Brown's flag day divides opinion
And another link to the Scotsman above, though hardly breaking news. With Cameron enjoying the rollercoaster of Tory renewal and the Liberal Democrats deciding on their own new leader, Britain's chancellor pops up to remind us that he also has aspirations to occupy the number ten slot.
It's a nice little diversion, raising issues as it does that do not collide with anything else obvious in the current news agenda. Sadly, it fails in that it stinks of Labour's "Nanny State". In essence, "Thou shalt remember and celebrate" is not really something I want to hear - the approach is all wrong! I also suspect a hi-jacking of Rememberence Sunday to include other things would upset a lot of people, if not myself.
We do not have a constitution that provides focus for such a National Day - nor thankfully do we have the kind of facism that "demands" allegience to the flag. But Brown's reference to the latter does imply one needed change. He wants to reclaim the Union Jack as a symbol of our nation without the current association with the National Front and racist right. This itself is an applaudable quest - extreme damage to Britain's cultural identity has been done by misuse of the flag by football hooligans, right-wing extremeists and others. Given that there are restrictions on the use of the words "British" and "Britain" in the naming of corporations and general promotional excercises, it seems right that similar prohibitions should apply to our flag itself.
Provided Brown does want to reclaim it as a masthead for his own version of the New Labour project, I would support its use as a unifying cultural symbol. Provided too, that it was employed in such a way that ethnic and racial minorities who are part of our culture be able to rally around it too.
Later.
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