Oh The Shame

*Taken from AC Article on Beard

I’ve always been a relatively patriotic individual and can honestly say that I love Britain. But it seems that my patriotism was sorely misplaced.

You see the reason for which I’ve always loved Britain is my strong belief that we are (were) the only nation that got integration right. That we are (were) a nation of real mongrels; A Hotpot style combo of White, Black and Asian British people. A nation where the relevancy of Musicians such as The Beat, The Specials, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney or even Dizzee Rascal never comes into question. A place where Reggae, Ska, Northern Soul, Jungle and Garage have become genuinely relevant forms of music and are ingrained into our cultural background regardless of our roots, we as a nation should be proud of that type of Heritage .

I have lived in Berlin for over a year now and I have never missed Britain so sorely. Berlin is a nice place don’t get me wrong its just that when you live in a place where the local idea of integration is partial segregation between quarters and a constant reference to things being ‘exotic’ you miss the normality of Britain (or at least as it is in my head).

So now I while I sit here and lament leaving Britain am I correct in doing so or is all that I believed some sort of naive fantasy that I’ve created. In all honesty I don’t think it is but if the British people see fit to elect two members of the British Nationalist Party to the European Parliament as representatives of my country I guess I have to think again. I am genuinely ashamed to be British today.