Category Archive for 'Britishness'

Archive for the 'Britishness' Category

Flying The Flag

July 7th, 2007 by ThunderDragon

The Union Flag can now be flown on public buildings on any day, after the than restrictions which meant that it could only be flown on certain days of the year - just 18 - have been scrapped. The Union Flag now flies over 10 Downing Street, and will all year round.

This is a very good thing. We are British, and should celebrate that fact by flying our flag. We must reclaim it from the BNP and such like, and fly our flag with pride.

This has quite obviously been done, however, to try and make Gordon Brown into someone seen as ‘British’, to pull the splinter of the Conservative’s attacks on his Scottishness. To that end, he has been banging his “Britishness” drum for quite a while now, since even before he was crowned Labour leader and Prime Minister. But it hasn’t, and won’t, work. he is still seen as the dour Scot that he is. It is far too engrained in the public’s image of him for a few sound bites of “I’m British!” to dispel.

What really doesn’t help him is that he represents a Scottish constituency, in which a great number of his proposals - such as on health and education - will not be implemented. Since devolution has come to Scotland and Wales, yet not to England, for the Prime Minister to represent a Scottish constituency is absurd. Gordon’s declarations of his “Britishness” won’t change this, but rather give the Conservatives the opportunity to point out this absurdity again and again.

Whilst I applaud the granting of freedom over the flying of the flag, Gordon Brown’s reasons for doing it are obvious.

Sources: BBC

Britishness, Gordon Brown

A "Britain Day" To Strengthen British Identity?

4 Comments

June 5th, 2007 by ThunderDragon

I’m not sure what to think about the idea of a “Britain Day“, currently being pushed by Ruth Kelly (Communities Secretary) and Liam Byrne (Immigration Minister). What, precisely, would it’s point be? Ruth Kelly says that “[t]he point of it would be to celebrate the contribution that we all make to society.” But why does that need a specific day to do so, and how does that point even connect specifically with Britain?

I support the idea because we should celebrate the history of our nation, though we have to be careful that if we say Britain, we deal with British historical events [after all, Britain is only 300 years old, having been formed by the Act of Union in 1707] - or at least ones that affected the entire British Isles then and since. What event(s) should we pick? The date of the Act of Union itself? But that was not particularly popular at the time anywhere, and caused “rioting in the streets of Edinburgh and almost every town from Inverness to the borders.” And most historical events which most people immediately think of with these things were English victories, not British ones - well, either that or Empire-related, and that wouldn’t be allowed by the PC mob. Picking the wrong event would be disastrous to the whole idea, as it would automatically make it appear that Britain is nothing more than an extension of England, which it is not, and cannot be.

As much as I like the idea of day in which being British is celebrated, I’m not sure if there is actually any point to it. Being British isn’t something that should need to be created through a specific day’s celebrations. It should be part of who and what you are. And the best way for this to happen is for it to be taught in school, primarily, but not exclusively, in History lessons. We should teach our children to be proud of their nation’s past - Empire included. No-one can argue that what Britain did was perfect by our moral standards, but neither can they argue that Empire was not an essential period of history, and in fact it was the extreme speed with which the era of Empire ended/was forced to end that did more damage than colonialism itself. If we taught our children that British history is something to be proud of, we wouldn’t need a “British Day”, especially if immigrants to Britain decided to integrate with our customs.

In the end, however, I think that I have to come down as pro a “Britain Day” - but only if the right date is chosen for the right reason, and it is not allowed to be high-jacked by extremist groups of any persuasion. Any “Britain Day” must be for every person living in Great Britain, regardless of race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or anything else. We should fly the Union Flag* with pride, and not use it as a mark of exclusivity, but of inclusiveness.

* It’s not the Union Jack unless it’s on a ship.

Sources: BBC, The Telegraph

Britishness