The Islamic Caliphate of Britainistan (formerly known as the United Kingdom) is a cautionary tale for all of us.
No, this country is still the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
You’re looking at a country that doesn’t exist anymore.
Yes it most certainly does.
England didn’t fall with tanks and smoke.
England is a region of the United Kingdom, which still exists. It always did, although it was never really the fairytale version that some people from elsewhere in the world thought it was.
Black cabs sliding over wet cobblestones.
The smell of rain soaking into old stone.
The ding of a double-decker bus pulling to a stop.
Real accents — Cockney, Midlands, Yorkshire — drifting through the air like a soundtrack.
We changed the cobblestones because they are hard on the horseless carriages, and buses no longer have dinging bells because we have modern electronics in buses nowadays. Islam is nothing to do with it. It still rains a lot.
If you’ve ever wandered London, even once, you know exactly what I mean.
Londoner DNA for over a thousand years speaking. I do not know what you mean.
Big Ben rising over the Thames like a cathedral tower.
The Changing of the Guard — boots hitting pavement in perfect time.
The Guards are fine, so is Big Ben. Please all stop trying to pet and pose with the horses though, they are trained army horses, they will hurt you.
Red phone booths so iconic they looked painted onto the street.
Two of which stand right outside my front window, now. They are an art gallery, and we only got to keep the red outsides because I live in an area of historical architectural importance. The red phone boxes died because everybody got a smartphone. They are in heaps in corners, some places you can buy one if you can think of a use for it.
Fish and chips wrapped in paper, vinegar sharp in the air.
Still happens. I see it every day.
A place where history wasn’t something you read —
it was something you walked on.
We are as as old as we always were.
England had too many manners and not enough nerve.
No such thing as too many manners, and we are more often seen as arrogant rather than cowardly.
In 2016, a government-commissioned investigation — the Casey Review — confirmed that Sharia councils were operating in parts of England, handling civil and family matters outside British courts.
Yes, they are legal here, they always have been. They have no legal power though, they are not UK law.
Sharia: are fears of a parallel legal system unfounded? - Religion Media Centre
Islamic Law in the United Kingdom - Talk About: Law and Religion
It faded in a million tiny silences —
every time someone noticed a change, felt uneasy, and told themselves not to say anything.
We have a guy called Nigel Farage, the Reform Party, the Daily Express and Mail all loudly moaning about immigration all over the place. There is no silence.
A country that wouldn’t stop apologizing eventually forgot who it was and what it was apologizing for.
We are still here saying "sorry" "please" and "thank you" so often that those witnessing it for the first time are initially totally confused, and usually if we are sorry it is in case we bothered you. No one has forgotten.
