The problem with this sort of doggerel is that it looks backwards instead of looking forward. Of course our history and our heritage are important but there is as much a heritage of dissent, revolution and attempts to change the status quo as there is of jingoism and misplaced patriotism.

Today (well, in a 2003 survey) less than 18% of people are participating members of an organized religion and over half don't believe in god. The monarchy is a redundant anachronism and has been since 1649. There is greater cultural and ethnic diversity than ever before. Education is no longer for the privileged few. The ways we earn our livings had changed beyond recognition. Our needs and expectations are constantly evolving. Why do we persistently hark back to an age that was, for most people, far inferior in most respects – let's be proud of the real England of today and of how we can make it even better?

As the parrots on Aldous Huxley's Island kept repeating: "Here and now, boys. Here and now."