Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Things Fall Apart ...

I think I've got blogging fatigue :

Gordon "Union Jack" Brown's 'Britishness' agenda, thanks to devolution, is turning out to only apply to England.

The Prime Minister's plan to raise the Union flag on public buildings every day will not apply to Scotland. As part of a new scheme to increase a sense of Britishness, Gordon Brown said he wanted the national flag flown year round on Government buildings, and eventually on police stations and hospitals across the UK.

How long can this go on before the whole thing falls apart ?

We saw last year that the teaching of "Britishness" only applies in England.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Leafing through my old copy of Whitaker's I came across the old list of days on which the Union flags were expected to be flown from Government buildings.

It's interesting that Gordon Brown's idea of Britishness involves ceasing to recognise in any way the anniversaries of the Queen's wedding, accession, or coronation, her birthday or Commonwealth Day or, in England, St George's Day or, in Wales, St David's Day.

It may be Gordon's idea of britishness but I'm of a generation which identified the nation with the crown, seeing the monarchy as a binding factor in our national life.

It might be paranoid to think that Gordon is subtly undermining this essentially British institution I gues it's more likely that neither he nor anyone else thought about it when making these changes.

Anonymous said...

Did you ever expect a Scottish Presbyterian ex-socialist to do anything different?

Anonymous said...

Read this absurd rubbish:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6923534.stm

"The inclusive nature of Scottish identity is illustrated by academic research last year which found that young ethnic minority Scots actually attach more importance to being Scottish than their white counterparts - who also feel incredibly Scottish.

"That may mean there is something special about being Scottish.

"It most certainly means that there is something special about our Scots-Asian citizens.

"They make such an important contribution to our economy and the richness of our society."

How much more of this unctuous fawning will it take to stop them attempting to blow up Glasgow airport, I wonder?

Peter D Cox said...

You might like to see my background blog on the issue and even consider signing the "National Flags" petition I have started on the Number 10 web site - link from the blog:
http://www.peterdcox.me.uk/pcox.nsf/dx/draig_coch.htm

and please encourage others in Scotland (as well as NI, Wales and - oh, I suppose - England), to do so as well. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 9.55,

I thought that it was a very interesting development that Mr Brown pre-empted the Queen's Speech. He obviously believes that our gracious Queen is surplus to requirements.

Anonymous said...

How much more of this unctuous fawning will it take to stop them attempting to blow up Glasgow airport, I wonder?


Aha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

Did you read the recent bbc post about how asians dont feel british? It must be because they feel scottish instead ah? What a load of shite.

Anonymous said...

It's so insulting when the diversity bangers talk about non-white people "enriching" our culture(s). As if two or three thousand years of Western history without this form of "enrichment" were chopped liver. How on earth did we go about inventing symphonies and operas, realistic painting and sculpture, and most of the technological and scientific advances for the past three or 400 years, without any kind of "enrichment?"

Anonymous said...

The United Kingdom is not one country but four yet Gordon (Union Jock) Brown continues to blur the difference when he speaks.
It really is about time that the political commentators actually pull him up when he makes the statement and ask him what country he is referring to.

The time has come for English councils to start flying the flag of St George except on the 18 specific days.

Anonymous said...

Susan - youve got it one there.

We are told we 'need' millions of immigrants. In fact we dont need them at all. Quite the opposite.