Slight thread hijack:

Is a Nation a political body, a landmass, a group of people who live on that landmass, a group with a common religion? This obviously has a bearing on the meaning and sybolism of a National Anthem. It amazes me how "God save the Queen" has varying marked effects on different people, and it's not actually a terribly good tune or lyric, but it obviously has deep associations.

This is interesting to me, as I don't feel that God save the Queen is particularly "English" any more than it is Scots, Welsh, Irish etc... I appreciate that it's supposed to be British and vaguely all encompassing... I've always felt that "Jerusalem" would have been a better choice.

My Granny always sings "God save our old Tom Cat". Which to me shows a healthy disregard for patriotic fervour. But then, I don't know much about politics/modern history etc, so a lot of the importance of these songs kind of passes me by.

Cheers. Jon