Painted Lady

For the last few days, we have been inundated with butterflies. Mostly they have been Painted Ladies and have been a joy to observe. These wonderful creatures are migrants from southern Europe and Africa and they come here to feed and breed.
It seems a long way to travel, particularly under their own steam, but they make it, and this year looks like being a bumper year for them. They are a timely reminder of reasons not to use garden insecticides.
Today it is raining again so they are hiding away, protecting their wings no doubt.

We as a nation are inundated by immigrants from all over the world. There are colonies from all nations changing the nature of the country and this has been going on throughout history. The English have probably been successful because of a capacity to absorb and benefit from other cultures and gene pools.

We are in hard economic times and unemployment is rising. In such times people look to the immigrants and understandably lay the blame for their predicament at their door. In times like this, the British National party creeps out from under its stone and starts to become an attractive proposition for many people. They represent all that is loathesome about this, and most other countries whilst claiming to support all things British, including the monarchy - the descendants of immigrants.

Like the Tory party, the BNP thrives on ignorance, the main difference being that the BNP does not have the support of the wealthy. They are likely to gain ground in the next elections as I suspect that many people will fail to register their votes in protest over the parliamentary scandals. These are dangerous times.