English geneticsBest Beloved (as Kipling begins his ‘Just So’ stories), a very, very long time ago Englishmen were…well…English. Now half of them are German.  Recent research on English genetics shows how it happened around 500 AD. Prevailing notions up to now – that only a few jocks named Wolfgang and their sorority Rhinemaidens moved in with schnitzel and better beer – have been overturned once and for all. Celtic memories of their own destruction survive in tales of King Arthur down to Tolkien’s day and ours.

In brief, for the metaphorically inclined: (a) Big Government bans weapons; (b) locals forget how to defend  themselves; (c) Big Government goes broke, cuts spending, waddles away; (d) 200,000 invaders subjugate 1 million natives, King Arthur’s team gets it in the neck. Thank Heaven such things couldn’t happen today, huh?

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