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Tuesday 2 February 2010

BRITISHNESS PART 2


A follow-up to my earlier post on Britishness



Part One: You don’t know you’re born mate...


For what it's worth, I reckon Sebastian Shakespeare made a fool of himself in the Evening Standard last week. He had just returned from a two-week holiday in the Tamil Nadu region of India and had a very lovely time. All very well. However, upon his return, having suffered in Britain the horrors of a surly air hostess and a queue in Lloyd’s Bank, he states that ‘In my next life I would like to be born an Indian’. Well, fine for him. I'm sure millions are glad they were. But in doing so I imagine he’d like the continuing benefit of the money and privilege that one presumes have rather cushioned his own upbringing and indeed his recent travels. After all, up-an-coming as that country is, I suspect many lucky enough to be born Indian rather than accursed with Britishness may have to face subsequent difficulties even worse (gasp) than a slight delay on the High Street. But am I right? Or am I just another institutionally racist Brit taking Slumdog Millionaire a little too literally?


Well, the very same edition of the Evening Standard was on hand to help me out a few pages later. It told the story of the recently murdered Sukhwinder Singh, about whom the paper is somewhat conflicted – he was after all an illegal immigrant (very bad) but a martyred have-a-go hero (very good). Anyway, the piece features quotes such as the following: “Every year, 800 to 1,000 farmers in the Punjab commit suicide because they are unable to meet their debt repayments. For young men, the unemployment rate is well over 50% and even if they get a factory job (it) still leaves them on the poverty line. In London they know they can earn 20 times that’. Now I don’t write that to sound smug or glib. It just confirms to me the obscenity of a public schooled professional, living well in one of the world’s richest cities, claiming to envy the developing world. It brings to mind Helena Bonham-Carter’s famous claim that Kathy Burke had it easy being working-class. We really don’t have it that bad… don’t curse the hand that feeds you!


Part Two: Life without a Chance


Far more briefly... I know I may have sounded dismissive in my previous article when claiming that equal opportunities do exist in this country for those on council estates, as they’re sent to generally decent schools. I did so knowing there are a great number of other factors begging consideration. However, it was still an appropriate time to watch Fish Tank, the latest powerful and gritty Brit flick about a fifteen-year old anti-hero battling to get out of her brutal environment. Whilst watching, one phrase echoed through my head – ‘she never had a chance’. The tower block is bleak and vicious, the mother is a bitter, emotionally abusive tramp who views her as a threat, the latest father-figure views her only with lust. It’s a must-see for any who would unthinkingly demonise the ‘hoody’ hordes.


Yet, numerous as the issues are, I still don’t see the issue as primarily economic. Those Indian poor mentioned above could surely only marvel at a country which would hand them free housing, health care, education and enough money to ensure a big TV and fridge full of food. Yes, in the long term, more money would help – it gets you out of the tower block for a start… but in the short term? Money isn’t going to stop the substance abuse, put an end to the poor parenting, provide new role models or reverse the uninterested attitude to school. The Communist experiments in East Europe, China or anywhere else showed that economic equalisation does nothing to address the corruption inherent within humanity. So what’s the answer? Well there’s the tough bit…


NOTE: The ‘Warmth v Wealth’ debate regarding the development of children is very topical at present following a Cameron speech last month. See an overview here:

http://www.demos.co.uk/blog/against-parenting  










2 comments:

  1. Why the hell are you reading the Evening Standard?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw that Evening Standard article and laughed my backside off when I saw that last line. Couldn't believe I was reading it!

    Thankfully I was on my way out on a Friday night on a train when I picked it up for something to read.

    You people are funny.

    ReplyDelete