Margaret Hodge anti-English again

[ovechkin8]

music.guardian.co.uk/classical/story/0,,2261897,00.html

What a surprise. Labour show their true attitude to England & Britain in general as evidenced by the IPPR that loony left thinktank.

Its quite okay for English kids to have rap crap music lessons but not be taught about the grat legacy of western art music (one of the most complex musical forms ever constructed).

This sounds just like Communist Russia dictating to cultural bodies what they can & cannot promote or should promote to conform to a socially engineered ideal.

In actual fact the LSO & LPO do run workshops with inner city schools offer free tickets. There are quite a few people from the ethnic communities who do appreciate classical music.

There are many classical 'artists' who are Afro-Caribbean. Its just typical of scum like this Hodge to denigrate western culture & sacrifice it on the altar of multi culturalism.

It obviously disturbs these mini Hitlers to see such a vestige & bastion of Britishness still going strong.

Its the scums own policy of advocating multi culturalism ie denigrating English history & English culture in the arts,sciences & humanities & not enforcing spoken English (instead of which pamphlets are published in more than a dozen languages) which are divisive.

May I remind the ignoramus this is England & people who come here should learn about it indeed it would help if English kids knew about it as most I've come across can barely read or write it & have no awareness of their history let alone anything else.

But of course the social engineers want to deny these kids a sense of their own identity to make them more amenable to this multi cultural ideal.

I'm aware of other cultures ie Japan kabuki & noh theatre Japanese classical music & art ie the worthwhile parts but I'm fully aware of English heritage first & foremost.

Citizenship should not be about just answering a few questions on a scrap of paper but by showing an active engagement with the indigenous culture.

Just take a look at Watford. The carnival never has anything English connected to it as it did in the early 80s. Last year we had dancers from Pakistan , bangra dancers from the Pnjab in India & a reggae singer from Jamaica & drummers from Africa.

Not a sign of anything English or to do with Watford. And when local museums or groups linked to an interest in English culture ask for help its refused but ask for a grant for a multi cultural project its granted without hesitation.

I'm working class & a quarter Indian to boot & I'm sick of these do gooders ruining Britain. Here are some ripostes to the idiotic social engineer in this article.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/04/nprom204.xml

[GresleyRam©®™]

I heard about this on Talksport last week - made my blood boil!

Stupid bitch is so out of touch with what true brits want FFS!

[PASTIE]

In the meantime, it is of course possible to celebrate all things in culture worth celebrating, be they multicultural or "British". If we were to exclusively celebrate Britishness, I am not sure what we could go for. Morris Dancing? Even that I think comes from an Eastern European influence. I'm not sure how much true Britishness from pre-Celtic times actually survives, but if it is worth celebrating and enjoying it I'm up for it, just like I enjoy the music at the Notting Hill Carnival. I don't really care where culture comes from, but if I like it I like it and the more people get to share in all of it the better. Ignoring multiculturalism and all that it has brought that enriches our lives would be as poor a piece of dictatorial and disconnected censorship as ignoring Britishness. I refer to the fine words of Billy Bragg :

My mother was half English and I’m half English too
I’m a great big bundle of culture tied up in the red white and blue
I’m a fine example of your Essex man
And I’m well familiar with the Hindustan
Cos my neighbours are half English and I’m half English too

My breakfast was half English and so am I you know
I had a plate of Marmite soldiers washed down with a cappuccino
And I have a veggie curry about once a week
The next day I fry it up as bubble and squeak
Cos my appetites half English and I’m half English too

Dance with me to this very English melody
From morris dancing to Morrissey,
all that stuff came from across the sea

Britannia, she’s half English, she speaks Latin at home
St George was born in the Lebanon, how he got here I don’t know
And those three lions on your shirt,
They never sprang from England’s dirt
Them lions are half English and I’m half English too

Le-li Umma le-li-ya, le-li Umma le-li-ya,
Le-li Umma le-li-ya, bledi g’desh akh! le-li-ya

Oh my country, what a beautiful country you are

WORDS: Billy Bragg (2002) MUSIC: The Blokes (2002)

[Neko Bazu]

I'm going to nix my usual rant, and just great straight down to a simple statement of my opinion.

Multiculturalism is great when it's not enforced. It's also great when it goes both ways - many people overseas and foreign nationals in this country love to learn about our culture too. The Proms is one of the last few things that really promote British culture - globally, it's one of our most famous events, and is something heavily associated with Britain. So why change that? There's plenty of people (who aren't Brits) who love it!

[PASTIE]

Mind you I cannot stand it. Load of flagwaving monarchist nonsense. I was thinking more on the line of proper folk traditions like pubs and real ale, pints, more real ale and pubs. Pasties, football on Saturday afternoons and real ale, pubs, pints, football, pubs and ale. I'd leave the bloody proms to the tourists.

[ovechkin8]

I see. Says it all really. Most of the people there are British for your information and while I am not a royalist why can't we wave the flag & celebrate Britain & the acheivements of the Royal Navy for instance.

Oh I forgot those on the left always like to denigrate any semblance of patriotism or what appears to be patriotism for fear of causing offence whilst hiding a deep loathing of the country one is residing in.

Don't take any pride in what is a month and a half of superb music making but tag it bloody. Typically insular in attitude. Says it all about the education system at large & those that staff it.

[Goalposts for Jumpers]

Only 9 months until our Winterfest celebrations can begin! I love the 25th December!

;D

[PASTIE]

ovechkin8 said:

I see. Says it all really. Most of the people there are British for your information and while I am not a royalist why can't we wave the flag & celebrate Britain & the acheivements of the Royal Navy for instance.

Oh I forgot those on the left always like to denigrate any semblance of patriotism or what appears to be patriotism for fear of causing offence whilst hiding a deep loathing of the country one is residing in.

Don't take any pride in what is a month and a half of superb music making but tag it bloody. Typically insular in attitude. Says it all about the education system at large & those that staff it.

Well I'm glad we didn't stoop to taking someone's personal opinions (held for reasons genuinely to believed to be reasons of decency); a personal preference not to participate in the flag waving that I would not impose on to anybody else (granted I was referring to the "Last Night" rather than the Proms in general); an ideological belief that history should be studied analytically rather than from any propagandised bias (hence the reluctance to celebrate certain anthems which elude to the glories of empire); a stance against the monarchy that is based upon a firm belief in the importance of a meritocracy (surely a fundamental principle in our education system) and, thus stooping, seek to paint or transform all of those qualities into some scathing attack on not only a person's character but also their professionalism in the job that they dedicate huge hours of their life into doing properly and very much upon the principle that it is my responsibility to encourage young people to think independently (and not to my doctrine any more or less than anybody else's) in order that we have freedom to form opinions and to act without prejudice. I am glad that we didn't stoop to that otherwise it is quite possible that some offence could have been caused...

[PASTIE]

gfj said:

Only 9 months until our Winterfest celebrations can begin! I love the 25th December!

;D

Is that the anniversary of our invasion of Crimea?

[PASTIE]

Right. I've work to mark and children to indoctrinate

[GresleyRam©®™]

CAKE ANYONE??

[CHOPPER READ]

She is getting an ass fucking on the telly.

[MozzaBedfordSpur]

People like her make me feel so old inside. People like her spawn the chav culture and shocking lack of intelligence that is embarking on British kids.

[CHOPPER READ]

Jon Gaunt has her on the ropes a good 'un.

[GresleyRam©®™]

Personally, i couldnt give a monkeys chuff about the Proms...however they are part of our culture and should be left as they are. Who gives a fuck if the audience doesnt meet government multicultural standards?? Neither does the Notting Hill Carnival FFS?

Now Hodge is completely out of touch with what the average man on the street if she believes what she is saying. I think we have lost touch with what we consider 'British' and PASTIE has a point - real ale, good pubs etc are all part of our culture and they should be celebrated, along with the flag waving posh knobs at the Proms.

[CHOPPER READ]

But you go to another country and try to tell them how to go on they shoot you.

[GresleyRam©®™]

markbrandonread said:

But you go to another country and try to tell them how to go on they shoot you.

can we send Hodge to one?? ;D

[T C]

pastie said:

gfj said:

Only 9 months until our Winterfest celebrations can begin! I love the 25th December!

;D

Is that the anniversary of our invasion of Crimea?

I remember the days when we called it Christmas ! ;D

Remember ? The Mass of Christ

[CHOPPER READ]

Straight after i posted Newsnight reported on a double bombing in Baghdad. That is what happens when you go tell them how to run their country.

[T C]

oh and another thing...

BRING BACK FOX HUNTING ;D