LAST MONTH the liberal establishment conducted one of its familiar debates about "racism" - a debate which in fact wasn't a debate at all!

It all began with a report published by a think-tank set up by the Runnymede Trust, in the first place with the approval of government ministers. According to the report, the word "British" is tainted with "racism", and the idea of the "British way of life" is a lie. The report called for a "rethinking of the national story and national identity" to reflect the views of Asian, Black and Irish people. The idea of the British Nation, it continued, was "deeply entwined" with race and therefore should be "symbolically written out of the national story."

Reaction

This, understandably, brought a furious reaction from around the country. But, regrettably, it was chiefly articulated by politicians and journalists. What an outrage, they cried, to suggest that the word "British" has racist connotations! All races, they claimed, can share in "Britishness", and to back this up numerous newspapers trotted forward well-known members of ethnic minorities to say how "British" they felt themselves to be. A Daily Mail leader was typical, describing as British "the waves of people who have settled here, from the Saxons and Vikings to the Afro-Caribbean and Asian peoples of our own day."

In other words, either way the "anti-racists" win the argument. Racism is axiomatically bad; the only question to be decided is whether being patriotic and proud to be British is racist or not!

What we say

We beg to differ. First, we believe that patriotism and race feeling are not two separate and mutually exclusive things; on the contrary, they are inseparable. And as for Britishness, this is, equally, inseparable from British racial origins. Prior to recent Third World immigration, the waves of settlers coming to the British Isles were wholly European and, in the vast majority, indigenous to Northern Europe. Over the centuries, they blended and came to form a common British type - not difficult because their origins were extremely similar. Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Celts, Huguenots, Flemings - all these came from common European origins and are responsible for Britain's great achievements. There can be no comparison between these tribal groups and the Afro-Caribbeans and Asians who came later and brought with them vastly different - and incompatible - cultures. We believe that vital to the preservation of Britain's national identity is the preservation of the native English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish stocks which have gone to create that identity. And if to say this is "racist", so be it!

Racism no crime

So let's have done with this idea that to be a racist is some kind of crime - something of which we need to feel guilty. It's not so.

Of course, it's wrong to ill-treat a person on the grounds of their race; we're as much against this as any of the so-called "anti-racists". But that's something entirely different from being proud of our own race and wanting to preserve it.

And we'd better start thinking seriously about preserving the white British breed - because if we don't we're going to lose our country by the time the present century is out!