Trump vs. British Accents

A general and incomplete map of accents throughout Britain and Ireland. Image Credit: Ricjl via Wikipedia cc

     Last week, British Members of Parliament gathered to debate whether Donald Trump should be banned from entry into the United Kingdom. This was in response to an online petition signed by over 500,000 Britons who demanded this action following the front-running Republican presidential candidate’s controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States should he win the presidency.

     The petition was well clear of the 100,000 signatures needed to require Parliament to debate the issue, for it is possible for the Home Secretary to ban individuals deemed to be “fostering extremism or hatred” or may “constitute a threat to public policy or public security.”

     The debate lasted for three hours, and I watched some of it with some amusement. It really wasn’t a debate so much as it was a session for running the gamut of insults (including the word “wazzock”) against the outspoken New Yorker and condemning his public statements. Partly for this reason, many people questioned whether this was the best use of three hours on the taxpayers’ dime (or in this case, ten pence), considering especially that few MP’s actually advocated to ban him from the country.

     However, the proceedings were a unique opportunity to see the diversity of the United Kingdom on display.

     There is no one British accent (just as there is no one American accent), and indeed, the panoply of accents and dialects throughout the UK is quite staggering and in my opinion, is one of the things that make the United Kingdom such a unique and fascinating. The “debate” last Monday featured probably but only a sampling of those accents as the members to stood up to speak.

     Not (yet) being an expert on British accents and dialects, I could only guess at what I was hearing, but I felt as though I did generally hear Welsh accents, along with some that could be identified as coming from the Midlands. Specifically, there may have been one MP with a Brummie accent and another carrying the sounds of Lincolnshire. Going south, the Cockney and Estuary accents from London and the Southeast made prominent appearances, but so did some Scottish accents – including Glaswegian and others hailing from West Central and the Lothians. Some of these could have been mixed with other accents into what may have been the Scouser accent of Liverpool or mistaken for other accents of northern England, such as Geordie and those generally from Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Lancashire. From across the Irish Sea, a Northern Irish lilt was also prominently featured – probably Belfast or Ulster-Scot, which bore much in relation to the aforementioned Scottish sounds. Back on the mainland, the West Country/Cornish voices were also probably represented during these three hours of anti-Trump.

     In the end, no action was taken against the man who now stands a good chance of winning the Republican nomination for the presidency of the United States. The consensus seemed to be that "The Donald" made disreputable statements about many groups and individuals, but that a ban went overboard for man they saw as acting foolishly and stupidly, and this was summed up by one MP who said that Trump’s actions amounted to “buffoonery”, and that this should be met “not with a ban, but with the great British response of ridicule.”

     If nothing else, it was – at least for me as a Britophile – like traveling through the United Kingdom at warp speed, with the country showing its diversity and dynamism via the complex and colorful fabric of its voices, as seen here in this video compiled by the Washington Post which features the National Anthem.

     If only they could "sing with heart and voice" more often on issues of greater importance facing the country. Here's the hoping they will. Until then, keep up the accents.

Two Flags, One Special Christmas Ornament

     As Christmas approached last year, I searched the web to find a suitable ornament featuring the Union Flag and Stars and Stripes (or some kind of US-UK symbol) for our Christmas tree, and though there were some good selections from which to choose, they were either too expensive or not what I was really look for…or both.

     While at my job (and with time running short till Christmas), I began thinking about making my own ornament and took some time thinking about its size, materials, and feasibility as something that I could do on my own.

     From an arts and crafts store, I purchased a set of thin balsa wood slabs, glossy model paint for three colors (red, white, and blue), paint brushes, and enamel thinner/brush cleaner. Also purchased was a tool kit with a wood cutter and a small hand drill bit for drilling a hole for the ornament hook.

     Even then, and later when I got home, I had no real plan for making the ornament. There was only the most general of ideas of how to do it, and I more-or-less figured things out as I went along.

     First, I researched to find the correct dimensions of the Union Flag, including the measurements for each of the three crosses contained within the flag for St. Andrew, St. George, and St. Patrick – the patron saints of Scotland, England, and Ireland respectively. These were scaled down proportionally to the size of the balsa wood slabs, with their short side used a reference point. The long side being too long for the project, it was cut to size on one of the slabs.

     With the dimensions accounted for and the slab properly sized, I drew the outlines for the respective colors of the flag so that the painting could be done properly and an as cleanly as possible. For extra security, it was decided to use painter’s tape – a form of masking tape – to cover over the areas not being painted at a particular time and thereby ensure a smoother and less messy job.

     The project got properly underway with the painting of St. George’s Cross using glossy red model paint.

     After I had allowed this to dry for a few minutes, it was followed by the painting of the blue field derived from Scotland’s flag. This was done in stages in accordance to the placement of the painter’s tape, and to speed up the progress, I painted in two areas at once – usually in the opposite quadrant from each other after the paint had dried in the other quadrants.

     The final bit of progress made on that first day of the project was the painting of the white border (or fimbriation) around St. George’s Cross, which is derived from the English flag and divides it from the blue field. For this, several pieces of tape were used to prevent the white paint from bleeding over into the other colors, and with white being a light color, these areas required several coats of it to fully cover the vanilla of the balsa wood. After completion, this was left overnight to dry.

     On the next day, I further touched up on the white paint from the previous night, and after I was satisfied, I removed the tape to reveal the Union Flag taking shape quite nicely on the balsa wood.

     Now it was time to work on the diagonal crosses – or saltire’s – of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, which are “counterchanged” so that the position given to the white St. Andrew’s Saltire in one quadrant is the same as that given to the red St. Patrick’s Saltire in the diagonally opposite quadrant. This counterchanging, or pinwheeling effect means that the UK flag is not symmetrical, and is therefore the reason why the flag cannot be flown or drawn in just any way which does not respect the correct positioning of the two crosses.

     Since Scotland – along with England (and Wales) – became part of the Union at its inception on May 1, 1707 and Ireland did not join until nearly a century later, St. Andrew’s Saltire is placed uppermost in the northwest quadrant near the flagstaff, which is also known as the hoist end of the flag and considered the most honorable position in heraldry. St. Patrick’s Saltire received the second most honorable position – being uppermost in the northeast quadrant, the fly end of the flag. St. Andrew's Saltire leads this pinwheeling in the clockwise direction

     For this project, six spaces were created between the lines in each diagonal of the flag in accordance to the actual dimensions of a standard flag. In each diagonal, four of the spaces are painted white and two are painted red, with the result that the two crosses sit side-by-side along the center lines of the diagonals and a fimbriation is formed to prevent St. Patrick’s Saltire from touching the blue field.

     So first, I painted the three white spaces which form St. Andrew’s Saltire in each quadrant, and after several coats, it was left to dry for much of the day until I returned to remove the tape.

     Then I proceeded to paint the fourth white space, and following several applications of the color, it too was left to dry for several hours.

     Upon the removal of the painter’s tape from here, St. Andrew’s Saltire and the fimbriations around it were complete.

     Now came the time to paint St. Patrick’s Saltire of Northern Ireland into the remaining space within the diagonals. This was left overnight to dry.

     Upon the beginning of day three, a final coat of red was applied to St. Patrick’s Saltire and the tape was peeled away to reveal a finished Union Flag!

     With this half of the project completed, I moved on to the Stars and Stripes.

     As with the Union Jack, I started work on my country’s flag by researching to find the correct dimensions – including the measurements for the thirteen stripes, the blue canton in the upper left corner, and the fifty stars within the canton. With the measurements being accounted for, they were scaled down proportionally to fit the size of the balsa wood slab, and with this completed, the real work could begin.

     First came the drawing of the stripes, followed by the upper left canton.

     Paintwork was then commenced on the stripes representing the thirteen British colonies which became the first states in the Union in 1776. The red stripes were painted first – with the first, third, fifth, and seventh stripes being painted before the second, fourth, and sixth due to the constraints via the painter’s tape. Upon completion and drying out, the tape was removed to reveal seven near-perfect red stripes.

     Now it was time for painting the white stripes, which were done a bit more quickly because I had found a way to sufficiently cover the whole of all of the red stripes as I painted the white ones between them. After several coats, this was left overnight to dry.

     On the next morning, day 4 began with the unpeeling of the painter’s tape to show the completed thirteen stripes. Following this was probably the hardest part of the whole project: the fifty stars representing the fifty states of the Union today against the upper left blue canton.

     The stars themselves would be quite tiny and required precise locations in order to make the overall flag look right. To this end, I drew lines down and across the canton in reflection of the measurements on an actual flag, and once this was right, I drew in dots at the relevant intersections as placeholders for the stars. As one can see, there was a significant amount of erasing going on as I worked to get the placement as accurate as possible.

     Next, I proceeded to paint the fifty white stars. With no realistic way of trying to paint through a cut-out of the stars or anything of that sort, I resorted to painting them one by one with varying degrees of success to say the least.

     Following this was painting the blue canton around those stars. This proved quite tricky since I was trying to negotiate around the stars that were already painted, and as it was, I did mess up on some of the stars, but pressed on with the painting.

     After allowing this to dry overnight, day 5 opened with the retouching of the stars that had been damaged by the blue paint. What ended up happening was a back and forth battle between getting white stars and the blue field as accurate as possible. This alone took a whole day to do because in some cases, I had to allow one paint to dry before using the other paint, lest the colors mixed and created a bigger mess!

     Finally on the sixth day, the project was complete. The hand drill bit was used to drill a hole at the top in order to place an ornament hook through it, and a spot on our family Christmas tree was found for the newest addition among its decorations!

     One year later, and I must say that I am still very much proud of producing this special ornament which celebrates the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. It beautifully graces our tree in a position where both sides are prominently featured and can be appreciated for being a work of art and craftsmanship. Indeed, it shows what can be done when a person puts their mind (and patience) to it.

     During the Christmas season, I hope that all of us will certainly have a mind for being with our families, giving to others, and counting our blessings. It’s unique time for joy and celebration under any flag, and we’ll do well to remember the importance of striving towards “peace on earth and goodwill toward men.”

     Merry Christmas!

A Round Pound of Unity

     A few days ago, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I came upon a posting which featured a pound coin, and not just any pound coin, but the last of the “Round Pounds.” They have been produced since 1983, and were introduced to replace the £1 bank notes issued by the Bank of England, and are widely used throughout the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man (though pound notes are still issued in the Dependencies and by the Royal Bank of Scotland).

     While the obverse of the round pound has constantly featured a portrait of Her Majesty the Queen – four to be exact, introduced in 1983, 1985, 1998, and 2015 respectively – the reverse has gone through several designs on an annual basis. Sometimes, there have been two reverse designs in a single year, and result over 32 years has been a collection which displays the diversity of the United Kingdom.

     Reverse sides have featured some variation of the Royal Coat of Arms of the UK – sometimes the full coat of arms with a crown atop it, an ornamental version, or just the shield from it – to represent the country as a whole, while other designs have given prominence to one of the constituent parts of the UK.

     England has been represented throughout the years by its three gold lions passant guardant, oak tree, and Tudor rose; Scotland by its thistle, bluebell, and red lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory; Wales by its leek, daffodil, and red dragon passant; and Northern Ireland by its Celtic cross, Broighter collar, pimpernel, flax plant, and shamrock.

     From 2004 through 2007, reverse designs displayed four of Britain’s architectural and engineering landmarks – Scotland’s Firth of Forth Rail Bridge, the Menai Suspension Bridge in Wales, MacNeill’s Egyptian Arch in Northern Ireland, and England’s Gateshead Millennium Bridge. In 2010 and 2011, the coat of arms of the UK’s four capital cities – the City of London, Belfast, Cardiff, and Edinburgh – were used for the reverse of the coins issued in those years (in conjunction with coins bearing the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms), with the former two in 2010 and the latter two in 2011.

     So this popular British coin has had an illustrious run representing the UK and its different parts, and for its last incarnation in 2016, it will display what I call a design of national unity. The farewell reverse rendering for the round pound was designed by Gregory Cameron and contains the four animal symbols of the United Kingdom: the lion of England, the unicorn of Scotland, the dragon of Wales, and the stag representing Northern Ireland. At the center of the coin will be the Crown symbolizing them being united together into one sovereign entity, and along the edge, there is the Latin inscription DECUS ET TUTAMEN (meaning "an ornament and a safeguard").

The new and last "Round Pound". Image Credit: Royal Mint

     More than just an ornament, the new coin shows that these four critical parts each make what the UK is – a multinational nation-state which celebrates the cultures of its constituent nations, which in turn contributes to the overall culture and society of the United Kingdom has a whole and the concept of being British.

     We saw this last weekend with Scotsman Andy Murray leading the Great Britain Davis Cup tennis team to victory in that tournament by scoring the decisive point against Belgium. That team was composed of three Scots – Murray, his brother Jamie, and the captain, Leon Smith, as well an Englishman – James Ward, and Kyle Edmund – a South African-born Brit who lives in London. Together, they made Britain triumph for the first time in 79 years, and this comes on the heels of Murray’s achievements at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a grand slam victory, and being the first British man to win at Wimbledon since 1936.

     All of this is a real-life display of the symbolism contained within the new round pound – that while the UK is made up of different parts and its people have multiple identities, they also come together as Britons to fuse their individual talents into a national synergy which paves the way for the achievement of great things like the Davis Cup victory. It certainly shows that Britain is hardly a clapped-out and washed-up former imperial power; her old Empire has been successfully transformed into the Commonwealth, and the country itself had carried on in modern times. It still has much going for it when the people believe in themselves and are willing to join together in common efforts to advance the country and themselves.

     Prime Minister David Cameron said as much in his St. Andrews Day message last Monday, when he remarked that Scotland helps to “put the great into Great Britain” – with its contributions to “the arts, sport, business, philanthropy or cutting-edge technology” – and punching above its weight to make a difference in the world. Scotland, he said, is a “constant source of pride and passion” as part of the United Kingdom, and the people of the rest of the UK support it when it is representing itself in venues such as rugby and football.

     For that matter, people across the UK were joining with their fellow British citizens in Scotland as they marked the day which honors their patron saint, with Saltire’s flying throughout the country, including from 10 Downing Street and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. British embassies throughout world played their part in recognizing St. Andrew and promoting Scotland – its culture, food, heritage, and commerce – on this most important of days, as they should because of Scotland being an important part of the UK, and when Scotland succeeds and does well, so does the UK.

     Indeed, without Scotland, there can be no Britain, and the symbolism of the farewell round pound shows the UK is not just about England, or London, or [big, bad] Westminster, or the [evil] Tories. There is a social, cultural, and perhaps even, a spiritual element to the UK that I believe gets lost in the debates about the constitution, more powers, oil, the Barnett Formula, and etc. It was that element of the UK that was truly in danger last year, and continues to be at risk – that element which helps to bind the people together into one as they fuse into a common culture with shared values and beliefs, and participate in many of the same things, while also maintaining the elements that make them distinct from each other.

     But even then, the distinctions all contribute to the social and cultural fabric of the United Kingdom, for Scottish culture contributes as much to British culture as English culture, and when you break it down further, there a varying cultures within England and Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland and Wales which enrich their respective home nation and the UK as a whole. The Glaswegian accent is as British as the Cockney and Scouser accents; Ynys Môn (Anglesey) is as British as Orkney; Yorkshire pudding is as British as haggis. When one thinks of Britain, they must – without fail – think of the country in its entirety from Shetland to Land’s End.

     There are many people, both at home and abroad (including yours truly) who value and appreciate the UK because of its diversity and because of the overlapping identities shared amongst its people. We believe that there is something special about the English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish being part of the same country – with all those languages and dialects, foods, landmarks, landscapes, and towns and cities – a modern country that values its storied past and heritage, but also embraces modernity and the future.

     The round pound – with its many representations of the different parts of the UK, much like the state quarters in the US – has done this very well over the years as it gets set to be replaced by a new 12-sided coin beginning in 2017. Unfortunately, it will be more or a collectors item because it will not be available for general circulation, and will therefore only be available was more of the 2016 Annual Coin Set. However, its final incarnation using the animal representations of the home nations under the Crown does this brilliantly as a powerful symbol of unity and togetherness.

     E Pluribus Unum.