Curry – The Best After Pub Food and the Restoration of the Great in Great Britain

 

My British friends may not have much to be cheerful about these days. Ever since the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the British have been struck by a never-ending cycle of political crisis, which in turn has hit the economy hard and caused people to suffer. If you want an example of how far the UK has fallen – look the currency, which once had the proud place of being the most expensive in the G7. Back in my school days, it was 2.5 to 3 SGD to 1 GPB. Today, that rate stands at about 1.6 – 1.7 SGD to 1 GBP.

I guess you could say that part of the reason for the fall is the fact that Asia has become more prominent economically. However, there is no denying that the UK is going through a rough spell of sorts. I grew up in the UK in the 1990s. There was a recession then and nobody talked about choosing to go hungry or freezing. By contrast, this was the chatter as the UK entered winter.

The picture looks bleak and now that the UK has left the EU and lost its greatest asset (the strategic location of being the easiest place to enter the European market), its hard to see how things can get better.

While things look bleak, I do believe that there is a bit of hope for the UK. That hope lies in the fact that the UK has become a very successful melting pot of people from various cultures and today, the UK is blessed with a King who has spent a lifetime promoting interfaith dialogue, its first ever Prime Minister of Asian decent and most recently Scotland got its first ever Muslim as First  Minister in the shape of Humza Yousaf.

Let’s start with the King. Whilst Charles III didn’t make himself popular as Prince of Wales and in his divorce from his first wife, the popular Princes Diana, he has, by all accounts been a very passionate king for the people. Charles has been the champion of causes like looking after the inner cities and the environment and promoting inter-faith dialogue. He has made it a point to visit mosque and gurdwaras thus making it known that as King, he believes that he regards ethnic minorities as equally British as his traditional base of White Anglo-Saxon Christians.

Whilst race relations in the UK are by no means perfect (Brexit being a prime example), the country has at the very least a symbolic figurehead who fights hard to keep people together rather than fanning the flames of division.

The second cause for optimism is the fact that in the space of a year, the country has seen two prominent political offices go to people of South Asian Decent. The joke on the internet is that a Prime Minister of Indian decent and a Scottish First Minister of Pakistani decent arguing over the partition of the UK is Karma.

 

 The Rishi and Humza Show – Karma of 1947 or a Sign of Hope? Copyright the Scottish Daily Express

It would be undoubtedly ironic is the UK were to be broken up and that break up be negotiated by someone of India and Pakistani decent. However, if that were to happen it would be because the Scottish National Party (SNP), which Mr. Yousof now leads managed to make a case to the Scottish people that they’re better off outside the UK. This is something the SNP has been calling for since its foundation in 1934. The fact that Mr. Yousof is of Pakistani decent has nothing to do with it.

The second point is that race and religion actually played a minimal role in the headlines during the elevation of Mr. Sunak to the Prime Ministership of the UK and to an extent the Mr. Yousof’s elevation to First Minister. Mr. Sunak’s elevation to Prime Minister seemed to cause more excitement with the Indian diaspora than it did within the UK. In Mr. Sunak’s case, the English commentator had to remind the Indian TV station interviewing him that Mr Sunak was becoming Prime Minister of the UK and not India.

Why is this good? It is good because it’s a sign that race and religion have lost their potency in British Politics. Sure, there are those who would not vote for someone because of their skin colour or religion. However, the parties that both Mr. Sunak and Mr. Yousof come from believe that these people in the minority and both men are being judged on their ability to win votes. In the case of Mr. Sunak, it’s been especially clear. It’s been mentioned that he’s the first ever Prime Minister of Asian descent. However, other than that the focus has been on successes like the Windsor Agreement or failures like being ticked off by the police for letting his dog run in the park. Mr. Sunak has displayed a level of competence which neither of his predecessors had.

So, what does this mean? Well, the fact that race and religion have played in miniscule role in the rise of Mr. Sunak and Mr. Yousof should encourage people of different backgrounds that they can succeed if they work hard. The Asian (specifically the South Asians that were expelled from Africa) community in the UK have been loyal citizens who have paid back the protection of the crown many times over with their hard work and business savvy and it would good karma if the UK’s salvation came from people of South Asian descent.