A lovely view of New Zealand’s beautiful harbour capital, Wellington, on a balmy summer evening. If only Wordsworth could have seen this when he was in the mood to write…

Earth has not anything to show us more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear

The beauty of the [evening]: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the [harbour], and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air….

(adapted from Upon Westminster Bridge ~ William Wordsworth, 03.09.1802

I know that Wellington is not London, and in so many ways I am glad that it isn’t.
As much as I love London for it’s history, architecture, museums and galleries, parks, the river that “glideth at his own sweet will” and the shows and so much more, I don’t envy the troubles that have erupted there over the past couple of weeks and are a reflection of the extent to which an alien ideology has washed over British shores to settle its turbulent wash in its wake. Those troubles are not present to nearly the same degree in this country, and it was only in Auckland where a peaceful protest was staged.

This morning one of our Members of Parliament braved an article in the Dominion Post, one that to me spoke a lot of good sense. I will quote most of it here…

“I grew up in a world where being able to migrate to a new country was a privilege. In the 1950s, our Department of Internal Affairs assisted with classes for new citizens. They were instructed about the Kiwi way of life, and the things their hosts valued, including the separation of church from state, and the rights of individuals. The underlying message was that being allowed to settle here was a contract. Once you got residence or citizenship, NZ had to come first.

“Why has immigration policy changed? Why are most Western countries dealing with immigrants who think they have a right to punish their hosts if they dislike something they do? Sadly, the answer lies in the postwar nonsense that all cultures are equal.

“Many Westerners practise cultural cringe, debasing our heritage in the process. Human rights and race relations officials, not to mention otherworldly clerics, argue that everyone, everywhere, has a right to his or her cultural practices and religion, no matter the offence given to their hosts. Some African Muslim practices such as female circumcision have been outlawed, but not the wearing of burqas, despite the clear symbolic intention behind them to repress women.

“The care given to the screening of migrants has slipped disastrously over recent years. the cross-questioning that was normal after WWII is frowned upon now. Result? Five million Muslims now live in France, reluctant to acculturate. Remember the fury over headscarves in French public schools? Other countries have big Muslim minorities who are similarly reluctant to fit in. In Britain, many take offence when anything critical of Islam occurs but show no sensitivity to the offence some Muslims’ own behaviour causes.

“What is sinister is that many Muslims in foreign countries appear to have become a fifth column for Islam. On cue from Tehran or Damascus a demo takes place in Copenhagen, Lebanon, Jakarta, London and even Auckland. While ours was peaceful, in other countries thugs rampaged, many of them the same people who danced in the streets after the World Trade Centre’s destruction. They ritually burn others’ flags, and effigies of Western leaders. They pledge blood to redeem the Prophet. Stalin’s edicts had the same effect on Soviet fellow travellers. Ever since the ayatollahs grabbed power in Iran in 1979, they have waged holy war against the West.

…….

“It’s time our leaders woke up to what Islam extremists are doing. After the cartoons, there’ll be another fight. From 9/11 till today there has been a string of atrocities perpetrated by fanatics in the name of the Prophet. Something akin to war has already been declared by Islam’s lunatic fringe.

“Some say it is too late to tighten up on immigration. But there’s still time here. That Auckland Islamist should be made to apologize for his conduct. If Muslim extremists can’t be reined in, a serious conflagration looks likely.”

(Michael Basset, 13.02.2006)

An Australian-born friend of mine who has lived here most of her life finally decided to seek NZ citizenship. Although Australian and already acknowledging the British monarchy as sovereign, she discovered that she was required to take an oath of allegiance - all over again. If our migrants are to do that, then the Queen becomes their new Head of State to whom they owe allegiance - not to their country of origin - and they are accepting the dictates of our legal system which over-rides any cultural mores that they have brought with them from elsewhere. There are no cultural prescriptions or proscriptions that take precedence over those laws.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I have personally found the events of the past couple of weeks to be quite harrowing, and potentially exhausting. Keeping up with the news in any detail has meant delving even further into things that are unpleasant, unsavoury and really quite ugly. For some of my friends it has been seriously stimulating, providing the chance to inform those bewildered and baulking. For me, I have needed to back pedal at times, to take breathers, to do something suitably antidotal to deal with the chilling satanic evil that seemed inherent in the intense vitriolic hatred and venom spewed at us crusaders and kaffirs. There is nothing nice about this, and my soul seeks solace away from it all. The problem will not go away until it is dealt with, resolved. The truth is painfully real, but it is only the truth - not any of the lies - that will truly set any of us free in the end.

Meanwhile, my garden of roses and the following words seemed to fit the “time out” that I need to keep going.