The Man Who Sold Britain Part 1 (Peace Movement Ch.9)

Peace Movement Chapter 9

The Man Who Sold Britain

Part 1

     Andy did not know how they had done it, could not understand it. But finally, after all these years, Britain did not seem to be Britain any more! Not quite the same as it used to be. Many ethnic groups which were not British in origin had been in the country for years, gradually growing. Bradford became very Pakistani, Leicester very Indian, East London very Bangladeshi.

    He remembered that time some years before when he and his girlfriend were in London on a lovely sunny weekend. He took her into Hyde Park and they listened to various speakers at Speakers’ Corner. Some of them were telling jokes and being funny, but the serious oratory was being done by muslim speakers, one of them keenly justifying the idea, in modern sounding ways, that women could respect themselves a lot more if they wore veils. He thought that was a bit before everyone got so shocked about some women being willing to walk around covered by burkahs, and the worry that burkahs might hide suicide bombers or terrorists with guns in our shopping malls and high streets or at Hyde Park. Andy did see people with them on occasionally, presumably ladies with little language or education, and everyone felt sorry for them, that they were living such sheltered hidden lives, with so little chance of communication with the outside world. And everyone was even more shocked when they learned that many younger educated women were turning to the burkah as a way of avoiding the gaze of men other than their husbands, as a way of insisting on their cultural rights. The values of the past were being turned around. What you saw was no longer what you got under the burkah. You might just get a surprise when you lift that lid!

    But many did hope that security guards and police would be a bit more rigorous in their protective duties, just in case. It was worrying to see a burkah walking through a shopping mall. The idea of a doctor or a teacher wanting to wear one was more mystifying than terrifying.

    On that occasion years ago, after experiencing the speakers at Hyde Park Andy and his girlfriend crossed under Oxford Street in a subway and followed the road thinking it was Oxford Street. They went into a curry café/restaurant and had a meal. Then they proceeded up the road. After a time they started to wonder why every shop was a Lebanese takeaway or an Arab grocery store or a Bangladeshi takeaway or whatever. Andy genuinely thought Oxford Street had a lot of new cosmopolitan Eastern shops until it finally dawned on them that they were on another road which looked similar to Oxford Street, which turned out to be Edgeware Road.

    Those shops and café’s belonged to communities that built up in Britain over many years. Then European Treaties which allowed free labour movement came in the 1990’s and before too long small towns like Boston  became half filled with Polish migrant workers, and many from other parts of Eastern Europe. Eventually even Rumanians and Bulgarians were encouraged to come to Britain too. The Poles worked hard and got on well with everyone, but another major influx was changing Britain more rapidly than most natives felt comfortable with.*

    A woman who used to be westernised and happy shrugs her shoulders and puts up with the veil. Her husband used to be a lot of fun, but recently he takes religion more seriously and gets jealous when she is seen by other men. He won’t let her go out to work in the hospital. The husband fears what the other men at the mosque will say if she went without her veil.

    The woman used to go to the night clubs often and pick up men, her husband did not mind. They had an open marriage. Sometimes they had even done swinging with other couples and individuals. Now they live in fear because fundamentalists have gained significant power in UK and are using their influence to browbeat western culture. A new political correctness is creeping over the West, changing the habits of secular people too.

    The Club had changed hands. Its new name was ‘Happiness’. They went inside. The bouncers were polite. The lady at the desk asked if they were married. They answered ‘yes’. To her shock she realised that if they had said ‘no’ they may not have been allowed in. A cloakroom attendant took her coat, and his. They went right into the club. It was sparsely populated at this time. All the people were mature, no one under the age of 21. Most of them were couples but there were a handful of males out on their own, come to look for females in the old way, set in their ways. They had obviously been allowed in so maybe just single women were not to be allowed in. She did not think they would find any single females here tonight. The lights had always been dimmed in the past, producing an exciting atmosphere in which revellers could feel anonymous, they would not be observed easily by distant revellers. They had been free to behave in any way they saw fit. Not so now. She could see clearly into every corner of the room. No one dare behave wildly or anonymously now. Surely this was not good business. As the minutes went by the place did not get much busier. Evidently the place was no longer a magnet for the singles. One key ingredient of the old scene had been single young women, another, the married women out on the town for a wild night out. These were not here any more. She wondered where they all were. Were they all married these days, and except for these married couples, were they all at home?

    France had resisted the muslim fundamentalists demands. In desperation they had tried to ban the veil. The answer had not been electoral, it had been swift. Bombs had gone off in shopping centres, and on trains. The terrorists had offered to call off their bloody assaults if the law was retracted. In desperation after months of concerted bombs the government had acceded to the terrorists, repealing the law. The bombs had ceased.

     In the modern UK. by degrees, there had been an increasing influence of muslim parties. The increased power of certain largely muslim dictatorships in the middle east who had defeated and removed Israel and were now able to face down the West and any other power which stood in their way, gave them and Islamic political and social currents an influence over the West which they had not enjoyed before. Inside Western societies larger number of Islamic groups within the population increased their influence in politics and law, affecting not only the behaviour of muslims but all groups in the population. Some were very moderate in their ideas or their demands, but some believed it their duty to encourage changes into the legal, social and cultural systems and practices of Britain.

    A major Islamic Party, fairly fundamentalist and extreme entered into coalition with Labour to form a government in a hung parliament. Anthony had no choice unless to form a coalition with the Tories, which seemed the greater evil at the time. Certain ministries seemed to follow their own agenda rather than the collective agreement of the coalition parties led by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister Anthony put a reasonable and brave face on it. The democratic ideals which he had believed in and encouraged all his life were being undermined, and personal freedoms for those with ideas and open minds were being closed. He tried to ride the waves of change with tact, sensitivity and reasonableness. He set an example with his fortitude and patience, and was obliged to find common ground with strange and sometimes less than reasonable bedfellows.

(Parts 2 and 3 to follow soon)