Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Simone Clarke's colleagues

It is interesting to read a list of the birthplaces of the colleagues of Simone Clarke who are principals or first solists in the English National Ballet:

Bilbao, Spain
Camagüey, Cuba
Estonia
Estonia
Hertfordshire, UK
Hokkaido, Japan
London, UK
Matanzas, Cuba
Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK
Pinar de Rio, Cuba
Prague, Czech Republic
Ranacagua, Chile
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sofia, Bugaria
Spain
St Petersburg, Russia
Tbilisi, Georgia
Vienna, Austria
Vilnius, Lithuania

My tolerant outlook towards people of other ethnicities and countries of birth was forged at school, where we had many countries represented.

Wouldn't you think that rubbing along with such a diverse company as the ENB would have led Simone Clarke in the opposite direction to the BNP?

She says that immigration to the UK has "really got out of hand". Ah. But if the BNP get their way, most of her colleagues will be offered money to return "home" and she could be left with just three colleagues. It must make for a rather uncomfortable working relationship when most of your close colleagues know that you want them to be paid to "go home".

BNP policy is:

IMMIGRATION - time to say ENOUGH!
On current demographic trends, we, the native British people, will be an ethnic minority in our own country within sixty years. To ensure that this does not happen, and that the British people retain their homeland and identity, we call for an immediate halt to all further immigration, the immediate deportation of criminal and illegal immigrants, and the introduction of a system of voluntary resettlement whereby those immigrants who are legally here will be afforded the opportunity to return to their lands of ethnic origin assisted by a generous financial incentives both for individuals and for the countries in question. We will abolish the 'positive discrimination' schemes that have made white Britons second-class citizens. We will also clamp down on the flood of 'asylum seekers', all of whom are either bogus or can find refuge much nearer their home countries.


It is one thing being a member of the BNP. It is another giving an interview to the Mail on Sunday when you are member of such an ethnically diverse ballet company.

Simone Clarke seem to be rather naive. She says:

I am angry because I don't think it should be public knowledge who someone votes for. People are easily offended by political views, whatever the persuasion, and for that reason I think it should stay private.

Of course, which way someone votes is private and will remain so unless, like her, you join a political party, in which case, I would have thought you are fair game. Does the lady not realise that there is a difference between voting and being a member of a political party?

Doesn't she realise that by giving an interview to the Mail on Sunday she is ensuring that another 6.2 million read about how she votes?

That is hardly the way to keep it quiet.

24 comments:

  1. Well, the reason that I found your blog was that I made a search for Simone Clarke, and the reason that I made a search for Simone Clarke was that Swedish newspapers have started to run the story. I don't think that swedish people have much of an idea what the BNP is, but this is a sureshot way to bring their political agenda to the attention of the rest of europe while getting your name associated with it.

    no, you are right,

    That is hardly the way to keep it quiet.

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  2. Many thanks for your comment, Christian

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  3. I found it the same way that Christian did, and i found it here in Norway. She really know how to be quiet, doesn`t she :-)
    Well there`s no laws against stupidity, so Simone wont get arrested...........

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  4. It must make for a rather uncomfortable working relationship when most of your close colleagues know that you're not allowed to have an ethnic identity while they are (except if they're white).

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  5. Even here in The Netherlands we have to read that some balletdanser chooses to join a so called 'radical' political party. If that's what she wants, let her! I think that her ideas aren't that radical. Her husband comes from Cuba and has a Chinese background for crying out loud! She's doesn't wear a pointy white hat in the weekend or something. She's a normal citizen who is worried about what's happening in her country. Is that so strange?

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  6. Johan

    Thank you for your excellent comment. If you re-read my posting you will see that I carefully did not condemn Simone Clarke for being a member of the BNP. I was saying that if she is a member of a political party then she can expect that status to enter the public domain. It is different from voting.

    I don't think being a member of an ethnically diverse ballet company sits well with the BNP policy of wanting to pay "immigrants" to return "to their land of ethnic origin". There would not be a English National Ballet company in its present form if that policy was implemented to its logical conclusion.

    I mentioned my belief that Simone Clarke may be naive.

    I did not condemn her for being a member of a political party. It is her right to do that. But it is my right to question whether this sits comfortably with the English National Ballet company.

    If Simone Clark is "worried about what's happening in her country" (which also happens to be the country of legal immigrants who have a right to be here) then I am extremely surprised that she wants to spend good taxpayers money, which could be spent on schools, hospitals and more bobbies on the beat, on the economically futile, totally stupid and logically questionable practice of paying money to "immigrants" to return to their "land of ethnic origin", a policy that probably wouldn't achieve what it sets out to achieve anyway..

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  7. I admire Simone for her frankness. Virtually every country in the world resticts immigration. Bein one of the wealthier countries, the UK is a target for migrants. The people of the UK are becomming frustrated that its own government is not taking this matter seriously. Two world wars were fought to preserve the UK way of life, now it is under threat from a subversive influence. I do not see her stand as racist. I have friends in many counties, I would welcome them to visit me in my home, but would protest very strongly if the government tried to force me to share my home with them.

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  8. Many thanks for your comments, Anonymous 12 January. I would point out that this country DOES restrict immigration. There are limits placed on the amount of immigration per month in the Home Office and this has been the case for decades.

    Also, I think you can rest easy - no British Government including this one is going to force you to share your home with ANYONE. Where on earth did you get that idea from?

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  9. Simone Clark has every right in this country to her own opinions. That is what this country is about. I do not believe that her feelings come from rascism but the concern that this island is becoming overcrowded and we are gradually loosing our voice to ethnic minorities who throw the word racism at everything they disagree with.
    I am not a member of the BNP but understand why some people might vote for them because the mainstream parties in the UK just will not listen to peoples concerns.

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  10. I am more worried about the group protesting outside the ballet performamce today than Simone Clarkes membership of the British National Party. These people are using the term fascist and trying to get Simone Clarke fired from her job. Just who are the Fascists here - obviously they think we have a right to agree with them but beware anyone who dares to disagree - your job may be on the line.

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  11. Thank you Anonymous, starting "I am more worried". I also do not think that the protests outside the ballet are sensible. They are more likely to give much needed publicity to the BNP. I am sure the ENB are more than able to assess the situation without help from protesters, especially given their (ENB's) superb multi-ethnic recruitment record (highlighted in my post). For what it's worth, I don't think that Simon Clarke should be fired for being a member of a legal political party.

    Indeed, I suspect it would be illegal anyway - or a breach of contract. However, if I were them I would be a mite uncomfortable with the prospect of a lengthy media furore, which is likely to be enflamed if Simon Clarke makes a habit of giving interviews such as the one she did with the Mail on Sunday. After all, she is a ballet dancer, not a politician.

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  12. Thank you Anonymous, starting "Simone Clarke has every right...". You will notice that I have never suggested that Simone Clarke had no right to voice her opinions or to be a member of the BNP. I accept what you say that she is not a racist, so it follows that she does not really understand the BNP's policies. Their policy to pay "immigrants" to return to their "land of ethnic origin" would mean racial discrimination because a large proportion of immigration to this country is from the USA, Canada and Australia, of people of Anglo-Saxon or Celtic ethnicity, therefore meaning that they would not fall into the category of immigrants to be paid money to return to their "land of ethnic origin". Unless of course, those of Ango-Saxon origin are paid to return to Saxony and Celts are paid to return to continental Europe, where they originate from.

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  13. I found the blog the same way as the others and feel it fair to say that paying individuals to return to their country of origin is already on the statute book. Has been for many decades and is currently in use, the use being expanded by this government. Perhaps more research is needed by those who move too quickly.

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  14. So the BNP policy is just to maintain the status quo then, is it? Er...

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  15. Dear Mr Walter,

    You look like a terribly nice person, a tad midguided maybe, like your belief in a fairy tail religion , i.e a man called Jesus born without the need for sperm, who raises the dead, turns water into wine and flys up into to clouds to heaven.

    You probably live an nice safe middle class life, in Newbury with lots of cappucino drinking, semi-green officials in nice offices paid for by the public, whilst ordinary Brits live in cities like Birmingham, Peterborough and Bradford live in fear and have their liberty taken aware.

    I'm not a BNP member and loathe their core philosophy but think you'd do well to wake up to a recent statistic neatly buried from general view by Tony and his cronnies Nanny State. 4 weeks ago the Sunday times published a report based on Home Office statistics that showed murders, muggings and rapes by non-european immigrants on indigenous white europeans have been growing at an alarming rate, and compared with attacks by white racists on non whites, white europeans suffer 3 times as many attacks.

    It is successive failure of liberals who have helped create real social problems and repression of settled communities which have be flooded with group of people who have no intention or comprehension of how to integrate, that then create the ghettos that feed the Islamic extremists.

    Perhaps when you have been only a few hundred metres from an exploding tube train or one of your friends has been blown of the top of bus (both experiences happened to me on 7/7) then you'll smell the coffee and wake up.
    Then you might start working with the realities of the current immigration catastrophe, help those that want to build an integrated british society (suggest you listen carefully to Jack Straw, he's demonstrating courage to challenge libreal policy). Then you just might take action to drive out those that come to bomb, sell drugs, smuggle sex slaves, run West African and benefits scams and steal precious resources from of our NHS. Only then will you start undermining the BNP, but of course it's far easier to remain sactimonious and take the lazy option of lambasting poor Simone, rather than address the root cause of the BNP.

    I guess you won't publish this because your are not a real Liberal. My vain hope is that one day something will happen to shock you into recognising how you have failed this country with all your kind, well meaning Liberal intentions. Then you might remember how someone tried to wake you up whilst your wandered in a dream like state, and you'll spend the rest of your political life trying to make up for you misguided years.

    Kind regards, JP

    P.S. if you really want to fight fascist extremists who are killing people in their thousands, add a blog to help tackle Mr Mugabe and Al Queda - instead of ballerinas.

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  16. I haven't "lambasted" Simon Clarke.
    I wrote:"Simone Clarke has every right to be a member of the BNP" and called her "naive". That is hardly "lambasting" her. She was the one who allowed the Mail on Sunday to interview her, thereby putting her views in the public domain, not me.

    Why so many "anonymous" comments? Is noone with an opposing view to me brave enough to reveal their name?

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  17. Well, I'm not anonymous. But I'm not disagreeing with you. Being an American, the BNP reminds me quite a bit of our own KKK (Ku Klux Klan). I find Ms. Clarke's concerns interesting, but the fact that her live-in partner is an immigrant, and her child is of mixed ethnic heritage sort of fills me with a taste of hypocrisy. I read her interview in the Mail and she truly IS naive politically. Hopefully she will not regret her decision in the years to come when she has to explain things to her daugther Olivia as she gets older.

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  18. I think that the UAF, who were hounding Simone Clark for being a member of the BNP are no better than that that they protest against.
    There is a problem with Immigration in England and Labour has brought this country to its knees with their lies as much as other stuff.
    People nowadays feel that they need a party to represent the English person, as Labour has ruin the NHS and every city is now over populated by ethnics. When has Labour listened to the English person? They tell us that there is no such thing as English! yet there is Welsh, Scotish and Irish.
    They send money to scotland and Scotland is doing well, but England is crumbling. 1/2 the English population can't find a NHS dentist!. Now with this proposed Mega Mosque in East London, which was giving the green light by Ken Livingstone, without any word to the British population whatsoever!!!! Today on Dispatches on channel 4, Islam was shown up for the cult that it really is! when they proved that in Mosques up and down the country, they are preaching hatred to us and they are incouraging Jihad!
    Simone maybe verging on Naive but there is a lot worse out there than Simone!

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  19. Thank you for your interesting comment Landinn. In fact no-one is completely anonymous because I can see everyone's ISP address on my site statistics software (as can all site owners).

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  20. James, many thanks indeed for your remarkably thoughtful and perceptive comment. You may like to know that Nick Griffin studied law at Cambridge University. From hearing him speak and knowing he went to such an esteemed University I conclude that he is an intellectual. He sees himself as a separatist, not a racist. Mohammed Ali was one of his heroes when he was growing up, he says.

    You might be interested to read Nick Griffin's view of who he accepts as BNP members and councillors, here on the official BNP website:

    http://www.bnp.org.uk/articles/race_reality.htm

    It includes the interesting line:

    "Do I regard someone who is married to or living with a partner of another race as a suitable member or candidate for the BNP? No, because by their choice they have clearly shown that they do not share our most fundamental values."

    So that cancels out Simon Clarke's membership then.

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  21. a note on Cuba, where Simone's boyfriend and fellow ENB dancer comes from for many years, CUBAN Ballet was white as snow. For reasons having to do with pressure on Alicia Alonso to integrate Ballet Nacional de Cuba,
    a few non whites were admitted, among them Carlos Acosta. But if you visit Cuba now, you will see very few non white faces, they way things go is that
    the whites are in Ballet Nacional de Cuba, the Mulatas
    are at the Tropicana, and blacks are in Conjunto Folklorico Nacional. There are other groups in Cuba that are racially mixed but in general, in Cuba, ballet
    is for white people and the few black people in the ballet rarely get principal parts. This reflects the views of the ballet management in Cuba, and for that matter, the views of ballet management the world over, where very few black dancers appear as principals. Black dancers are discouraged in every big ballet company with the exception of the Bejart company. The other major ballet company in Cuba, is Ballet Camaguey, which rarely if ever has any black company members. Black dancers in most places are aware from an early age, that if they pursue ballet, they will probably get nowhere. Carlos Acosta was a very strong dancer who got out of Cuba at an early age and achieved most of his prominence while in Houston and other places in the USA. When he came to the Royal he was already a star.

    As for the Chinese in Cuba, there are not very many and most are mixed and not visible as Asian
    so if you see a dance ensemble, there may be several people in it who are part Chinese but they are rarely identifiable as being Asian, with a very few exceptions.

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  22. Thank you for those interesting observations, Anonymous.

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  23. PS Thanks for the Burns Night wish - I had a couple of drams of Caol Ila.

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