Recently, Monty Python lord of comedy and satire, John Cleese dared to state that London is not an English city anymore. The resulting outrage on Twitter is further proof that this statement is very divisive in an age of extreme political correctness that fares as a sort of modern gulag of cultural Marxism and has effectively killed off comedy.
We decided to investigate this Cleesian statement ourselves and to discover whether London is English anymore.
To get a good understanding of the current situation, we embarked on a walking tour of many areas of London to gauge the extent of the problem.
Starting off in North London, we ventured clockwise around the city and ended our investigation in the centre.
First off, Highgate, once a quaint village, now a bustling part of the city, resplendent with some celebrity digs, including another Python, Terry Gilliam.
Our reporter asks a random man walking down the High Street whether he feels London is English anymore?
“Nu prea știu despre asta. Îmi pare rău că nu înțeleg niciun cuvânt pe care l-ai spus?” the man says before walking off bemused.
The next stop was Bethnal Green in East London, formerly an area where Cockney gangsters used to frequent.
We ask another person the question.
The burly woman waves her hands in a confused manner exclaiming “Aš tai tikrai nežinau. Atsiprašau, kad negaliu suprasti nė vieno žodžio, kurį pasakėte?” before walking off with her four children in prams.
Moving South we end up in Dulwich, once a haunt for a certain Tory PM.
We ask another person the question about Englishness in London.
The African gentleman explains decisively “Angazi ngempela ngalokho. Ngiyaxolisa angiqondi izwi olikhulumile?”
Now in West London, our hopes of finding an answer to the question are quashed once again.
“Я действительно не знаю об этом. Извините, я не понимаю слова, которое вы сказали?”
The Russian gentleman in Kensington then gets in his chauffeur driven Mercedes and disappears into a traffic jam looking confused.
Our investigation ends outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.
We ask a lady wearing a business suit walking along the historic building the question.
“Naistina ne znam za tova. Sŭzhalyavam, che ne moga da razbera duma, koyato kazakhte?”
Was John Cleese right all the time? Surely not…but we have to say, things have certainly changed since the Sixties when the Python crew were so prevalent..
