Here in Britain, the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition got into trouble recently when observers noticed that he was failing to sing our national anthem. But I don't blame him myself. It's a terrible tune, with banal lyrics. God Save the King was first sung in 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Scots pretender to the throne of Great Britain, had just beaten a Hanoverian army near Edinburgh, and the English needed rallying. After 270 years, we have different enemies, and I humbly propose it's time we had a new anthem. Last week, I gave my view on House of Lords reform, and today I want to put 21st Century British patriotism on a secure footing. Because I agree with George Orwell that while nationalism is an evil in the world, patriotism has its place. Unlike our US cousins, we Brits feel rather embarrassed about patriotism. My friends in Norway and Switzerland regularly fly their national flag in outside their houses. If I did the same, my neighbours would think I was a fascist. I oppose nationalism, but at the same time, I'm a patriot. To quote George Orwell: "By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people."
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