"Britishness" Day

This has been comprehensively covered off elsewhere, but I thought I would throw in my thoughts as well. Yes, the August Bank Holiday - that last burst of freedom before the long slog to Christmas - is under threat from the government. They are going to turn it into a Britishness day:

The August bank holiday could be turned into a "Great British weekend" that would allow people permission to celebrate everything they like about the country, and help frame the "progressive case for controlled immigration".

One of the things I like about this country is that on the August Bank Holiday I can decide what I fucking do. Not my employer and certainly not the fucking government. And I suspect I am not alone in this. Although the polls might suggest otherwise:

“In a speech today Liam Byrne, the immigration minister, will set out the proposals drawing on Home Office research which shows public support for a Britishness day running at two to one… He will admit he encountered some opposition to the British weekend proposal when he floated the idea a year ago with Ruth Kelly, then communities secretary. He will point to suspicion of authority and sponsored celebrations as well as concern at who would foot the bill as factors for this suspicion. But according to the Home Office poll 51% of respondents favoured the idea and 21% were opposed.”

Yes, but what exactly did they favour? Having a Britishness day? Or being forced by the government to give up a Bank Holiday in order to participate in a state enforced Britishness Day? Because I suspect that the latter will be somewhat less popular than the former. Even the most patriotic of Brits would think twice before giving up one of their precious Bank Holidays – for the rest of us, this idea just comes across as invasive, ill thought out and really, really fucking dumb.

Now, there are often complaints that right-wing bloggers complain a lot about stuff, but never really offer solutions. So I’m going to piss on that complaint by offering Liam Byrne a solution. How about using a Britishness Day (St George’s Day would be a popular choice judging by the endless petitions that go around as we near that particular Saint’s day) to give everyone an extra day off? So, Britishness Day is an extra Bank Holiday. And on Britishness (and I am not sure that is even a real word, but hey ho) Day, we can chose whether or not we want to celebrate being British. And we can chose how to celebrate Britishness – be it a street party, a spot o’ binge drinking, sitting around in our pants watching bad films on the TV, or burning effigies of Gordon Brown. So instead of the government hi-jacking a precious Bank Holiday and forcing people to do what they believe is a celebration of being British, they could appear Democratic and generous.

Ha! Like that is ever going to fucking happen!

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The Guardian article has another great quote in it:

"British people in essence want no more of newcomers than four commitments: to learn English, to work hard and pay taxes, to follow the law and to make an effort to integrate. That does not sound over the top, chauvinist or reactionary."

Yep, absolutely. I expect that of “newcomers”. I also expect it of the people who already live in this country although sometimes it appears as if the “newcomers” actually make more of an effort to learn English, work hard/pay taxes, follow the law and make an effort to integrate than the people born in this country…