Flags continue to occupy the headlines, either being put up or being taken down. There was a good display of them on Saturday at Tommy Robinson’s rally. There was also a good display on the way to Wales on Saturday. I was driving with my grandsons to see our team Hull City AFC play Swansea City. We equalised with a last minute goal in, as the description suggests, the last minute. For a blow-by-blow account of the match read Jack Watson’s account in his Substack Ten Foot Tigers.
We took the M42 and on Saturday morning every bridge was adorned with Union Flags and St George’s flags. When we entered Wales there was a fine display of Welsh dragons and Union Flags. However, on the return journey next morning, while the Welsh displays were intact, all except one bridge on the M42 had the flags removed. Antifa, or their servants the police, had clearly been busy overnight.
I read recently that Essex County Council was offering counselling to their staff who may have “feelings of discomfort” at the sight of English flags which may “be associated with anti-immigration rhetoric”. Well, they are right about that. If the sight of English flags persuades a few thousand of the priapic hordes of Mohammedans invading our beaches to think again and get back on their dinghies, I suggest the solution is less counselling and more flags.
Cake off
As if to demonstrate that we have an enemy within in the shape of some of our Muslim ‘community’, the diminutive former BBC star Nadiya Hussain – once the acceptable face of jihad simply because she baked cakes – celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination calling him an “Islamophobe and bigot”. There is a good reason, then, why she is now described as a ‘former’ BBC star; she’s a professional pain in the arse. While her cake making career went into a spiral, she replaced it with virtue signalling. Nobody’s interested in what you have to say Nadiya, so stuff a big sponge cake in your gob and shut up.
Another enemy within, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, has apparently racked up enough airmiles to fly to the moon and back (pity about the ‘back’) at the same time – like all the net zero hypocrites – telling the rest of us to watch our carbon footprints. I am glad to say that I have beaten Sir Sadiq into a cocked hat, as my airmiles – last time I looked – stood at over one and a half million. I wear my carbon footprint like a badge of honour.
Burning issue
Still on the preposterous notion of Net Zero, apparently the blades have fallen off a 250ft wind turbine which is less than a year old. Sadly, Ed Miliband was not in the vicinity when they crashed to the ground (oops – hate crime alert). But if he had been nearby and copped an unfortunate one, he could have been one of the early people to test drive a Net Zero funeral.
Apparently, the geniuses who sit around in Whitehall with too little to do have come up with the idea that cremations using gas ovens should be banned, and we should all be getting buried in eco-friendly coffins. Perhaps they could take it a step further by banning hearses and insisting that grieving relatives carry their deceased loved one to the cemetery and dig the hole themselves. How they intend to create enough space for an increased number of burials is not clear. More land is being covered daily with solar panels, and we need to build houses for all the migrants who are turning up. Perhaps we could outsource our cremations to India.
Abandon ship
In one of those ‘simply couldn’t make it up’ items, the Royal Yachting Association has decided that the call ‘man overboard’ is offensive and should no longer be used. The suggested replacement is ‘person overboard’. This kind of stuff just makes me despair. ‘Person overboard’ has an additional syllable so it is slightly harder to say and ‘person’ is much less easy to shout than the single syllable ‘man’. Minor points, perhaps. But what happens when there is an ominous splash at the side of the boat and a missing sailor. If someone has the audacity to shout ‘man overboard’, will the rest of the crew refuse to go to action stations until the caller gets it right?
Thus we continue straining at gnats while the country goes to the dogs. Overantout!
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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Perhaps the ruined farmland under solar panel farms could be used for burials, it would be nice (for some) to have a photo of the late lamented incorporated into the panel above plus a perpetual solar tea light. Sorry, I’m giving ideas to the Chinese and Mad Milly here.
Hilarious article – I loved it. No criticisms, apart from, perhaps, the fact that the author missed the opportunity to describe Nadiya Hussain as “a professional pain in the neck” (!)
Meanwhile, up here in not so sunny Scotland, local authorities are, one after another, banning Council house tenants from putting up flags. It’ll be interesting to see if the Council where I live follows suit – we have a “Nadiya Hussain” type (a pain in the neck) along the road a bit, an SNP supporter, who has a Scottish flag blowing in the breeze, and she’s not the type to take “no” for an answer, so that will be fun to watch.
Seriously, though, it’s become more and more obvious by the nanosecond that the State is determined to micromanage our lives – as is the Communist way. It’s so easy to see the problem – finding and applying the solution is the $64,000 question.
Nadiya Hussain. I actually used to admire her for (from her own narrative), overcoming anxiety and low self esteem, winning bakeoff and carving out a career from which she must have made millions, travelled the world and generally ‘done well for herself’ in a very competitive industry. She always came across as a funny, personable young woman, who has brought a lot of pleasure to people who liked her programmes. Even though she may have got a ‘leg up’ from the BBC because of her ethnicity, she did have talent in her own field.
If it really is true that she ‘celebrated’ the murder of Charlie Kirk in that way…I just don’t understand how anybody, let alone somebody with two young sons, could celebrate the cold blooded murder of a young man they happen to disagree with, and not even feel any compassion for the ripples – two young children left without a father, a young wife without a husband, parents without a son. The possibilities of the good he might have done in the future, what he might have become. Or even the destruction of the blameless parents of the perpetrator – imagine a father turning in his own son, knowing he might be looking at the death penalty. How could you live with that?
But no, it’s all about her and her fellow Muslims – nothing else matters except her perceived notion of ‘Islamophobia’. I despair, and now feel stupid for ever admiring her.
On another note – is there anybody of the same faith we should be worried about (other than Khan, who is beneath contempt?)
All of them unfortunately, unless they recant and face the death penalty as apostates. There is no CofE/RC/Jewish lite in Islam.
Kangarabbit,
I’m afraid Nathaniel is correct – Islam itself is the problem: the values of western society and the values of Islam are incompatible, and this is spelt out clearly in a short 5 minute video which you can get by searching the title Where Are the Moderate Muslims? Prager U, on YouTube. The video is presented by a young man, brought up in a Muslim home himself, who explains why we should be worried about Islam.
Islam has always been a conquering religion – it has spread its beliefs by force and although there are many good people who follow Islam, they will not speak out to condemn atrocities committed by radical extremists – as you may have noticed yourself. Nor will they leave Islam – this is also explained in the above mentioned short video. I would post the link here except that I found out in one of my first comments that links will prevent publication of my comment. In any case, I’ve just tested it out on YouTube and if you search for Where Are the Moderate Muslims Prager U, you will get it right away. It’s really very clear and very simple. I’m sure you’ll find it informative.
And always remember that although the sweet hijab wearing lady behind the Post Office counter is unlikely to want to behead, stone, bomb or throw you off a high building – she also won’t condemn her father, uncles, brothers or cousins who will , because she just won’t understand why you won’t convert and accept Islam.
This is why inter-faith hobnobbing is so disingenuous (also with Judaism for real but less violent reasons).