Once again - England is NOT the same as Britain!!!! Britain is the island shared by the English, Welsh and Scots. The United Kingdom is Britain plus Northern Ireland.

"God save the Queen", for all its faults, is currently the national Anthem of the UK, not of England - that's why the English footie team gets booed for using it when playing against Wales or Scotland. GStheQ should only be used by teams that represent the whole of the UK, not just one region of it - the UK Olympic team is entitled to use it, the England footie boys are not.

Of course the English should have their own anthem. The cricket team uses "Jerusalem" - why not? The rugby team uses "Sweet Chariot", mainly because it has rude gestures - appropriate? English athletics (at the Commonwealth Games) used "Land of Hope & Glory", which hardly seems accurate these days. Hopefully the English will be able to choose something that fits - not for me to suggest anything.

What's wrong with GStheQ as a national anthem, someone asked. Mainly what's wrong is that its not about pride in your country but about subservience to an individual and her dysfunctional family. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your own country, as long as you allow other people to be proud of theirs, and don't use patriotism as an excuse to attack them.

Rant over.

Andrew