Madam Medusa

...schoolkids may have to swear allegiance to the Queen under proposals being considered to strengthen national identity...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/200...45dbed5_2.html

err...not quite sure about this bit..."The style and content of the events should be "re-energised", perhaps with a rendition by schoolchildren of the pop song We Are The World - the US version of 1984's Band Aid single - last year's report said." Can you imagine...!!!

MM, xx

shakh your bootie

Isn't it as futile as relationship counselling?

I mean, either you feel something or you don't?

Being made to express a sentiment is kinda hollow....

Inselaffen

even though I'm a Torygraph/Times reader I think this one is a pretty stupid idea.

nottmbantam

At least you aint a Daily Mail or heaven forbid - a Daily Express reader! Torygraph is still a quality paper, as is The Times. The football reports are great!

lionheart

Personally I am in favour but not sure how my little one will react if/when we ever move to the UK...born in Saudi Arabia of a Kenyan mother but with a UK passport, lucky girl.

jvr20

never happen.

They'll be saluting Beckham and swearing allegienc to Jade Goody first.

shakh your bootie

Actually, I think a large part of the problem is that no-one quite knows what this elusive "British Identity" is????

Paxman's book on the English, and an earlier one by Idries Shah in the '80s, both wrestled with this problem without any real conclusion....

Personally, I like William Golding's analogy that any attempt to define a culture is doomed to failure because it is like trying to capture a chap riding a bicyle with a camera. The rider, if he tried to strike the same pose statically, would fall over - it is his momentum that allows him to carry on moving forward. And so it goes with human socieities & cultures - the Britain of today is not the Britain of yesteryear, and the way that Brits define themselves will be as fluid as it is inhomogenous.

Inselaffen

she has the all important red EU passport. that is all that matters.

shakh your bootie

No, King Beckham like King Charlie 2 has had his day and lives in exile. If he returns home his once loyal subjects will surely decapitate him....

Inselaffen

I feel that unfortunately not enough has been done to preserve British or to be more exact English culture. Of course Britain is becoming more multi-cultural but to many embracing multi-culturalism has to be done at the expense of maintaining a British identity.

shakh your bootie

I think this was the point that Morrissey was making in that interview where he was slated as being a racist.....

I hear similar laments from the Emiratis, that their culture, heritage, traditions etc are being eroded to the point of extinction.

Inselaffen

and the Emiratis should do as much as possible to protect their cultural identity. but in a way they are doing that by refusing to give citizenship to people who move here.

dont think they would be willing to give up their landcruisers, ferraris and huge villas to go back to a nomadic lifestyle though

Madam Medusa

yeah...i think that's right.

I didn't agree at first with the big push in wales to force everything to be in two languages, but now i'm really glad that they are doing it, and that the language is going from strength to strength...i think it's important to have some sort of heritage and identity...

singing We are the World, however, is not gonna be the way to achieve it...

MM, xx

shakh your bootie

Indeed, no - and you bring out the point that it is not just influxes of outsiders that changes a culture. Technology & industry also precipitate changes in culture - the industrial revolution and agricultural revolution in the UK changed the lifestyle of Brits, and resulted in the creation of new types of communities, housing & lifestyle... The decline of religion has also affected "British" culture - in fact, a similar thing is happening in Ireland today - Sunday Mass, which was once a key event in the family & social calender is in steady decline. The commercialisation of Christmas and Easter is also a social change that has little to do with the influx of J. Foreigner, Esq....

shakh your bootie

LOL, no... there needs to be some serious consideration of wheat and chaff in deciding what to try and retain and what to let quietly slide into history....

And, hey, it ain't all bad - think how much richer the English restaurant scene has become since they started to let other culinary traditions into the picture!