All you pure-bred, Right-thinking (that capital letter is deliberate), Britain First, UKIP-voting pure-bred English, think about this.
A very early part of our cultural heritage was from the Celts. They came from Asia, via Europe.
Another large chunk came from the Romans. Central heating, glass in windows, part of the basis for our language. They came from Europe. And they were responsible for naming this collection of islands ‘Britannia’. That’s the Latin root of ‘Britain’.
Then there were the Angles and Saxons, the first of whom actually gave this country its name. As in England. And some more of our language. Basically, the German-based bits. They came from Northern Europe.
Then there were the Vikings. More culture. More language (the east side of England has a lot of Scandinavian in the place-names).
Then came the Normans. Not only did they update our culture, they actually brought along ownership of some choice lands in what is now France. They were responsible for the Romantic (meaning ‘from Rome’, not ‘soppy’) bits of the language. They came from Europe.
OK, so they were all invaders. Over time, though, things settled down and we haven’t been successfully invaded since. But this country has generally been open to letting some in. Like the Huguenots from France, fleeing religious persecution. Or they were imported, like the flax-weavers from Flanders. Or the basis for the present Afro-Caribbean communities who came over in the 1950s and ’60s.
We’ve always been very closely involved with Europe. We even imported two kings—George I from Germany, William III and Mary II (aka ‘William and Mary’) from The Netherlands.
Celtic, Northern European, Scandinavian, Latin, Norman French. And that’s just a thousand years’ worth. Followed up with whoever moved here and stayed and married one of your ancestors and added another strand of DNA into your family. Who’s to say YOU haven’t got a little bit of African, Asian or, dare I say it, Middle Eastern blood in your ancestry?
So all you people who are proud to tick the ‘White British’ box are proudly declaring that you are one of the most mongrel-bred people in the world. ‘Cos that’s what we all are.
Mongrels. Made from immigrants.