Ivan Winters lives in a very culturally enriched area of West Yorkshire (formerly the West Riding). For a change of pace, the following report from him has nothing to do with the cultural enrichment of the UK.
A Gallic Sense of Priorities
by Ivan Winters
I was onboard a ‘Barge Cruise’ on the River Aire in Leeds in early December. The reason for this is that I was invited to attend as a guest by a member of the Leeds Orange Lodge. I have always been a staunch Unionist, but in fact could never legally be a member of an Orange Lodge. I have been asked a couple of times, but Orange Order rules state that a candidate for membership must be a Protestant, and I have had to point out I am in fact a (non-practising) Jew.
In addition to enjoying the (excellent) buffet, the bar and a very friendly DJ playing music suitable for an older person’s tastes, there was also an official event partway through our cruise. This was the ‘official presentation’ of a medal to a lodge member. The medal was the French Légion d’Honneur!
How did this happen?
The member is called ‘John’ and he is a bricklayer by trade. He also teaches bricklaying and a couple of other trades at a local college. John was in Lille in France in November to attend one of the centennial events marking Armistice Day. He was staying at a local Novotel when there was a disturbance in the hotel lobby in the evening. The night porter was trying to eject two Albanian migrants who were making a nuisance of themselves. John went to the night porter’s assistance and helped him eject the migrants. Someone either in the local gendarmerie or the Novotel Hotel management reported John’s assistance up through their chain of command. The result was the issuing of a ‘Légion d’Honneur’ to John complete with a medal and a (bilingual) certificate detailing the circumstances which had caused the issue of France’s highest award for bravery. The certificate was signed by ‘President of the Republic’ Emmanuel Macron!
The official presentation was carried out by the Lodge Secretary and the Deputy Lodge Master. Following the presentation the DJ played The Marseillaise. Everyone on the boat stood for the playing even though many of those present will have been ex-Servicemen, and most British ex-Servicemen have their own robust opinions of French bravery.
This of course led me to think about the French President’s sense of priorities. For the past several weeks the media have covered the strikes/riots against Macron’s rule by the ‘Yellow Vests’. He has gone from being a president who has lectured world leaders, including President Trump, about their policy decisions, to having his policies very publicly rejected by his own electors! In addition to this very public humiliation, massive damage has been done to the French economy. Tourism is a major earner for the French economy but the seasonal tourist trade has been wrecked. In addition to the damage to buildings, vehicles, etc., the retail centres of major cities such as Paris have lost most of their expected Christmas and New Year’s seasonal sales revenue.
The President has been reported to have spent some of the recent weekends in the Elysée Palace, with the building surrounded by hundreds of police officers, armoured cars, etc. Some reports indicate that there has been a helicopter on ‘standby’ to fly him to ‘safety’ (!?). He has refused to meet with the leaders of the protests to discuss the demonstrators’ grievances. But he has found time to issue a medal and a certificate to a brickie from Beeston. A strange sense of priorities! Very Gallic.
‘Let them eat cake.’
Previous posts by Ivan Winters:
| 2013 | Jan | 4 | A Systemic Failure of Public Responsibility | |||
| 2014 | Sep | 25 | What’s the Real Story in Ukraine? |
Very Gallic indeed!
I wonder how common are such awards in France and for such brave actions?
“their own robust opinion of French bravery”…and “Very Gallic”.
This is quotidian, futile English (Unionist) Francophobia, based on the UK/French rivalry and warring, due to respective geographical position, for centuries past until the Entente Cordiale.
Winters might like to consider that his sort of internal intra-ethnic European hostility, whether inter-tribal (it allowed Caesar to conquer Gaul) or princely (alliance of some Spaniards with Muslim invaders) etc. etc. is not what we need now in dar al-harb at all.
Or he could go and work for a time in a Muslim country: then all intra-Euro differences are as nothing by comparison.
The critique of Macron as a globalist banker has to be based on more than the sort of prejudice that leads to bar fights.
Meanwhile, Abdul and Ahmed are waiting outside that bar – as non-drinkers – to finish off the kuffar, whether British or French, who survive the bar room fisticuffs and stagger outside. And not all the Protestant Ulstermen in Ulster will be of assistance.
Francophobia is an ancient attitude. All the way back to 1066. It may not be what we “need” but it is a very real sentiment, spread across much of the Anglosphere.
Personally, I like French food and language, but French leaders, not so much.
You’re going to get a nosebleed sitting up on that high horse, me boy.
DeGaulle summed up the French dilemma:
Only peril can bring the French together. One can’t impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 different kinds of cheese.
👌🤐 😇
The problem with the French is their leaders, which is exactly the case in Britain too. The French people have their idiosyncrasies, which people doesn’t, but generally the French are no more nor no less friendly and welcoming than are any other European peoples.
I’m a fairly frequent traveller to Western Europe, and when I’m on the continent I like to venture into the non-touristy bars – what a surprise! Although I’ve yet to come across anywhere that has an atmosphere to compare with my local pub, but then I wouldn’t, would I, I’ve never experienced any bad feelings.
I’ve been made to feel welcome most times. Show respect and you get respect back. Fraternal squabbles amongst Europeans are the stuff of politicians, not people.
@Dymphna: cutesy, no? I am not “your boy” either, perish the thought. I do apologise for writing words of more than one syllable.
The Francophobia is what the Anglo plebs are to believe because of US-UK and (likely Five Eyes) imperial hostility to the declining French empire since 1945, cf. Rwanda 1994.
What you think of French leaders is utterly immaterial. What is material however is the type of pan-European, unprejudiced solidarity at the 250k “Right” demonstration in Warsaw recently, even though I jib at at some of their politics.
But sitting safely while blogging in rural CONUS is not at all the same as negotiating squads of hijra West Africans or Arabs while merely running errands in (by now) even the smallest German village. Run those errands and you will be grateful for pan-Euro solidarity from any passing ethnic Frenchman or Italian etc.
Never mind the old joke about Italian tanks having three gears, 1 forward and 2 reverse, ha-ha.
What next, will you disapprove of Brittany Pettibone’s apparent romance with the highly-regarded Martin Sellner of “Die Identitären” because he is, quelle horreur, an Austrian? I mean, the same country that gave rise to ….wait, wait… ADOLF?? Oy veh!
So, reconquista, banter is hate speech now?
What a wonderful world we are heading to.
Could I politely suggest that you acquire a) a sense of humour or b) a sense of proportion. Failing that then just make a hate crime complaint to the relevant multicultural enforcement body. I’m sure one of those actions above may make you feel better.
I do have a certain amount of sympathy for your stance as I met an old man in New Zealand who was a brilliant cricketer but never allowed to play for Yorkshire because he was born in County Durham next door. Probably why he went to NZ where they are hopeless at cricket and will take anyone.
But yes, the bluntness of Yorkshire men, that dreadful accent, and their whippets, is all very hard to put up with. Not that I have anything against them with their superior attitudes, thinking they are better than everybody, and their ghastly puddings, and you know what I really hate about them. It is their… Oh dear, a knock at the door. It’s pretty loud. I wonder who that could be at this time of night. Better go and see.
I lived in France for a while and I felt on my own skin how nasty they are.
When I visited later , nothing changed…
I really don’t care too much if France even exists.The only concern for me are the nuclear weapons they possess and their concentration of Muslims.And their cowardness.
Who would you prefer as neighbours? Fellow Europeans or Middle Easterners?
“Noblesse oblige” perhaps old chap? He should have the grace to accept without comment…Good manners actually. A relative of mine was a paratrooper in WW2 allied invasion of June 1944. He saved the life of a drowning German whom he then took prisoner. That same officer gave him his decorations in gratitude.
My relative did not comment spitefully but in dignified silence in gratitude. At times common humanity and decency supplant politics and hatred. My father’s generation can relate several incidences like this. That same uncle is still alive and best of friends with the German he saved and his family, whose funeral he attended at 98 years of age.
I have no hatred of Moslems – quite the contrary – but I do hate bad behaviours…
“This is quotidian, futile English (Unionist) Francophobia, based on the UK/French rivalry and warring, due to respective geographical position, for centuries past until the Entente Cordiale. “.
Not really.
The British Army’s most recent experience of French “assistance” is based upon their experience at Dunkirk.
The best source of fact is Seabag-Montefiore’s book, “Dunkirk” which was written from actual military records after they were de-classified.
Despite repeated requests for assistance and repeated assurances from senior French army officers it was soon arriving, it never ever did.
I love France and admire its core determination to cling-on to a rich cultural heritage. Incidentally, I have a limited edition medal commemorating the Entente Cordial, presented to me by the mayor of a local commune, which I cherish. (My wife and I have had a house in la belle France for many years).
I also have great respect for French military services, particularly the Paras and the Legion.
Sadly, France has been ill-served by its politicians; prior to WWI and particularly, post WWII: until General De Gaulle came out of retirement to serve his beloved belle France. He was, however, a true patriot. Most interestingly De Gaulle wrote a book on Tank Warfare which the French Army senior officers rubbished; being more concerned with riding down the Champs d’Elysee on chargers wearing a brass Cuirasse (breastplate) and hats with feathered plumes…
Hitler instructed his military attache in Paris to visit every book store and buy up copies of De Gaulle’s epic work; and send them back to Berlin. Whereafter they were distributed to senior Wehrmacht officers to read, study and absorb.
When Heinz Wilhelm Guderian led his Panzer regiments into the Blitzkrieg into France, he simply skirted the fabled Maginot Line and went around its end! French ministers had not seen the wisdom of actually finishing it! And De Gaulle’s book espoused the strategy which Guderian employed.
France: as with Britain; Lions led by Donkeys.
I am French (Canadian) and I thought the ‘Gall’ jab was funny and rather true in many respects.
I have heard far, far worse on a rugby pitch when English lads were playing against Frenchmen. At the end of the day, they would give their lives for each other. Sometimes words are just words.
It would seem that Macroni insulted the Legion du Honor by recognizing a minor act by a foreigner while ignoring the heroic acts and risks the Gendarmie face on a daily basis. Yes, France is being served up Macroni and Cheese (limburger).
Poor micron, he has been already dumped (or soon to be) by his puppet master (attali and urlodge). So he has to try everything to gain some more time, by doing some favors and giving some medals to his masonic frères.