"In the early years of the last century socialists in England used to sing a hymn about their liberation from exploitation and under-representation: its title and opening line serves as the perfect envoi today. "England, arise! The long, long night is over!"
Labour might never govern in England again, which would serve it right, given the contempt it has shown for the English. It might well precipitate the end of the Union itself.
That was a process started in 1997 by Labour; and it has a logical conclusion of separation which would, once an English parliament were created, be clearly in sight.
The Conservative Party has its head in the sand on this issue, as on so much else: which is odd, given the sheer misery such a process would cause for Labour.
The Tories' prevalent and infantile cast of mind associates English nationalism with racism and other forms of evil.
Since the creation of an English nation would create an English citizenship equal to all who legally reside in that country, whatever their origins, such fears are groundless.
At the moment, the word "English" when applied to people is a badge of ethnicity; after independence it would become a badge of nationhood."
Some history
George was probably first made well known in England by Arculpus and Adamnan in the early eighth century.
The Acts of St George, which recounted his visits to Caerleon and Glastonbury while on service in England, were translated into Anglo-Saxon.
Among churches dedicated to St George was one at Doncaster in 1061.
George was adopted as the patron saint of soldiers after he was said to have appeared to the Crusader army at the Battle of Antioch in 1098.
Many similar stories were transmitted to the West by Crusaders who had heard them from Byzantine troops, and were circulated further by the troubadours.
When Richard 1 was campaigning in Palestine in 1191-92 he put the army under the protection of St George.
The European Union is the new enemyEngland has fought off aggressors for centuries - the Bonny Bunch of Roses was always a plum target, to Napoleon and Hitler and now to the EU Monster which appears certain to succeed. Let there be no doubts in anyone's mind that they are the new enemy.
As Robert Winnett, at
the Telegraph says:
England has been wiped off a map of Europe drawn up by Brussels bureaucrats as part of a scheme that the Tories claim threatens to undermine the country's national identity.
Check the map for yourself:
This will not stand.
You can do your bit here to defy the EU from consuming England.Today is the day the EU is defied and eventually the monster will be mortally skewered, as he always has been in the past.
England will once more rise to nationhood, the ancient counties resuming their rightful subordinate places in the whole.
England rattles no sabres and offers no hostility to other home nations as long as they take care of their affairs and leave England to take care of its own.
St Andrew's, St Patrick's, St David's and St Piran's days are also important in the calendar and are respected, just as ours is. [I personally am a friend of
Cornish independence.]
A sweeter noteTo leave you with, the
Nature of being English, according to
Tiberius Gracchus:
The story really isn't the point here though - its the individuality, its the eccentricity (in England's that's a virtue) - there is a line in the Lord of the Rings when Gandalf tells Frodo that what's worth fighting for is all the absurd Bolgers and Boffins and Bagginses- that's the same sense you get from Wallace and Gromit.
These two characters are crackers, they are mad, their lives revolve around inventions, cheese (particularly Wensleydale) and tea- but in some sense they are the essense of the whole of Western civilisation. Civilisation isn't just Michelangelo and Machiavelli, its Wallace and his efforts to get to the moon, its loving Wensleydale and its a dog knitting in a chair and rats with shades over their eyes, its merry eccentricity which is a value all to itself.
The absurdity of life is in many ways its essence - when we talk about freedom often we lose sight of the fact that freedom isn't just a political issue - its a personal issue as well.
To all English at home and abroad - greetings to you and may it be a happy day to remember. To our other friends - back soon.
It's only logical that the thought to round out the day would be that of Alice Duer Miller. Wiki explains:
