This weekend’s Festival of Remembrance at the
Albert Hall and the Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph cannot fail to move
millions of Britons, even this year - 101 years since the end of WW1 and 74
years since the end of WW2. The days of conscript armies have long gone but
professional British forces have fought and died for us in, for example. the
Falklands, Ulster, Iraq and Afghanistan much more recently. Many of the
grievously wounded are with us still and all honour to them and to other
sufferers and mourners.
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| The veterans at the Cenotaph 2019 |
These ceremonies are carried out with pride,
aplomb and solemnity. The music at the Cenotaph hardly changes but is always
deeply evocative – Rule Britannia, the Minstrel Boy, Dido’s Lament, The
Flowers of the Forest et al touch deep emotions and all generations
share them. It is not a moment for political point-scoring – how glad we were
that Jeremy Corbyn conducted himself with dignity, so unlike the shaming
distracted look and donkey-jacket scruffiness of Michael Foot a generation ago.
These occasions help define what is meant by
“Britishness”, a quality enjoyed by both Leavers and Remainers – epithets which
hopefully will lose meaning after the December 12 UK general election. There
are extremes on both sides – the tub-thumping, flag-waving bigot on the Right
and the over- populated Left of professional disparagers of their own country
and admirers of the worst in others, be they IRA, Hamas, ISIL or Hezbollah.
Somewhere on the margin are the various Nationalists, ever consumed with bile
against an England they willfully fail to understand or cherish.
Away from those extremes is a broad middle
Britain, united in love and respect for their country.
This royal throne of kings, this
sceptre’d isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat
of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise…
This
blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
I know this is hackneyed and the
stuff of clichés but it idealises something almost all Britons feel, the
uniqueness of their native land (including Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland).
Firstly, we love the physical
features of our country, the glorious countryside and endless coast – matchless
Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, Grampian Mountains, Hebrides, South Downs,
Cotswolds, Thames Valley, Devon and Cornwall, Snowdonia and Co. Down.
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| Wordsworth's Grasmere in the Lake District |
Then we love our great cities like London, Leeds and Glasgow throbbing dynamically even if beset by the challenges of our society. The smaller towns delight too, Stamford, Burford, Durham and Perth, not to mention fun places like Brighton or Blackpool.
Yet what defines Britishness to
a greater degree is a certain mode of life – an innate geniality, a desire to
“get on” with neighbours, a protective attitude to private space, a belief in
the merits of self-sufficiency and, if necessary, a powerful line in bloody-mindedness.
These habits are supplemented by familiar symbols – double-decker buses,
draught bitter at the pub, pillar boxes, Marmite, beloved pets and the
ubiquitous football and cricket bat.
Pride in our country is
immensely fortified by knowledge of our history and by the rich poetic and
literary culture accompanying it, only rivalled by that of the French. That
history encompasses the Roman invasion, Boudicca, the Anglo-Saxon influx, King
Alfred, the Norman Conquest, the 100-years War, Magna Carta, Bannockburn, the
Reformation, Civil War, Cromwell, The Union of the Crowns and Parliaments, the
Glorious Revolution, the supremacy of Parliament, the foundation of Empire, the
struggle with Napoleon, Industrial Revolution and Victorian prosperity. The
agonies of two World Wars and eventual victory ushered in hard times, economic
recovery, the welfare state and the seminal vote to leave the European Union.
Poets from Chaucer to
Shakespeare have sung of this world. The poetic diction of Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Burns, Shelley, Byron and Keats has resounded through all corners of the nation.
The British independent spirit was most confidently proclaimed by Kipling and
its apartness avowed by Philip Larkin who observed “Poetry and Sovereignty
are very primitive things. I like to think of their being united in this way in
England”.
This British nation is not
prepared to go down the road of domination by Europe. We will run our own
nation in our own way, while maintaining good relations with Europe and many
other nations. The general election will, I believe, result in a firm majority
supporting Boris’ deal on Brexit and result in a sensible agreement with
Brussels. The outside world beckons and we will seize all opportunities we can.
Advance, Britannia Fair!
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| Lord Byron's Dark Lochnagar in Highland Deeside |
SMD
12.11.2019
Text Copyright © Sidney
Donald 2019
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