There is the
by-election for Stoke Central on Thursday which is of current interest for all
the wrong reasons. A few days ago BBC4 repeated the programme Love And Betrayal in India. The White Mughals about a Scotsman of the East India Company,
James Kirkpatrick, becoming more Indian than Scots and Muslim in faith.
How
might these connect is obscure. One reason is
that contemporary with Kirkpatrick were men from the local Sneyd land owning
family in Stoke and area, who were active in the Company military and connected
at the highest levels to the Governors General in Calcutta.
More to the
point was that they were involved with the Royal Asiatic Society and those with
a real and close interest in the literature, languages and cultures of the sub
Continent.
On Thursday in
Stoke one major issue is which way the Muslim vote there might swing. There is
a report that they are advised to vote Labour or face discipline from within
their faith.
That Stoke, so
long a stronghold for Labour, may now have to rely on that vote as opposed to
what is left of the old working class, who are now voting for others is
striking. It has lessons for the rest of the UK including Scotland, which is
said to have a population of 5.3 million.
The SNP,
hoping to have a win in the next referendum, at present has open doors policy.
With an estimated 350 million people in the sub Continent being Muslim, if zero
point two per cent of those see the social and welfare policies of Scotland
being advantageous and move in whatever Scotland will be it will no longer be
Scots, many of whom will have moved on.
If in England,
the Labour party is shifting to a reliance on the Muslim vote in urban areas,
this will reinforce those at present in favour of a UK open doors policy. But
there are other faiths. So who might come? In India there are a billion and
more. If many of them were to move will they join the Muslim vote, or would
they vote for anything but Muslim?
We should add
those from other continents, Africa, China, the Middle East where friendly
bombing creates more friends to come, the Far East and other places.
If Australia
gets much hotter and our cousins return where we will we fit them in?
"But there are other faiths."
ReplyDeleteAnd what a happy thought that is.
It would only take a fraction of India's population to move here to swamp ours and they wouldn't miss it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the great lies of modern 'history' is that we formed the British Empire by invasion and force. Consider how difficult it was to retake The Falklands and now imagine doing the same for India or Africa!
Australia is in the grip of the 'climate change' so you only hear current extremes.
ReplyDeleteBUT last night I had to use my electric blanket (In Morwell) . Nobody tells you that