A question of anthems

IT'S TIME WE DITCHED
IMPERIALISTIC
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

In an email to me, a reader has objected to my describing God Save The Queen as the English national anthem.

I readily concede that, officially, England does not have a national anthem. Indeed, it can be argued that no part of the UK - not even the UK itself - has a national anthem, because no anthem (not even GSTQ) has ever been adopted by royal proclamation.

But the point I'm making is that in such matters custom and practice are the guiding principles. GSTQ being played as the English anthem at rugby and soccer internationals featuring England being a good example.

GSTQ, first heard in the 1700s, quickly came to be regarded as the British national anthem. But with the swift decline of Empire after World War Two, many (including many English people) began, quite rightly, to question GSTQ's imperialistic sentiments, which clearly had England in mind.

Certainly the Scots had every right to jib at the GSTQ references to crushing Scots (and there are those who saw the "enemies" verses as applying just as much to the Welsh as anyone - for a long time the Welsh were regarded as England's enemies). The offending verses are rarely, if ever, heard today, but have never been officially dropped.

There are those (and I'm one of them) who think that, if you're going to have anthems, then it's time the UK ditched GSTQ altogether and replaced it with something more appropriate in the modern world.