Nor for that mater are 1st century invaders (Romans)
Indeed, if Normans are considered an intrusion into a formerly pure Britain, one would think that the Doomsday book would be the considered the beginning of illegitimacy rather than the other way around.
There definitely is a sense in which French and Latinate words are considered more upper-class, clever, fancy or polite - my favourite example is how referring to someone as 'fat' is considered rude whereas 'obese' is not, with the only difference being that one word is Germanic and the other Latinate.
"obese" doesn't sound less rude per-se because it's latinate, but because, being latinate, it became a technical term and thus can be used to describe something with more distance, and apparent objectivity.
There was an interesting DNA study that I read on the BBC website some time ago about the Welsh (Celts of Breten) being 'true Britons' [1]
The Celts of Breten are the usually named as the true 'indigenous' Britons [2], but you wouldn't be able to find a 'pure' one if you tried. But the origins of the Celts are also suspected to be of mainland European descent as well. [3][4][5]
The real true Britons, who more than likely crossed the land bridge during the last ice age left no trace of themselves [6].
After the Celts the Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Danes, Romans and Normans were all additions to the melting pot. More recently, immigration after the WWII of workers from ex-Empire countries (now nearly all Commonwealth) have added to that vibrant mix.
1000 years later and our DNA is a good healthy mix. I think that was nature's design in the first place right?
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/wales/2076470.stm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Griffin#Policies_and_views
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britons_(Celtic_people)
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts#Origins
[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/iron...
[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/peop...
When the subject of repatriation came up (for people not familiar with British politics, the BNP wants to repatriate anyone that's not of white-British descent), my ex immediately asked "so you will go back to Germany and give England back to the Welsh?" (aiming to make a point rather than accuracy)
But somehow, of course, they wanted to draw the timeline on how long your family needed to have been in Britain just far enough back to ensure there'd be no brown-skinned people.
(My impression is that they're not really all that racist when actually pressed for details; they've just been talked into believing in some mysterious group of "others" that steal their jobs and take their women, but somehow whoever they get to know cease to be part of this "others", regardless of race - they actually have quite a few friends that are both immigrants and black, asian etc.)
I think you are spot on here. There is this notion that "other" people are causing Britain's problems (this applies in any other country). It gives them someone to blame.
In fact politicians are happy to seed these kinds of blame shifting, because more than often the country is screwed because of their policies. Furthermore, the country is screwed because as a collective, we've let our country and the system fester and rot.
Hence, we blame others rather than looking inwardly. On a more micro level we can see this kind of blame culture in our development teams, or even with ourselves when we suffer poor health.
We need to care for our system together. One of the reasons I dislike politics is that it is divisive and blame focused.
The best sentences he ever came out with when we were discussing his racism were these two gems: he hated darkies because they took all the jobs, and he hated darkies because they didn't work and claimed the dole (welfare). When we pointed out this paradox he was at a loss for words.
There is no real logic behind racism, just a need for blame outside of yourself.
In my experience that's not true at all. Both are rude but obese is much worse than fat.
That's why Robin Hood, with its tales of darstardly French and stalwart Anglo-Saxon Englishmen has survived hundreds of years. Because no-one in England thinks about racial or ethnic purity.
It's more along the lines of sporting team rivalry.
[I love mentioning the Y Gododdin as I can see Edinburgh Castle out the window as I write this].
The Normans didn't really bring anything that improved the way England was being managed. In many ways, they pushed the country back by removing the native administration and pushing a different model.
The Romans got up and left the Britons to it after Rome started to fail. Neither really did more than influence the direction of the country.
The Germanic people overtook and obliterated the native culture in an almost genocidal way. They did re-base everything.