Comments by "Phyllis Biram" (@phyllisbiram5163) on "How Conservatism Can Save Our Country by David Starkey" video.

@golfbulldog The aforementioned ignorance is very blatant, so your 'point' really isn't one, and the sooner the Welsh language gets the respect that it deserves the better. So you do not value Welsh? That's sad in a cultural sense, or as Starkers puts it an historic bicultural one in these islands; and for all his fine words - which I used to be impressed by, but no more - he too clearly doesn't value the Welsh language. Preserving Wales' indigenous culture and language means more than you would understand as someone who is seemingly Anglocentric to the core. Either way, the Welsh language is the Welshest thing about. Isn't it bizarre that we have to constantly justify the presence of our language in our own country? Most English speakers just aren't used to such a situation which probably explains their ignorance in this regard. It's old disproven nonsense that the Welsh language holds people back. I live in Wales among predominantly Welsh people, speaking Welsh as often as not, and I would bet my bottom dollar that not a single one of them cares for it as a 'hobby'! People scared of a native language are tools. Even those decent folk who can't read a word of Welsh except place names etc. think it looks beautiful. Hobby language? It's a language ffs. Nothing else, unless you want it to be. But seriously, if you don't care about your culture then I hope you won't mind when it gets washed away. You clearly are an English speaker who has a negative view of the Welsh language. You see it as a barrier, as an inconvenience to the acquisition of profit. Our native language is worth more than any of this nonsense. Perhaps you like the countryside of this country, but shame about the pesky locals and their language which they strangely enough want to preserve! Typical colonialist attitude. How can you as a fellow 'Brit' tell us our language is some kind of drawback? I simply cannot understand your ignorance. Do you want Wales to be just another part of England, so incomers like myself can move here without having to adjust at all? How colonially-minded! Latin was never a native language here. Are you saying that what you want is a Wales without the Welsh and their language? It seems as if Welsh speakers and Welsh speaking communities are having to defend themselves alone against all this hatred, and when we respond to hate with logic and reason we get labelled 'narrow-minded nationalists', among other things. Even in the liberal left wing press the language is being maligned. Papers like the Guardian wouldn't dare portray a minority indigenous culture in say South America, Africa or even mainland Europe in the same way as they have done to the Welsh language in recent articles. Why is it still acceptable to display so much disdain towards Welsh speaking communities in particular? The Welsh language and those that speak it are fine. All the non-Welsh speakers I know are proud of the language and their unique culture. Stop trying to whip up division to promote your cause. We want a Wales of the 21st century, diverse and outward looking. Your far right compatriots want an England of the 1950s, divisive and inward looking, and you and your sort have the fullest intention of bringing Wales along with them. And my cause? I'm not promoting a Welsh nationalist cause here but promoting respect for Welsh Language, despite my English nationality. I confess I'm completely wasting my time trying to talk to you, given your attitude to the native language of Wales. Go and wipe your tears with a Union Jack.
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I'm English and have been learning Welsh since I was 15. As Welsh is such an historic and important language for British cultural preservation, I see it as part of my duty to help keep this language alive somehow and appreciate it for its own cultural uniqueness. What's more, even though English culture is largely derived from the Anglo-Saxons who went on to develop the English language, I think that it is often ignored that even English people are still descended in large part from the pre-Anglo-Saxon Brittonic people who developed the Welsh, Breton and Cornish languages. As such, I feel as though it is hypocritical of English people to sideline and belittle Wales and Welsh culture, because they themselves are close cousins of Welsh people. However, despite this, I'm English and can appreciate how Welsh people might feel uneasy about English people appropriating their culture, as so much of Welsh identity revolves around not being English. What are your thoughts on this as speakers of the Welsh language or as Welsh people more generally?
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@arborlea He had more privilege than many of us, including me.
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I think it's just down to his delivery. He makes a lot of sense sometimes but he just says it in such a condescending way. He has a tendency to be a bit of a hack at times and acts in an inflammatory manner, especially when dealing with subjects outside of his area. Being gay in an era of heteronormativity made him the man he is. How was your heart in those days? Starkey is his own man with his own thoughts and I personally might not agree with everything he says but he communicates well and speaks well and knows his stuff well enough. His documentaries are great because they are not dumbed down like so many documentaries nowadays. He's cantankerous which is apparently a mortal sin these days but he's at least interesting and learned. Anyway, the internet is full of people who can't wait to be hateful to someone or about someone. On his case it's because he's a twat. A knowledgeable twat, but still a twat.
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Reform has done very little to justify the label of being a patriotic or conservative party. They reject National Service, they're radical free-marketeers, they oppose any protectionist measures to safeguard domestic industries. Farage began his campaign in MacDonalds! What kind of patriot would begin campaigning in a multinational American chain? He is a populist who, instead of encouraging people to prefer local businesses, is willing to pander on their consumerist impulses and attack immigrants because that is what people want to hea. But not what they must. This is also evident in Reform policies to change the electoral system to proportional representation, risking the future stability of UK governments and scrapping the centuries' long tradition of local MPs making Parliament even more impersonal and unaccountable to the communities that vote for them. Reform want to abolish the House of Lords, the only institution that is not influenced by electability and thus can offer more impartial and honest criticism, including the interventions of the Church of England Bishops which I value greatly, unlike most people. Also Reform's weird obsession with combating wokeness is the sole credential that could describe the party as remotely conservative, but RFK Jr in the US is also anti-woke. Numerous figures in classical liberal and Old Left circles have railed against political correctness and postmodernist preachiness and virtue signaling. It is common sense to oppose the woke mob not necessarily conservative. The Culture Wars are a big distraction from the real problems the country is facing. Farage cannot even define British values, employing cliches like liberty, democracy and cricket, that is for the most part, the exact same response an American, a French and a German would say. British values though are deeper than that. British values also include Stoicism, frugality, duty, honour, respect, the rule of law, responsibility, tradition and (even though I'm atheist High Church like Starkers) Protestant ethics (and rugby).
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I remember he was on Question Time and Clark Carlisle was making a point about how bullying should be banned in schools or something wishy washy, but Starkey, instead of recognising his heart was in the right place, decides to mount the highest horse he could find and then starts making smirking comparisons to Chairman Mao whilst no one else was laughing. I know that's quite specific an example, but it's Starkey through and through, more interested in being right than actually standing for something.
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So why spoil himself - for example only to be condemned for ‘vile and racist’ remarks about Rishi Sunak? There is a basic conundrum here though. How can we be multicultural and all the same culture at the same time? I know there's a couple of ways it's resolved but it's always awkward and contradictory. Has Britain ever been a mono-culture? What even is British culture? Do the middle class, semi-rural home counties, vicar of Dibley set share a culture with working class Scousers? Do farmers in Devon or Cornwall share a culture with London urbanites? Do Goth Rockers from Manchester share a culture with Millwall football supporters? British culture is an amalgam of all that stuff, but it contains unique subcultures and we don't demand conformity from those subcultures. We are free to pick and choose which bits of the broader culture we like, and that's a good thing. Notice I didn't mention Wales.
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intensely dislike the comments about Welsh. I'm English but live in Wales, having spent all my life in Kent until recently. Cannot Wales be part of bicultural Britain? I taught myself Welsh as a 15 year old with no connections to Wales as I was fascinated that on this island another language than English was spoken indigenously. So I must ask Starkers, as I affectionately call him, why the Welsh should not be able to celebrate 'our' heritage and speak 'our' language and give it some prominence in the Welsh education system. Besides which, Welsh is the heritage of this whole island. If Jewish and Chinese immigrant communities can be bicultural, which presumably includes speaking, in some cases, relevant languages other than English, why the hell can Welsh people not do the same? I do not speak Medieval Welsh but Modern Welsh, and the comment about Welsh only having English words for 20th century concepts is simply untrue. My town of 10,000 people is nearly 90% Welsh speaking, 99.9% White, and a monoculture we should be allowed to prefer. Even the Muslim restaurateur here has learnt Welsh. It is a vibrant living tongue. Very disappointed by his Anglocentric argumentation, while claiming not to be an ethnic Englishman.
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@golfbulldog I am returning your nose. I found it in my business.
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@golfbulldog The aforementioned ignorance is very blatant, so your point' really isn't one, and the sooner the Welsh language gets the respect that it deserves the better. So you do not value Welsh? That's sad in a cultural sense, or as Starkers puts it an historic bicultural one in these islands; and for all his fine words - which I used to be impressed by, but no more - he too clearly doesn't value the Welsh language. Preserving Wales' indigenous culture and language means more than you would understand as someone who is seemingly Anglocentric to the core. Either way, the Welsh language is the Welshest thing about. Isn't it bizarre that we have to constantly justify the presence of our language in our own country? Most English speakers just aren't used to such a situation which probably explains their ignorance in this regard. It's old disproven nonsense that the Welsh language holds people back. I live in Wales among predominantly Welsh people, speaking Welsh as often as not, and I would bet my bottom dollar that not a single one of them cares for it as a 'hobby'! People scared of a native language are tools. Even those decent folk who can't read a word of Welsh except place names etc. think it looks beautiful. Hobby language? It's a language ffs. Nothing else, unless you want it to be. But seriously, if you don't care about your culture then I hope you won't mind when it gets washed away. You clearly are an English speaker who has a negative view of the Welsh language. You see it as a barrier, as an inconvenience to the acquisition of profit. Our native language is worth more than any of this nonsense. Perhaps you like the countryside of this country, but shame about the pesky locals and their language which they strangely enough want to preserve! Typical colonialist attitude. How can you as a fellow 'Brit' tell us our language is some kind of drawback? I simply cannot understand your ignorance. Do you want Wales to be just another part of England, so incomers like myself can move here without having to adjust at all? How colonially-minded! Latin was never a native language here. Are you saying that what you want is a Wales without the Welsh and their language? It seems as if Welsh speakers and Welsh speaking communities are having to defend themselves alone against all this hatred, and when we respond to hate with logic and reason we get labelled 'narrow-minded nationalists', among other things. Even in the liberal left wing press the language is being maligned. Papers like the Guardian wouldn't dare portray a minority indigenous culture in say South America, Africa or even mainland Europe in the same way as they have done to the Welsh language in recent articles. Why is it still acceptable to display so much disdain towards Welsh speaking communities in particular? The Welsh language and those that speak it are fine. All the non-Welsh speakers I know are proud of the language and their unique culture. Stop trying to whip up division to promote your cause. We want a Wales of the 21st century, diverse and outward looking. Your far right compatriots want an England of the 1950s, divisive and inward looking, and you and your sort have the fullest intention of bringing Wales along with them. And my cause? I'm not promoting a Welsh nationalist cause here but promoting respect for Welsh Language, despite my English nationality. I confess I'm completely wasting my time trying to talk to you, given your attitude to the native language of Wales. Go and wipe your tears with a Union Jack.
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@Ibluntlysaywhatithink Good story, but in what chapter do you shut up?
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@Ibluntlysaywhatithink I've written it out in Welsh for the benefit of my compatriots who prefer their native Cymraeg to 'yr iaith fain' - the thin language - as we sometimes call English.
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Starkers always seems to take the most controversial stance possible and mocks people for no apparent reason. I was blind to this until hearing this attack on the indigenous Welsh and their language.
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@jbwentworthe6082 Protect England but not Wales? Very much in line with Starkey's 'point' about bicultural Wales not mattering. Oh yeah. I'm sure he's a clever guy as he evidently knows just what to say to get himself plenty of publicity. Doesn’t mean he’s not a bit of a Cnut for doing it though.
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@keithapps Exactly. And to look at another Cardiffian, one who didn't murder anyone, Dame Shirley Bassey is recognised as a Welshwoman.
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I could ask you the same question, since it was you who saw fit to mention how underprivileged he supposedly was.
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@70AD-user45 No, it's for nations to decide, not you or him, what subjects are important and useful, rather than dismissing them without just cause.
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Mae'r anwybodaeth yn narlith Starkey mor amlwg iawn, felly dydi eich 'pwynt' chi ddim yn un dilys mewn gwirionedd, a gorau po gyntaf y caiff y Gymraeg y parch y mae'n ei haeddu. Ydych chi ddim yn gwerthfawrogi Cymraeg? Mae hynny'n drist mewn ystyr ddiwylliannol, neu (fel y byddai Starkers yn ei ddweud) rydych chi'n fwriadol yn tanseilio pobl ddeuddiwylliannol hanesyddol yn yr ynysoedd hyn; ac er ei holl eiriau coeth - sydd ddim yn creu argraff dda arna i bellach - mae'n amlwg nad ydy yntau'n gwerthfawrogi'r Gymraeg chwaith. Dw i'n byw yn y Fro Gymraeg ei hiaith ymhlith Cymry yn bennaf, ac yn siarad Cymraeg mor aml â pheidio, ac mi fyddwn i'n mentro fy nghrys nad oes yr un ohonyn nhw'n malio am y Gymraeg fel 'hobi'! Mae pobl sy'n ofni ieithoedd brodorol yn dwp. Mae hyd yn oed y bobl weddus hynny sy'n methu darllen gair o Gymraeg ac eithrio enwau lleoedd ac ati yn sylweddoli bod y Gymraeg yn edrych yn brydferth. Iaith hobi? Dim ond iaith ydyw, dyna i gyd. Dim byd arall, oni bai eich bod chi eisiau iddi fod. Mae cadw diwylliant ac iaith gynhenid Cymru yn golygu mwy nag y gallech ei ddeall fel rhywun sy'n ymddangos yn Saisaddolwr ac yn Eingl-ganolog i'r craidd. Naill ffordd neu'r llall, y Gymraeg ydi'r peth mwyaf Cymreig am ein cenedl ni. Onid ydi hi'n rhyfedd ein bod ni'n gyson yn gorfod cyfiawnhau bodolaeth ein hiaith ni yn ein gwlad ein hunain? Tydi'r rhan fwyaf o siaradwyr Saesneg ddim wedi arfer â sefyllfa o'r fath, a dyma sydd fwy na thebyg yn esbonio eu hanwybodaeth yn hyn o beth. Dwli ydi credu bod y Gymraeg yn dal pobl yn ôl. Ond o ddifrif, os nad oes dim ots gennych chi am eich diwylliant chithau, yna gobeithio na fydd dim ots gennych pan fydd o'n cael ei olchi i ffwrdd. Os ydi'r cap yn gymwys, gwisgwch o! Dach hi'n amlwg yn siaradwr Saesneg sydd â safbwynt negyddol tuag at y Gymraeg. A dach chi'n ei gweld fel rhwystr, fel anghyfleustra i gaffael elw. Ond mae ein hiaith frodorol ni'n werth mwy na dim o'r ffolineb hwn. Efallai eich bod chi'n hoffi cefn gwlad y genedl hon, ond cywilydd am y bobl leol annifyr a'u hiaith y maen nhw yn rhyfedd ddigon am ei chadw! Agwedd gwladychol nodweddiadol. Sut gallwch chi fel Prydeiniwr ddweud wrthyn ni fod ein hiaith ni'n rhyw fath o anfantais? Yn syml, fedra i ddim ddallt eich anwybodaeth chi. Dach chi am i Gymru fod yn rhan arall o Loegr yn unig, fel y gall mewnfudwyr fel fi symud yma heb orfod addasu o gwbl? Mor drefedigaethol-feddwl! Ni fu Lladin erioed yn iaith frodorol yma. A ydych yn dweud mai’r hyn yr ydych ei eisiau yw Cymru heb y Gymraeg a’u hiaith? Mae’n ymddangos fel pe bai Cymry Cymraeg a chymunedau Cymraeg eu hiaith yn gorfod amddiffyn eu hunain yn unig rhag yr holl gasineb hwn, a phan fyddwn yn ymateb i gasineb gyda rhesymeg a rheswm cawn ein labelu’n ‘genedlaetholwyr cul eu meddwl’, ymhlith pethau eraill. Hyd yn oed yn y wasg adain chwith ryddfrydol mae'r iaith yn cael ei amharchu. Ni fyddai papurau fel y Guardian yn meiddio portreadu diwylliant brodorol lleiafrifol yn De America, Affrica neu hyd yn oed dir mawr Ewrop yn yr un modd ag y maent wedi ei wneud i'r Gymraeg mewn erthyglau diweddar. Pam ei bod yn dal yn dderbyniol i ddangos cymaint o ddirmyg tuag at gymunedau Cymraeg yn arbennig? Mae'r Gymraeg a'r rhai sy'n ei siarad yn iawn. Mae'r holl ddi-Gymraeg dwi'n nabod yn falch o'r iaith a'u diwylliant unigryw. Stopiwch geisio rhannu pobl i hyrwyddo'ch achos. Rydym eisiau Cymru’r 21ain ganrif, sy’n amrywiol ac yn edrych tuag allan. Mae eich cydwladwyr asgell dde eithaf eisiau ail-greu Lloegr o’r 1950au, sy’n ymrannol ac yn edrych i mewn, ac mae gennych chi a’ch ffrindiau’r bwriad o ddod â Chymru gyda chi. A fy achos? Nid hyrwyddo achos cenedlaetholgar Cymreig ydw i yma, ond hybu parch at y Gymraeg, er gwaethaf fy nghenedligrwydd Seisnig. Cyfaddefaf fy mod yn llwyr wastraffu fy amser yn ceisio siarad â chi, o ystyried eich agwedd at iaith frodorol Cymru. Ewch i sychu eich dagrau gyda Jac yr Undeb.
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@jamesgreenldn I think his documentaries are pretty interesting and he seems like a more than decent historian.
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Agreed. Really I love his stuff but I''m wise to the errors of his ways at last. I am someone who likes to hear other people's views. Wish I could feel that he actually cares about anyone else's point of view. Because he clearly doesn't.
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You think Starkers would be happy as a penniless piss poor gay man living in a monoculturally White English little England (no 'damn blacks' or Welsh people speaking the Welsh language) with the old heteronormativity back? Because I don't. And he would be right not to want that.
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Taking the most controversial stance possible is how you get recognised as a historian unfortunately. He's basically the Katie Hopkins of historians and he keeps being given a platform. His comments about the Welsh language were a disgrace.
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@bertibear1300 We had a madwoman stand for the Heritage Party here in the mountain fastnesses of Wales. Her vote count was close to zero. Thank God it's too late for that. To be fair to the woman she championed the cause of Welsh and learnt it thoroughly after moving from England with her dozen children by a Welshman, so she's not as culturally narrow as Starkers.
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Let me clarify one thing: I'm not a fan of Rishi or his Shadow Cabinet. The Tories have made many mistakes including their choice of leadership, over and over, and their inability to stop mass migration, the lack of respect for traditional values and generally an unpatriotic attitude (Rishi skipping D-Day for a silly interview). BUT we shouldn't vote Reform either. We need a strong Opposition. A vote for Reform is an indirect vote for Labour hegemony. Sure we should punish the Tories to a degree for their lies and broken promises, but dismantling the institution of His Majesty's Opposition altogether I'm afraid is a luxury we cannot afford. Starmer's almost dictatorial majority will only exacerbate the autocracy of the Labour Party and if we cripple the Opposition the Left will rule for a decade while the Right squabbles over leadership and direction. There is also another aspect materialising recently, and that is that Reform should replace the Tories and that a vote for them is only going to hurt Reform's efforts. Reform is seen by many people as a truly "patriotic" party, whereas in fact it it more akin to Cummings' Start-Up Party - a desperate attempt to capitalise on the temporary downfall of a political giant to gain seats, money, fame and, why not, become PM. For that is the position Farage eyes with lust. But the truth is that as Farage aided Boris Johnson in 2019, now he's given a hand to Keir Starmer, this time by participating in the elections. The plan was to split the conservative vote and help Starmer's Labour gain an ever greater majority. So the plan was not to replace the Conservatives but to cripple them and cripple any chance of effective opposition to the mess the current Starmer ministry will be, considering how inexperienced and ineffective Labour ministers will most probably generally prove to be even after they are more settled in their new roles.
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@angeladallimore8079 But Reform UK is not a conservative or patriotic party. That doesn't mean the Tories, in their current form, are. The party needs to rethink its policies and commitments in the aftermath of the "calamity". But compared to a populist demagogue like Farage I'm confident the Conservative Party has the human capital to emerge renewed against the Labour regime. Farage has been exploiting these three very important subjects: Brexit, immigration and patriotism. Brexit is now in the sphere of political argumentation used by communist apologetics culminating in the phrase "This wasn't real socialism." Similarly, Reform and Farage have been heralding their commitment to "implementing true Brexit". But they haven't presented a concrete plan to utilise Brexit's advantages. Farage's campaign has focused on sovereignty and trade deals but if we wish for the UK economy to bounce back we must have a plan a little more complex than a trade deal with the US, such as CANZUK.
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@MrPeteypoo How come? On immigration, Farage is very much a hypocrite. In order to court the far right votes, he has attacked Islam calling Muslim fundamentalists enemies of British values. But we must think: Muslim immigration to the UK has risen since Brexit. It was Farage who made it harder for EU immigrants (people far more likely to integrate to British society and share common values) to come and work in the UK, instead attracting a huge wave of Muslim immigrants, relentless in their preservation of religious and cultural identity. Hard Brexit also deprived us of any opportunity to work with EU countries to stop illegals and crack down on the criminal smuggling networks. So Farage is willing to attack Islam but he was the one advocating for a radical withdrawal from the EU, knowing very well that it would deter European migrants.
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Abortion in the UK is seen as a health issue rather than a political one.
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