Britain should change its national anthem

Quite agree Tom, an abhorent National Anthem, lets invade France and steal theirs.
Charlie

I was in Murrayfield a couple of years ago for the France game and the entire crowd sang both national anthems. It was quite an experience. There was a large group of French fans right behind us and they sang Flower of Scotland like it was their own. Fabulous stuff. La Marseillaise is my favourite anthem by a long way.

Hi Charlie, NP. The 'Jock' was merely an attempt at irreverence...I know for sure I have been called worse by some Scots...ANd for what it's worth my wife and her family take it as a term of endearment

"History is written by the winners. "

Well some of it is written by winners and some of it is written by the losers. Doesn't make it wrong.

I'm sure if either of us could be bothered further, we could find books written by English, Scottish and French authors of the time, all confirming the above issues I related as agreed fact. Those issues I covered are the facts, not perceptions, which will I expect be different based on the history, allegiances and prejudices of the authors perhaps.

There will be a number of Scottish citizens who feel the Stuarts should have continued their autocratic monarchy of GB rather than be answerable to the people or Parliament, such as it was. There will be others who feel the Catholic faith based largely on persecution as then, should have been restored as the De Facto religion across the country. (Although I disagree with those points, that could be because I am neither Scottish or religious and can be persecuted any number of ways without religious doctrine having a go too)

For what it's worth, English Schools had little in the curriculum beyond the grander kings and queens of Tudor/Stuart times either and certainly in my day, much of it was ill informed and the type of stuff that regularly gets debunked on QI nowadays. None of the stuff in my piece above was learned at school.

The fact is though, that since leaving school, I continue to read, watch, observe and learn as anyone can and for anyone who cares to, there is a wealth of documented history covering this and other times. However, it seems many people continue to believe only what they have learned/understood from schooldays or familial retellings of stories, rather than researching what is generally believed to be factual. No different in England I think.

Time is a great healer they say but let's for instance consider the wider national feelings if say, while our troops are busy overseas at the moment, Cornwall decided to rise up in collaboration with an overseas army from a state that doesn't like us, Iran say. Massacred large numbers of people in our cities and bankrupted the nation before our forces managed to return and defeat them. I suspect that putting a line or two about it in the National Anthem, would not be considered too un pc...Fanciful I know, but I'm sure you get the point!

Regards

quote:

Originally posted by JamieWednesday:
..ANd for what it's worth my wife and her family take it as a term of endearment

Jamie, don't want to bang on about this but they're very much in the minority as it's a term regarded as patronising and irritating by most Scots. For example you probably wouldn't want to walk into the Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow and shout "A pint of lager, Jock". You may have a longer wait than you'd expected.