I'm sorry I'm feeling nautically patriotic at the moment and I like 'Hearts of Oak' or 'Rule Britannia'. I hate the term jingoistic. If you can't be patriotic when singing your national anthem, when can you be? Do any other countries have problems singing of national pride? Surely, one can be proud of one's own heritage, country and culture without being disrespectful of other peoples. If not, we might as well knock trad English/Scottish/Irish/Welsh (insert any other country here including Africa, Jamaica, Breton) music, songs and stories on the head now.

A term which is used a lot these days is 'distinctiveness and a sense of place' - please not a melting pot - lets celebrate and recognise everyone's distinctiveness. Not try to pretend that none of our nations have histories


Heck - where did all that come from. I'm sorry - I'll go and lie down for a while....