motorists in identifying potentially dangerous drivers, it's now compulsory for anyone with a lower than average driving ability to display a warning flag
The flag (consisting of a red cross on a white background) will be attached to the top of at least one door of their vehicle.
For drivers of exceptionally impaired driving ability, additional flags are required

[Colyngbourne]

That works :D

I might enjoy being English (and I felt it even more when I lived in a Marches town like ono no komachi) but I'm not sure I have 'pride' in it. What I get from the current rash of St. George's is a terrible sense of oppression (of visceral nationalistic pride), pretty much as I felt when visiting the States last summer and the summer before and you couldn't move for the Stars'n'Stripes hanging from every window and backyard pole.

[Stace]

My nationalism is something that I feel very strongly about, but if other's don't feel that way, then that's your choice. I'm english, and I'm proud to be english. Perhaps the sentiments are symptomatic of the overall degredation of our nationalism that we've seen over the past few years. Integration of other cultures is something I'm happy for my nation to encourage and I think we can only grow strong as a result of such adoptions but it can be achieved without losing our fundamental englishness.

However, I feel proud of my country, and the sight of the St George's flag brings from within me a staunch pride of my nation and it's people, and I can't see what's wrong with that. Bleeding heart liberals would see our identity eroded as surely as the extremists which I find quite sad

[John Self]

What do you mean, Stace, by "englishness" and "our identity"? What elements are these things made up of? (Conscious as I am of the terms of your sig even as I ask... :wink: )

[Stace]

Defining 'englishness' may well be more difficult than you think. For me 'englishness' is not just a state of being, it's also a state of mind. A full appreciation of the history of this great country, it's people, and it's achievements. It's about the character and the flavour of the people, their state of mind, their humour. It's not about the great things we've done through our history, it's also about the small things we tend to forget.

Don't get me wrong, we've also done some awful things in our history, but our spirited defence of this island for so long, and against such odds have led us to develop into a singularly determined bunch. It's that which sets us apart from the rest of europe

Our mindset, our beliefs, our pride in ourselves.........

[NottyImp]

Ah, but as Karl Marx once said: "The working class has no country".

I'm not nationalistic at all, really, in the political sense (although I do support England's national sporting efforts, which probably represents a mild contradiction). To me we're all so nearly similar across Europe (and the world for that matter) as to be indistinguishable on all important issues. What differences there are, are to me fascinating and worthy of appreciation in their own right.

Having said that, I wouldn't go down the route of "banning" flags as we hear some rather daft council officials have tried on occasion. That simply provokes a reaction from exactly those extreme people such measures are aimed at.

[John Self]

I am still no closer to understanding what is meant by "identity" and "englishness". Aren't "our state of mind," "our mindset, our beliefs, our pride in ourselves" just the same thing as identity? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I do want to know what it is that we (well, you: as I'm not English) are in danger of losing. Whatever happens people will still be able to have a "full appreciation of the history" and the same "character" and "humour." How are these things under threat, or in danger of being "eroded" by bleeding heart liberals? (And I am one of those: well, a liberal anyway, but with no congenital heart defects that I am aware of...)

Notty, have I remembered this wrongly, or don't you technically require planning permission to erect a flag anyway? If so then it's not a question of some councils banning them so much as enforcing the great and traditional ancient laws of this land...

[Stace]

I'm going to turn this round on your John. Where are you from? Describe to me what it means for you to be a countryman of your nation

[Colyngbourne]

I thinnk you do need permission to fly a national flag above a certain size from a building. Churches are only legally allowed to fly two flags - the flag of St. George and the Royal Standard (if the queen happens to be visiting :? )

[John Self]

No no, I asked first!

I am from Northern Ireland where national identity is a vexed issue indeed. Perhaps it is this which has led me to the view that, although I feel more of an affinity to Britain - by which I mean its current affairs, literature, music and so on - I would not raise arms or even throw up my hands at being considered, or rendered, fully Irish.

[Stace]

My 'englishness' is not something I can fully find the words to describe. It's an agglomeration of many facets and aside from the somewhat ham-fisted attempt I made to describe it above, I'm not sure I can adequately do so

[Colyngbourne]

I would say my own Englishness resides in an attachment to its history (I could never feel quite so heartily about Scottish/Welsh/Irish history or French/Swedish/Spanish history indeed), and to its gathered cultural affairs, as John described below - current affairs, literature, arts. I don't think these are under any threat.

[bakunin_the_cat]

Without even attempting to discuss my own Englishness which is about as definable as blancmange, or should I say sherry trifle, I'd just like to explain about the banning of the flag thing reported in some papers.

As far as I know, a certain council in NW England has banned anyone from attaching any flag or banner to lampposts on certain roads, as they create a traffic hazard, which seems reasonable. The BNP, who were fully aware of this law and the reasons for it, decided to attach St. George's flags to said lampposts on St. George's Day knowing full well that the council would take them down. Having set up this simple but clever scam, they just had to inform the Press that the council were taking down the flags, bemoaned the fact that they could no longer display St. George's flags in their own country and Sanjay's your uncle!

[m.]

Being a Pole, I agree that taking pride in one's nationality is irrational and rather embarrassing, but… Well you can't help it, even if you try to play it down, roll eyes at the flags, and talking with (some) friends refer to Poland as "this f-ing country". In fact it is quite Polish, to be proud of all the fights in defense of the independence and imagine that everybody knows and understands. I suppose that most Western readers just pass over it, but I laughed out loud, when in Money Amis makes John Self say (over the tabloid):

Now is this any way to interpret the world? Seems there's a major rumble brewing in Poland. Solidarity is giving Moscow the V-signs and fight-intros. Russia will beat Poland up, I'm sure, if things go on this way. That's what I'd do. I mean, give them an inch...

There are several cute references to Poland in Money, but this one was so unexpected and, even if it was aimed mainly at JS, it hit in passing other targets so precisely... (And the book is great btw.) :D

At the moment I feel slightly weird about national issues. Being Polish is very important to me, and always will be, enjoyable or not. But at the same time I've been living here among foreigners and some of them, especially my housemates, people from various countries, have become my close friends, and treating nationality as something dividing feels absurd. I've come to treat English as an international language which - in a completely different way - is almost as important to me as Polish…

And generally, it's cool to be Polish, really.

[Stace]

So what you're saying is despite your misgivings about some of the aspects of your country, you're actually very proud of being Polish? Well done you. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of your country at all


PS Flatmates from different countries? You aren't setting up International Big Brother on the quiet are you? :lol:

[m.]

:lol: I surely hope that there aren't any hidden cameras around.

you're actually very proud of being Polish?
No, it's not that bad. Happens sometimes, but thank God usually I feel just normal. :lol:

[wshaw]

The BNP, who were fully aware of this law and the reasons for it, decided to attach St. George's flags to said lampposts on St. George's Day knowing full well that the council would take them down. Having set up this simple but clever scam, they just had to inform the Press that the council were taking down the flags, bemoaned the fact that they could no longer display St. George's flags in their own country and Sanjay's your uncle!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1243518,00.html

So maybe the BNP are actually fighting a losing battle to use the flag as shorthand for a white England.

I quite like the idea of the flag being depoliticised. If it's true. The key word in the story is "anecdotal".

Maybe that story is just liberal wishful thinking fleshed out with a few convenient quotes.

The flag can still be a rallying cry for the more lunk-headed form of nationalism. I was in a bar in Greece the night England were trounced by France and a load of flag-wearing English idiots put a sign outside it after the match saying "No French in here."

To the fury of several French tourists...

[skanky]

It's interesting that the BNP can be linked to patriotism really. They are just a bunch of opportunist thugs who use nationalistic issues to win power. Derek Griffin once went to Colonel Gaddafi to try and secure funding for his (then not the BNP) political party, and in the last world cup, some BNP hierarchy called on people to support Denmark instead of England as Denmark had an all white team. (All info from Searchlight).

My Englishness tends to be defined by my language, my taxes and who "looks after" me, but mainly by how others think of me. Most people think of me as Engliah, therefore I am English. To me the concept of nation and "foreigners" are as useful as religion (e.g. something to ward off insecurity). Indeed some people (probably in every country - it's more noticeable in some, though) worship their country like a religion.

I think that many people (and I hope no finds this an offensive statement as I know it's a generalisation and wrong in many aspects) think of past English "greatness" while forgetting that it was all pretty much British "greatness". Look back through history and look at the nationalities of the various inventors, engineers, artists, politicians, generals, etc.

To me it seems that increases in nationalism occur at times of insecurity. There are two (possibly three) times when you see large bouts of nationalism (and consequent flag waving). Firstly and within most stability is federalism (Switzerland and the US are the two countries where I've seen the national flag on display most - and you'll see the state and canton flags a lot, too) and occupation.

The rise in the use of the St. George's cross in this country seems to me to be in relation to the devolution of Scotland & Wales and the increase in involvement in the EU. This is despite the fact that the biggest cultural threat to the UK comes (and has done for some time) from the West, and not from within or the East.

Humans evolved as tribal and still look for tribes to belong to - this has historically been a useful survival tool and an obvious facet of the idea of the "selfish gene". Now that our influence is a little more global in every aspect, we may need to start realising the whole race needs to be considered part of the tribe. This is not to disregard history, culture and any other minor differences we exhibit (which are mainly, though not entirely, caused by climate).

(Disclaimer: I realise that there are generalisations and most of my observations are merely anecdotal or single sourced, but it's my current perception, anyway).

[amner]

The rise in the use of the St. George's cross in this country seems to me to be in relation to the devolution of Scotland & Wales and the increase in involvement in the EU.

Certainly it's a relatively recent blip on the radar, yes ... ask people ten years ago what our flag was and they'd have happily announced 'Union Jack' (despite a) not being sailors, or b) being able to tell you which is the right way up to hang it).

The Euro96 footy tournament has a lot to do with this phenomena too, of course, demanding a popular 'difference' to be noted for the hosts (not least because the Scots had also qualified). Check out the crowds for the 1966 World Cup on final day and you'll be struck at just how many Union flags there are waving away, not St. George crosses.

Could you buy St George's Day cards 10 years ago? No. Now, you can barely move in Clintons Cards without bumping into red and white bunting or some tacky animated knights & dragons nonsense.

Switzerland and the US are the two countries where I've seen the national flag on display most - and you'll see the state and canton flags a lot, too

I read recently that the Americans fly their flag because it has that shareholder this-land-is-our-land symbolism attached to it, whereas we inherently know (being subjects - bah! - as opposed to citizens) that none of us will ever figure in the Top 3 Landowners In The Country list (which, I believe, currently stands at the monarchy, The Church and Trinity College Cambridge).

I'm not sure what point I'm making here.

[Colyngbourne]

One of those three can give up more of their wealth than they presently do.

[wshaw]

It's interesting that Morrissey can even say, "Irish blood, English heart". Can you imagine the music hack furore even ten years ago?

[NottyImp]

...or some tacky animated knights & dragons nonsense.

Really? They sound excellent - animated as well, you say?

One of those three can give up more of their wealth than they presently do.

Or all three? :wink:

[Colyngbourne]

I have a major vested interest in two of the three retaining their cash.

[NottyImp]

Oh, I'm sure they could spare a little.

[skanky]

One thing about the car mounted flags, some people are too stupid to realise that they're unlikely to stand up to an 80-90mph wind.

[amner]

The AA tried to explain this. Immediately (of course) re-interpreted as:

So now they do not want us to proudly fly our flags on our cars. Is this yet another lunatic left scheme to prevent us from flying this very fine flag?

Not paranoid or insecure at all, then?

[skanky]

Well they are flying them from their cars, though in a manner not quite intended...all over the surrounding countryside.

[amner]

I was in a bar in Greece the night England were trounced by France and a load of flag-wearing English idiots put a sign outside it after the match saying "No French in here."

Missed an opportunity there, w, in true Billy McGowan (http://palimpsest.org.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=344) mode you should have written 'LUCKY BLOODY FRENCH' beneath it :wink:
.

[wshaw]

Damn.

You mean I shouldn't have sat there in cowardly fashion trying to look neither English nor French?

[NottyImp]

You need to be careful doing that, wshaw, those idiots in the bar might have mistaken you for a German.

[skanky]

I should think you're starting to run out of nationalities to pretend to be at the moment.

[youjustmightlikeit]

Just seen this thread; and this:-

Humans evolved as tribal and still look for tribes to belong to - this has historically been a useful survival tool and an obvious facet of the idea of the "selfish gene". Now that our influence is a little more global in every aspect, we may need to start realising the whole race needs to be considered part of the tribe.

by Skanky, is the most sensible thing anyone has said so far. To deny the existence of major facets of the human psyche, such as the notion of feeling safe in numbers, feeling safe in your home/street/city/nation.... and as a result of our evolved, more abstracted state - safe, befriended, and supported when part of a 'gang'; we ALL pick our affiliations, be it to a nation, sports team or individual (be it football, snooker etc.), writers, political parties.

In the end, to argue about the right to wave a flag, focuses on one tiny point in the scale of human tribalism, and misses the bigger picture altogether. At best, the arguement displays the fact that one side has absolutely no right to hold sway over the other, and at worst, the whole arguement is utterly irrelevant. Mr A will never change Mr B's mind, and vica versa. If we all forgot about this, let everyone get on with what they want to do (as long as no-one gets hurt) and got on with something more important instead; then the worlds supposedly more enlightened individuals would be happier that we were all working together as a team; and the supposedly less enlightened would be delighted that they had a team to work together with.

The idea of enlightenment as being an individual, free from base camaraderie, is nonsense.

[John Self]

BNP founder John Tyndall dies (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4697299.stm)

[wshaw]

Hooray. Let's hang out the flags. Er...

[John Self]

In another unfortunate development in freedom-of-speech-related news yesterday (along with the Mohammed cartoons row, for anyone who's reading this a year from now), BNP leader Nick Griffin and fellow activist Mark Collett were cleared of charges of inciting racial hatred. How this came to be is an extraordinary thing, when you listen to the comments they made at the speeches in question, denouncing asylum seekers as 'terrorists,' saying Muslims spread their religion by raping white women, and ending with the charming sign-off, "Let's show these ethnics the door in 2004!" They are however to be retried on six charges on which the jury (presumably half filled with Daily Mail readers) could not come to a verdict.

Still, any concerns that the BNP might ever shrug off its image of bald thugs in bomber jackets was dispelled by this picture after the trial of Griffin, Collett and, er, everyday gentlemanly BNP members:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/paradorlounge/griffin3.jpg

Mark Collett, in case this is the first time anyone here has heard of him, proved his non-racist credentials when he was recorded by Channel 4's Dispatches programme saying, "National Socialism was the best solution for the German people in the 1930s. I honestly can't understand how a man who’s seen the inner city hell of Britain today can't look back on that era with a certain nostalgia." Nick Griffin, for his part, criticised the legendary Holocaust-denier David Irving in 1996 for acknowledging that any Jews died in the gas chambers. That's right folks - Irving just wasn't barmy enough for him. "I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that 6 million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into lampshades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat… I have reached the conclusion that the 'extermination' tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter-day witch-hysteria."

[Wavid]

Hmm. Perhaps the new legislation that Blair has had so much trouble getting through parliament recently would have seen them sent down, were it on the statute books at the time?

[JunkMonkey]

It appears there is to be a retrial:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1701246,00.html

[amner]

Bloody immigrants, they come over here, hunting our mammoths (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5317762.stm).

[John Self]

Even the most icily ironic reading cannot extract much pleasure from the readers' comments (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=415709) on the story on the Daily Mail website about the acquittal of BNP members Nick Griffin and Mark Collett on charges of inciting racial hatred yesterday. Of course, it appears it was proper that they were acquitted, as they were not preaching race hatred but religious hatred (which is not a crime), though I suspect the distinction might have been lost on their audience.

Anyway, The Times today provides a handy guide to previous comments by these two charming gentlemen:

NICK GRIFFIN
NICK GRIFFIN, 47, married, four children. Cambridge law graduate. Attended his first National Front meeting aged 15. Became NF vice-chairman. Joined BNP in 1995

Received nine-month suspended prison sentence at Harrow Crown Court in May 1998 for inciting racial hatred in his magazine, The Rune. Elected leader of BNP in 1999

ON RACE “Without the White race, nothing matters. [Other right-wing parties] believe that the answer to the race question is integration and a futile attempt to create “Black Britons”, while we affirm that non-Whites have no place here at all and will not rest until every last one has left our land”

ON THE HOLOCAUST “The ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie and latter witch-hysteria”

ON POWER “When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate. We have to have a body of trained young men capable of defending our organisation. If people come to crack our heads we will break theirs”

MARK COLLETT
AGED 26, single, educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Leeds University, graduate in business and economics, self-employed graphic designer. Former chairman of the Young BNP, now the party’s director of publicity.

ON WINSTON CHURCHILL “Churchill was a fucking cunt who led us into a pointless war with other whites standing up for their race.”

ON THE PRINCE OF WALES “He’s a fucking traitor. Did you hear him say we needed more mosques in this country? All Muslims are anti-British terrorists.”

ON WHETHER BRITISH-BORN BLACKS ARE BRITISH “Just because a dog is brought up in a stable doesn’t make him a horse.”

ON THE ROYAL FAMILY “The Royals have betrayed their people. When we’re in power they’ll be wiped out and we’ll get some Germans to rule properly.”

ON AIDS A “friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it.”

ON JEWS “There’s not a European country the Jews haven’t been thrown out of. When it happens that many times, it’s not just persecution. There’s no smoke without fire.”

ON ADOLF HITLER “Hitler will live forever; and maybe I will.”

That's right ladies, he's single! Come to that, have epsilon minus and Mark Collett ever been seen together...?

[Wavid]

What we need is a law prohibiting behaviour that's just not on. That would clear up things like this in no time. We'd be able to put Griffin and the other headbangers in prison and be done with it.

[jim]

MARK COLLETT
AGED 26, single, educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Leeds University

Exactly like me! The similarity ends there though.

[Hekaterine]

What we need is a law prohibiting behaviour that's just not on.


Good luck with developing a legal definition to 'just not on' there, Wavid. Christ, there'd be more of us in the clink than out! ;-)

[Wavid]

I'd be the one to decide, on a case by case basis. Easy.

[leyla]

I find Mark Collett really scary, even more so than Nick Griffin. The secret footage of him giving his speech, talking about how 'cockroaches can't help being cockroaches' just gave me the shivers. He looks and sounds like the mad sort of thug who would let a knife do his talking for him.

[Hekaterine]

Can I plead for clemency now please Wavid?

[Hekaterine]

Our local paper says 11 BNP members are standing in local elections.

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156130&command=displayContent&sourceNode=201483&home=yes&more_nodeId1=156133&contentPK=15945090

[leyla]

Thanks, for that, JS, I'll try and tape it.

Hekat, that's an awful lot of fascists for one place. Charming story about them gatecrashing the Armistice Day memorial and laying that wreath - and totally paradoxical. How can they thank the people who died for the country on one hand and then vow to throw out all foreigners on the other? Lots of people who fought for Britain in both wars were immigrants. It's a bit like the situation in pre-second world war Germany - lots of Jews who had fought for Germany in the first world war didn't budge because they couldn't believe that having risked their lives in the first world war, they would face the reward of being annihilated by the very people they'd fought for in the second.
By the way, where is youjustmightliketofollowupyourallegations? Having accused JS and I of being racist towards whites (a little rum since we are both ostensibly white, JS more than me), he has failed to explain himself. Perhaps youmightjustbeateensybitofacoward?

[John Self]

Heheh, I'm more white than pretty much everyone, leyla!

[leyla]

Tee hee. I really LIKE that almost translucent white of my Scots and Irish friends - while, in the contrary way of humans, they try to get tanned at every opportunity.

[youjustmightlikeit]

By the way, where is youjustmightliketofollowupyourallegations? Having accused JS and I of being racist towards whites (a little rum since we are both ostensibly white, JS more than me), he has failed to explain himself. Perhaps youmightjustbeateensybitofacoward?

I'm here.

I'm afraid i feel no need to explain myself leyla, what i said, which was in another thread by the way, was all i need to say.

[Hekaterine]

I went to see George Alagiah last night (as I mentioned on the Political Correctness thread).

He takes a very integrationist approach and talked quite a bit about 'foreigners' living here needing to embrace 'British Culture'. One of the things I have found when I deliver equality and diversity training is that the participants have little difficulty in grasping what they see as 'other cultures', but they feel that one of the disadvantages of being white British nowadays is the lack of any shared or embraced 'British culture'.

For example, I went to an event for International Women's Day with a work colleague and there were women there in the national dress of their country of origin. We joked that the only British national dress we could think of would be a knotted hanky and socks with sandals.

We have touched on it on this thread a little anyway but I thought I'd ask (of all of you, Brits and non-Brits alike) - what are the things which you would consider 'British culture'? Or is there no such thing?

[leyla]

Hello Hek. I like George A and like the fact that he advocated 'foreigners living here needing to embrace 'British Culture'. From that statement, I would not think so much about individual cultural events but about British traditions like democracy, free speech and free press, tolerance, equality for all minorities, abstention from calls for violence against anyone, politeness, etc. I think one of the great things about the UK nowadays is there aren't too many risible or stultifying cultural traditions like Morris dancing or gossiping about those neighbours who don't fit in on the village green. British culture is attractive precisely because it isn't oppressively peppered with too many events that would make others feel outsiders. Christmas, New Year and Easter are all celebrations and noone is made to feel they don't belong - everyone is welcome to Midnight Mass for instance (not that I've been for years), everyone is welcome to put up a Xmas tree and decorations, they are not oppressively religious celebrations - people can make them as religious or as secular as they wish.
One of the things I love most about the UK is the varied and wonderful broadsheet press. I hate being without it whenever I go abroad. And reading in the paper yesterday that in Russia, the World Service news was suddenly axed as soon as reporting on the Litvenenko murder started, makes me appreciate this country even more.

[John Self]

Ho hum, politician sex 'scandal' (http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/2704_bnp.shtml)... boring... But this one has some nice lines.

"Richard sent me photos of his private parts before I'd even met him," says the redhead. "I thought this was very odd for a politician."

Oddly, probably not.

"If I'd known before that he was a sleazebag I probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near him," says Annika.

Probably!


"He's not the most skilful or active lover I've had, but I loved him so much it made up for it— even though the only time he took me out was to a Wetherspoon's."