Tag: British identity

1,048 words

When anyone on planet Earth spoke of “the Queen,” nobody ever asked, “Which Queen?” Everyone knew that “the Queen” meant Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. In that sense, she was the Queen of the world. In the global imagination, Elizabeth II stood for all the queens of the world, indeed all the monarchs of the world, as well as standing for the UK and its various offshoots and possessions all around the globe as their head of state for more than 70 years. (more…)

1,593 words

I’m very happy to take WN’s suggestion and add a few words to Mr. Colin Liddell’s excellent article on the Rolling Stones’ classic Their Satanic Majesties Request — which I was glad to see since, for some reason, I seem to have not done Satanic Majesties justice in my own past ruminations, although on reflection, inspired by Mr. Liddell, it seems to have a large enough role.  (more…)

1,908 words

Their Satanic Majesties Request is, to my mind, the most British and therefore the most authentic of all Rolling Stones albums. Their characteristic hard-driving blues is put on the back-burner and suffused through a veil of psychedelia and English whimsy with which the band were seldom associated.

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“Briton” executes American in Caliphate

830 words

For the first time since 1815, Britain and the US are effectively at war, although rather than the bayous of Louisiana or the forests of the Canadian borders, the battleground is the deserts of the Middle East, where a “Brit” with a London accent — dubbed by the ever inventive and alliterative UK press “Jihad John” — took fanatical pleasure is hacking off the head of an American journalist after US forces bombed Islamic State forces advancing on Kurdish positions.  (more…)

John Opie, „Boadicea hält den Briten eine Predigt“; vor 1807

1,422 words

Übersetzt von Deep Roots

English original here

Zur Zeit, da dies  geschrieben wird, wird Emma West in Haft gehalten und wartet auf einen weiteren Auftritt vor Gericht. Im Gefolge ihrer weithin publizierten Polemik gegen die Einwanderung ist sie der verschärften, vorsätzlichen, rassisch-religiösen Unruhestiftung angeklagt worden. Falls sie für schuldig befunden wird, droht ihr ein Höchsturteil von zwei Jahren Gefängnis. (more…)

John Opie, “Boadicea Haranguing The Britons,” before 1807

1,445 words

German translation here

At the time of writing, Emma West is being held in custody awaiting a further court appearance. Following her well-publicized anti-immigration polemic she has been accused of committing racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment. If she is found guilty she will face a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment. (more…)

1,995 words

Lennard Bickel
Shackleton’s Forgotten Men:
The Untold Tragedy of the Endurance Epic
London: Pimlico, 2001

The heroic age of Antarctic exploration ended with Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance expedition of 1914–1916. And this, no doubt because of the relatively recent film starring Kenneth Branagh, is nowadays probably the best known of the many incredible adventures experienced by the early Antarctic explorers. (more…)

Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard, 1886–1959

2,240 words

Apsley Cherry-Garrard
The Worst Journey in the World
London: Pimlico, 2003

I remember watching the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic at some point in the early 1990s and marveling both at its grimness and the sheer Englishness of its sensibilities. (more…)