I recently read a lot about Ireland, I’m sorry on behalf of the English

I recently read a lot about Scotland, I’m sorry on behalf of the English

I recently read a lot about Wales, I’m sorry on behalf of the English

I read about India and Pakistan, I’m sorry on behalf of the English

I read about colonialism and slavery on the continent of Africa, I’m sorry on behalf of the English

I’m sorry if I missed anyone, I’m sorry for whatever the English did to your people, I’m sorry

but I don’t have the authority to apologise for the English, I’m nobody, my vote has never counted, there has never been a government in power in England that I’ve agreed with

my ancestors as far as my family know have never voted for the power in England

I don’t agree with the monarchy, and have always found the British empire to have a foul smell

I’m not the only one, the ruling class in England have only ever been supported by a minority

the majority have almost always been unrepresented, so is it right for me to say sorry, doesn’t matter, I’m sorry anyway

what now, give back all the stuff rich English took from everyone else, I agree

make reperations for slavery, theft, and societal collapse, I agree

tax the billionaires to pay for reparations, would seem unfair to expect the long disenfranchised poor to foot this bill, but I agree

should England step back from the world after this, disappear, die off

many of us upon understanding this history would naturally feel shame for what has been done in our name, the horror so great for some the lies of empire are preferable

I continue to read, the horrors of empire need to be atoned for, I agree 100%

trouble is I’m just one little human, one of the under represented, from a family that never held power to influence England, just trying to live and at times just survive

some of my ancestors came from Ireland, driven to steal food and escape from English repression to (of all places) England

so I’m also angry at our governments since the beginning of this life, they have generally never implemented policies that I agreed with, and whose ethos has never aligned with mine

but I’m English by fault of birth, and I’m sorry, I wish I could have pride in my government or their history, but I don’t, I never have

so would blaming the English make sense when so few of us have actually been the puppet masters of this sick and dying country

I see the pleasure others take in watching the English suffer, and I’m sorry, what would you have us do, wishing death on others is not a good pathway to peace

risk our families against the ruling class that use the delusions of jingoism and national pride to hoodwink the under-educated

the poor, thick, uneducated, unproductive, lazy English

we are the lied to, threatened, angry English

I don’t have answers to this horrifying state, the rich are all over the place, the fault of the English is we tolerate their criminality, we need to flush this unregulated wealth disease from our country

so I’m sorry for what the English have done, and still do, to the Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, all those that have been the victims of English colonialism, and I promise to always vote/protest for those that also acknowledge and act to correct all these injustices, even if poverty and death be my fate

– InkeyString, 2022