It may be just me - I don't think so for a minute - but if I was to choose to go and live elsewhere in the world, I'd choose the location based on what it had to offer in terms of lifestyle, culture and amenities. Healthcare would be an issue in my declining years but more important would be good food, good community values, interesting places to visit. Freedom would be quite high on my list - I wouldn't want to go and live somewhere where I was controlled by the state.
I'd go there because it was, right now, in line with my thinking and my aspirations in terms of lifestyle, what I can afford, and the general outlook of the place. I wouldn't go there planning to change it to my way of thinking or in any way with the motive of trying to create what I'd left behind. Otherwise why would I move in the first place? If I was happy where I was, why would I want to go and live somewhere else?
My choice, right now, would be France, particularly if I was going there to live and enjoy leisure time rather than to forge a career. Why? Because it has quiet roads; a traditional approach to life that I find reassuring. It would be a step back from the hustle and bustle of crowded old England where it seems to me that 'leisure time' is now more about scheduling it in and going to the Gym or having a personal trainer than walking in the countryside.
All, of which is a bit of a pipe dream. Idealistic. I tend not to do this in my blogs....
You knew this was coming though, be honest:
So tell me what is it with Muslims? The Poles don't do it. Nor do my fellow Paddies. They come here for work (and good for them) and I've seen some Polish supermarkets established in Leicester to meet their needs, but they don't want to change anything. They don't want the UK to become Poland. They just want a little bit of home to be available to them. It's like us shopping in France and hankering after some HP sauce or Branston pickle or PG tips on the shelves.
So why do 'some' Muslims want to import their culture, lifestyle and most importantly laws when they come to live here? Aren't they fleeing those same repressive laws in the countries they are leaving in order to have a better life here in the UK? Why don't they buy in to our lifestyle - it is after all what the UK has to offer. It's not unambiguous. It is quite clear what the UK has to offer (or at least it was until quite recently). It's freedom, Sunday lunches at the pub, terrible food and warm beer.
It's queueing in the rain. Delayed trains. Cricket on a Sunday afternoon. Countryside and changing seasons. Conkers, Harvest Festival. Evensong. Unevensong. Sitting in traffic on a grey wet Monday morning listening to fucking bright and breezy Chris Evans.
It's running a stall at a washed-out village féte. An 'early doors' pint in the pub on your way home.
A spectacular and warm summer's day drinking Pimms No 1 and lemonade in the garden with your family. The shipping forecast, the Archers. The Grand National, Wimbledon. The boat race.
What it is not, is Sharia law, fixing elections, grooming 'trash' white girls. What it is not, is imposing your religious laws upon a tolerant population who generously welcome you and sometimes pay for you to get by.
What it is not is the establishment of closed communities where members of the indigenous population are not welcome in their own land. We respect the fact that you have different religious views and beliefs. We respect them. But we don't want them. And we certainly don't want them to be imposed upon us. Live and let live we say.
That's a key phrase in our Britishness. Live and let live. It's born out of our history and way of life. Above anything else we value fairness.
If you come here to be British, to share our values, to contribute to our success and to secure prosperity for yourself and your family, good healthcare, a good education, opportunity, you are very welcome.
If not, if you have brought with you an agenda designed at the behest of some sky fairy, then you are not. And at long last we should, as a society and a nation, politely tell you to fuck off. Probably over a cup of tea. But firmly nonetheless.
Thanks for reading.
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