Craven BBC must sing right tune on Proms
IF proof were needed that the BBC is catastrophically out of touch with the country, its decision to perform half-hearted, instrumental-only versions of Land Of Hope And Glory and Rule, Britannia! at the Last Night of the Proms is plenty.
For decades, crowds have sung along passionately and waved flags to these much-loved and stirring anthems.
Staples of the festival, they are inspiring symbols of our pride in the nation, saluting its values, freedoms and independence.
Yet this view is anathema to the Corporation’s metropolitan, liberal, bien pensant bosses, for whom bashing Britain’s culture and heritage has become a habit.
To appease a minority of hard- Left activists, who abhor this unique tradition, and Black Lives Matter protesters, who wrongly perceive a link to colonialism and slavery, the broadcaster has disgracefully stripped the songs of their words.
Disingenuously, the BBC say this change was due to Covid restrictions. Without an audience for a rousing singalong, they claim, they cannot do the anthems justice. What a pathetic excuse! Are they deliberately seeking to insult the ordinary licence fee-payers’ intelligence?
A soloist will sing the National Anthem on the night. Couldn’t that musician also warble Land Of Hope And Glory and Rule, Britannia? It would be immensely moving.
Clearly not. The only conclusion is that the BBC believes pro-British patriotism is shaming – kicking sand in the face of the decent majority.
This stance runs deep. Consider Songs of Praise’s executive producer. In a nauseating tweet, she likened citizens booming out ‘Britons never shall be slaves’ to neo-Nazis singing in celebration of gas chambers.
It is of course an irony worth noting that if Britannia’s navy hadn’t ruled the waves in the 19th Century, the campaign to end the slave trade would have been unsuccessful.
So we applaud Boris Johnson for wading into the row (in the teeth of opposition from his apparatchiks) and standing up for our history and culture as it came under attack. It was time, he said, to stop the ‘ cringing embarrassment’ and ‘ wet self-recrimination’.
His savaging of the state broadcaster will be welcomed by Tory voters, including those in the ‘Red Wall’ who are becoming fed up with the Woke Left’s attempts to topple statues and re-write history.
Meanwhile, in the land of fudge and fencesitting, Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the songs were precious, but stopped short of calling for a U-turn.
There is still ample time for the BBC to reverse its unedifying decision.
Millions of viewers are growing unhappy paying the licence fee for increasingly outre content. Do bosses really think it wise to trash our most cherished traditions?