Proms jingoism ‘must go’

LAST Night Of The Proms should scrap ‘crudely jingoistic’ songs like Rule, Britannia! in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, a music expert has claimed.

Richard Morrison, who writes for BBC Music Magazine, said Land Of Hope And Glory should also be dropped from the finale at London’s Royal Albert Hall in September. He said the ‘toe-curling embarrassing anachronistic farrago of nationalistic songs’ should be replaced with a finale which doesn’t ‘provoke offence or ridicule’.

Mr Morrison claimed it would be ‘insensitive, bordering on incendiary’ to chant nationalist songs this year after worldwide antiracism protests. The Proms – the world’s biggest classical music festival – has banned the usual flag-waving crowds because of the pandemic.