There are four kinds of people that live in Great Britian.
First are the Scots, who hold on to their children and anything else they can get their hands on. Next are the Welsh, who pray on their knees and prey on their neighbours. Then there are the Irish, who don’t know what they want, but they’ll fight anyone for it. Last are the English, who consider themselves self-made men, which relieves the Almighty of any responsibility.

But I grew up in those old real communities, that were diverse. Where rich and poor lived cheek by jowl, knew each others first names and family histories, but didn’t hate each other for it. Where if you really were the only Gay in the village, your next door neighbour would pop down the shops for a pint of milk for you if you were feeling poorly.

Once you’ve experienced that, it is a feeling very hard to shake off or feel that it’s irrelevant. Brotherhood of Man and all that.

So that, he said is the difference between the Welsh and the English. The Welsh are small town people who are curious and caring about each other, and who really do know each other and their back stories, aunts,uncles, grans and gramps; who love to talk and gossip, and will look out for each other even if they don’t like someone very much. The English don’t. You can live next door to people in England for 20 years and not know their first names or what they do for a living.

Yes true. This is precisely why I like living in England.

He had to go to a funeral of a relative in the South Wales Valley’s. So he got on the train at Paddington London and was a bit early, so he was practically the first on. Gradually the carriage filled up starting at the four corners, until eventually people had to sit in proximity to each other. Then as soon as the train started off up went the newspapers and out came the books, and not a word was spoken. Most of the travellers got off at Reading, Swindon, Bath or Bristol, there were very few left by Cardiff.

Well he had to catch a branch train to go up the Valleys, and he got on the last of the night. He was the first on again. The very next passenger to aarive came right over and sat next to him and said ” ‘Ello butt, where you goin’ to then?” A conversation instantly ensued, during which he found that his new friend had known his relative and would be at the funeral himself the following day.

So that, he said is the difference between the Welsh and the English. The Welsh are small town people who are curious and caring about each other, and who really do know each other and their back stories, aunts,uncles, grans and gramps; who love to talk and gossip, and will look out for each other even if they don’t like someone very much. The English don’t. You can live next door to people in England for 20 years and not know their first names or what they do for a living.

“Ma’am, sir, please and thank-you” are still to be found in the American South, which has historically set more stock in formal courtesy than the rest of the country.

” . . . and George Thomas MP lived around the corner in the Park. ”

Another ‘takes me back’ moment. I had the pleasure to hear George Thomas speak twice during his tenure as Speaker – what a man, a lion of the Parliament, and with a wicked sense of humor. Of those I heard in person, only Lord Denning was a better speaker.

Both men had not the slightest hint of ‘side’ about them, probably because both had risen to their high offices from the very humblest of beginnings – sons of a miner and a shopkeeper, respectively.

The Welsh are different in this regard, so are the Scots and the Irish. Which may explain (in part) why the Americans are, as well.

llater,

llamas

And I can see how it would confuse the uninitiated. I was at a meeting once where an Australian investment firm presented to some UK pension fund trustees. Afterwards I spoke to the Australians and they were very happy with their presentation the UK trustees having remarked how ‘interesting’ it was.

I used to think, not so long ago, that the UK (not just England, given Hume and Smith) was one of the countries on Earth most inclined to liberty and that we had just taken a few wrong steps that if reversed would make this a relatively libertarian place. Lately I have come to think that the English are in fact pretty illiberal, or at least anti-libertarian.

As has been remarked upon, when discussing some topic, arguments from the point of liberty are often met by a comment such as ‘it won’t work’, which implies a focus on consequences (this retort is very often used by politicians rubbishing the other lot’s policies – I always found this unedifying in the extreme since what one person thinks “works” another won’t).

It is true that the UK has punched above its weight in terms of contributing to the libertarian body of thought (Adam Smith, Locke, the protestant dissenters) but we have punched above our weight in all kinds of directions so I’m not sure if this tells us anything except perhaps that we are good at ideas.

The libertarian instinct is I think, not limited to any one culture, but found within a few of us, scattered across the globe. But only in the US is the libertarian meme so entrenched. Unfortunately, while ‘liberty talk’ is used frequently by politician’s of all stripes and met with nods of enthusiasm by the listeners, this does not result in pro-liberty policies.