Laurence Fox/Dame Vera Lynn versus BBC

I beg to differ, vegansrock

Ask any football fan and they'll know Land of Hope and Glory

Not the lyrics of course.

It's also used in American graduations

It's a rousing tune which Elgar said was A tune that comes once in a lifetime”

The lyrics were added in 1902. Long after we'd abolished slavery.

It certainly is diverting attention from other things that are happening in the world

But I imagine it will boost viewing figures for Last Night of the Proms.

spot on mcem

Exactly!
Let's start an argument over trivialities and the proles may not notice the real chaos all around us.
Pure Cummings manipulation and doesn't it work well?

Ok, please tell me what I need an excuse for?

As for the banning of songs - the songs could not be sung in their usual manner, so the BBC decided to have orchestral performances instead. The talk of 'banning' has been manufactured for the reasons I mentioned.

The “majority” won’t have heard of these songs or watched TLNOTP so don’t kid yourselves. Maybe the “majority” of white over 50s living in the Tory shires.

Don't get shirty with me ! This threads about banning songs.

Of course it's not 'my excuse'. Excuse for what? I don't need to be excused for anything, as far as I know.

I am saying that because of Covid, there will be no audience in the Albert Hall, so there is no point in having the ending in the usual 'community singing' style.

This has been made into a story that (a) discredits the BBC, and (b) takes the heat of Johnson and his cronies at a time when they are in the news for U-turns and general incompetence.

This is nothing whatsoever to do with Covid.

So Covid is your excuse then, Doodledog ?

EllanVannin

If the minority don't like or don't agree why spoil things for the majority who do ? This is getting right out of hand !!

Who knows what the majority think, though? The vast majority of my friends agree with me that the reason the songs were dropped is because Covid means that there won't be an audience this year, so there is no point in the rabble rounding ending, and that this is a manufactured 'story' designed to distract the public from the abysmal performance of the Johnson government.

I'm guessing that the majority of your friends would see things differently?

vegansrock This wasn't a land of hope and glory for him and many others veterans of both world wars

No it certainly wasn’t. Many were moved to protest about the post-WW1 celebrations
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luton_Peace_Day_Riots

If the minority don't like or don't agree why spoil things for the majority who do ? This is getting right out of hand !!

vegansrock

The reason the nation got into debt was paying reparations to the slave owners - members and cronies of the government- as compensation for loosing their "property". Many huge stately homes were built on the back of their windfall. Not something to boast about.

Absolutely. That was a disgrace, and even worse is that taxpayers from (or descended from) the Caribbean and other ex-colonies were also expected to pay tax to fund those who 'lost out' when their ancestors were released from slavery.

The reason the nation got into debt was paying reparations to the slave owners - members and cronies of the government- as compensation for loosing their "property". Many huge stately homes were built on the back of their windfall. Not something to boast about.

I hate both songs, I like the Elgar music though. my relative who actually was prisoner in the Far East hated all the jingoistic anthems. This wasn't a land of hope and glory for him and many others veterans of both world wars. Yes there are for more important things to get incensed about, what about the poor woman in Manchester who died of starvation, what about the thousands of species that are being wiped out by climate change, what about the incompetent government fgs. Yet people are getting all incensed because there wont be massed singing of a couple of centuries old songs that 90% of the population wont have a clue about -and they aren't sung anywhere else - ever!

Why are the postive things this country has done rarely mentioned? The successful efforts of politicans to abolish slavery, and the fact that every tax paying person has contributed to the biggest debt that the country has ever undertaken to pay for the freedom of slaves - the balance finally cleared in 2015.
There appears to be a move to make us ashamed of everything that is British.

The Silent Majority Wins Again

janeainsworth

Sparklefizz It isn’t re-writing history to say I don’t like two particular songs which are, to me anyway, now anachronisms and well past their use-by date.

Doodledog Dissenters - who have no place here. Please form an orderly queue for deportation.
Can I come too?

I suspect that you wouldn't want to - when it's my turn to dictate which 'The British' have to like, it will be those wanting jingoistic nonsense who will have to be deported.

(although in reality they would be welcome in my happy little world - everyone could sit around a fire and sing Kumbaya for all I care - so long as everyone accepted that there is more than one way of being British.)

Sparklefizz It isn’t re-writing history to say I don’t like two particular songs which are, to me anyway, now anachronisms and well past their use-by date.

Doodledog Dissenters - who have no place here. Please form an orderly queue for deportation.
Can I come too?

Sorry - you have no place here, not 'who'.

But in the wider scheme of things, does it really matter? We can't rewrite our entire history. Various things happened - the Romans invaded Britain and enslaved many people, ditto the Vikings ... we can't constantly apologise for our ancestors and indulge in all this self-flagellation. There are more important things to be concerned about, more important ways to address racism etc.

Sparklefizz just because other countries retain their militaristic anthems is no reason why we should.

Gwenisgreat1

The BBC has forgotten what the first 'B' stands for - British!! If people don't like Land of Hope and Glory, then they have no business in this country!!

Getting down from soapbox!!

I am British, too. Please let me know how I stake my own claim to becoming Chief Dictator, so that I can let my thoughts be known and imposed on everyone else.

Dissenters - who have no place here. Please form an orderly queue for deportation.

Is our culture really so fragile that it can be threatened by not singing a song.

Apparently the GN thought police have decided that anyone who dislikes those 2 songs is not worthy!
So do I ( and Galaxy plus possibly one or two more) now face deportation or would you prefer that age-old tradition of hanging, drawing and quartering as more appropriate for us traitors?

I suggest you do a bit of thinking before you post such arrant nonsense.
A sense of proportion would come in handy!

Sparklefizz just because other countries retain their militaristic anthems is no reason why we should.

I can’t comment on the others, but The Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814 when the Americans were defending Baltimore against a would-be British invasion.
When I was in Baltimore a few years ago, there were signs up in shop windows saying ‘We defeated the British in 1814, we can Stop This Now!!’ referring to a proposed road scheme. The proud memories linger on.
But do we want Britain to be like America?