True Brits don’t need a designated Britain day

Blair and Brown are constitutional vandals. They will now reap what they have sowed

Patrick

How right Sarah Standing is. This pathetic government has always been intent on wiping out everything that was good and decent in this country. They have made sure we are now only a skin away from a Banana Republic. Blairs Vanity tour of Africa says it all.

JH

Samuel Johnson's aphorism of Patriotism being the last refuge of the scoundrel has usually been interpreted as a criticism of patriotism. In actual fact Johnson meant to describe how scoundrels may shamelessly cloak their deceits and malpractices under the mantle of love of country. He was right then and he would be right now. This exercise in synthetic patriotism is a shameless piece of humbug designed to divert attention from the consequences of this government's social, constitutional and cultural vandalism.

Jane Foster

will one be allowed to smoke on Britain Day?

EyeSee

It is true that New Labour have inhaled deeply the narcotic of power and now the consequences of their addiction are causing them some discomfort. (The police want to close the road outside Blair's house not because they fear terrorsits drive past there, but that they know members of the public do). We can only have a Britain day when we regain the feeling that Britain is important, rather than subservient to everyone arriving on these shores, with their hand out. Though Exit from Europe day would be one to celebrate our Britishness.

Is it just me, or do New Labour's most recent ideas sound remarkably like what people might say at committee meetings for village fetes? " We could have balloons, and... I've got it! what about a tombola?!"

catherine

When will the Blair Witch Project madness end?

Leo

I both agree and disagree. Holidays are great- end of. But why do we need to subject ourselves to this total Americanization of our country? The whole concept of 'British Day' falls into the distugustingly ostentatious patriotism which has swept and indoctrinated the American mind.

Ollie

Another insightful article/blog from Sarah Standing. I totally agree with her comments. I can't stand what Blair has done to this country and I fear Brown will be even worse. This is unfortunately too little too late from a shambolic government. I look forward to being unable to get hold of my Polish plumber on "British Day"!

Peter Jackson

Your piece proves conclusively that you know nothing about history, and ends with a disgraceful slur about illegal immigrants that you should be ashamed of. It's no surprise that your 'little-Britisher' commenters to date don't even notice.

YoungFogey

Truth be told, there would be no need to even consider a Britain Day had generations of loony lefties, at all levels of government, not embarked upon a decades long policy of Britain-bashing, in which Britain's legacy and achievements and its symbols and institutions were ignored, devalued and debased whilst ghettoised minority communitites were actively encouraged to celebrate and foster their own cultures and traditions, in their own languages. One cannot help but wonder whether there just might be a connection. When one adds devolution, the rise of the European Union and the concomitant erosion of British sovereignty to the depressing mix, there is little wonder that some are dazed and confused. I discuss "Britain Day" at length on my own blog, Reflections of a Young Fogey: www.bloggingyoungfogey.blogspot.com

RC

I would rather the Government stopped spouting out all this nonsence and concentrated on the real issues that affect the "Great British" public.

krystina

Pathetic idea, put foward by a pathetic government

Pen

Great - a day off without having to pretend to be sick! Love it.

Murray

What about instead of having another so called FREE DAY (in this case “BRITISH DAY”) make sure that we are not pushed into spending our Bank Holidays dealing with outstanding issues such as: making sure that British Banks don’t overcharge us, take our money without our authorisation, make sure that any service we are using is up to traditional high British Standard etc. etc. It is a time for Britain to wake up and assess what the Government have already destroyed and move forward leaving behind a silly idea that takes us nowhere. Murray

guy herbert

Ms Standing, What on earth makes you think that illegal immigrants get any days off at all? They have to work for a living, since it is impossible for them to "live off the country", unlike those in the non-productive, non-service, sectors of regulation, compliance and holiday invention.

timbo

It has taken over 1,000 years to create the ethos of and a place called England (occasionally Britain)and English people used to be subconsciously aware, and happy with, their inheritance. We don't suddenly need some cowardly, incompetent, bigoted politically correct labour buffoons (most of whom are Scotch and so not even elected to the English Parliament) to decide that they might make themselves popular by laying on another day for their indolent voters to waste staring at the moron box. But we might consider a "Bring Back England" day to celebrate the departure of Blair's cronies - probably to the Lords if they can afford it. Nothing like a good rant to purge the system, is there? Well done sarah.

Don

Thank you Guy Herbert for a voice of reason. Yeah, gangmasters such as those in Morecombe Bay are meticulous about national holidays. An incredibly ignorant remark.

david evans

is there such a thing as a day on as well as a day off? as i don't know the difference and am as british as british could be,the government telling me that i am legally entitled to have a day off seems an utter waste of time, probably money and certainly britishness.

George Sanderson

Look, it's not rocket science..
ANY cultural identity is a slow developing, evolutionary thing. It can't be reinvented for each disastrous generation. Identity is about things which bind, not things which dislocate.
And the last 20 years has been one of government and social planners' dislocation.
Why did you think it would be other?
Bu of course the need for business to get compliant workers, and the government to get working youth with qualifications to pay for pensions and for family-moral Asians to demonstrate personal responsibility means that we basically gave up on our indigenous population in the 80s.
The white working were abandoned by its so called left-liberal friends to fester, neglected, powerless and resentful in chav-ridden sink estates.And we wonder why the rump of patriotism was hyjacked by shaven-headed hooligans.