The Fall of Britain
RichAsianKid
Japanese has long affectionately nicknamed the UK 'Shayo' - Land of the
Setting Sun.
It's btw out of respect: crepuscular beauty is sublime; and a sunset can
be more beautiful than sunrise.
I'm not sure this qualifies.
* * * * * * * *
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fought-say-unknown-warriors-WWII.html
'This isn't the Britain we fought for,' say the 'unknown warriors' of WWII
By Tony Rennell
Last updated at 10:55 PM on 21st November 2009
Sarah Robinson was just a teenager when World War II broke out.
She endured the Blitz, watching for fires during Luftwaffe air raids
armed with a bucket of sand.
Often she would walk ten miles home from work in the blackout, with
bombs falling around her.
As soon as she turned 18, she joined the Royal Navy to do her bit for
the war effort.
Hers was a small part in a huge, history-making enterprise, and her
contribution epitomises her generation's sense of service and sacrifice.
Nearly 400,000 Britons died. Millions more were scarred by the
experience, physically and mentally.
But was it worth it? Her answer - and the answer of many of her
contemporaries, now in their 80s and 90s - is a resounding No.
They despise what has become of the Britain they once fought to save.
It's not our country any more, they say, in sorrow and anger.
Sarah harks back to the days when 'people kept the laws and were polite
and courteous. We didn't have much money, but we were contented and happy.
'People whistled and sang. There was still the United Kingdom, our
country, which we had fought for, our freedom, democracy. But where is
it now?!'
The feelings of Sarah and others from this most selfless generation
about the modern world have been recorded by a Tyneside writer,
33-year-old Nicholas Pringle.
Curious about his grandmother's generation and what they did in the war,
he decided three years ago to send letters to local newspapers across
the country asking for those who lived through the war to write to him
with their experiences.
He rounded off his request with this question: 'Are you happy with how
your country has turned out? What do you think your fallen comrades
would have made of life in 21st-century Britain?'
What is extraordinary about the 150 replies he received, which he has
now published as a book, is their vehement insistence that those who
made the ultimate sacrifice in the war would now be turning in their graves.
There is the occasional bright spot - one veteran describes Britain as
'still the best country in the world' - but the overall tone is one of
profound disillusionment.
'I sing no song for the once-proud country that spawned me,' wrote a
sailor who fought the Japanese in the Far East, 'and I wonder why I ever
tried.'
'My patriotism has gone out of the window,' said another ex-serviceman.
In the Mail this week, Gordon Brown wrote about 'our debt of dignity to
the war generation'.
But the truth that emerges from these letters is that the survivors of
that war generation have nothing but contempt for his government.
They feel, in a word that leaps out time and time again, 'betrayed'.
New Labour, said one ex-commando who took part in the disastrous Dieppe
raid in which 4,000 men were lost, was 'more of a shambles than some of
the actions I was in during the war, and that's saying something!'
He added: 'Those comrades of mine who never made it back would be
appalled if they could see the world as it is today.
'They would wonder what happened to the Brave New World they fought so
damned hard for.'
Nor can David Cameron take any comfort from the elderly.
His 'hug a hoodie' advice was scorned by a generation of brave men and
women now too scared, they say, to leave their homes at night.
Immigration tops the list of complaints.
'People come here, get everything they ask, for free, laughing at our
expense,' was a typical observation.
'We old people struggle on pensions, not knowing how to make ends meet.
If I had my time again, would we fight as before? Need you ask?'
Many writers are bewildered and overwhelmed by a multicultural Britain
that, they say bitterly, they were never consulted about nor feel
comfortable with.
'Our country has been given away to foreigners while we, the generation
who fought for freedom, are having to sell our homes for care and are
being refused medical services because incomers come first.'
Her words may be offensive to many - and rightly so - but Sarah Robinson
defiantly states: 'We are affronted by the appearance of Muslim and Sikh
costumes on our streets.'
But then political correctness is another thing they take strong issue
with, along with politicians generally - 'liars, incompetents and
self-aggrandising charlatans' (with the revealing exception of Enoch
Powell).
The loss of British sovereignty to the European Union caused almost as
much distress. 'Nearly all veterans want Britain to leave the EU,' wrote
one.
Frank, a merchant navy sailor, thought of those who gave their lives
'for King and country', only for Britain to become 'an offshore island
of a Europe where France and Germany hold sway. Ironic, isn't it?'
As a group, they feel furious at not being able to speak their minds.
They see the lack of debate and the damning of dissenters as racists or
Little Englanders as deeply upsetting affronts to freedom of speech.
'Our British culture is draining away at an ever increasing pace,' wrote
an ex-Durham Light Infantryman, 'and we are almost forbidden to make any
comment.'
A widow from Solihull blamed the Thatcher years 'when we started to lose
all our industry and profit became the only aim in life'.
Her husband, a veteran of Dunkirk and Burma, died a disappointed man,
believing that his seven years in the Army were wasted.
'It is 18 years since I lost him and as I look around parts of
Birmingham today you would never know you were in England,' she wrote.
'He would have hated it. He also disliked the immoral way things are
going. I don't think people are really happy now, for all the modern,
easy-living conveniences.
'I disagree with same-sex marriages, schoolgirl mothers, rubbish TV
programmes, so-called celebrities and, most of all, unlimited immigration.
'I am very unhappy about the way this country is being transformed. I go
nowhere after dark. I don't even answer my doorbell then.'
A Desert Rat who battled his way through El Alamein, Sicily, Italy and
Greece was in despair.
'This is not the country I fought for. Political correctness, lack of
discipline, compensation madness, uncontrolled immigration - the
"do-gooders" have a lot to answer for.
'If you see youngsters doing something they shouldn't and you say
anything, you just get a mouthful of foul language.'
Undoubtedly, some of the complaints are 'grumpy old man' gripes, as the
veterans themselves recognise - from chewing gum on pavements and
motorists using mobile phones to the march of computerisation ('why
can't I just go to the station and buy a railway ticket?') and the
dearth of pop music tunes you can hum.
But it is the fundamental change in society's values which they find
hardest to come to terms with.
Bring back birching and hanging, the sanctions they grew up with, they
say. Put more bobbies back on the beat.
'We were rigidly taught good manners and respect for older people,' said
a wartime WAAF, 'but the nanny state has ruined all that. Television
programmes are full of violence and obscene language.
This Land of Hope and Glory is in reality a land of yobs, drug addicts,
drunkard youths and teenage mothers who think they are owed all for
nothing.'
Aged 85, she has little wish to go on living.
For others, the strength of character that got them through the war is
still helping them to survive the disappointments of peacetime.
A crofter's son from Scotland who served on the Arctic convoys taking
supplies to Russia found the immediate post-war years hard.
'In those days we had no welfare support from any source. It was as
though we had served our country to the full and were then forgotten.
'However, we were very resilient and determined to make a go of it, and
many of us, including myself, succeeded.
'How times have changed now, with the countless many clamouring to get
welfare benefits for the asking.'
A medic who made it through Dunkirk and D-Day thought the fallen would
be appalled by the lack of manners in modern life and the worship of
celebrities, plus 'the patent dishonesty of politicians'.
Another common issue was their bemusement at the idea anyone could live
in constant debt.
'We were brought up to believe that if you hadn't the money, you waited
till you had!' one wrote.
However, this particular man was unusual among the 150 respondents in
believing that there were many pluses to modern life.
He even had a good word to say about the European Union and felt it
would appeal to the fallen 'if only for maintaining the peace in Europe
over the past 60 years or so'.
He praised the breaking down of class barriers in Britain compared with
the years when he was young and 'infinitely' increased prosperity.
'More clothes, cars, holidays abroad, home ownership. As a young teacher
in the Fifties I had one suit (Army issue) and the luxury of a sports
jacket and flannels at the weekend.
'Education has made vast progress. In my early days I taught classes of
50. Only five per cent of children went on to further education compared
with over 40 per cent today.
'The emancipation of women has also been a huge plus, with the
introduction of the Pill a large contributor. Before the war, women
teachers were dismissed as soon as they married.'
A Land Girl who laboured on farms in Devon during the war agreed that
'we have so much to be grateful for.
'So much progress has been made to transform the standard of living
since the war.'
But she could not help asking whether people were any happier.
She bemoaned the advent of the Pill and the collapse of sexual morality.
'In my day, drugs were unknown, families remained together, divorce was
a rarity and children felt secure.
'Were our sacrifices made so hooligans may run wild? And aggressive
behaviour be accepted as the norm by TV interviewers and society in
general?'
A captain with a Military Cross for valour under fire thought Britain
was still the best country in the world.
The 'occasional' sight of parents and nicely dressed children gave an
otherwise gloomy veteran of the Italian campaign a sense that 'what we
did all those years ago was not for nothing'.
A grandmother, the widow of a Royal Marine who took part in the D-Day
landings, felt the National Health Service had descended into chaos but
was grateful for a pensioner's free television licence, 'which brings
art, travel and animals into my home', and being able to text her
grandchildren.
Just being alive was a bonus. 'Although I hate what is happening to our
country, I am so happy to be here, grumbling, but remembering better,
happier days,' she wrote.
But one of the bitterest complaints of the veterans was that their
trenchant views on many of the matters aired here were constantly
ignored by those in authority.
Their letters of complaint to councillors and MPs went unanswered.
It was as if they didn't matter, except when wheeled out for the rituals
of Remembrance Day.
'Why do so many of the British public confuse sentimentality with
genuine concern for others?' asked one letter-writer.
But this was the generation honoured in Remembrance services last
weekend, showered with gratitude and teary-eyed sentiments as their
dwindling ranks marched unsteadily past the Cenotaph and other war
memorials throughout the UK.
The overall impression any reader of the letters gets is that this
generation feel unheard, unwanted and unimportant.
This remarkable collection of their thoughts should give us pause for
reflection.
They may be deemed beyond their sell-by date (and many of their views
may seem unacceptable, flouting every sort of 'ism' imaginable) but, by
their deeds of 60-plus years ago, they have won the right to be listened
to and their disillusionment noted with respect.
In one letter in this collection, an RAF mechanic quoted a poem about
comrades who fell in battle: 'I mourned them then, But now surviving in
a world, Indifferent to their hopes and dreams, I grieve more for the
living.'
� The Unknown Warriors by Nicholas Pringle, �11.69. For copies, go to
the website www.theunknownwarriors.co.uk
rst9
> Cross-referencehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b9J8D3tOg
>
> Japanese has long affectionately nicknamed the UK 'Shayo' - Land of the
> Setting Sun.
>
> It's btw out of respect: crepuscular beauty is sublime; and a sunset can
> be more beautiful than sunrise.
>
> I'm not sure this qualifies.
>
> the websitewww.theunknownwarriors.co.uk
>
> Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fou...
No less than the fall of the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, the
Mongol Empire,...
Penang
failure.
But who knows?
Maybe in the future, some stupid asshole will start singing Kumbaya
and allows all niggers to get in.
Taiwan is already doing that. They let the Himalayan niggers in !
Hong Kong is another !
On Nov 25, 7:53 pm, RichAsianKid <RichAsian...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Cross-referencehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b9J8D3tOg
>
> Japanese has long affectionately nicknamed the UK 'Shayo' - Land of the
> Setting Sun.
>
> It's btw out of respect: crepuscular beauty is sublime; and a sunset can
> be more beautiful than sunrise.
>
> I'm not sure this qualifies.
>
> * * * * * * * *http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fou...
> She bemoaned the advent of the ...
>
> read more »
Allah , your only god Allah , you are only allowed to have me as your only God , you are only authorised to have Allah as your only God .
the Fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty
the Fall of the British empire,
the Decline of the US empire.
the Rise of the Chinese empire
RichAsianKid
>> the websitewww.theunknownwarriors.co.uk
>>
>> Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fou...
>
> No less than the fall of the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, the
> Mongol Empire,...
But the American Empire of equality and democracy is supposed to be
exceptional. Tell me now it ain't so.
rst9
Equality and democracy for a few in power were always available during
the Roman Empire. Alexander's empire was divided among his generals.
The Mongol empire was divided among the brothers of the chief Mongol.
Yeah, they were all equal and democratic among themselves.
Penang
What's your point, Rusty?
CPC - Communist Party of China
rst0wxyz
America's "equality and democracy" is not equal, and not democratic.
The policemen, the judges, the people in office have the power to do
as they please while the ordinary people must do as they say. The
rich can buy influence, the poor must obey.
The same in China, but the Chinese are used to such conditions from
the past.
rst0wxyz
of the America is close at hand.
On Nov 25, 11:53 pm, RichAsianKid <RichAsian...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Cross-referencehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1b9J8D3tOg
>
> Japanese has long affectionately nicknamed the UK 'Shayo' - Land of the
> Setting Sun.
>
> It's btw out of respect: crepuscular beauty is sublime; and a sunset can
> be more beautiful than sunrise.
>
> I'm not sure this qualifies.
>
> * * * * * * * *http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fou...
> She bemoaned the advent of the ...
>
> read more »
Abdul Rahman Dohlon
USA will ask for China ' s help in the Shanghai - 6,
because
Afghanistan will make US dollars depreciates .
China has 2 trillion US $ deposits .
> ...
>
> read more »
rst9
wrote:
> Aghanistan will make USA bleed.
>
> USA will ask for China ' s help in the Shanghai - 6,
> because
> Afghanistan will make US dollars depreciates .
>
> China has 2 trillion US $ deposits .
China is willing to take ALL U.S. nuclear bombs as payments for the 2
trillion US $ deposits.
Jesus Christ , a long - term fucker of the Prostitute St . Mary 's cunt hole , is an Unique Son of GOD
Chinese in China have need for foreign stuff like US nuclear
war heads .
China needs GPS or Euro Galaleo guidance technologies .
> ...
>
> read more »