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I think he's just a man who grew up in a different time and in a very different way to most people who struggles to adapt to what the world has become and probably views things through rose tinted glasses.
I love living in London (I never ever thought I would say that) and the diversity is a big part of that.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
I think he's just a man who grew up in a different time and in a very different way to most people who struggles to adapt to what the world has become and probably views things through rose tinted glasses.
I love living in London (I never ever thought I would say that) and the diversity is a big part of that.
It's been diverse for decades, why has he only just noticed?
And he complains about it as a man who lives as an immigrant.
I think he’s probably got a point. It’s a place really that if you have money it’s great for you but if you don’t you’re not welcome. It’s also full of global brands and chains that make it hard to distinguish it from other big cities, Paris, New York etc.
Landmarks aside, if I didn’t live here and was instead a tourist from abroad, I’m not sure what I’d get in London that I couldn’t get elsewhere.
That is a truly dreadful article. BBC should hang its head in shame over the way it's going. It's supposed to be a quality national broadcaster . This is tabloid clickbait crap.
No idea what Cleese was up to. Nothing to do with race apparently. OK, what about the weird reference to Brexit at the end? It all sounds a bit like dog whistling to me.
It's been diverse for 50 years, he must be very slow!
It's been diverse for hundreds and hundreds of years, it's always had people coming in from all over the place. People have always wanted to come to seek their fortune by coming to London.
It's been diverse for hundreds and hundreds of years, it's always had people coming in from all over the place. People have always wanted to come to seek their fortune by coming to London.
Bloody Romans, coming here, taking over our jobs, our roads, our washing facilities etc.
I think he’s probably got a point. It’s a place really that if you have money it’s great for you but if you don’t you’re not welcome. It’s also full of global brands and chains that make it hard to distinguish it from other big cities, Paris, New York etc.
Landmarks aside, if I didn’t live here and was instead a tourist from abroad, I’m not sure what I’d get in London that I couldn’t get elsewhere.
'I’m not sure what I’d get in London that I couldn’t get elsewhere.'
I think he's just a man who grew up in a different time and in a very different way to most people who struggles to adapt to what the world has become and probably views things through rose tinted glasses.
I love living in London (I never ever thought I would say that) and the diversity is a big part of that.
Think this is pretty much it, although the phrasing he's used leaves it more than open to interpretation in other ways.
You'll have to wait its half term and they int up yet!
Well I am hoping the posters that put down other posters for having an opinion on the UK, when they don’t live here, will be along soon, to condemn John for expressing an opinion on the UK when he doesn’t live here.
Massive hypocrisy, if this point isn’t made by those people.
I think the point hes trying to make is that it's become so diverse its evolved to a point where he doesnt recognize it to how he remembers it.
But why pick out racial diversity as the most significant thing which has changed? 60 years ago vehicles look significantly different, the composition of shops in the High Street (if there are any nowadays) have changed. Many people worked in large factories and mines, office desks back then had no computers, notepads for handwriting and often not even a telephone.
Go back another 60 years and vehicles were still horse-drawn, Steam trains were king. Aeroplanes had not yet been invented.
60 years before that and you're at the start of of Queen Victoria's reign. 60 years again and the War of American Independence is at its height.
Two more jumps and you're nearly back to the English Civil War.
Things can and do change unrecogniseably in a single lifetime.
But why pick out racial diversity as the most significant thing which has changed? 60 years ago vehicles look significantly different, the composition of shops in the High Street (if there are any nowadays) have changed. Many people worked in large factories and mines, office desks back then had no computers, notepads for handwriting and often not even a telephone.
Go back another 60 years and vehicles were still horse-drawn, Steam trains were king. Aeroplanes had not yet been invented.
60 years before that and you're at the start of of Queen Victoria's reign. 60 years again and the War of American Independence is at its height.
Two more jumps and you're nearly back to the English Civil War.
Things can and do change unrecogniseably in a single lifetime.
[Post edited 30 May 2019 9:09]
And I'm not sure Cleese is necessarily consciously targeting racial diversity himself. I think as you say it's more an issue that the world has changed a lot in 60 years and he's feeling all misty eyed about 'the good old days'.
I think where he runs into a little bit of bother is in using Englishness as some sort of fixed characteristic. When used in this way it can carry certain racial connotations which is why he's getting some backlash. It may be that on some level diversity is a part of what Cleese doesn't like now, which is why he's focusing on Englishness. Or he might naively believe that Englishness describes a set of completely non-racial behaviours and qualities that everyone exhibited when he was a lad. Of course that's just pure fantasy. What it means to be English differs from person to person and across time.
Either way, chalk this up as him being a bit of a daft old berk.
And I'm not sure Cleese is necessarily consciously targeting racial diversity himself. I think as you say it's more an issue that the world has changed a lot in 60 years and he's feeling all misty eyed about 'the good old days'.
I think where he runs into a little bit of bother is in using Englishness as some sort of fixed characteristic. When used in this way it can carry certain racial connotations which is why he's getting some backlash. It may be that on some level diversity is a part of what Cleese doesn't like now, which is why he's focusing on Englishness. Or he might naively believe that Englishness describes a set of completely non-racial behaviours and qualities that everyone exhibited when he was a lad. Of course that's just pure fantasy. What it means to be English differs from person to person and across time.
Either way, chalk this up as him being a bit of a daft old berk.
[Post edited 30 May 2019 9:16]
Quite apart from the fact that Cleese and his mates were themselves directly agents of the change in attitudes from the 1960s onwards.
But why pick out racial diversity as the most significant thing which has changed? 60 years ago vehicles look significantly different, the composition of shops in the High Street (if there are any nowadays) have changed. Many people worked in large factories and mines, office desks back then had no computers, notepads for handwriting and often not even a telephone.
Go back another 60 years and vehicles were still horse-drawn, Steam trains were king. Aeroplanes had not yet been invented.
60 years before that and you're at the start of of Queen Victoria's reign. 60 years again and the War of American Independence is at its height.
Two more jumps and you're nearly back to the English Civil War.
Things can and do change unrecogniseably in a single lifetime.
[Post edited 30 May 2019 9:09]
But you could argue that the most radical change he has personally witnessed could be racial diversity.
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