Tim Worstall

Johnathan Freedland on Britishness

Apologies, but I think that Jonathan Freedland has finally lost it altogether. One of our national songs (whether something so jingoistic ought to be one is a different question from whether it is one) has this refrain:

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves:
Britons never will be slaves.

Freedland today states:

Happily, there’s a simple solution: make everyone pass the same test. I
mean it. At the age of 18, every person on these islands should only
become a citizen once they have met a set of requirements, including a
spell of community work.

Enforced community work. Your labour, uncompensated, directed as your Lords and Masters insist.

That is, that in order to become a Briton, one who will never be a slave, you must first proffer yourself as a slave to the State.

Where I come from we still have a stock of gibbets for people who suggest things like this.

In

7 responses

  1. Mark Wadsworth Avatar
    Mark Wadsworth

    When I am in charge, our national anthem will be changed to “Vin-da-loo” by Fat Les, which happily enough mentions Waterloo (Station).

    Reply
  2. Andrew Zalotocky Avatar
    Andrew Zalotocky

    I notice that he doesn’t say what would happen to the people who failed his test. If they didn’t lose anything significant then nobody would take it seriously, or indeed take it at all. If there were severe penalties it would face massive public resistance, and if it was imposed in spite of that it would only create an angry disenfranchised underclass, making Britain much more divided. Freedland clearly hasn’t thought it through at all.

    Reply
  3. Marcin Tustin Avatar
    Marcin Tustin

    Can we open the Bath Municipal Gibbet Warehouse now?

    Reply
  4. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    Browsing books in a branch of WH Smith on the local high street, I came across a self-help tutoring book on passing the Citizenship test. Opening it at random, I noted that it said General Elections are held every five years – which was all on that topic.
    Of course, that is simply false: the last few general elections have been held in 1997, 2001 and 2005 – four years apart. UK General elections are held on the advice of the prime minister to the monarch. By law, five years is the maximum period of time between general elections and any proposal by the House of Commons to extend that maximum period must also be approved by the House of Lords.
    I put the book back of the shelf wondering how much more bum information it contained.

    Reply
  5. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    “I put the book back of the shelf wondering how much more bum information it contained.”
    It’s full of rubbish, some of it is wrong, some is highly subjective, some is New Labour cant, some is just flavour-of-the-month garbage. An almost total waste of time.
    The Canadians have one, too. My Canadian friends wouldn’t pass it: the setter was obsessed with 19th century constitutional issues.
    What indicates whether you have integrated is whether you can use the word “wanker” properly, that you hold all politicians in contempt, that you understand what “did you spill my pint?” means, and so on.

    Reply
  6. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    I doubt being able to fulfil most of those conditions for integration and I’m a born and raised Londoner.

    Reply
  7. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    [Enforced community work. Your labour, uncompensated, directed as your Lords and Masters insist.
    That is, that in order to become a Briton, one who will never be a slave, you must first proffer yourself as a slave to the State.
    Where I come from we still have a stock of gibbets for people who suggest things like this. ]
    but where you actually live, they had compulsory military service until 2005 – did you not know that when you moved there?
    Tim adds: Sure. I’ve described the draft as being slavery too, even if I am well over the age group to which it applies.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Tim Worstall

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading