“I am as entitled to comment on my home nation as the next & the endless insistence that I display my gratitude is rooted in racism. Racism which is, in itself, rooted in the fact that the children of imperial immigrants born here are not always seen as fully British” - @sathnam
This point, which @sathnam eloquently & movingly makes in his book Empireland, is amplified by the fact that opposition to British imperialism is itself quite as venerable & vital a tradition in Britain as support for it: the tradition upheld by Dr Johnson, by Byron, by Orwell.
Feeling bad I did not originally post the full footnote, so here - in a late attempt to make amends - it is.
This is very good by @barneyronay at explaining something that had been mildly nagging me: why I feel less interested in first class cricket this season than I have done since 1981.
My sense of the natural rhythm of the season is completely shot. I’ve no idea what all the various competitions are, when & by whom they’re being played, who’s going to be in the England team, who’s going to be out, & why.
Yes! The County Championship has been great. But now it’s suddenly stopped. Why? When does it return?
A literally haunting possibility floated by the article: “the shackles represented insurance for the living against any potential supernatural repercussions of the man's harsh treatment.”
2 maverick cops investigating Roman cold cases plus ghosts is very much the Sunday evening drama I want to watch
Sometimes 'inhabitants of post-Roman lowland Britain,' or 'West Saxons', or 'Anglians,' or 'Mercians', or - post Athelstan - 'English' may indeed serve better. But 'Anglo-Saxons' is the most convenient & widely recognised term, so use it when & as necessary, without anxiety!
A thread on why I, certainly, have no qualms whatsoever about using the word 'Anglo-Saxons'.