Author: simon
St George’s Day Celebrations
Wednesday, 23rd April, 2008 at 2:25 pm, Isle of Wight
Over the years some resistance has built up against the St George Cross, as it was adopted by the politically far right, much in the way that the confederate flag was in America.
This is a huge shame because, those who want to declare their Britishness are put off by celebrating the flag, not wishing to be associated with the hate peddled by the far right.
The distrust or hate of another simply due to the place that they happened to be born, or the colour of their skin, completely ignores the fact that we are all human beings.
By the far right hijacking the flag, it leaves those of us who don’t harbor those extreme views in a quandary - How do you show that you’re proud of English?
Given no alternative, the only way is to unite under the flag of St George and sing out, “Land of Hope and Glory.”
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April 23rd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
well thats a good idea , or all go for a good english ale this evening at a good old ventnor pub!
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Simon. You say “This is a huge shame because, those who want to declare their Britishness are put off by celebrating the flag,”. Surely you mean “Englishness”?
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Happy St Georges day to all who live in England, and love England, and who respect the country they live in.
Kind regards,
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
And of course, you probably mean ‘harbour’ rather than ‘harbor’. Can’t imagine how that one slipped in :).
I think your point is sound but the flag of St George has perhaps become more universally accepted than it once was, because of its association with international sport. The Union Flag, by contrast, is rarely used for such purposes and still sometimes seems to languish in the dangerous limbo between nationalism and patriotism. Not to mention adorning Geri Halliwell.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
By George! by Elvis Mcgonagall
Once more unto the breach, dear Morris Dancers
once more
Jingle your bells, thwack sticks, raise flagons
Cry “God for Harry and Saint George!”
Gallant knight and slayer of dragons
Patron saint of merry England –
And Georgia, and Catalonia, and Portugal, Beirut, Moscow
Istanbul, Germany, Greece
Archers, farmers, boy scouts, butchers and sufferers of
syphilis
Multicultural icon with sword and codpiece
On, on you bullet-headed saxon sons
Fly flags from white van and cab
But remember stout yeomen, your champion was Turkish
So – get drunk and have a kebab
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
“And of course, you probably mean ‘harbour’ rather than ‘harbor’.”
Damn that US spell checker.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Or possibly ‘arbour’ which invokes those wonderful Carry-on lines:
“Meet you in the arbour in fifteen minutes”
“Oh. I didn’t know we was so near the sea.”
(Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims, I think.)
All of which has little to do with flags.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I think that Alfred the Great should be our patron saint - at least his mother came from Arreton, and we should celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday (23 April) or St Arwald’s Day, who was the last King of the Isle of Wight in 686 (22 April)
September 13th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
We should convince all of our ethnic minorities/ immigrants to fly the St.Georges Flag, thus negating the racists take over of our national flag….and really upset them at the same time.