Editors From England

"Powellism is now part of the English intellectual and moral tradition; part of the nation's mythology. The man, too, is a legend in his lifetime. So in a sense his work is done. For whatever eventually happens to him his ideas have now entered the bloodstream of the British body politic, guaranteeing them a kind of immortality. Of no other living British statesman could the same be said."

"The liberal-progressive view, so beloved of the intellectual community, is that the most crucial battle in the world today is in the field of race, and that Britain, for reasons of morality and expediency, must throw in its lot with the coloured peoples, for all their imperfections. But one can only doubt whether any Government in fact will pay more than lip-service to this view. During its last period of office Labour was able to blur the issue in a way that gave some satisfaction to both the realists and the idealists, backing the liberal-progressive view in words but only very partially in actions. It did not sell arms to South Africa, but it carried on cynically enough with trade and defence co-operation."

"These brown British citizens are in danger. Kenya is still a largely savage country, led by a man who a few years ago was involved in atrocities of indescribable horror. There are certainly as many signs in Kenya today of the fate being prepared for the Asian minority as there were in Germany in the early 1930s of the fate being prepared for the Jews. Yet in this case the potential victims are British citizens, and instead of urging them to hurry home, which would seem to be the sensible course, the British government is ordering them to keep out. Why, then, so little sense of shame among the normally highly decent British people? The reason, of course is very simple. They do not see this the situation in this light at all. To them, the Asian Kenyans are no more British citizens than Ian Smith is a genuine British traitor. Just as they refuse to feel angry about Rhodesia's so called rebellion—which they regard as a legal fiction—so they refuse to feel guilty about the Kenyan Asians, who right of entry into Britain strikes them as flying in the face of common sense. ... They do not feel guilty, because they do not regard themselves as having any part in the mad world which supposes that the white Rhodesians really should hand over power to the black majority or that large-scale coloured immigration in Britain is a good idea. ... They no longer feel responsible for "lesser breeds without the law.""

"All right, a military dictatorship is ugly and repressive. But if a minority British Socialist Government ever sought, by cunning, duplicity, corruption, terror and foreign arms, to turn this country into a Communist State, I hope and pray our armed forces would intervene to prevent such a calamity as efficiently as the armed forces did in Chile."

"Second only to peace in Northern Ireland, the most desirable political development which I should like to see in the New Year is the emergence of a healthy-looking British Communist party. This would mean that the significant Marxist minority in this country would have a vehicle of their own, instead of continuing to "back-seat" drive the Labour party. The absence of such a Communist party is really a luxury which Britain can no longer afford, since it allows us to suppose that the Marxist threat is much less serious than it really is. In France and Italy, for example, where the Communists are immeasurably powerful, nobody is in any doubt about the strength of the forces arrayed against the idea of a free society, or the need to fight them tooth and nail. The danger of a Communist takeover is overt, visible and never forgotten for long."

"[I]t is not the importance of the Cape route...that forces Britain to support a hateful white supremacist state. It is the fact of white supremacy which makes the relationship so peculiarly irresistible. Of course it would be much less embarrassing if white supremacy was exercised in a less morally obnoxious manner. But if it was not exercised at all, the relationship would lose much of its point. The harsh truth, which will become clearer and clearer as time passes, is that Britain, far from being neutral in the race struggle, let alone on the coloured side, is positively on South Africa's side, since in the crucial battle in the world today—which is not between North and South but between East and West—Britain has no alternative but to throw in its lot with the white peoples, in spite of their imperfections."

"I supported the legalisation of homosexuality between consenting adults in '67 and still do so. I think that anything which would increase… I regard homosexuality as being a great misfortune. I see it as something the less frequent it is in any society, the better for that society. All I am saying is that at schools, and I do think one has to emphasise at schools, I think that it shouldn't be something which anybody should be allowed to encourage or promote, certainly not any schools which are funded by the local authorities and where people have to go to by law."

"I think a good deal more discretion on the part of homosexuals and a good deal more understanding that the majority of the country does worry about homosexuality and does fear that their children might become homosexuals, the old-fashioned traditional attitude to homosexuality is being undesirable. I think that the majority of homosexuals ought to understand this and oughtn't to push their luck."

"War tore the guts out of the British empire, weakening it in resources and morale. The first major loss was Ireland."

"Islamic law was far from monolithic, with different schools providing competing accounts. Nevertheless, it was agreed that non-Muslims living under non-Muslim rule could readily be enslaved by Muslims, and their status was heritable, although owners could free as well as bequeath, sell and give slaves. However, although, even among orthodox Muslims, the notion that slaves were properly secured by conquest alone was very far from being observed, non-Muslims living under Muslim rule were protected from enslavement, Christians and Jews being regarded as Peoples of the Book, and thus related to Muslims, and enjoying religious freedom on payment of a poll tax. Thus, for the purposes of ensuring slave labour, Muslim societies were not able to draw on the bulk of the population under their control and had to rely on the slave trade. In India, Islamic rulers, such as the sultans of the Delhi sultanate (1206–1526), used enslavement as a form both of extracting revenues and of punishment, not least for not paying taxes. Fiscal factors were to the fore and territorial expansion was in part financed by the sale of slaves."

"The continued dynamism of successive Islamic societies produced fresh bouts of conquest that led to new sources of slaves. Thus, on the eastern end of the Islamic world, Mahmud of Ghazni, south-west of Kabul (r.971–1030), whose empire stretched from the River Oxus to the River Indus, launched numerous raids into northern India from the 990s, annexing the Hindu state of Sahi to the east by 1021. Religious factors played a role in his attacks, which in 1022 extended far down the Ganges valley and in 1026 into Gujarat. Chroniclers claimed that his campaign of 1024 yielded over 100,000 slaves. Such numbers fed a major slave trade into Central Asia, Persia and Iraq, as well as bringing wealth to the army. The Delhi sultanate (1206–1526), established by Qutb-ud-din Aybak, who had been a military slave of the Churid Sultan Muizz u-Din, so that it is sometimes referred to as the Slave Dynasty, in turn, used Turkic slave soldiers from Central Asia as well as local Hindu soldiers. This sultanate took part in largescale slave raiding in India.... The island of Bali in the East Indies (Indonesia) was a source of Hindu slaves for the Muslim world... The campaigns in India of the Mughals and the Deccan sultanates produced many Hindu slaves, some of whom were sold on to Central Asia and Persia... In India, the Mughals enslaved rebels and those deemed rebels, for example, Hindus who rejected attempts at proselytism, as at Benares in 1632. Those captured in Mughal campaigns were often given to the troops for their use or for them to sell. Enslavement was also the fate of peasants who could not meet their taxes and rents, with men, women and children often sold to Muslim lords as a consequence. Further south in India, enslavement was used by the Deccan sultanates, notably Bijapur and Golconda, in suppressing opposition. These major Muslim states campaigned extensively into southern India and enslaved Buddhists, Hindus and others. Thus, in the 1640s, Golconda seized much of the state of Vijayahagara and Bijapur that of Mysore. However, the Mughal conquest of the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda in the 1680s led to the end of military slavery there... India was also a source of slaves, for example with girls taken to Afghanistan and the Middle East and, from the mid-seventeenth century, forced labour moved to plantations in the Dutch-ruled coastlands of Sri Lanka."

"Distorting our knowledge and understanding of the past by making it a matter of good or bad is a reductionism that is lazy and crude and stupid and dangerous. Academics serving up explanation in terms of race are similarly reductionist and similarly stupid. This is not about statues but a culture war, one in which the forces of illiberalism, intolerance and hatred brilliantly masquerade behind the call for righting the past and very much to the profit of a conceited and self-interested cadre of would-be revolutionaries; but do let them go first-class to their conferences, and remember that his/her title is Professor."

"Between 1750 and 1900, Britain became the foremost power in the world, both territorially and in economic terms. An intellectual powerhouse, Britain also became a model political system for much of the world. These changes were connected. Territorial expansion provided raw materials, markets and employment and, combined with Protestant evangelicalism and liberal self-confidence, encouraged a sense in Britain of being at the cutting edge of civilisation. Indeed, empire was in part supported on the grounds that it provided opportunities for the advance of civilisation. This was seen not least by ending what were regarded as uncivilised as well as un-Christian practices, such as widow-burning and ritual banditry in India, and slavery and piracy across the world."

"History in part is the trust between the generations, a link through and across time that helps give identity and meaning to the present. As individuals, families, communities, and a nation we all have meaning in time, something that was celebrated last year in the coronation. And that is why those opposed to these values and this nationhood, attack our history and do the same in other countries."

"From the outset in 1917, the Communists believed in a utopian ideology, extreme, organised violence, atheism, a redefined place of the individual that served to reject Enlightenment precepts, and the rejection of preceding Russian history. During the Civil War and the 1920s, the Orthodox Church was crushed, with the slaughter of tens of thousands of priests and monks, and the desecration and destruction of churches, monasteries and the tombs of saints. The real and spiritual landscapes of Russia and the psychological life of the people were transformed as a consequence. Communism in its own way therefore constituted a major civilisational challenge to the notion in Europe and North America of a 'Western Civilisation', whether or not articulated explicitly in this fashion. This civilisation owed much to Christianity and placed considerable weight on liberalism and toleration. From this perspective, Communism, drawing both on a reconceptualisation of Russian authoritarianism and on a new, totalitarian ideology and practice, posed a counter-civilisational challenge with its own precepts, aims, methods and anticipated outcomes."

"Hostility to Enlightenment Western values is particularly characteristic of decolonisation. Alas nothing very credible have been offered in their place."

"I may grow old but I'll never, grow, up (We may grow old but we never grow up) (We may grow old but we never grow up) (We may grow old but we never grow up) (We may grow old but we never grow, never grow)"

"[Her] When I look at you, yeah, there'll never be a day where I'll be afraid. When I look you, yeah, there'll never be a day when I doubt myself. [Him] I can't breathe, my heart's on fire, but you make me feel like life's just fine. Even when I'm looking in the mirror and I feel like I can't get by, I know that everything is gonna be okay from deep in your eyes."

"Ooh, I said I'd never let you down, You said you'd never let me down, And now I gotta let you let me leave. Ooh, I said I'd never let you down, You said you'd never let me down, And now I gotta let you let me leave."

"If only I could fly away Revel in the moonlight Try to find a good life Find a way to break the chains Find a way to break the chains Struggle just to hear the call It's easy now, easy now Heaven is a mile away I'll burn it all and leave today"

"When life throws us obstacles and nothing seems fair at all impossible's possible 'cause you take us there Feelings ain't optional And these are our chronicles Impossible's possible And you take us there And true love isn't scared True love isn't scared True love isn't scared True love isn't scared"

"I for one, and one lasting reason, tell my kids the stakes Break the rules and go smash some records Make 'em learn your name (don't tell 'em) Even when they say you can't, you know you're Genghis Khan Break some hearts, respect the love and be big in Japan Fuck the beef, slow cook the brisket Take some risk, embrace the misfit Rock and roll, don't limp or be scared Look, go and change the way you kissed it Even if the leader of your generation messed up Run the world, down your drink, smile a bit, then rest up"

"You'd like to meet her, take her home, fill her up with your testosterone but you won't get a chance to score There's a reason she wears her shades indoors (Why?) If you look closely there's something not right with her jaw She's chewin' her face like a carnivore with a piece of meat, and furthermore remove her glasses from her face: this female's lost in space Lost her sight, her eyes ain't right, eyeballs painted black not white"

"Standing in the light till it's over, out of our minds Someone had to draw a line We'll be coming back for you one day We'll be coming back for you one day"

"Impossible's possible I know 'cause I lost it all I know the price of my ego It's lethal I still got the hots for you"

"You don't have to whisper You don't have to whisper no more Just scream and we'll take you to heaven Scream and we'll light up the world If we can make the whole world hear us then I can see the whole world changing I wanna make the whole world hear us Would that be so crazy? If we can make the whole world hear us then I can see the whole world changing I wanna make the whole world hear us Would that be amazing?"

"Another lesson learnt Another page is turned Give in to your desire, say goodbye or play with fire Play with fire you'll get burnt Another lesson learnt Another page is turned It's time I have to fly and then you say those precious words Stay with me Stay with me Stay with me, stay with me for just one more day"

"Lately, I'm shedding my snakeskin You know I've been changing for you lately It's time to make a fresh start It's time to make a fresh start"

"And then you stepped into my life and changed my rainy day, ay ay. Now every rule I live my life by I can safely say It's all for you babe, I'll tell them straight It's all good today though we'll make mistakes And then come Tuesday we'll still be best mates"

"This was a strictly a one-nighter to delight us we both knew this must stay quiet It was vital we couldn't forget though We never let go we just held on tighter See I'm a lover not a fighter so I didn't fight the fact that I more than liked you"

"There's light at the end of the tunnel There's fight at the heart of a struggle Your smile should've told me you're trouble No more, no more, no more You owned me when I told you I love you you buried all my worth with a shovel Your smile should've told me you're trouble No more, no more, no more No more goodbyes (So long, so long, so long now) No more white lies You used to be the one true thing in my world You told me that you loved me. You're in love with yourself Shoulda listen to my mother You messed around the others now you're dead to me I've been sleeping with the enemy"

"I'm missing my halo Where did today go? Why does it rain so much when it says so? Let me show you all the beautiful things What do they know? Come taste the rainbow Always gonna live like it's my last day"

"Wash the kisses off my neck and lock my past in the basement I've found your perfect replacement I've found something, never need your nothing again I've found something, never need your nothing again I've found something, never need your nothing again I've found something, never need your nothing again"

"Maybe we should take another roll of the dice Can't believe we both let it fade away I want to stay for another day If you want to save us, give me a signal, anything will do"

"A song in my head and it won't leave me alone, I should have followed my friends, by now they're probably at home all warm and tucked up in bed Instead I'm stumbling home on my own with no charge on my phone in the east end of London"

"And I'm happy to admit that I lied and I'll admit that I ruined you're life You could never admit if you tried and you're so wrong, and you're so wrong And I'm happy to admit that I lied and I'll admit that I ruined you're life You could never admit if you tried that you're so wrong Until you stop lying to yourself I'll never stop lying to you And until I stop crying to myself, I'll never cry in front of you I'll fight the tallest giants and break the rules of science But I'll never stop lying to you and I've never said a word so true"

"Don't speak Don't speak no more Cos your eyes do the talking Don't speak Don't speak no more Cos your eyes do the talking You don't have to say nothing Say nothing Cos your eyes do the talking"

"If we don't kill ourselves, we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation If we don't kid ourselves, will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why? Did we take it too far (take it too far)? Did we chase the rabbit into Wonderland, lose a hundred grand, Will they understand it was all to stay awake for the longest"

"I've never been afraid of the highest heights or afraid of flying now I've never been afraid of the wildest fights not afraid of dying But now I want off this ride cos you're scaring me and I don't like where we're going I need a new funfair cos you're scaring me and I don't like where we're going And now you're gonna miss me, I know you're gonna miss me I guarantee you'll miss me Cos you changed the way you kiss me"

"If we're meant to be together, change the way you see the weather Live for now, forget forever"

"Cos we're starving We're hungry for more of the good stuff Thirsty for more of the bad stuff When you gonna show us the way?"

"Time might fly girls may cry lights may die but the skies don't lie It'll all make perfect sense if you follow me Come follow me now"

"Need to tell myself I don't care Need to tell myself you're not there Need some air, need some space Need some air The way I'm feeling I just don't care. This is Starship Trooper living on a whole other planet Reboot computer"

"And I love being under the influence, under the influence of you And your voice sounds like it's an instrument Everything you say rings true"

"Everything I promised you was there but I was late. Broke in two I used to blame the substance So confused but I carry no substance Lost in a cave like Sons of Mumford Kept moaning zoning in the comfort Now I blame myself Went downhill just to up my numbers You only need one, what's the point of hundreds? And I never did ask. (You said the answer would be "Yes".) I killed us, had tools to build us a castle but I never played chess Bad guess, made the wrong move Queen takes King, now I've been removed: out the back door like a famous actor Cut us in half like stupid tax laws"

"She's electric, she's the current running through my veins She's a siren, hearing voices that I can't explain Now I should be thinking it over Instead I'm calling her over Now she's here and she won't go quietly I should be thinking it over Instead I'm calling her over Now she's here but she won't go quietly"

"First we made the wheel Then we made the car Then we made the bomb Now it's all gone wrong"

"I don't know why it happened so fast When I tried to speak your language I'm happy you laughed 'cause I'm hardly a linguist spoke through kisses cos you didn't speak English and it was hard to distinguish love at first sight or holiday romance? Don't care, I was lost in the moment I really should'a missed that flight"

"You can't rap, my friend You're white and you're from Fulham Please put down the mic there's no way you can fool them Don't be stupid, you won't get that far Turn your back on hip-hop, bruv, and go and play guitar"

"I scribble on oak trees Pretty please you can sing my syllables credible My cordon bleu sonnets you just wishing they edible"