11 Comments

I suppose we try to laugh off these silly examples of woke gone mad, and yet they spread like mould or knotweed through institutions that have no structural integrity left. The activists affect us all, as we must comply or disappear into sullen corners of Substack and withdraw from public life. We all end up paying for this as well as none of this adds a penny to the national pot, quite the opposite. At least your resistance gives us hope (sounding like a Frenchman in 1942 listening for de Gaulle) and a great deal to laugh about.

Expand full comment

The only thing we have to fear is queer itself!

Sending solidarity from my sullen corner of New England where the New Puritans are seething. Hope and laughter are the best defenses against their grim zealotry. Grateful for voices like Andrew's to keep us going!

Expand full comment

Enjoy it while it lasts and send some good cheer across the Atlantic.

Expand full comment

“If they can convince you that the countryside is a domain of heteronormative white supremacy, they can convince you of anything.”

Superb as ever, thank you Andrew. Unfortunately there seems to be a proliferation of people who are easily convinced that 2+2=5 and I agree, it is sinister that a small number of ideologues have been able to control the narrative to the point that Queer Ideology has embedded itself so deeply in every aspect of our lives and is proving so difficult to remove.

Expand full comment

The "progressive" idiots can make themselves the vicims of anything, crysanthymums, badgers, even women. They are a bunch of bullies and it's about time they were exposed as such and ejected from the institutions they have invaded.

Expand full comment

"That said, it does look as though Kew’s Twitter account is being run by vegetables."

I think you're being very rude to vegetables, Andrew.

Expand full comment

Very funny - both the article and the Welsh government. I spent a couple of bank holidays this year walking in the Chess Valley (Bucks, an hour outside London) and every other walker and their family was black or Asian. I wouldn't normally have taken notice of this, but of course the 'countryside is racist' narrative had made me aware of race where previously it would have gone unnoticed. That's the other sinister fall-out of this bullsh*t, of course; it kinda ensures that that stupid Metro image reproduces itself in real life (sans hostility, I hasten to add). Morgan Freeman, famously, when asked how we combat racism, said, "stop talking about it". That is a very good answer, but if we were to become race colour-blind it would undermine their lucrative grift; and even where there is no £££ directly involved there's always the social capital to be accrued by the liberal middle class from the act of virtue-signalling. Hopefully, the political changes afoot will soon mean that they won't be able to spend any of it and we can look back on this lunacy as an aberration.

Expand full comment

I live in a small (majority English-speaking) town right in the centre of Wales. The area, apart from sheep farming, is dependent on tourism in general and hiking in particular. The townsfolk are warm and welcoming no matter what one’s race, including the English! Although I admit that I’ve never yet come across any hikers or climbers of colour there’s absolutely nothing to stop them coming. Meantime one of my closest friends here is Sikh. She and her family, as have others, have integrated completely and, she says, have never experienced racism. Which has not been the case when they’ve gone to Birmingham and have been insulted by and, on one occasion, spat at by gangs of Muslims. Presumably because her father and husband wear the turban. This Welsh government is an absolute disaster. Interestingly, coming from South Africa, and having experienced living under an Apartheid regime, my husband and I see quite a few similarities. Not least the imposition of the Welsh language on a majority of Welshies who don’t want to speak it.

Expand full comment

This makes me feel incredibly sad for some reason. Such utter stupidity.

Expand full comment

Superb!

Expand full comment

Great piece, Andrew.

I walk every day that I am at home and, on the local canal path, often pass a very friendly Chinese man walking his dog. I suppose I had better warn him about the countryside!!

Dusty

NB I now have this vision of me trying to explain it to him 'No, you see the Welsh Government say...'

Expand full comment