It doesn’t seem long since we were remembering the centenary of the start of WWI.
There was a moving ceremony with a reading of the names from the Abingdon (Borough) Roll of Service August 1914 – June 1919, and a candle-lit ceremony round the War Memorial.
At Abingdon Library there is an board telling of an on-going project telling A Soldier’s Tale through THE FIRST WORLD WAR, TOLD THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA AS IF IT WERE TODAY. The aim of the project is to capture the imagination of 13-18 year olds using a medium they know, understand and use.
Walter Carter, the soldier in the tale, is currently in a mental hospital undergoing treatment for shell shock.
Above are pictured a group of Carters from Abingdon who died during WWI. They each had their story, which was not fiction, and cost them their lives.
It does make one think about what would happen if we had to enter into another war. Our society has changed enormously since then. We had a sense of country and identity. We have had mass immigration into this country of people of different ethnic identities. Some people of Pakistani origin say that their first Loyalty lays with Pakistan. A report said that more young Muslims went abroad to fight for ISIS than applied to join UK forces. Would the growing population of people who do not identify with being British want to fight for this country?
Am I alone in finding these persistent border-line racist comments tiring and unsavoury
No, Iain, you are not.
Throughout history wars have been caused by people whose “sense of country and identity” led them to threaten the rights of people in other countries. Allowing people to move freely between countries and see themselves as citizens of a wider place than that where they happened to be born, just might help us to break out of this pattern.
With all that we know about the horrors of the two World Wars – and now about wars in the modern “civilised” world – I struggle to see those attitudes as ones we should wish to preserve.
Hester, your theory of “Allowing people to move freely between countries and see themselves as citizens of a wider place than that where they happened to be born, just might help us to break out of this pattern” is somewhat shot down by Janet’s statement of more “British Pakistanis” leaving to join ISIL than the British Army?
Iain, I don’t see how repeating a factual statement is racist? Generally wars are a racist event anyway?
But is Janet’s assertion comment or fact? I regularly read reports alleging all sorts of research breakthroughs which are presented as ‘fact”. They are usually extrapolations of preliminary findings that their proponents use to attract further funding. They are speculation not fact.
Could we have the respective numbers of “British Pakistanis” entering university or enrolling on apprenticeships compared with those joining the B
But is Janet’s assertion comment or fact? I regularly read reports alleging all sorts of research breakthroughs which are presented as ‘fact”. They are usually extrapolations of preliminary findings that their proponents use to attract further funding. They are speculation not fact.
Could we have the respective numbers of “British Pakistanis” entering university or enrolling on apprenticeships compared with those joining the British Army or, indeed, IS?
You can make statistics say almost anything, if you skew the original question.
Yes I see where you’re coming from PPJS, but like many others, I’m sure, I’m tired and despondent with being almost reprimanded for daring to be “not pc” or even racist when clearly the west are the only ones willing to compromise and be compassionate, yesterday, at the inquest of the 30 British subjects mowed down on a Tunisian beach it was confirmed that armed response units quite deliberately held back from arriving at the scene which gave the assassin more time to murdet westerners- even more ironic is the fact that almost 70 years earlier soldiers of Montgomeries 8th army ( the dessert rats) laid down their lives to free those very people from the Nazis,
Merkel went against popular opinion and adopted an open door policy on immigration and was repaid by the very people she put her reputation on the line by having 1000 of those “guests” go on a New Year’s Eve rampage of rape and indecent assault !
As Christian and god fearing as I am we cannot continue to be an open door and welcome to all country without seeing the errossion of our society, in his Easter message the Archbishop of Canterbury said it’s not racist to express concern at the destruction and dilution of our country, (or words to that effect)
Jen and Captainkaos2, these comments are inappropriate for this post and I find them disrespectful to the soldiers who fought and died to defend our country.
Captain: the whole point about Christ’s teaching on forgiveness is that there is no limit. Bless those who curse you, etc.
I do not expect the Government to operate by the Sermon on the Mount, but it is the task of those of us who do call ourselves Christians to live out the Easter faith in a Good Friday world.
Sermon ends!
And the meek shall inherit the earth?
Captain: I will happily have a theological discussion with you – but perhaps this blog is not the place;-}