If there was anyone who was genuinely defeated in the recent British general elections, it would be me and me alone. For instance, Gordon Brown can claim that he prevented the Tories from winning a majority and from ruling alone, while David Cameron can say that he won the largest number of seats for the Conservatives, and Nick Clegg can say that ‘we won' even when his party is much behind, because it became a kingmaker, and whoever succeeds in forming coalition with him, will form the next cabinet. Even more so, the minorities, of which I am part, can claim victory, as the number of minority MPs in the new parliament rose from 14 to 27, including for the first time ever, a Muslim woman MP. I thus allege that I am the only one who was defeated in Britain following the elections, which is an allegation that needs further explanation: I am an Arab citizen who holds British citizenship. I love the country and its people and respect them for many reasons. If I see a policeman in the street I ‘button up' my jacket and go to the other pavement as we do in our countries, although I know that the police in Britain are afraid of the people, and not vice versa, and then I walk close to the wall and pray for safety. As a British citizen, I know that the two major parties will increase taxes, and as an Arab citizen, I know that both parties have the same policy in the Middle East, i.e. they support Israel, while both engage in one-upmanship in who will strengthen ‘the special bond' with the United States more, i.e., supporting Israel again. I dare say that the situation now is worse than what it was when I arrived in Britain 35 years ago, when I thought that I will be here for a one week holiday, and I explain again: At the end of 1975, Harold Wilson was the head of a Labour government which had a majority by three seats only. I travelled to Jeddah to become the Editor of Arab News, and then returned to London near the end of 1977 to start working on publishing Al-Sharq al-Awsat. Labour was almost a communist party, and the maximum tax was 80 percent (no typos here). However, there were also many exemptions, and since my salary was being transferred from abroad, I paid taxes for only half of it, and the car, petrol and the driver were provided by the employer in addition to many other perquisites. Then Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 and immediately cut taxes to 60 percent as a maximum, and then cut them again to 40 percent. At any rate, I have paid the maximum tax for the past 30 years. Now it is worse. Both major parties will increase tax to 50 percent as a maximum on high wages, while an additional tax of 30 thousand pounds annually will be imposed on the people who are not liable for their assets outside of Britain, i.e. me personally. Since benefits and exemptions were gradually abolished with Thatcher's tax cuts, we are faced with a twofold return to the seventies, according to my tax accountant, i.e. an expert opinion. I would not have raised the subject had this been confined to my case, but in reality, I know many Arabs who left Britain because of the taxes, and also Russians and Eastern Europeans and immigrants from Hong Kong after its transfer to Chinese control. There is no one left here except taxpayers and those who live on welfare. I would have accepted the bad taxation situation, because I can leave the country if I want, had it not been for the even worse political situation. I mean here the stances of the two major parties regarding the Middle East, which are essentially Israeli without any make-up, disguise or cover-up. In other words, I would be paying half of my income as a tax to a government that supports Israel. Of course, the above does not invalidate the fact that Arabs have always had well-known British friends who are not afraid of boldly declaring and defending their positions, since the Tripartite Aggression, the 1967 and 1973 wars and up until today. However, some of the best of these friends have passed away such as Lord Caradon and Lord Christopher Mayhew, and others who retired such as Sir James Craig and Sir Dennis Walters. Now, there is a younger pro-Arab generation that may perhaps find its way to power. Lord Caradon descended from a well-known political family, and was the governor of Nablus during the British Mandate of Palestine. He imprisoned the young activist Akram Zuaiter, but lived long enough to apologize to him in Al-Sharq al-Awsat when I was its editor, and confessed to him his ignorance. In truth, Lord Caradon, whose real name is Hugh Foot, was Michael Foot's brother, the Labour leader who lost the 1984 election against Margaret Thatcher on the basis of a radical leftist electoral program. This program was even described by some at the time of being the longest suicide letter in history, and I still remember from it the proposals for additional taxes and the pledge that Britain will forfeit its nuclear weapons in the hope that other nations would follow suit. Today, I have nothing left in Britain except an anti-Arab policy that I am paying taxes for its furtherance. [email protected]
