England's Own Anthem

Things happen in Britain by accident. We never voted for God Save the Queen to be our national anthem, and parliament has made no decision on the matter. The tune was played at an eighteenth century concert and the slightly deaf Hanoverian king George the Second, who spoke German rather than English,  thinking that it was Handel's Messiah  stood up. Everybody followed and the custom spread.Soon it became recognized as the United Kingdom's anthem and was played at all sports fixtures of the four nations. But many people dislike it. They think that it sounds like a dirge, and many republicans dislike the  implied loyalty to the monarchy. As I have said before, I am a benign,inactive republican who does not dislike the royal family, though my three  siblings have strong republican tendencies, unlike our mother, who was a royalist, so I don't really mind God Save the Queen, but I think that if the Scots and Welsh have their own anthems, the English should have their own as well.

The Scots use Flower of Scotland as their anthem, which celebrates Scotland's victory over the massive and badly led English army at Bannockburn in the fourteenth century, which cemented Scotland's liberty as an independent nation and helped them escape the appalling cruelty of the Plantagenet kings; while the Welsh have Land of My Fathers, a rousing song celebrating Wales' history,culture and bravery.These are played at football and other sporting matches. Both songs arouse intense passion and are the focus of national consensus in the sense that God save the Queen is not. Northern Ireland does not have its own anthem, but some Northern Irish politicians are now saying that they don't want Northern Ireland to be left out, so they want their own anthem, and I agree with them. When Northern Ireland and Eire  play joint teams, as they do at Rugby, neither God save the Queen nor the soldier's song, the Irish anthem, are suitable, so there is already a joint Irish anthem. That's a great step forward. 

The proposal is that we keep God save the Queen as a United Kingdom anthem, but have a new English one. It has also been suggested that the tune of God Save the Queen is more important than the words, and that the language be modified to make it non-monarchist, saying "God save our noble land, etc." I would go along with this. 

There is a charming little book that my youngest son bought me as a Christmas present in 2014, "All the Countries We Have Ever Invaded and a Few We Never Got Round To."  The title is jocular, but it indicates that over the years we have been in too many fights and quarrels round the world. Some people still love this idea, but there are many of us, including me, who do not wish to engage in jingoistic nostalgia. I don't want to celebrate beating foreigners or expanding our imperial horizons, so the tune Land of Hope and Glory, which asks God to set England's bounds wider and wider, does not appeal to me or to many others who lack the nostalgia for the days when we ruled a quarter of the world.  It should not be our anthem.

It was right wing British nationalists and capitalists who asked several years ago that the popular Mayday bank [public] holiday be replaced by Trafalgar Day, in November, to celebrate Britain's victory over the French. No one wanted a holiday in November, but the nationalistic cranks thought it more important to celebrate victory over  country now an ally than to celebrate in May,  Labour day, when workers are celebrated. This nonsense was meant to weaken our links with the European Union and assert capitalist values against socialist ones.  Can we lose these characters, please?  They are the ones who want to leave the European Union and so turn the country into a capitalist paradise devoid of workers' rights. For them a warlike anthem would work well,as it would foster  anti-European sentiments. 

The popular choice is Blake's Jerusalem, which begins "And did those feet in ancient time, walk upon England's mountains green......." It refers the legend that the young Christ visited Britain. The song aspires not to imperial domination, but to the creation of a new Jerusalem in England. It finishes with "I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem, in England's green and pleasant land." The sentiments advocate moral and political struggle to create a socially just land, which is pleasant to dwell in, where industrialization is not allowed to spoil landscapes. It aspires to a land fit for ordinary folk. This is why football fans often sing it at England's matches: football, a people's game, celebrating a world fit for ordinary folk. This is not a nationalistic rant at foreigners advocating world conquest or celebrating victories in wars that should not have happened, led by greedy and brutal kings and selfish merchants, but precisely the opposite. Of course, advocating England as it should be does not appeal to right wing capitalists who want to create a state of impoverished misery for an underpaid working class. Such people are present in England, and unfortunately they have power and influence. But Jerusalem is the  dream.