The odd thing about St Georges Day is that if you asked an Englishman what day it was on, nine times out of ten they wouldn't be able to answer you. The Welsh, the Scots and the Irish make a great deal of noise about their national saints days, but the English never do, apart from a few ultra-nationalist nutters in the English Defence League and their tweedier brethren in UKIP who want to make celebrating it compulsory. I like to think that it means we're secure enough in our nationhood not to need to cling to symbols like St George any more. (Besides, St George was Palestinian, and we share his patronage with Egypt, Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, Greece, India, Iraq, Israel, Portugal, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Serbia, the Ukraine, and, of course, Georgia.)
No comments:
Post a Comment