Bye bye Britannia

So what is the big deal concerning the removal of Britannia from our new currency system? After all, it's just a picture on a coin right? Actually there are many things wrong with it, we just need to look at the bigger picture.

The cultural and historical identity of Britain has been under attack for some time. School curriculums are far keener to teach appreciation and respect for non-Christian religions and cultures than British History. Reports of schools and local community centres "banning" traditional festivals or holidays - often in favour of a more "multicultural" celebration - are so widespread and frequent, they rarely make new headlines any more.

The attack is not confined to the present day.The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich - our leading maritime museum - declared in 1999 that the Nelson display was "old fashioned". The display - dedicated to educating viewers about our supremacy on the sea - was replaced by a display depicting British supremacy from "the view of the colonised". 

In 1993, Britain's top four museums were told they must increase both their visitor numbers of, and projects focused on, ethnic minority groups or lose government funding.

Many other examples exist of the war of attrition against our cultural identity. The reasons for the assault are varied, but foremost amongst them is Britain's membership of the EU.

Ever since our political elite entered us into the EU in the 1960s (it was disguised back then as the "common market") they have been hellbent on pushing through with all reforms and legislation necessary to keep themselves at the top. But there was a problem: the British are a cynical bunch by nature, and shared a healthy distrust at the idea of ministers from Spain, Belgium and France creating laws over England. That cynicism was picked up by Margaret Thatcher who rightly expressed reluctance to surrender the pound sterling or the sovereignty of Parliament.

So the descendants of Thatcher developed another approach. Slowly but surely, they started to chip away at the defences of the British. Whilst making noises about referendums and retaining sovereignty, they engaged in a policy of creeping normalisation. The Human Rights Act, the Maastricht treaty and the constitutional treaty were all signed away. Each contract taking us one step closer, each deal designed to be secretive, purposely too tortuous and complex for Joe Public to understand what was happening. It was, and is, the classic 'boiling frog' method of manoeuvre.

There was a related problem for our politicians : the union. England shares many ties with Wales and Scotland, but the latter two are happy to join the EU as it will bring greater recognition and finances to their cause. The English however, have little to gain from such a deal. The solution? Erode any sense of 'Britishness' or 'Englishness'. "English' is already a hated term by politicians - you will never hear Gordon Brown use it to describe a person - because it implies a distinct ethnic identity, and therefore risks racial alienation of British citizens. But now 'Britishness' is also under attack, and the establishment will pull off all the Orwellian tricks they can to erode it. Removing Britannia from our coins is just the first step.

Yes, we are told the older 50p coins will remain in circulation. That is, of course, until the Euro is forced upon us. Indeed, one might even question why the treasury are bothering to pay for production of new coins when we all know they plan to kill our currency ASAP. The answer is simple - it takes us back yet again to the frog in the boiling pan - it's a gentle shake up to warm us up for the big change that will hit us in the future.

We're told Britannia may return on two pound coins, We're told this change is no big deal. But we are given these assurances by the same people who told us we would be given a referendum on EU membership. The same elite who promised us the Lisbon Treaty really, truly, was not a constitution. The same cretins who promised us the Irish "no" vote to that treaty would be respected. The same motley crew that have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain from surreptitious removal of any symbol of resistance or common identity that could inspire British citizens of any class or ethnicity to object to EU rule. It may start with the removal of a 50p coin, but it most certainly will not stop there.