Comments on: Swearing Allegiance

by: canvas

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:07:23 +0000

I’m all for another bank holiday - and there’s nothing wrong with a ‘British theme’.
It’s just sooo British to be embarrassed about being British

I think it’s good that children grow up with a sense of pride in their country instead of feeling alienated - and also it’s a good thing to want to be a part of Europe. Now, if only we can find some decent politicians who do things that we can be proud of…

by: Tizzy

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:54:05 +0000

Forced nationalism? Not for me, thanks. Flags and national anthems should be used sparingly and not as a means for some notional unity. Don’t force kids to pledge allegiance, please. I remember reciting the Lords’s Prayer during morning assembly at primary school - it was totally meaningless to me at that age, and a pledge would have served no purpose either. Plus, the allegiance in the US is to a flag rather than to the Head of State leading to the presumption in the UK of the acknowledgement of our ’subject’ status which isn’t exactly C21, is it?

I can’t remember when the cinemas stopped playing the national anthem at the end (early 70’s?) but I do remember my local emptied as if a fire alarm had gone off.

Please don’t let’s go down the path of, for example, America or France, who wallow in their self-righteous belief that *their* countrymen are the creme de la creme, belittling the rest of the world in their eyes.

As for the so-called extra bank holiday, surely you realise that the majority of low-paid workers won’t get an extra day since employers will count it as part of the national minimum entitlement, ie they’ll still only get 24 days (to date). Yet more smoke being blown from this gvt.

by: Votedave

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:16:51 +0000

I like the idea of another bank holiday. We are pitifully short of them here - just 8 days a year compared to 11 in France, 15 in Germany and 18 in Spain!