The Bear

Why on earth is there even a suggestion that anyone other than an ENGLISHMAN should be put in place only shows how low this country has sunk and how the constant harping by the so called intelligentsia on how dreadful we English have been has resulted in a couple of generations that would even consider putting anyone other than an English personage there is scandalous.

My nomination would be for William Wilberforce.

Not only on the basis that he is English and an all round good guy who did a great deal to outlaw slavery, but would serve to remind more than a few that we DID do good in the world and a damm sight more than is being peddled to our kids in the oh so politically correct schools right now.

Mikeuk

There's a tall column in Hull commemorating Wilberforce (who was MP for that borough) and a statue to Gandhi in London.

Personally I think we have enough statues already. However an appropriate one for Leicester would be Thomas Cook, who started his travel empire in that ghastly city.

Once again Tom Wilde, despite his endless protests to the contrary, shows that he is somewhat out of step with the general tenor of thinking among the Eurosceptic community.

Despite my modest admiration for Gandhi I shall not be contributing to this project.

cassie

Bully for you! I return to my point that Ghandi did nothing for Great Britain, neither did Mandela. Therefore, they should be celebrated in their own countries by their own people . . . always assuming that's not too controversial there!

I go further: this insistence by so called liberal opinion in thrusting foreign individuals upon us to honour would not be quite as insufferable were it not for the widespread and abysmal refusal to acknowledge England and English heroes! [There's even a Geldof Drive in York!]

The fact is that it is all one way traffic. Other Commonwealth countries are only too keen to eradicate symbols of British presence.

It is entirely predictable that, if the authorities press ahead with such an unpopular scheme, it will be defaced - like the Stephen Lawrence Centre.


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Tom Wilde

Why not? You've even put a non-Englishman as your avatar on this forum!

Like Shakespeare, Gandhi belongs to the world, not just to any one country. Do you think the English are so mean and narrow that they can't celebrate figures of world importance? The English are human beings and as human beings can celebrate the best that humanity has produced.

Controversial in India? Yes, of course. As you know, he was murdered not by a Muslim or a Sikh but by a Hindu extremist.

cassie

That Ghandi is comparable to Shakespeare is questionable; that he 'belongs to the world' needs explanation and substantiation.

Definitions of 'belong to' and 'the world' in this context need to be made. Otherwise this is just another vague assertion which can mean anything or nothing depending upon one's position and perception. Once 'belong to the world' has been definitively explained, the reasons substantiating it need to be identified.

Even so, if one takes this astonishing assertion seriously just for the sake of debate, the next question is: Why in Leicester and why not in the rest of 'the world'?

After this, the next question is: Why should we have yet another foreign 'hero' dumped on us by a foreign born MP who, if there was any integrity to our party political system, would not have been elected to our legislature.


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Andrew Constantine

Cassie

We have had our differences in the past (and I hold a torch for frith), but it is well time that I noted just how many good posts you are making on this forum.

We could probably between us write a book about Vaz's appalling contribution to "putting Britain under the cosh of Brussels", but I cannot but speculate that Vaz is another of our legislators who is a non-dom (i.e. domiciled abroad).

In other words, if he were a non-dom, he would then be happily helping enact tax laws which would not in part apply to him.

Another way of looking at any non-dom MPs is to see them claiming that they are British enough to have citizenship, British enough to stand for the British Parliament ... but when it comes to paying British taxes on overseas assets and investment income... not very British at all.

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Andrew Constantine says: The EU is a French-German racket and is incompatible with democracy. An independent England will quit the EU forthwith.

Free England Party - Independence for England
http://www.freeengland.com

Signatory to The English Claim of Right
http://englishclaimofright.com

cassie

Why, thankee thur! I do try to be thought provoking, but sometimes it's just plain provoking! Unfortunately, Leopards don't change their spots.

You are right about Mr Vaz!

Why anyone pays tax on an income of £10,000 or less when wealthy individuals pay much less pro rata beats me!

I have heard the view expressed that exemption from income up to £15,000 pa would not go amiss. and a significant cost saving would accrue from ending or reducing the pantomime of assessments followed by tax credits and other benefits admin. below that level

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Roland

I'm no expert on the man. I don't see why they should but up a statue of him,but I also don't see why he's getting the slatting he is on here.

He never advocated any thing but peaceful protest (I may stand corrected) and stood up against the oppression of his people.

Northumbrian

You might as well put up a statue of the Dalai Lama - but that would wind up the Chinese too much and we do rely on them to manufacture our goods.

cassie

Why don't you do us the courtesy of reading the previous posts instead of intervening, pleading ignorance, but expressing a contrary view which fails to address points made earlier.

I repeat: he never did anything for this country. By your own account he "stood up against the oppression of his people", so why not stick the thing in his own people's country instead of cluttering up ours.


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