On one of the Times blogs, I found this…
“Following Matthew Parris’s column this morning, please join in with the Prime Minister and other TV celebrities in an exciting new consultation launched by Gordon Brown and his friends……Members of the public will be asked to come up with five or six-word slogans, perhaps based around ideas of fair play or national pride.”
Apparently, every school and public building in the country will be emblazoned with a new “national motto” under Gordon Brown’s drive to encourage patriotism and Britishness. I cannot capture in words the consummate horror with which this idea fills me.
In the comments thread there are a number of suggestions, including, but not limited to:
“Britishness cannot be captured in…”
“Chicken tikka masala, chips and rice”
“I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK”
Or you can go over the the Maily Dail for:
“For God’s sake help us.”
and more.
After i stopped laughing, i thought, on a more serious note, surely we have one that is built into our history.
“Land of Hope and Glory”
I was listening to a troop of Brownies sing their way meaninglessly through the National Anthem today and thinknig “this has to change” – what once roused now bores and baffles, but we do have something we once believed in. Why re-invent the wheel?
When I read “troop of Brownies” I thought you were referring to Gordon Brown’s supporters. Silly of me, they are of course known as MilliBalls.