I had to clip this from the self-important guff about St. George's Day on here:
"Now we have it we're planning a big celebration and have organised all-day karaoke as part of the event. The man who is running that is even called George and I'm sure we'll have a great time."
Would you have as good a time if his name was Mike or Steve? Karaoke suddenly a typically-English pastime? Quick! Tell that guide who still thinks we stop every day at 4 for tea and cucumber sarnies! Do you think we should continue to Morris dance next Friday too?
Good luck to you all. Speaking as an Englishman, the problem in the past regarding the lack of recognition of George's Day is that many people have been
- and maybe still are - indifferent about it. It's also been said that the English are masters of understatement about most things and therefore have no great cultural 'need' to celebrate it. The spectre of the extreme right's association with all things supposedly British and English has also put people off in the past.
Some English people see George's Day as a chance to expose their petty nationalistic tendencies; of how "things were better before the Irish/blacks/Jews etc came and took our jobs/our women etc". For a kick-off Britain and London especially was a grey place in the post-war period; the war-worn British people had forgotten how to have fun and there was a chronic labour shortage. People arrived from the former colonies to work here BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT ACTIVELY RECRUITED THEM TO! Right-wing numbskulls think it would've been better to cut off our collective noses and remain in the midst of a labour shortage rather than get Britain moving again! How stupid can you be?!
Truth was and still is this: Britain was settled by waves of continual immigration over hundreds of years. We are a mongrel race and we always have been.
Some see George's Day as somehow exclusive i.e you can't be English and black, or English and Jewish etc whereas the massively-successful St. Patrick's Day bashes every 17th March feel more inclusive.
The first Paddy's Day fest a couple of years ago in London was a culmination in a lot of things including peace (of a kind) between the UK and Ireland, increased investment in the Irish economy ('the celtic tiger'), a new recognition of the vast contribution made to Britain by the Irish and a new confidence of a small nation through successes in sport etc. It was a total package and Paddy's Day set the seal on it.
Belonging is a strange and intangible thing: we need to belong to something ultimately, even if that thing is a mixed bag of achivements, disappointments and injustices. By the way, my local is having a total day of it next Friday: the day's fun will commence with the full match video of a certain glorious day in July 1966, followed by another day in the far east two years ago and then a certain rugby union match in November last year. Bombardier will be on at a special price and an Englishman from Essex will round off the evening with songs, although Roll Out The Barrel, Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner and Jerusalem may not be featured!
"What's this got to do with beer" you ask. Beer, as most intelligent types know, is about more than just what it is. Like all food and drink, clothes, homes, cars etc, it's one of many symbols of belonging.
Cheers and have a good one, jingoists! Al