Rant? ON!

You know what I really hate? And I mean hate in the sense I dislike it immensely and feel it adds nothing whatsoever of value to our way of life, or culture?

Yob culture. I hate that. I hate the fact that there are groups, roving packs of children wandering around like jackals simply being nasty and rude and blinged up. It's chavism gone mental. It could be painted as a race-thing, but it's not - there are scores of these kids wandering around like the nightmare distopia Heinlein's Starship Troopers came out of - like roses out of compost.

It's getting awful in England now, to be honest. We are in a position where children half my age are spoiling my enjoyment of my country.

Education is going down the pan - thanks to poor funding and, again, the damn chav culture. Kids just wanna have fun - by which they mean staying out late, bunking off school and so forth.

Sure, not all of them are like that - but there are enough, and their numbers are growing. I worry about, "What did their parents do wrong?" and "What is to stop me from making the same mistake?"

You know what else I hate? Litter and the generally messiness of our cities. It is connected to the fact people no longer care and are just generally scum, but still . . . clean it up? Don't drop it in the first place?

I mean, I don't drop litter! I throw stuff . . . in the bin!

It has recently been revealed that the police's shooting of the Brazillian electrician was - essentially - a cold-blooded execution. Okay, do I really need to say why I am uncomfortable with that?

Don't get me wrong, I love my country. I really do. But . . . the things I love about it are internal to me. They are part of what I am and what I do. They are not necessarially a cultural identity per se.

In short, the things that keep me here are things that I carry with me. I will always be British - it is what I am. I will always be European - regardless of where I am, I carry that with me.

Yet, I am no longer feeling comfortable being here. I've moved on from that sort of externalised nationalism.

Which is why, among other reasons, Liza and I are going to live in the USA.

Darknight