Powell is the only high profile politician I ever saw on the London Underground; back in the 1980s. He travelled a few stops to Westminster, a couple of workmen giving him a friendly nod, and ‘good morning’ along the way. Unthinkable now.
Agree. I worked at Heathrow in the early 80’s and noticed him either boarding a double decker bus or tube train to central London on a number of occasions. Imagine that of today’s political elites…….
IJ
Ian nclfuzzy
3 years ago
A man who saw the future more clearly than almost any other.
Hypocrisy and delusion are necessary balms for the human condition, and he learnt neither.
Nice article on one of our more important thinkers of the last 80 years.
Hypocrisy and delusion are necessary balms for the human condition
Nice.
MA
Martin Adams
3 years ago
What has happened to the comments on this excellent article? There was a string of fascinating contributions, just about all of them complementary to the author, made by a number of regular commenters to UnHerd. This unreliability of the comments section is becoming a serious liability to UnHerd’s reputation.
Amen! We commenters have repeatedly raised this issue. Who’s in charge at Unherd and why are they asleep at the wheel? There are currently 2 different versions of this article, one with one comment and the other with five. Neither includes the comment I made when the article first appeared, which is as follows:-
“It was in the British interest to preserve its naval strength through means ‘not short even of alliance with Japan,’
Indeed, for Powell there was little to choose between the two, and “no reason to believe that the British constitution will be threatened more by the socialist dictatorship than by the democracy of the United States”.
So, he was stark raving mad! Far from being the prophet the author suggests, Powell’s rants sound even more delusional now than when he made them.
Amen to that. Well said Martin. It is extremely disappointing to take time and care over a comment and ensure it’s within Unherd’s perameters (and not every comment is I’ve noticed) and not have it posted. I have also contacted the help and support section on 3 occasions. Absolutely no response which is bad manners to say the least. Please Unherd will you make some contact with individual commentators when asked or take down your help and support section.
TR
bloodbeag
3 years ago
What a great article. It really is a remarkable realization I have had over the last few months to find that my teaching in SCHOOL, no less, was incorrect in depicting John Enoch Powell as some kind of EVIL fascist for his anti-mass-immigration position. He in fact appears to be one of very few politicians through the second half of the last century to have truly loved this nation whilst also having a very great intelligence to back it up. It is saddening indeed to read and listen further to Enoch knowing what has happened and what may have happened instead. Words cannot express the hopelessness of modern Britain.
FD
Fabian Destouches
3 years ago
Great article on a fascinating man.
I think his time in Northern Ireland showed the limits of his view of the UK outside of England. Paisley called him “a foreigner and an Anglo-Catholic”. If your version of Unionism can’t convince the most British of British unionists it’s probably moribund.
JC
Go Away Please
3 years ago
Thanks for this article Aris. I’ve always rather admired Powell and now I see that I would have agreed with him on many issues (EU, US, Commonwealth, sovereignty, mass migration, Middle East, Scotland) if what you and Corthorn have him summed up correctly. His feelings on these were more intense than mine though. I certainly don’t hate any other country as you suggest he did. I especially agree with his idea of England and that Parliament and the Crown are the repository of Britain’s national soul. I wonder if you have his free market stance exactly right. If you believe in capitalism and free markets it doesn’t mean you think those should be applied to every aspect of our lives. That would make you a bit of a fundamentalist which I don’t think I am nor do I believe he was when it comes to these things. After all he believed in the nation and so would know that the state and forms of collectivism play a role within any nation. Might take a look at this book, but my pile of books to read is already at towering proportions!
HT
Huw Thomas
3 years ago
Should we just note he was a racist who promoted racism and fanned the flames of racist violence?I know the idea here is to go “beyond the apocalyptic stance on immigration” – but I’ll just pop back there to call it what it is: racism.
oh give off. The man loved India and the Indians living there. He just wanted them to remain there or at least to come here in small enough numbers that they could easily integrate.
Being opposed to mass immigration of people with incompatible cultures is not racism. On the contrary it is pragmatic recognition of the potential conflict that could arise, which would not be good for the indigenous population or the immigrants.
Report this comment
This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site. Switch to a production site key to remove this banner.
Powell is the only high profile politician I ever saw on the London Underground; back in the 1980s. He travelled a few stops to Westminster, a couple of workmen giving him a friendly nod, and ‘good morning’ along the way. Unthinkable now.
Agree. I worked at Heathrow in the early 80’s and noticed him either boarding a double decker bus or tube train to central London on a number of occasions. Imagine that of today’s political elites…….
A man who saw the future more clearly than almost any other.
Hypocrisy and delusion are necessary balms for the human condition, and he learnt neither.
Nice article on one of our more important thinkers of the last 80 years.
Nice.
What has happened to the comments on this excellent article? There was a string of fascinating contributions, just about all of them complementary to the author, made by a number of regular commenters to UnHerd. This unreliability of the comments section is becoming a serious liability to UnHerd’s reputation.
Amen! We commenters have repeatedly raised this issue. Who’s in charge at Unherd and why are they asleep at the wheel? There are currently 2 different versions of this article, one with one comment and the other with five. Neither includes the comment I made when the article first appeared, which is as follows:-
“It was in the British interest to preserve its naval strength through means ‘not short even of alliance with Japan,’
Indeed, for Powell there was little to choose between the two, and “no reason to believe that the British constitution will be threatened more by the socialist dictatorship than by the democracy of the United States”.
So, he was stark raving mad! Far from being the prophet the author suggests, Powell’s rants sound even more delusional now than when he made them.
Amen to that. Well said Martin. It is extremely disappointing to take time and care over a comment and ensure it’s within Unherd’s perameters (and not every comment is I’ve noticed) and not have it posted. I have also contacted the help and support section on 3 occasions. Absolutely no response which is bad manners to say the least. Please Unherd will you make some contact with individual commentators when asked or take down your help and support section.
What a great article. It really is a remarkable realization I have had over the last few months to find that my teaching in SCHOOL, no less, was incorrect in depicting John Enoch Powell as some kind of EVIL fascist for his anti-mass-immigration position. He in fact appears to be one of very few politicians through the second half of the last century to have truly loved this nation whilst also having a very great intelligence to back it up. It is saddening indeed to read and listen further to Enoch knowing what has happened and what may have happened instead. Words cannot express the hopelessness of modern Britain.
Great article on a fascinating man.
I think his time in Northern Ireland showed the limits of his view of the UK outside of England. Paisley called him “a foreigner and an Anglo-Catholic”. If your version of Unionism can’t convince the most British of British unionists it’s probably moribund.
Thanks for this article Aris. I’ve always rather admired Powell and now I see that I would have agreed with him on many issues (EU, US, Commonwealth, sovereignty, mass migration, Middle East, Scotland) if what you and Corthorn have him summed up correctly. His feelings on these were more intense than mine though. I certainly don’t hate any other country as you suggest he did.
I especially agree with his idea of England and that Parliament and the Crown are the repository of Britain’s national soul.
I wonder if you have his free market stance exactly right. If you believe in capitalism and free markets it doesn’t mean you think those should be applied to every aspect of our lives. That would make you a bit of a fundamentalist which I don’t think I am nor do I believe he was when it comes to these things. After all he believed in the nation and so would know that the state and forms of collectivism play a role within any nation.
Might take a look at this book, but my pile of books to read is already at towering proportions!
Should we just note he was a racist who promoted racism and fanned the flames of racist violence?I know the idea here is to go “beyond the apocalyptic stance on immigration” – but I’ll just pop back there to call it what it is: racism.
knob
oh give off. The man loved India and the Indians living there. He just wanted them to remain there or at least to come here in small enough numbers that they could easily integrate.
Being opposed to mass immigration of people with incompatible cultures is not racism. On the contrary it is pragmatic recognition of the potential conflict that could arise, which would not be good for the indigenous population or the immigrants.