Rule Britannia - The Rest of the Story

I really do try to make my posts as accurate as I can but sometimes I inadvertently get things wrong and such was the case with my submission dated January 6 2010 entitled, “Rule Britannia”.

And it was not only wrong it was also incomplete. As I said at the time I was indebted to a British reader for bringing the matter to my attention and I am indebted now to another Brit for telling the rest of the story.

The thrust of the original post was about a small community in England and their desire to pay respect and homage to the fallen military personnel as the caskets passed through on their journey from RAF Lyneham.

And here is that “rest of the story as told to me:-

“We went to Woodstock (nr. Oxford) for Christmas and visited Wootten Bassett. It wasn't a day when a funeral cortège was passing through and it was pouring down with rain (surprise, surprise) but I felt we should do it. It’s a pretty place and the cortèges are actually taking the bodies to the Oxford Coroner at John Radcliffe Hospital who is doing a wonderful job of kicking the Ministry of Defense in the pants. What started as just the local people closing their shops and lining the street as a mark of respect has gradually grown until there are now thousands from all over the country. And they have vowed to keep it up for as long as it takes.

Some Muslim nut-case has now decided to hold a protest march there to commemorate the Muslim dead in Iraq and Iran. Most people (actually everybody) think the Muslims have a perfect right to hold a march in London or anywhere else where there is a large Muslim population (one may not be sympathetic to the marchers but that's democratic freedom) but it is quite inappropriate and deliberately provocative to do so in Wootten Bassett where the vigil is silent and non-jingoistic and meant to give some comfort to the families of the bereaved.

The government has indicated it would ban the march but can only do so if the Oxfordshire Police ask them to and they (the Police) can only do that if they have reason to believe that public disorder would result. The townsfolk of Wootten Bassett feel that the only appropriate response to a Muslim march would be to close their shops, lock themselves indoors and draw their blinds. Violent protest on the street would be exactly what the organizers of the march would want and disrespectful to the dead. They are right and I hope if the march isn't banned, the world's TV follow the lead of the townsfolk and refuse to cover the event and so deny them the publicity they desire.”

As my contributor indicated, a march by a radical UK Islamist group called Islam4UK has been proposed. The said demonstration led by Muslim extremist Anjem Choudary has come under widespread condemnation from British citizens, including other Muslims, politicians, and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Some villagers in Wootton Bassett have stated that they are prepared to barricade the streets if necessary, while some right-wing citizens have said that they will "defend" the village if they feel they need to.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.