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Letter to the Editor
Leicester Mercury - Monday 5th September 2005 Dear Sir, The extraordinary anti-British tirade from Ivan Crooks (Mailbox, 22 August) demands a response. If he thinks Britain is so repulsive, perhaps he should live somewhere else. What can we be proud of, he asks? How about Shakespeare and Dickens? Nelson, Wellington, Churchill? Newton, Faraday, Darwin? Our superb tally of Nobel prizes? How about one of the richest cultural heritages in the world, our landscape and our country houses, the fact that we gave the world the concept of democracy? How about our amazing history of invention and scientific discovery? He asks, are we proud of our colonialist background? It's about time we started to be proud of our history of empire. Of course like any great project there are some dark episodes, and we must judge by the standards of their times not ours, but on balance our colonial history did far more good than harm. The slave trade? Many countries and nationalities were involved in the slave trade, especially the Arabs. Britain took a lead in ending it. Mr. Crooks says "Let's forget it and become Europeans". Has he forgotten that France and Belgium have far darker colonial histories than we have? Has he forgotten the Nazis and the Fascists? I have some advice for Mr. Crooks. Most of us are proud of our country. He should love it or leave it. Yours faithfully Roger Helmer East Midlands Conservative MEP |