Phoney patriotism Mum hated in land of dope and Tories
IT’S a shame they’re dropping the lyrics to a couple of songs at the Proms – because every year I love to listen in and raise a glass to my dear old, leftie mum.
Sheila loved nothing better than getting agitated watching chinless wonders bellowing out Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia! seeing it as a Hammer Horror version of the Tory Party conference.
She’d bellow her own versions back at the screen – Land of Dope and Tory and Britannia Waives The Rules – ranting about the class system, the empire and how far she’d like to stick the Union Jacks up the promgoers arias.
If she hadn’t passed away, my mum would be applauding the BBC for dropping the lyrics this year. But because they remind me of a great woman whose presence is still very much with us, I’ll miss hearing them.
Maybe it’s true what the traditionalists are saying about erasing history. That even the bits you want to wipe out are useful for reminding you who you are and where you come from.
I come from a family that believed singing ancient ditties about nationalist supremacy does not define how much you love the piece of land you were born on. We never went along with the view that believing in an innate sense of British exceptionalism, and being unquestioning about its history, made you a true patriot.
The likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson do. Or rather they exploit that myth for their own ends. Farage to whip up a rabid, right-wing following that has made him rich and famous, and Johnson to target a similar audience to win the Tory leadership.
This latest confected rage about the BBC being woke snowflakes for pandering to the BLM movement is manna from heaven for them.
Farage hijacks it to stay in the spotlight, Johnson to distract from his abysmal lack of leadership.
Britain must stop its “cringing embarrassment” about its history, he bleated, without adding that we’ve got enough to be embarrassed about in the present. For example, there’s nothing patriotic about letting your country be run by an incompetent chumocracy, where the Prime Minister’s friends and backers get handed all the top jobs, honours and contracts.
Other great Britons rallying around Rule Britannia Lyrics Matter, are Jacob
Rees-Mogg and John Redwood, who were venting their spleen at the BBC on social media.
Lord Snooty and his pal are such lovers of this country that when they sensed the damage their hardline Brexit stance might do to the economy their Union Jack underpants turned brown.
Rees-Mogg moved part of his investment firm Somerset Capital Management to Ireland and Redwood advised Financial Times readers to “look further afield” than the UK for investment.
At the same time, Vote Leave chairman Nigel Lawson applied for French residency so his idyllic life in his Gascony villa remained unaffected.
Valiant patriots all. What’s wrong with believing that you show love for your country when you genuinely want to rid it of its failings and improve it for the benefit of all? As opposed to publicly selfflagellating with a blue passport while loudly hailing the glories of a long-lost empire?
This fabricated Proms sideshow is the latest example of why phoney patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
‘‘ Likes of Farage and Johnson exploit the myth for their own ends