TIME FOR IRELAND TO REJOIN UK?
By David Vance On August 5th, 2012Given all the fantastic success of the British Olympic team, I was thinking that perhaps now is the time for the Republic of Ireland to abandon the pretence that it can operate in any meaningful way as a separate country and instead it should rejoin the UK. That way, Irish athletes can also compete with a chance of Gold. I don’t say this in a mean way but when you seek the broken bankrupt husk that is the ROI these days, when you see the total failure thus far to win any medals for Team Ireland, I just want to be helpful and urge the Irish to join with the British family SO we may all have a better future together. So yes, a UNITED IRELAND it should be, as part of a bigger UNITED KINGDOM. In fact, maybe should Scotland leave (would we really mind?) the ROI might want to apply. I will put a word in if you like….
Using that logic, you’ll be calling for Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba and Palestine to join the UK, amongst many other countries who have so far failed to win any medals
And what happens if John Joe Nevin wins his fight tonight? He’s guaranteed a medal then. Will you change your mind? Can the Republic stay out of the UK then?
David,why are you so proud of Team GB?they don’t represent you,if it was Team UK you would have a point
The full name is GB and NI. Didn’t you notice our NI rowers getting their medals. Remind me, how many Irish medals thus far…?
Seimi
Yes, time for the colonies to come back
‘Yes, time for the colonies to come back’
Colonies like NI you mean?
” In fact, maybe should Scotland leave (would we really mind?) ”
Since Scotland make about 9% of the athletes and account for about 50% of the medals I guess you would
David,the official name is Team GB and the reason why?because the REAL British don’t think of N.I as British
I’d have thought Greg Rutherford’s Gold in the Long Jump would have been celebrated in the RoI. Alright, he’s British, but he looks Irish and that’s a better qualification than Tony Cascarino ever had.
I kid, I kid …
No, Martin, you’re wrong. NI is a vital part of the UK, and it’s
serfsservantspeople have an equal say in the running of the UK. Don’t you know that?Lol, Pete
The London Olympics getting absolutely hammered on ATW yet Team GB do well and we have a post pondering the question should Ireland rejoin
The EmpireBritain.Spot of mischeif menthinks.
Have any English presenters referenced 1966 yet?
After Team GB were booted out in the football last night, by South Korea, on penalties, I wouldn’t imagine so, Paul
The commentator said last night, ‘Stuart Pierce has been here before.’ He had been. And the result was exactly the same
Reminds me of this recent gem:
“England lose on penalties. For more on our culture and traditions go to visitengland.com
”
https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/VisitEngland/status/217007352090591232
Would have posted it at the time but I thought it was too soon
Paul McMahon -
“Have any English presenters referenced 1966 yet?”
A Fleet Street sports writer popped up on the BBC wondering if this is the best summer of sport since 1966, or even better, what with Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France too.
It probably says something about the quality of some sports writers.
Comparisons across time and sports are pointless, and I don’t think it occured to anyone in the studio that 1966 was an English win while our Olympic teams are British.
Saying that, it’s the BBC presenters who have been hopeless, with the honourable exception of Chris Boardman, Michael Johnson and Ian Thorpe. Time after time they have some of the greatest athletes in the world at the end of their microphones, and all they ever manage are vacuous, inane questions. In competition we get no insight or analysis worth listening to. John Inverdale even started blubbing at the rowing yesterday live on camera!
Gary Lineker presented a few nights ago with Michael Johnson and Ian Thorpe on the couch. Those two were fascinating to listen to and gave real insights into what was going on. Remember, Lineker presents Match of the Day and it made Hansen, Shearer et al look like a pair of know-nothings. Someone at the BBC needs to tell them that their “well he won’t be happy with that” drivel isn’t good enough anymore.
Oh, here we go.
Someone called Will Heaven, who “writes about politics and religion” and is the Acting Deputy Comment Editor of The Daily Telegraph, has decided:
The greatest moment in British sport since 1966
You cannot make it up.
Any thoughts on the British cycling team cheating on their way to
stealingwinning gold?The look on Chris Hoy’s face, as his team member admitted falling on purpose in order to get a re-start was priceless!
The British thing is debateable as well Pete. Witness Andy Murray being British in the media when he’s doing well and a Scot when he isn’t doing so well.
Pete,
“Saying that, it’s the BBC presenters who have been hopeless, with the honourable exception of Chris Boardman, Michael Johnson and Ian Thorpe. ”
As somebody said, the athletes should interview the presenters.
‘That was a terrible piece to camera, John, want to tell us about it?’
David, you just love throwing gasoline on a fire…lol
‘Witness Andy Murray being British in the media when he’s doing well and a Scot when he isn’t doing so well.’
Funnily enough, the cyclist who admitted cheating was suddenly ‘of German descent, and something was probably lost in translation…’
This must be true, because ‘I did it on purpose…’ apparently translates as ‘It was a mechanical fault…’
“I don’t say this in a mean way but when you seek the broken bankrupt husk that is the ROI these days, when you see the total failure thus far to win any medals for Team Ireland”
Mostly because the events we have medal chances haven’t been decided yet. If we are basing it on how many medals they have won yet I’d imagine you think Usain Bolt is shit. Because he hasn’t won any medals at the 2012 games yet.
Tomorrow’s front page?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=453890187974751&set=a.167782276585545.35542.157809760916130&type=1&theater
“Witness Andy Murray being British in the media when he’s doing well and a Scot when he isn’t doing so well.”
He’s been going well, has a reasonable shot at being British today
My, haven’t tunes been changed. Not so long ago only 4 medals should have been expected by team gb.
Lol, David I suggest you keep up with the financial news, ROI is back in growth, unemployment is falling and the key economic indicators are positive. Meanwhile, in the UK………..
David,
Gloating doesn’t suit you…
I would have no problem with the RofI throwing in their lot with the United Kingdom. Makes a lot of sense. I think the English have moved on from their dislike of the Irish.
But judging by some of the flag waving bhoyos on ATW, I doubt the same could be said of them…
““Witness Andy Murray being British in the media when he’s doing well and a Scot when he isn’t doing so well.”
He’s been going well, has a reasonable shot at being British today
”
S’funny.
And there’s me thinking he was African…
Yep, Murray’s one set up on his way to being British.
“Any thoughts on the British cycling team cheating on their way to stealing winning gold?”
Eh?
The British Cycling PR said that something was lost in translation, and I for one certainly believe him, oh yes.
Notwithstanding that, Chris Hoy’s face was an absolute picture as Hindes said that thing which was .. erm .. subsequently misconstrued.
Great to see Mary Peters still so involved.
Martin
The official name of the team is Great Britain and Northern Ireland not Just GB .
And another Gold. Who knew we British were so good at tennis?
Andy Murray had a cathartic experience after losing to the great Roger Federer at Wimbledon. He realised that people really cared for him, and he didn’t have to prove anything. Andy has grown up and that’s as important for him as beating Federer.
See?
Here’s the thing.
The English can appreciate the skills of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connor, Tommy Bowe or my particular favourite Peter Stringer.
Or going Scots,
Gavin Hastings, Dan Parks, Chris Paterson or Gavin Hastings…
The Welsh – we love their style of Rugby!
WE English can appreciate the talents of others..
But is it reciprocated?
Is it Heck!
Ain’t it strange how the fellows who are so quick to react to a perceived slur on their particular brand of Northern/Irishness, go suddenly dumb when an Englishman asks a perfectly sensible question??
Is Ireland’s problem with the Olympics one of scale?
The staff and facilities required to train a couple of world class cyclists are probably no less than those needed to train 20 to 30 cyclists- so it would cost far more per capita for Ireland to produce a medal contender in the cycling that for GB.
The same applies to rowing, sailing and swimming.
For sports which have limited commercial viability outside the Olympic Games there is no real point in small countries spending on them.
No,
Ireland’s problem is not of scale, it is of WHOSE scale, i.e the United Kingdom.
Absolute rubbish
“Absolute rubbish”???
WHAT is absolute rubbish?
Everything you are claiming about Irish attitudes to British Olympic success.
Okay. We’ve won a medal. Can you pipe down now?
Ross -
Yes, it is a question of scale to an extent. With a sufficient population and an economy of a certain wealth, possibilities open up. Frankly, the RoI will always be up against it in the numbers game.
Focusing on a strength seems a way around it. Jamaica (pop. 2.9m) has been a sprinting powerhouse for some time now. I don’t know, maybe their sprinters use US universities.
Great Britain leads in sports like cycling and rowing. Well the RoI has produced some decent riders. Maybe someone in the RoI needs to make a phone call to British Cycling to see if some kind of hook up is possible, in the way alot of foreign athletes use American facilities.
It isn’t just focusing on that strength. It is having that strength emerge. Once a sport emerges that people are good at then young people in that country want to emulate them. If you see your nation’s best athlete in swimming then many children will want to be that athlete. Is it any surprise that a lot of Ireland’s medal hopes for these Olympics are boxers? The early 90s (when most of today’s competitors would have been children) was pretty good for Irish boxing (Michael Carruth won a gold medal, Wayne McCullough won a silver medal and a few years later in professional boxing Steve Collins won two titles, including becoming the first person to beat Chris Eubank). So there would have been an increase in interest in the sport and children would have wanted to do it.
“Everything you are claiming about Irish attitudes to British Olympic success.”
Said the little pseudo Englishman….
Agit8ed
My own experience proves the point. My parents are (were) Irish but I was born in England and grew up here. I consider myself solely British. My unbringing, my experiences, my culture my ethos is British. I am as British as anyone else and I don’t need to ask anyone else’s permission or judgement to be so, and for that reason a Black or other non-white Briton can feel and identify and be British just as much as I can.
Colm,
” My parents are (were) Irish but I was born in England and grew up here. I consider myself solely British”
British or English??
So crappo!
You could have SAID you were born in ENGLAND of Irish parents.
No shame in that.
My parents told me and my two younger siblings, that we may have been born in Kent, “but never forget you are North Country stock -not one of these soft southerners…”
It will be much easier for you to be accepted as English (there is no such country as British, it is a union of England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland) than some kid whose ancestry is Somalia or Nigeria, or Iraq or Afghanistan.
You CAN’T be solely British, whatever anyone says.
I have lots of Jewish acquaintances who regard themselves as Irish/Scots/Welsh or English…
Agi,I agree with you the fact remains that whether they like it or not unionists ARE Irish
Martin,
“the fact remains that whether they like it or not unionists ARE Irish”
Not according to the many strands of nationalism displayed on ATW they are not! Some claim direct descendancy from the English, some the Scots, even Welsh I believe.
It doesn’t matter. NONE of them are claiming Nigerian or Somalian descent.
Is Northern Ireland a part of the land mass of Eire?
Yes it is.
Did the bloody English establish a colony/controlling interest there?
Yes, they did.
Do the majority still want to be a part of the UK?
Yes, they do.
Have they made the right choice?
As things stand, personally I think yes.
Does the Republic of Ireland want them back??
Dunno.
Would the Republic be better off as a fully fledged part of the UK?
If they could lose the chip off their shoulder and see the bigger picture, it makes perfect sense.
Heck!
Half of ‘em are either here or in the States anyway….
Agit8ed
I just said what you claimed I never said. What are you on tonight ?
Don’t know Colm,
I am really tired and going to bed.
Mrs Agit8ed is sleeping in at work tonight.
I always thought you were Irish.
No biggie.
If you’d just give up fencing stolen laptops you’d be alright..
#Write down what I thought you said I said and I’ll look at it in the morning.
Agit8ed
You think a lot of things about me that that aren’t always accurate. I think you do need a good night’s sleep
Sweet dreams.
NOW, this blog has the wrong title. It should be titled “Just Babble” ;-P
I always thought you were Irish too Colm…until you declared yourself a Londoner in a recent post. Or at least, I thought you were a Londoner in the way Shane MacGowan is/was…not the depraved drunken part…just the identity part.
mairin
I’ve got more teeth than Shane MacGowan
How is Colm a pseudo Englshman?
Can you be a pseudo something if you actually are the something?
So do most toddlers, Colm..;-)
IIRC, Shane has had all his nasty stumps removed but doesn’t wear the false set substitute. Anyway..what’s London been like with Olympics…bad as they thought?
I was in Dublin today to support Cork against Kildare in the All-Ireland QF. It was in Croke Park where the British forces opened fire on spectators at a match in 1920. Fourteen people lost their lives as a result of the shooting in Croke Park that day. Included in the dead were Michael Hogan, a player on the Tipperary Team (whom the Hogan Stand is named after); Thomas Ryan, shot on his knees whispering an act of contrition to Hogan; Jane Boyle, due to be married five days later and fourteen year old William Scott, so badly mutilated that it was at first thought he had been bayoneted to death.
So if we were looking for reasons to join the UK I wouldn’t start with sport. Of course it is open to anyone to run as a unionist candidate in a southern election. The last person to do ran in Cork SW in 1982 and lost their deposit..
Maybe David Vance could give it a shot. Could anyone suggest a constituency where he would have a chance of beating his East Belfast total. 2000 votes would do it.
I wonder how many medal Britain would have won had the immigration policies advocated by ATW’s leading contributors been followed over the years. Bye-bye Mo Farah. Bye-bye Jesica Ennis etc etc etc.
Henry94 -
Well, there would have been fewer British medals resulting from immigration, but let’s not be so narrow in our influences. Afterall, if we’d had immigration policies as advocated by patriots, most other policies would have been different too.
Let’s take education, for example. Something like a half of our medallists were educated at private/independent schools, even though they account for just 7 per cent of pupils. Clearly then, sending your children to central state schools is fatal to their chances of an athletic career while private schools seem to be an excellent proving ground.
So we’ll lose the immigrant medals and pick up very many more from a pool of talent which runs to millions of youngsters who never knew that they had talent because the state never allowed it to show.
We’ll have no wasted lives on welfare either, no depressing dead end existences in multiculti crapholes.
So we’ll give up Mo Farah’s medal and have many more which the state never allowed our youngsters to compete for.
“Let’s take education, for example. Something like a half of our medallists were educated at private/independent schools, even though they account for just 7 per cent of pupils. Clearly then, sending your children to central state schools is fatal to their chances of an athletic career while private schools seem to be an excellent proving ground.”
Or maybe there is the fact that to sustain a major athletics career you need to train from an early age, even before you get into your teens. You need to get coaching. You need to go to tournaments. You need massive investment in equipment in some sports. Parents who can afford to send their kids to private school are more likely to be able to afford that coaching, afford those trips and afford that equipment for the many years before there is any return financially on sporting investment.
Parents who can’t to afford to send their kids to Eton can’t afford to do provide the huge financial support required for a sporting career. So it likely has nothing to do with the education provided.
There’s been a few medallists who have only taken their sport up within the last few years, albeit usually in events where particular body types are strongly selected for.
There are of course exceptions to the rule (and in those cases their sporting achievements would have also had nothing to do with their education).
Seamus -
More than anything you need talent, encouragement and opportunity. The last two are anathema to state education, where all must have prizes.
No, the numbers are in and the conclusion is clear: state education is killing the chances of 93 per cent of youngsters.
It gives me sincere pleasure to know that thousands of Guardian reading weirdos feel sick whenever our fine, British boys and girls are on the podium, Gold around their necks, with God Save the Queen accompanying the raising of the flag.
Whenever it happens it’s a rebuke and an act of defiance against their inhumane, Marxist beliefs.
Except that is a correlation not necessarily a causation. It is a statistic. And we should avoid using statistics like a drunk uses a lamppost – for support rather than illumination.
There is no evidence to suggest that state schools are choking off sporting achievement and private schools are supporting them other than a brief glance at the educational background of medal winners. And, as I pointed out, there are huge other requirements.
You mention the talent, encouragement and opportunity. Well children who have the talent aren’t been given the encouragement or the opportunity to succeed. But it isn’t because of a “Marxist” state sector. It is because their parents simply can’t afford to shell out thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pounds a year to fund their child’s sporting career.
Seamus -
But there is such evidence that state schools are choking off sporting ambition. We have decades of it. Now we see that 50 per cent of our medals are coming from the 7 per cent sector.
Granted, its not all down to state uneducation. Welfarism is a big part of it too, but all told it’s clear that too much contact with the state at a young age severely mitigates against ambition and success.
Well it isn’t clear. You have provided no evidence of it. And it shouldn’t be strange that 50% of the UK’s medal winners come from people born with silver spoons in their mouths. That has nothing to do with education and a lot more to do with the level of financial support their parents can dedicate it to their sporting development.
I think that the largest number of the UK medal winners were rowers.
The average person there does not participate in rowing, and I sure doubt that many state schools have rowing teams. It’s a fine sport, but it’s a rich person’s sport, there, and here– as are sailing, canoeing, equestrian events, and all that stuff.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/aug/06/team-gb-medal-winners-background#medals
Seamus -
How many 14 year olds do you think are riding around on £10K carbon bikes? Youngsters don’t need big bucks at all for most sports.
There are rowing clubs and bike clubs and archery clubs and shooting clubs and athletic clubs all over the place. What youngsters lack is the knowledge that that they can get stuck in and get involved. Insofar as they know it, the view is often “that’s not for me”.
It’s about attitude, which a decent school will nurture. In the meantime, most state school children are having their heads filled with crap while having any ambition knocked out of them.
Is it common for state schools to have rowing or shooting?
Come on.
It isn’t just the £10K bikes that they don’t have. How do they afford the coaching? How do they afford the money required to pay for trips to events?
There are rowing clubs and bike clubs and archery clubs and shooting clubs and athletic clubs all over the place
And I’m sure that the membership is predominantly working class in all of them.
In this country, school team sports, even for a child who’s not a budding star, requires a huge time commitment from the parents, who are expected to help out in various ways, including with transport and supervision on travel events. I imagine that some of this is true there.
A lot of people don’t have the time or money to do any of this.
“And I’m sure that the membership is predominantly working class in all of them.”
And free of charge I’m sure as well.
The point is that the membership isn’t predominently working class in such clubs, but it could be. That’s my point! Millions of children have ambition knocked out of them. Far fewer middle class children have it nurtured.
No, parents don’t nbeed to pay a fortune for coaching. There are coaches all over the place in these clubs. Children need to know about them, be encouraged to go and told that if they like something then it’s for them.
Did Bradley Wiggins need his parents to spend thousands of pounds on him?:
Clearly, no.
He loved cycling and got out there doing it. He joined a club and rode, his talent was spotted and the coaching followed after that. The point is he got out there and did it on a crappy old bike to begin with. Come September, how many state school children will be told by their teachers that they can win the Tour de France and Olympic Gold one day? None of them. How many will be told where the nearest track and bike club is? None of them, absolutely none of them.
These clubs never had much working class in them, even before you had state schools established there. It wasn’t that the state schools made anyone unambitious. The demonization of state schools in this context is forced, the same oul argument in different jar, that’s all.
That having been said, over here, some of the fancy pants clubs here – for polo, rowing, etc – make a special effort to recruit those of lesser means, those who would never think of participating in such a club.
I don’t know what the figures are for the UK or for the Summer games. But I read an article recently that said on average in America families will pay on average about $100,000 (about £65,000) to train an athlete before they get picked by national teams (who then normally cover the costs).
How do you suppose the families of children attending state schools afford that £65,000?
In tennis, the promising tennis players ( not just from America ) go to schools like this in Florida or California.
They are really good but they are really expensive. If you don’t go to an academy like that, you probably never can compete with the best of the young players.
Seamus -
Americans can deal with it their way. I’ve just shown you that one of the world’s greatest cyclists grew up on a council estate and his mother was a school secretary, and you’ve just ignored it to bring the something you read about the US.
You want to know how much parents have to pay here for their children to become top athletes?
Clearly, not alot.
Jessica Ennis could have been a deadbeat, a drop out, pregnant at 14 and without prospects. Instead she got out there and did. She went along and got involved and showed what she could do. As with Bradley Wiggins, she showed what she could do with no equipment and the coaching came to her.
Stone the crows, you’ll be a shit father:
- “Dad, I love that rowing, I want to give it a go.”
- “Forget it son.”
So surely that proves you wrong about the state sector of education sucking ambition out of them. You just provided two examples. They overcame that adversity, despite not having the advantage that other people such as those who went to private schools had. Maybe it was because they went to a good state school?
I think Ireland should be forced back into the Union, by FIFA. I just heard that a heinous, racist, monumentally evil crime of historic proportions has been committed in Ireland.
Only continue reading if you have a very strong stomach and are over the age of 30. I am in my forties and I was a little bit sick when I heard about it, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Someone – I can barely see my keyboard through this burning veil of shameful tears, so forgive any spelling errors – threw a banana onto a football pitch during a Manchester City friendly at Limerick.
The Irish MUST be compelled back into the union, so that they can go through the ‘Kick It Out – Show Racism the Red Card’ process until the FA is happy that all racistness has been swept cleanly away.
Using Argentine logic a small island that’s geographically near to us?…of course it belongs to us. The colonialists must be expelled! UN resolution! Ban the drilling for offshore Guinness!
Colm,
I have always thought that you were an Irishman living with your parents in London.
As I said before, no biggie. But your “transition” from being of Irish parentage to choosing to be English because that’s the country you were born in and have adopted, is much less than the one made by this poor girl, Shafilea.
Her family wanted to maintain the old ways and were/are a community within a society. Far worse than that (because as we both know, some Orthodox Jews do the same thing), is that they had/have a concept of “honour” which means that female family members can be murdered if they break the code.
So this poor girl wanted Western freedoms but would have also had to face rejection from some parts of that Western society. You as a white person (don’t tell me you also belong to an African-Irish tribe please?!) would have found it far easier than her.
What I have been trying to get at is that although I reject multicuturalism, I don’t reject people – unless they are hostile and want nothing to do with my/the host culture. I can have a working relationship with any person of any background who shares similar basic values to me.
The other thing is that to avoid total chaos, the laws and values of the host culture/the native ethnic majority must prevail; on matters affecting civil behaviour, equal treatment and opportunity, religious tolerance and business practice.
Can I recommend you read The Imam’s Daughter by Hannah Shah? It’s quite interesting. Even I as a “racist” found it so….
Olympics training hugely expensive and can drive families to financial ruin ( esp if the kid doesn’t win medals!)
Its a wonder that we have as many ” working class ” athletes as we do.
Supply and demand.
If coaching is that expensive then the US needs more coaches. If fees are that high then it’s a signal to coaches to enter the market.
Yeah sure.
There are plenty of coaches in the US.
The kind of world class coaches we speak of here do not grow on trees, and they will always cost a lot of money.
Agit8ed
I can’t disagree with any of your last comment except to say that I dod not ‘adopt’ England or choose to consider myself English. I am English. IT IS NOT A CHOICE. What I disagree with is people like Allan and to some extent Pete who claim that people of a non-white racial make up or a particular religious faith can never ever be British. I don’t accept that at all.
“The kind of world class coaches we speak of here do not grow on trees”
So you need to develop more world class coaches. Get more of them and the price will drop.
“I am English. IT IS NOT A CHOICE.”
Colm,
Let’s try this another way..
During the Raj, was an English baby born in India, Indian?
Was a white child born in Apartheid South Africa, African?
Is an Aborigine living the native lifestyle, more Australian than an original convict or immigrant?
Is a Muslim who comes to live in the United Kingdom yet refuses to give up the lifestyle of his homeland, British?
Lastly, was the child of English settlers in Ireland automatically Irish??
I think it takes more than being born in a country to make you a citizen. I don’t regard the white population of South Africa as African. They are South Africans of European descent. They are different.
That is how I regard anyone who comes from anywhere to live here. If they embrace our way of life they will eventually be accepted as English of xxxx descent.
The point about the present situation is that unrestricted immigration has turned some parts of our inner cities into “separate communities.”
Where I live for instance we have one shop run by an Asian family. As far as I am aware everybody likes them, and they are active in village affairs. However when I lived in Wolverhampton in an area with many Afro-Caribbeans, Sikhs Hindus and Muslims, the tension was sometimes palpable between the various communities. I doubt very much if those communities are any closer or interact any more than they did. I might be wrong, but as I often say, man is a tribal creature and always feels more comfortable amongst his own.
Agit
You are a moral disgrace.
“how many state school children will be told by their teachers that they can win the Tour de France and Olympic Gold one day? None of them”
I should hope not. Any teacher in a state school or otherwise who said to that to a child would normally be way out of line and if they said that to every child who showed an interest in sport they’d be lying. Most kids will not win a race in the playground, never mind the 100m.
Encouraging talent where it presents itself is one thing, but the factory farming of future champions for the glory of a nation seems a very dubious project to me. It’s bad enough that wherever you see some young hopeful (who’s been doing little else but some sport since they were a toddler) you often see some demented parent at the side of the field or tennis court. No need for teachers to be getting into that kind of thing as well.
Only some of them turn into the Sharopovas or Boris Beckers or Andy Murrays etc. Maybe another small tranche has a pretty good time as a professional. What happens to the rest of them? And is it really worth it putting all those kids through the mincer just so that some country can have (e.g.) a Wimbledon champion?
Petr,
Whatever.
” And is it really worth it putting all those kids through the mincer just so that some country can have (e.g.) a Wimbledon champion?”
I’d agree with you except that people in this country love to watch sport. Take football. It used to be that nearly all schools when I was a kid had sports and gym classes. It was from skills and enthusiasms developed at school that our homegrown talent came from. Then it became “wrong” to be competitive, and schools sold off playing fields, and invented games where “all would have prizes!”
So we had to start importing footballers because our own source was drying up..
Agit8ed
I agree with a lot of what you say, but my point about it not being a choice is that I think national identity is in most cases a given. It just reflects your upbringing and direct personal experiences. I don’t think it is automatic though and certainly many people born here will not develop a sense of natural British identity purely for the culturally insular reasons you mention, but some cultures Britain’s among them are more open to absorbing other peoples into then than others , Japanese for example. I definitely agree that there are cases where settler groups can live abroad and generations later will still not be assimilated (the British in India/Asia/Africa) being classic examples, but certainly there are many non-white people in Britain even amongst my own circle of acquiantances and friends who are clearly British through ther whole demeanour way of talking sense of humour etc. and I don’t accept that in order to be British you have to be white.
” and I don’t accept that in order to be British you have to be white.”
I don’t believe that either, of course not.
So I don’t see why some here get their knickers in a twist when I say that I worry about the loss of my historical culture, and that multiculturalism could mean that in future all our distinctive customs and history may be swept away.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t accept people who have come to live here and want to be English.
The very fact that the various ethnic communities tend to congregate together only proves my point that we all feel most comfortable amongst our own kind.
To me being racist means to hate or reject others simply because they are different.
Petr,
What’s the yappy little poodle got to say about that?
Sometimes the problem with the British is not that they don’t accept outsiders but that they claim people who don’t belong to them at all. Like the Daily Telegraph trying to recruit our Katie Taylor for TeamGB!
http://admin.newstalk.ie/wp-content/files/2012/08/brit.png
“Sometimes the problem with the British is not that they don’t accept outsiders”
“Sometimes the problem with the British”
Do you mean the English or the Scots or the Welsh?
Are the Scots or Welsh more welcoming to “outsiders” than the English?
No more welcoming to non Europeans are the Irish..
“In summary, in terms of discrimination in the workplace, two conclusions emerge.
First, the experiences of immigrants from English speaking countries (most of whom
are from the UK) do not differ from those of Irish nationals. Second, immigrants from
non-English speaking countries are somewhat more at risk compared to Irish
nationals. Asians and members of the ‘Other’ ethnic group are less likely to secure
the top occupations and more likely to report discrimination, while the sample of
Black respondents is too small to provide conclusive evidence of differential
treatment or outcomes. When we group the ethnic minority sample, we find their
average experience similar to non-English speaking White respondents.”
http://www.equality.ie/Files/Immigrants%20at%20Work%20-%20Ethnicity%20and%20Nationality%20in%20the%20Irish%20Labour%20Market.pdf
Do you mean the English or the Scots or the Welsh?
You all look the same to me.
Ho Ho!
Which is surprising, as from what I understand you have plenty of ethnic examples dwelling in Northern Ireland awaiting acceptance a la Colm”, to see the differences…
haha Katie has been conscripted in Team GB, didnt know Bray,Co. Wicklow was in GB.