Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

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Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Poll ended at 22 Feb 2018, 7:25pm

Yes
18
56%
No
14
44%
Dont know
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 32

mercalia
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Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by mercalia »

Well Thatcher got a state funeral, seems like no end to this now seems like "River of Blood" Enoch Powell maybe getting a blue plaque in Wolverhampton and some people are not happy - maybe should be given a belated new Year Honours - "Services to Race Relations"?

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-to-enoch-powell-blue-plaque?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast2018-02-08


https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/enoch-powell-could-blue-plaque-14223826?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blast2018-02-08
Last edited by mercalia on 8 Feb 2018, 7:29pm, edited 3 times in total.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Enoch Powell getting a blue plaque

Post by Cyril Haearn »

This one might be worth a poll

He predicted that millions of "foreigners" would be living in the UK by 2000, he was right, there are more now and many are in positions of power, the Mayor of London for example, +1 for diversity

Maybe he would not like to visit Leicester where white British people are in the minority :wink:
I would love to visit Leicester

A blue plaque: no, but we should remember what people said and wrote and forecast back then
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yakdiver
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Re: Enoch Powell getting a blue plaque

Post by yakdiver »

Rightly or wrongly which ever side of the fence you stand on, the only man to have a dream and could see the future of the UK
PH
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Re: Enoch Powell getting a blue plaque

Post by PH »

I have no particular feelings either way, but can we please stop naming threads in an inaccurate manner.
The story is that someone has made a request to the local historical group and they are going to consider it.
EDIT - the title has now been changed, good.
Last edited by PH on 8 Feb 2018, 7:29pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)

Post by Cyril Haearn »

So, where may one complain about thread titles? :wink: This one just needs an "?" at the end I think

Just voted, result: 100% no (one vote - mine)
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pwa
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by pwa »

I'd say no. For the same reason that putting a statue of Thatcher in a public place is a bad idea. It is too divisive. It offends too many people.
bikepacker
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by bikepacker »

I was twice in the audience for speeches by Enoch when he was a Wolverhampton MP. Neither involved immigration. One was on health as he was the minister at the time the other about financing. Don’t remember much about the content but I do remember what an excellent and mesmerising orator he was. Many years later I did some PR for the Billy Graham event at Villa Park and heard him speak. They both had a spellbinding way with words that engaged their whole audience.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Did he later regret his famous speech?

One of my favourite dead politicians is Gladstone, he tried to do good I think, used to stay at Penmaenmawr
Alternative facts welcome
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pete75
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by pete75 »

bikepacker wrote:Don’t remember much about the content but I do remember what an excellent and mesmerising orator he was. Many years later I did some PR for the Billy Graham event at Villa Park and heard him speak. They both had a spellbinding way with words that engaged their whole audience.


Very like Adolf Hitler then.
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pwa
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by pwa »

What are blue plaques for? If they are for anyone who has been important in history, they are neutral and even Hitler would get one if they had them in Germany. But I suspect that they are in fact symbols of admiration, in which case we need to be more selective about who we commemorate. Powell was divisive. He was a complex figure, but one aspect of what he said appealed to racists. I would be very wary of doing anything that might be seen as celebrating his life and career.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

There was a similar controversy in Bristol recently, about Colston
Has it been resolved, one and for all?
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

pwa wrote:I'd say no. For the same reason that putting a statue of Thatcher in a public place is a bad idea. It is too divisive. It offends too many people.

Thatcher was PM, plenty of people loved her (no-one I know) but I think she should be commemorated
I remember the Thatcher years but not so many remember Mr Powell now
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bikepacker
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by bikepacker »

pete75 wrote:
bikepacker wrote:Don’t remember much about the content but I do remember what an excellent and mesmerising orator he was. Many years later I did some PR for the Billy Graham event at Villa Park and heard him speak. They both had a spellbinding way with words that engaged their whole audience.


Very like Adolf Hitler then.


I suppose he did follow that pattern.
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reohn2
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by reohn2 »

pwa wrote:I'd say no. For the same reason that putting a statue of Thatcher in a public place is a bad idea. It is too divisive. It offends too many people.

+1,and more so in an multicultural city such as Wolverhampton
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reohn2
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Re: Should Enoch Powell get a blue plaque ( in Wolverhamton)?

Post by reohn2 »

bikepacker wrote:
pete75 wrote:
bikepacker wrote:Don’t remember much about the content but I do remember what an excellent and mesmerising orator he was. Many years later I did some PR for the Billy Graham event at Villa Park and heard him speak. They both had a spellbinding way with words that engaged their whole audience.


Very like Adolf Hitler then.


I suppose he did follow that pattern.

Nuff said then eh!
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
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