Immigration changed the face of Britain
Re “Immigration, not Blair, changed face of Britain.” (June 26).
Hundreds of years of togetherness having failed to blend the English, Irish, Scots and Welsh into a British identity, it’s a little late in the day for British academics to start worrying over how to preserve something that never was. The last time that Britons had an identity was before the Roman Conquest. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the invading Saxon, Angles and other tribes from Germany herded the original Brits into a corner of Britain and called them Welsh, which means foreigners. Currently the Scottish and Welsh nationalists are biting at the bit to establish their own independent states within the European Union. The English-who always considered being British and being English as the same thing, are waving their Cross-of-St.-George Flag more often than the Union Jack as a statement that they are English first and British second. Even the Cornish people are thinking of reviving their ancient Celtic language in order to show their distinct ethnicity. The fact is that all the people of the British Isles are a mixture of Celts, Saxons, Normans and Scandinavians. The new wave if immigrants in Britain, especially the non-whites, who are unlikely to see themselves as English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh, might indeed form a fifth nationality, calling themselves Britishers only.
William Bedford
Toronto, Ontario
