who's your daddy?

Blow up a few trains, and the (foreign owned, i believe) newspapers of Old Blighty start quoting Kipling to inform us what "the British character" is. You do not quote Kipling as an authority on race and "the british character" (at least, not without furious caveats) if it is not some part of your intention to affirm his famous views on brown and black people, and on "the oriental character".

Remember how fair-minded and noble we lot are, and also how different from us they are!

Anyway, these things are expected. What interests me is this one:

VIII. History. British children inherit a political culture, a set of specific legal rights and obligations, and a stupendous series of national achievements. They should be taught about these things.

I do quite wish they would spell out what this stupendous series of national achievements is. Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer, possible future Prime Minister, crusading saviour of poor brown people, has also recently been making noises on how Britain should look at its imperial history with glowing pride.

Anyway, the British kiddies are henceforth to feel good and proud about their nation's past history and achievements. The Empire, I think is what they are trying to say. Churchill certainly felt so.

This raises an interesting dilemna for the Blighty born children of your friendly neighbourhood (also Blighty born) bomber. Great granddad was one of the Colonised, not the Colonisers, a subject race, not a ruling one, but the descendants of the colonised are to instead identify with their oppressors and rulers, and this is to be advocated as the natural and sensible way of things. Oh commisserations to poor great granddad on such a fate (unless he was one of those toadying types who wanted to be an Englishman, in which case congratulations you sonofabitch), but hail the new army of little brown* imperialists.

*typically bad pun