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Short thread: having spent 4 days in lovely Finland I think I’ve stumbled on the British disease, the thing that has enabled a bunch of foetid nostalgists to over estimate our significance as a nation and our ability to strike out alone in the world: it’s the English language 1/
The Finns have a clear-eyed view of their place in the world. They are a proud nation (and rightly; oh, that education system) but understand that they sit within a tight knot of other interesting nations. They also know their language is weirdly obscure 2/
Thus they make an effort. They really don’t expect you to speak Finnish. I didn’t meet one Finn who didn’t speak terrific English. That poly-lingual thing means they come across as open to the world, quietly hospitable, international in outlook 3/
Meanwhile the British don’t bother because hey, we’ve got English and everyone else speaks that. Courtesy of our raping and pillaging colonial past our language is literally bloody everywhere. It makes certain sections of British society think we remain globally important 4/
Well we’re not. Viewed from Helsinki this week, as the Tory party made like a gerbil in labour eating each new young as it popped out, Britain looks weird, shambolic, desperate and parochial. We just happen to have sent our language out into a world that now laughs at us. 5/
The only upside of our language is the broad vocabulary which enables some of us to point out most acutely what an effing, floundering shit-show we’ve become. I’m typing this on the way back from the airport. Good to be home. 6/end
