By ‘St George’ a common national bond does exist
I have just returned from a 10 day trip around England in our Battle Bus with ‘Jerusalem’ playing over the loudspeaker and with banners on both sides calling for people to celebrate St George’s day. I can say that the support which we received was absolutely overwhelming and crossed all class barriers and colour.
The best way to highlight the level of support is to describe ‘just a couple ‘of responses as we passed by.
An old man dressed in tweeds in Winchester saluted and shouted ‘for St George’; A road sweeper in Sheffield did exactly the same. Two older women in Bournemouth linked arms and sang ‘Jerusalem’ whilst we waited for the traffic lights to change; A group of black men pointed at their hearts and patted their chests in Bristol mouthing “proud of”; Uniformed school children in London danced and cheered us and school children in every city did the same; Asian men and women clapped us with raised hands in West Bromwich; Residents in Ross on Wye shouted their support:- “we will celebrate St George’s day”; In Brentwood a man ran across the road and stopped our vehicle, he popped a £10 pound note through the side window of our vehicle with the encouraging words ‘I just want you to keep this up’!
Throughout the 10 days we lost count of the salutes, the tapped chests over the heart, the cheers and the waving hands.
These responses show what many already know, that a common bond exists across all of England and this English national bond transcends all groups because a sense of English nationhood exists. Political leaders would do well to listen and MPs need to support St George’s day being made a public holiday and England being given our own national anthem.
Despite this we continue to hear too many politicians say ‘there is no support for St George’s day to become a public holiday’ and ‘there is no support for an English national anthem’. It is obvious that the people of England think this is rubbish but if any MP still does not believe us then I challenge them to come out and meet the people of England. They are waiting but their patience won’t last for ever!
Eddie Bone
England in my Heart