Land of nope and sorry

As the annual debate over out-dated and offensive lyrics once again rears its head, Steve Sutherland grapples with why we even need jingoistic national anthems

- Steve Sutherland

Considering our government appears to be running the country on a series of random handbrake turns, it really came as no surprise when the BBC followed suit and pulled an abrupt about-face in the Proms debacle. The issue, should it have escaped your notice, was that a large number of sentient beings found the notion of singing Rule Britannia and Land Of Hope And Glory an affront to human dignity and called for the offending ancient anthems to be dropped from the ceremony. Lest we forget, Rule Britannia – based on a poem by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740 – claims “Britons never will be slaves” which, considering its emphasis on the might of the British Empire in the days of colonialism and slavery, implies that it’s okay for others to be enslaved.

By the 1700s when the song became popular, Britain was exporting half of the world’s slaves and slave ship owners and the overlords of Caribbean plantations, most of whom lived in Britain, became very wealthy and influential in society on the back of these terrible exploits.