Promote Britishness?
January 19, 2006
Brown speech promotes Britishness
Gordon Brown
We should honour the Union flag, says Gordon Brown
Britain should have a day to celebrate its national identity, Gordon Brown has proposed in a speech portraying Labour as a modern patriotic party.
The chancellor used his first major speech of 2006 to urge Labour supporters to “embrace the Union flag”.
He also suggested young people who volunteer to work for the good of the community have their tuition fees paid.
“All the United Kingdom should honour it, not ignore it; and we should assert that the Union flag is a flag for tolerance and inclusion.”
The thing that binds us together is our civic identity which is Britishness
Billy Bragg
“We live in a very multi-cultural society, perhaps the most multi-cultural society in Europe. What actually binds us together? Well, interestingly the thing that binds us together is our civic identity which is Britishness”.
“In return for service for their country in the USA in the 1940s the GI Bill helped thousands through college and university and we should consider and debate another idea: helping those who undertake community service with the costs of education, including help with tuition fees for those undertaking community work,” he said.
This is very relevant at the moment in that for my Social Geography we were concentrating on active citizenship and volunteering in the UK, especially how volunteering is defined, different meanings (such as formal/informal etc). Im not sure whether such a step will be embraced by the british public. Agreed it is a multicultural society and people should learn to accept that, but no matter where you go in the world there is always discrimination. And im especially interested in the volunteering aspect of Mr Browns speech. The “rolling back of the state” and opening everything up to private sector, and volunteering has been in place for years now and agreed if it helps me through uni i would volunteer, but this may just be done on false pretences with students only doing it for their own self worth and not connecting with the matter at hand. But if only this was implemented a few years ago, then i wouoldnt have to worry about my money situation. Although that is just the case im tryin to put across, nothing in this world is for free, everyone does something out of their own interest, what do i get out of it?. But anyway back on topic do i think this is a good idea, maybe, although i dont think patriotism runs very deep in the veins of the british public, esp in BNP. Its an interesting idea, and the volunteering aspect is goo din general but will it solve problems, or is the government just tryin to offload blame and services onto other sectors?
