John Coopey

A SONG OF PATRIOTIC PREJUDICE (Pt 2)

by John Coopey

Monday 1st August 2016 5:26 pm

(With an enormous nod to the original by the incomparable Flanders and Swann)

The nation has got in a hell of a state

Let’s get out of Europe and make Britain great

Let’s pull up the drawbridge and then start anew.

And blame it on Hollande and Merkel’s EU.

This European Union is quite a rum do

We English are much better off without you.

We’ve fought for the Belgians and we’ve bailed out France

We’ve given the Jerries a kick in the pants

The cowardly Ities – well, they ran away

And Dutchmen are known to be stoned every day.

This European…

Estonia and Latvia are Russia by name

And Lithuania – well, that’s just the same;

Slovakia, Slovenia you can’t tell apart

And a bus in Bulgaria’s a horse and a cart.

This European…

If I need a plumber I won’t call a Pole

And clearly Romanians are all on the dole

And Austrians can’t resist doing “Seig Heil”

They’re thick as potatoes in Ireland’s green isle.

This European…

The rest is a mish-mash of turnips and Swedes

The Spanish, the Czechs and Croat in-breeds

They’re foreign, dishonest and up to no good

And don’t have an ounce of true Englishman’s blood.

This European…

◄ LOOK WHAT THEY DONE TO MY THONG, MA

"A LOT BETTER, THANKS" ►

Comments

John Coopey

Wed 3rd Aug 2016 22:16

i'll check that out too, Harry.

Harry O'Neill

Wed 3rd Aug 2016 21:59

Folks,
An excellent (and short) Chesterton comment on
the intellectual strengths and weaknesses of both the English and foreign nations is `The Riddle of the Ivy` (it is on the internet)

It contains the kind of common sense that both the 52% of the `outs` and the 48% of the `ins` should be using at the present moment.

John Coopey

Wed 3rd Aug 2016 20:16

Thanks, MC. I'll check out the Chesterton reference.

M.C. Newberry

Wed 3rd Aug 2016 17:45

G.K. Chesterton's "The Secret People" deserves
to be read in this context.
Also - the closing lines of Shakespeare's famous
"This England" speech have a contemporary ring to them:
"This land of such dear souls, this dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out - I die pronouncing it -
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beat back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself."

John Coopey

Wed 3rd Aug 2016 15:19

Thanks, Lancs.
I'm not sure we "owned" much of France. The Plantagenets were of Norman stock. Most of them couldn't speak a word of English so the 100 Years War was fought over Norman and French designs on what we now call France.

John Coopey

Tue 2nd Aug 2016 18:27

In a sense, MC, the argument is redundant. The people have decided and, much as I deplore their decision, I will stand by it as a democrat.
But as for the erosion of national character - do you discern any less Frenchness in France, or Germanness in Germany for their being in the EU?

M.C. Newberry

Tue 2nd Aug 2016 18:18

We have long enjoyed being "separate" - indeed, we are
constantly being preached at that we are made up of
incomers...presumably those who relish having fun at the
expense of those they have left elsewhere! Go around
the world and there are similar attitudes among people
everywhere. In Britain, for centuries insular and remote
to immigration due to distance and difficulty/cost of
travel from beyond its sea-girt shores, the differences
to be mocked were from town to town...county to county, country to country. Ask a true born Cornishman about a Devonian - & vice versa!
As for Ukip - when I retired and could address politics, I
discarded the deceits of the major parties and went with
a political maverick that provided as its platform the
premise that this country had the right to decide who
governed it...a reincarnation of the proposition that it
should be "of the people, by the people, for the people"
and not for the benefit of a political elite across borders
who made it clear that "the people" were to be led, not listened to! Their concerns disregarded, not deferred to.
I dismiss the view that its supporters can be construed
as frothing at the mouth xenophobes because they seek
the proper control of their borders and their national identity & determination. What self-respecting nation
would choose otherwise? For too long we have been
manipulated and misled by those who hold in contempt
any concept of national self-regulation & sovereignty in
pursuit of some empirical entity, with themselves as its
unassailable creators and controllers, beyond appeal
or reproach, constantly resorting to prophecies of doom
and gloom when threatened or thwarted.

John Coopey

Tue 2nd Aug 2016 00:17

Harry - I did worry about some of the more offensive lines but decided to put my faith in readers' sense of irony.

Harry O'Neill

Mon 1st Aug 2016 23:05

John,
I agree with Gregg completely. The leavers would absolutely fail to `get` this modern ( and musical) Joke.
Farage`s lot would be dense enough to use it as their national anthem.

They don`t `get` jokes very easily...their `patriotism` has not got the humor or self-awareness in it for them to have a laugh at themselves.

John Coopey

Mon 1st Aug 2016 22:14

If mine has any merit at all over the original, Greg, it is that it is more current. But I'm not convinced this is valid as a criterion. It's a bit like the pub argument over whether the Arsenal team of the 30's would beat the Liverpool team of the 80's.
In all other aspects I am clear that mine is 2nd best.

Greg Freeman

Mon 1st Aug 2016 20:12

On the contrary, John, I prefer yours. It has the merit of being up to date, and funnier. Not the finest hour of Flanders and Swann - and they had many great moments. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. I'm afraid a lot of people these days would miss the irony. I like the way Jimmy Andrex spells it out in his poem 'Foreigners': "What's so great about us, and not them?"

John Coopey

Mon 1st Aug 2016 19:01

I agree, MC. It is a pity that xenophobia which is to be deplored has become entangled with patriotism, which is not.

M.C. Newberry

Mon 1st Aug 2016 18:37

I seem to recall an immortal couplet from these originals.
"The English, the English, the English are best,
I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest".
But now, everyone else can have their communities, their
demos, banners and boasts, whereas the above is racist,
we would certainly soon be told.
Then we can seek consolation in the Master's masterful
"Let's Not Be Beastly To The Germans". What fun!

John Coopey

Mon 1st Aug 2016 17:38

The far superior original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8

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