I have read in the papers online today that those guardsmen that represent our Queen and country are having a head gear change. It seems now that the Sikhs are being allowed to wear their turbans on cerimonial duties.This is not a predjudist comment and far from it but this is rediculous when for centuries the head dress of a guardsman is a bear skin and to have turbans upon the heads of these gurdsmen when performing cerimonial duties is a bit OTT in the name of Human Rights!I am afraid that in years to come we will be stripped of our pride and heratige and unrecognisable as a nation.As an ex sergeant major pilot in the AAC I feel this is a insult to the House Hold cavalry and it's tradition and think this taking this a bit to far.

I totally agree with you speedgunner soon it will not be our country at all, we will finish up being the minority, having no say at all.

pixi wrote:

I totally agree with you speedgunner soon it will not be our country at all, we will finish up being the minority, having no say at all.

Unfortunately the UK is full of "
Do Gooders"
and it is them that Politicians appear to listen to more than the majority of the electorate. A six months spell in Turkey would teach any Do Gooder to mind their own business and get on with their own life!!

itchyfeet wrote:

pixi wrote:

I totally agree with you speedgunner soon it will not be our country at all, we will finish up being the minority, having no say at all.

Unfortunately the UK is full of "
Do Gooders"
and it is them that Politicians appear to listen to more than the majority of the electorate. A six months spell in Turkey would teach any Do Gooder to mind their own business and get on with their own life!!

You forgot the PC brigade :Headbang:Now just why did I leave the UK, ah I know a better life.

I personally have never agreed with the killing of bears purely for headgear of the guards, there are alternatives, however i have never seen myself as racist either i do respect others. but, a small word with big meaning.......... i went for a swim at my local baths and was refused because i was not a muslim lady, this afternoon was reserved for muslim ladies with blacked out windows so no one could see them, yet i a uk resident was not allowed a swim due to my being a white uk lady, now one has to ask why in my own country i am not allowed to swim because of my ethnic origin, what is the world coming to. i have never been racist but i am questioning why i am being restricted in my own country for other beliefs. ::

Starlite they use synthetic fur for bear skins they stopped using real skin before the sixties:-)

Actually, the hats still come from the skin of the Canadian black bear. They are shot under licence by the Inuit.
There are trials under way to use synthetic ones, but at the moment real ones are still used. Some of the bearskin
hats are very old, being passed down from father to son.
One tradition that I personally hope to see abandoned!

Well we will have to agree to disagree because I was with the Blues and Royals when I was a Staff Sergeant on an infantry tatics course and the subject came up about Bear skins.I was told by a Colour Sergeant of the Blues and Royals that they no longer use the real skins because of public opinion so the Queen told them to use synthetic Bear skins.This was back in 1990 and who am I to argue with the Blues and Royals and tookit as fact

Okay, but the Scots Guards still wear them, don't know anything about the Blues and Royals!

Just goes to show how careful we have to be when voicing opinions that we may know little about.
I think more Brits are becoming racist because of the feeling that its all gone too far on the integration front. Too much about other ethnic rights and less about our own.
Living in Bulgaria, I see the national flag flying everywhere in peoples' gardens besides official places. I for one believe this is a great thing to literally keep the flag flying telling the world how proud they are of being Bulgarian.
As a Brit living in Bulgaria, I wouldn't dream of expecting any kind of British priviledge and try to mix in and understand all things Bulgarian. Others may disagree and express the opinion that we can 'help' rather backward Bulgaria to move forward. Ah, the mentality of the Raj and Empire still exists when Brits are abroad.
From this opinion of mine, springs the thought that to be excluded from swimming because it was a ladies 'Muslim' swim was absolutely beyond belief.

With development of modern transport, traveling to another country is now easier. Some people think that following local customs can avoid troubles and bring benefits. To begin with, everyone will have heard that, “When in Rome, do as Romans do.” It also means that you will avoid some serious punishments or unnecessary conflicts with residents by obeying their rules. Then, obeying rules is the best way of showing respect for local traditions, which would make the visitor more welcome and promote mutual understanding. Therefore, people can get the most useful support from local people to work better. More importantly, this polite behavior makes people trust each other, which is the basis of everything. So, they can cooperate to cope with problems and carve out a bright future. However, others believe that the host country should welcome culture differences. The reason is that it could attract more visitors and bring more investment from other countries. For example, in China, there is no very special rules for foreign visitors and the local residents are very hospitable and friendly. As a result, tourism has emerged and more companies are willing to invest in China. Another reason is that people should not compel others to do the things they don’t like. In other words, the local inhabitants ought to accept culture differences, which are reasonable. On the basis of the above discussion, both sides of the argument should do something to accept each other. On the one hand, as visitors they must respect local traditions and try to follow it. On the other hand, the local also need to make their effort to understand visitors’ behavior. By doing so, people can cooperate together and create a wonderful future, which is something everybody hopes to do.

:Good post:Andy and what you are suggesting is what has happened in our village. Whilst the locals have no interest in anything British from food to language, I believe that is simply because they have never been to and most likely never will, visit Britain so why bother? This is easily understood. However, it has been mentioned by our Mayor that he appreciates our involvement with village life because we have had some foreign buyers in the village, besides town Bulgarians, which has been largely down to my publicity in the media both here and abroad. I had never really thought about this before and only wrote my articles because I love to write and communicate with others. This is two way traffic and I was surprised and happy to hear that we have helped the village in this way as Andy suggested.
I think that keeping tradition is a different matter. Again, I love the way the Bulgarians keep their traditions going although some seem a little quaint. Its not just the old folk either. Many schools I think still teach Bulgarian folk music and dance and I have seen children taking part at some of the Pensioners fiestas. It will be many years before Bulgaria goes as far as Britain in relinquishing their traditions to other ethnic incomers and so it should be. I have to mention too that there is little ageism and respect is still evident.
In defence of Britain, I must say again that it depends so much on where you live. There are still places in Britain that hold traditional festivals and the population (dare I mention it!) are still white. I'm thinking Cotswolds, Mummers, bellringers and country crafts and traditions which draw crowds. Unfortunately many of these areas are now beyond the pocket of the average middle class working man/woman but we mustn't divert down that route!