I spent a very enjoyable afternoon, yesterday, lying in the bright spring sunshine at RAF Halton, whilst the children of Buckinghamshire cubs and scouts attended a service for St George’s Day.
There has been much guff about St George’s Day this year – and rightly so – many seeking to reclaim the flag from the extremists of the BNP, others calling for a rather more fervent and heartfelt celebration of our national day, more in line with those marked by the Scots, the Welsh and, of course, the Irish.
I can only add my voice to that chorus. It struck me yesterday that we spend so long nowadays, teaching our kids all sorts of multi-cultural, politically-correct stuff about Diwali and Ramadan and Chinese New Year, that we neglect (I hesitate to say “deliberately” – but the suspicion is there) to teach the basics of who ‘we’ are. After all, isn’t identity all the more important when we are living in a multi-cultural world?
For that reason, I selflessly passed up an afternoon of arduous gardening to drag the kids along to the St George’s Day parade and service. Hooray for England and St George!