Piddingworth Greg Benton |
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| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
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| Thank you very much for your support! |
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| Honour all men. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. (1Peter 2) |
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| May God give you the strength & courage to do your Duty... Rose West Leonard |
| GET THEM NOW... BEFORE THEY'RE BANNED! |
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| The British Epic |
| The painting 'Alone In London' by Thomas Graham is fascinating if not a bit unsettling. A young woman stares out over the Thames. In Britain's largest city, she is alone. The whole population seems to have disappeared. There is no life around her. Is she in despair? Is she lost? We see the dome of St. Paul's at a distance and bathed in light. Is there refuge and hope across that bridge? Some analysts of the painting have suggested that the woman is likely thinking of suicide by jumping into the river. Who can tell? By analogy, I think it would be fair to suggest that there are many Britons today who 'look out over the river' and, if not in despair, at least feel isolated from what they see and that which they have known. Even the Church of the dome of Christopher Wren's great St. Paul's brings little or no comfort. Conversations with some of my family in England over the past few years have inevitably included a discussion of the extraordinary deterioration in the institutional. social, cultural, religious and political life in Britain. Everyone is dutifully 'carrying on' even as they shake their heads at the profound changes that have emerged. Much that was familiar, even a decade ago, has become a memory. In part inevitable, but mostly through insidious means, the changes that have occurred seem to have gone quite beyond what might be termed a 'way of life' and become something of a revolutionary overthrow of the very fabric of British life. The gunpowder plot pales by comparison. One of my very favourite places on the web is the superb 'Brits At Their Best' site; a place that celebrates and showcases the British inheritance in a most accessible and comprehensive way. Attractive in it's presentation, the site is overseen by David Abbott, MD, MRCP, an English physician from Winchester, whose 'mental fight' is readily manifest, and Catherine (Cat) Glass, an American with a vibrant enthusiasm for freedom and the beauty of an enduring culture, Brits At Their Best provides a rich and diverse supply of very worthwhile and inspiring messages. When I first came upon their site, I was much reminded of 'The British Epic', the history school text that we students were supplied in Ontario some 45-50 years ago. It, too, provided a fairly thorough examination of Britain's history from Stonehenge and into the twentieth century. Canadians were then (and until 1977) still British Subjects and the Union Flag still flew, with the Red Ensign, over the Dominion. What we learned at school was reflected all around us through stories and memories as well as in all our political, military and social institutions in the public square. For English Canadians with close ties to Britain, it was simply understood and seen in our families and homes, our manners and the like. Certainly it thrived in the military and among the veterans of the wars as well as in the Church of England (as it was then). The wider Canadian national identity remained largely British topped off with a very good supply of rich Maple Leaf as well as Fleur de lys. The attachment was, of course, not felt much, if at all, by Canadians of other than British origin but then, Canada was a British Dominion, founded on British laws and institutions with a majority population that was ethnically British. 'The British Epic' afforded us a context in which we could see ourselves as sharing an exciting and rich inheritance with millions of other people. Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Cook and Lord Nelson were not strangers but heroes to us just as were the the Voyageurs, Radisson et Groseilliers and, of course, the Mounties. The young and beautiful Queen Elizabeth, whose portrait presided in every classroom symbolised our attachment to the history in the book's pages. Runnymede, Magna Carta, and the great figures surrounding the evolution of freedom, democracy, parliament and the building of the Empire were presented with fascinating images and cogent text. With the little companion book, 'How Are We Governed', we were able to see that the life, freedom and democracy that was ours was something that grew over the centuries Outside of school, television and cinema following world war, not yet subject to the overwhelming presence of American culture, showed films like 'Reach For Sky', 'Sink The Bismark', 'Cockleshell Heroes', and 'The Dambusters'. These gave us a perhaps somewhat romantic glimpse at more recent heroes whose achievements were more intimately related by our own fathers and grandfathers with their medals, photographs and stories. Their living hero and ours remains Sir Winston Churchill. By the end of the sixties in the midst of enormous social and political upheaval, things had changed dramatically everywhere; including, of course, Britain. In Canada, the natural evolution of the country's identity from its' past was overthrown by the 'cultural revolution' of the Liberal party, especially under Pierre Trudeau, where much of the British Epic (Canadian version) and the symbols associated with it were purged, not only from our schools, but in most of our public life. It was replaced by a new flag the symbol of a new 'mythology' of Canada. No longer a nation identified by her history, this new state was to become a bilingual, multicultural, preferentially French and social democratic 'idea'. One can imagine it not unlike the English people in the reigns of Henry VIII and his heirs, awakening one day to be told that they now belong, under penalty of death, to a 'new' Church. On paper still a Constitiutional Monarchy, the Queen and her role are widely ignored. Recently, even an officer of Irish heritage in the Canadian Armed Forces who teaches at the Royal Military College in Kingston has been permitted to retain his Queen's Commission whilst publicly refusing (but since forced by the courts) to uphold the oath of allegiance or even toast the Queen at mess dinners. We know how that would have been dealt with in more serious days. Today...'who cares?' The connection is deliberately and all but lost. With the erasure of the collective memory and the passing of the 'Epic' generations, those born since have little or no knowledge of the uniquely British contribution and great events that shaped their country and indeed the world; including our good friends in the United States. Canada, and now Britain, seem to be officially defined through 'current, progressive, secular events', driven by politically-correct social and populist movements that appeal to and are governed by an intellectual and cultural elite; the facts of history summarily altered or removed to suit the ideology. It is become increasingly more evident that that is what Barrack Obama and his associates intend to do to the United States; not quite the 'change' that millions of Americans now think that they could 'believe in'. The things to which we were once so closely bound and devoted, though in parts still evident, were (and still are) frequently ridiculed, dismissed and discarded. The re-shaping of Canadian society four decades ago strikes me to be not dissimilar from what New Labour has done to Britain over the past decade.The consequences are eerily similar, however much worse for Britain, because in the course of it all she has incredibly and foolishly ceded sovereignty to a foreign power in Brussels, aka, the EU. At the end of The British Epic, the authors conclude that (Britain) '...a sturdy, intelligent and courageous people, a strong democratic government and an Empire tied so closely by affection that it was to come to her assistance in the two great crises of her modern life. She had been great in the past; she was to be great in the future. Hers is indeed a glorious history. (p. 327) That was written in 1959 and it is undoubtedly in this spirit for which Brits At Their Best came into being: to remind us all of that past greatness with the hope of inspiring the generation of today to recover and build on their inheritance. Who could have predicted the outcome that has resulted in the disgraceful state of affairs in Britain today? David & Cat present and celebrate the facts of our history, including some of the warts, and do so without apology. The magnificent traditions and splendid legacy that we have inherited are much more than nostalgia for 'the way things used to be'. They are reminders of the origins of the principles of freedom and the way of life that we heretofore have been graced to know. They have centuries of wisdom behind them. They have had to be defended in the past. They must be so again and again in each generation. As some in public office and administration now appear to be frivolously throwing it all away, I pray and hope that the people will recover their good and common sense and re-claim that inheritance. An intelligent start for anyone is Brits At Their Best with all it's resources, advocacy and links. A daily visit there is like a good, strong and refreshing cup of tea. (If you like Yorkshire Gold, you'll know what I mean!) G.B. September, 2009 |
| 'Alone In London' by Thomas A. Graham, Scottish, 19th c. |
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