By now, you will certainly have heard of Pascal Robinson-Foster, although you might know him better by his stage name, Bobby Vylan.
A punk singer and political extremist who despises Britain, Robinson-Foster made headlines around the world last weekend when he called for ‘death to the IDF’ (Israeli Defence Forces) while performing at Glastonbury.
The fact that this disgraceful display was broadcast by the BBC only made matters worse.
Robinson-Foster’s rabble-rousing chant was immediately condemned by the entire political class, from Nigel Farage to Sir Keir Starmer – and rightly so.
He has since been reportedly dropped by his agent and had his US visa revoked. ‘Vylan’ might yet be arrested for incitement and heads could roll at the BBC.
Whatever your opinion on Gaza, we can agree that calling for murder is morally repugnant.
Yet a crucial aspect of Robinson-Foster’s behaviour, and what he stands for, has so far been neglected. And that is, his determination to falsify the past. Our past. To deny, in effect, that the people of these islands have any sort of history, let alone one of which they can be proud. Take, for example, these lyrics, spat out by a bare-chested Robinson-Foster as he punched the air at Glastonbury: ‘I heard you want your country back – shut the f*** up! I heard you want your country back – uh-uh, you can’t have that,’ he yelled. The middle-class ‘Glasto’ crowd screeched along in sympathy. Whose ‘country’ was Robinson-Foster talking about? He was speaking, of course, about the British – perhaps especially about those of us concerned by the extraordinary demographic convulsions that have taken place here in a few short decades.
Behind him on stage was a banner bearing the demonstrably false claim: ‘This country was built on the backs of immigrants.’
Pascal Robinson-Foster made headlines around the world last weekend when he called for ‘death to the IDF’ while performing at Glastonbury
The punk musician’s chant was immediately condemned by the entire political class, from Nigel Farage to Sir Keir Starmer
That might be true of America but it is true neither of Britain nor of England which, despite some modest waves of migration such as French Huguenots, was for the most part ethnically homogeneous for centuries, certainly until the end of the Second World War.
The people of these islands have been here for well over 1,000 years. This is particularly so of the ancient countryside around Glastonbury itself. Yet none have been so comprehensively libelled and derided as the people of England.
There has been a lot of debate about what it means to be English, but to me it is neither complicated nor controversial. It is a specific ethnic identity, just as the Inuit, the Pacific Islanders or the Berbers have their own identities. To deny our historical existence, as some on the Left increasingly do, is either grossly ignorant or plain dishonest. Yet for Robinson-Foster and last weekend’s woke, virtue-signalling Glastonbury crowd – singing along as ‘Vylan’ mocked their own country – the very concept of belonging here is somehow racist. It is Robinson-Foster’s country, too, of course – not that you would know it. In 2005, aged just 14, he was asked to perform his poetry at the Black and Asian Police Association conference in Manchester.
The BBC hailed him as an ‘established poet’ before broadcasting him live to millions from Glastonbury. His response? To rail against this country and, presumably, the very privileges he enjoys.
‘Ignorant scum, trying to lay claim to a land that ain’t theirs anyway,’ he snarled on stage.
By which, one can only imagine, Robinson-Foster means the patriotic white working class, who feel an instinctive sense of shared national identity and ownership.
‘I heard you want your country back – ha! Shut the f*** up,’ he continued. ‘When we come for it, then we’re coming to keep.’
There was no ambiguity. He was mocking a native population who worry, not without reason, that they are being displaced.
Credible modelling has shown that the English, despite having repeatedly voted against mass immigration and multiculturalism, now face becoming a minority in their own homeland in less than 40 years. Many, especially young English people like me, feel a profound sense of dispossession; that our country, or at least a part of it, has been lost.
By gloating over the demographic transformation, Robinson-Foster has brought into sharp relief the true ideology of the far-Left. Now, enabled by an anti-British education system, this visceral hatred of England and the English is in the open.
Perhaps, in some ways, it is good that we can finally see the forces ranged against us.
Yet even if Britain as a whole, and England in particular, have gone in the wrong direction, the situation is far from hopeless.
The future of this nation lies not in the hedonism and hatred of Glastonbury, nor in the increasingly hollow claim that ‘diversity is our strength’ but, I believe, in a shared sense of belonging.
Many young people are rediscovering that true identity is to be found in family, community, nationhood and, for many, faith.
That’s why I, with independent MP Rupert Lowe and others, have helped to launch Restore Britain, a cross-party coalition that seeks to speak for Britain’s patriotic majority, who believe the decline of our country can be reversed.
We hope to give ordinary people a voice in a system that has refused to act in their interests.
Our members will have the opportunity to vote on the policies and principles that they believe in, whether it be ending mass immigration or punishing lawlessness. We will put pressure on the political parties to recognise the will of the British people.
Rupert’s independent Rape Gang Inquiry – an investigation into the mass sex abuse of white, working-class girls – is the most successful crowdfunding effort in British political history. In less than 24 hours, our parliamentary petition to release Lucy Connolly, jailed for a grotesque 31 months for an ill-judged tweet during the Southport riots, received more than 100,000 signatures.
For the first time in my lifetime, the silent majority of Britain are going to be heard. Yes, we do want our country back. And despite the hate-chants of people like Pascal Robinson-Foster, I truly believe it can be done.
