Down The Edgware Road
[Or the CGRS]During a long walk down Edgware Road, a heavily Muslim-populated thoroughfare in central London, I noticed a branch of the department store chain Marks and Spencer, or Marks and Sparks as it is reassuringly known to millions of Britons who, the fact is, would never buy their underwear from anywhere else.
To my horror however I noticed it did not prominently declare it was called Marks and Spencer, instead merely signing itself with the anodyne M&S. What had happened to Marks and Spencer? Examining further gives you an insight into what has changed in Britain over 100 years, and not for the better.
The eponymous Michael Marks was a Jewish immigrant to Britain in the 19th century. He came from Russia and through hard work built up one of the most succesful retailing industries.
And for what?! Now merely to pacify Muslim opinion his name has been replaced by a single letter "M". Can they not put up with any evidence of Jewish life in this City? I'm not just outraged, I am hurt and bewildered. As an American living in London I have come to rely on Marks and Spencer, and it is being sacrified on the altar of anti-semitism. So far it is only the Edgware Road branch, but whose to say how far this will spread? Never has the Edgware Road flyover looked so much like Berlin's Opernplatz.
Dazed, and slightly confused, I dared myself to look at the sign once more. And - the reader will no longer be surprised to learn - it is not just the M&S. It also has a "Your". Yes! "Your" Marks. Not content with wiping out evidence of our existence, they are now trying to claim that we belong to them, in a servitude not seen since 1850s America.
Friends from that Great Democracy will find it hard to believe but Britain today - as seen on the Edgware Road - needs an Abe Lincoln. Meanwhile I'm going to shop at Harrods.
posted by Matthew @ 5/01/2006 07:16:00 AM
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