Category: Patriotism

Nationalistic Nonsense – National Anthem & GB News

Failing GB News’ attempt at becoming more patriotic by playing the National Anthem daily gets slated; dimwit Darren Grimes, of course, had to weigh in

This morning at 5:59am prompt – in what seemed like something from an episode of Dad’s Army gone wrong – the comedy channel with bad lighting that is GB News played God Save The Queen “to kick off live programming.” They bragged that they will do so “every day from now on,” but used accompanying imagery that amongst other things included a pile of rocks (pictured above). It was hardly a show of Britain at its best; it was more like tepid tea, in fact – bland and boring.

In an email sent last night, GB News enthused of their laughable attempt at bigging-up Britain:

“The anthem will play out across GB News Television and GB News Radio at 5.59am, ahead of Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel on weekdays, and Breakfast with Stephen and Anne at weekends.

“As you know, the anthem used to be a regular feature at the BBC, who dropped it from their television service 24 years ago. It means GB News will be only British television broadcaster to play the anthem daily.”

“We promised that GB News would celebrate what’s good about our country when we can, and the Queen’s 70 years on the throne is definitely cause for celebration.”

“We’ve selected an uplifting instrumental version which, for our television viewers, will play over photographs of beautiful British scenes at dawn.”

“We think this moment of quiet reflection will be a lovely way to start the day. We hope you do too.”

Though lauded as a “proud moment for British broadcasting,” according to an article this morning in the MailOnline, the version played was subsequently mocked widely online. Of it, one commentator remarked: “If all GB News has got as imagery to promote modern Britain is a falling down castle, they must truly be getting desperate. They’ve lost Andrew Neil and all they have left, aside from [“condom campaigner”] Tom Harwood, is this. What a joke.”

In another image shown to accompany the airing, the ruins of a castle feature. Is this all that the production team could come up with? Are they trying to suggest that once Great Britain is nothing but a land of ruins? Perhaps they were hinting at Boris Johnson’s premiership being akin to a pile of rubble even.

David Poulden and Darren Grimes – both of whom work for GB News – have been amongst those to predictably bang on about the matter on Twitter in recent days. As is to always be expected of him, ‘Dim Darren’ has got especially worked up.

We would argue that ‘We Are The Brits’ by Anton Lorien and his subsequent ‘Like A Diamond’ present a better set of imagery that is frankly at least relevant and joyous. Why didn’t GB News take a look at his videos prior to producing their utterly boring version?

Lorien’s ‘Like A Diamond’ has been watched by over 1.1 million on YouTube since it was uploaded in April 2012. It features amazing footage of the Queen – including a video clip of her running to watch one of her racehorses.

The National Anthem – As described on The Royal Family’s Website

The British National Anthem in its present form dates back to the eighteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century.

God Save The King was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In September 1745, the ‘Young Pretender’ to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.

In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged God Save The King for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly.

This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting monarchs with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established.

There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.

The words used today are those sung in 1745, substituting ‘Queen’ for ‘King’ where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung.

The words are as follows:

God save our gracious Queen!

Long live our noble Queen!

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen.

Thy choicest gifts in store

On her be pleased to pour,

Long may she reign.

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause,

To sing with heart and voice,

God save the Queen.

The British tune has been used in other countries. European visitors to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country possessing such a recognised musical symbol.

In total, around 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.

The decision of GB News to begin the day with the National Anthem was preceded by a discussion about whether the BBC should play it daily on 16^th January. In it, ex-MP Michael Portillo and Paul Embery agreed that this “isn’t a huge burning issue,” yet Arlene Foster claimed viewers were all asking: “Why wouldn’t the national broadcaster play the National Anthem?”

Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has been a leading figure in attempts to get all broadcasters to play the anthem every evening during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year.

January 18, 2022
It’s A Wrap – Donald Trump

That Donald Trump’s family has been reduced to flogging gift wrapping paper featuring the 45^th POTUS’s face takes tackiness to a new level

When he’s not wishing Ghislaine Maxwell well, it seems Donald Trump is keeping busy with the help of his son, Donald Jr., flogging “Trump gift wrapping paper.”

Priced at a somewhat punchy £26 ($35, €31 or درهم129) per roll, Donald Jr. suggests of the tat: “This is a must I know they’ll sell out fast, so hurry before they’re gone.” He goes on to add that “top Trump patriots” are being given “priority access” to purchase before he “opens up orders to everyone.”

Alternatively this Christmas, OnBuy.com are offering two rolls of Donald Trump bog roll for £15.84 ($21.02, €18.57 or درهم77.19) – a veritable bargain and definitely a more apt of ‘The Donald’s’ rather shitty presidency.

Previously, during their time at the White House, the 45^th POTUS’s potty-mouthed wife Melania was slammed for her taste in Christmas decorations and was caught saying: ““I’m working … my a** off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right? And then I do it, and I say I’m working on Christmas and planning for Christmas and they say, ‘What about the children that are separated?’ Give me a f***ing break.” Perhaps she’s the one whose mouth needs wrapping up.

Elsewhere last week, Donald Trump Jr. took to Instagram to have a pop at Jill Biden’s Christmas decorations. Dimwitted ‘Donnie Jr.’ shared a picture of this year’s White House decorations and told his 5.4 million followers: “Anyone who ever criticized Melania’s Christmas decorations needs to apologise now… If we lower our expectations any further we’re going to turn into an S-hole country.” He later added: “And it’s going to get worse folks.” Perhaps he needs his mouth wrapping up also.

It must be remembered that this vile brat, like his cretinous chum Larysa Switylk, likes to go around massacring elephants. Shame on him.

December 11, 2021
Brexit Boat Baloney

Nikolay Kalinin on Defence Secretary Ben Wallace’s laughable attempt to condemn those not backing the ‘Brexit boat’ as unpatriotic

It’s pretty clear to every rational person in Britain – even the ones who voted to “take back control” – that the government’s decision to invest £250 million into a “royal yacht” rather than give that money to, say, the NHS is plainly stupid. This fact, however, has not yet been grasped by the Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace.

Following Labour’s criticism of the £250 million being wasted on a “royal yacht,” Wallace accused the party of being unpatriotic. He remarked: “That’s Labour’s problem. They’re not patriotic about these sort of things, they don’t understand the workforces,” before mentioning workers in Barrow-in-Furness and Lancashire responsible for creating nuclear submarines and fighter jets.

I am not sure if Wallace is aware of this, but there’s a difference between investing in jet fighters and submarines and investing in a massive £250 million ‘Brexit boat,’ and that difference is that one benefits the country and one is simply an unnecessary expense.

It’s hilarious that Wallace is trying to portray himself as a supporter of the workforce, despite the fact that he has voted for more restrictive regulation of trade union activity amongst other things.

Furthermore, Wallace has shown himself to be dismissive of the idea that helping vulnerable people means being a good politician; for example, he has voted against spending public money on the creation of guaranteed jobs for unemployed young people, and he has also voted for the utterly pointless and stupid ‘bedroom tax.’

It is then puzzling to see Mr. Wallace try to show himself as a patriot when all he has ever done for the working class is vote to impose more restrictions on them, and I advise him to stop prattling about patriotism and start actually doing things that will benefit the people.

The late Sir Donald Gosling left a sum of £50 million towards providing a new royal yacht in his will. Whether this money has now been put towards Boris Johnson’s proposed ‘Brexit gin palace’ is a question that remains unanswered.

In May, whilst discussing the proposed ‘Brexit boat’ on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Broadcasting House,’ Dame Esther Rantzen remarked: “This is to me a crazy idea at a time when our economy has been obviously dealt something of a death blow by COVID, when we have no plans for social care, when food banks are thriving. Do we really think that the taxpayer, let alone the royal family, want £200 million spent on a royal yacht? I think it’s an example of a newspaper starting a campaign which is so out of touch. However, perhaps, I have the solution: Sir Philip Green, do you remember him? He has a knighthood – which some people have questioned. He lives in Monaco, where there’s plenty of other people with yachts. Why doesn’t he donate his boat to the royal family? If he’s got monograms with the words ‘Philip’ on it, that would be suitable for those who feel that the yacht should be named after Philip, Duke of Edinburgh… Prince Philip, you could just add a few, a few, you know…”

Ben Wallace was deservedly slammed after he recently announced the UK royal yacht successor could cost the taxpayer £50 million more than initially suggested.

Former Tory Chancellor Ken – now Lord – Clarke remarked of the project: “[It] is silly populist nonsense… We have no money for that kind of thing… It’s a symptom; £200 million is not going to cause problems, but it shows there are people in No 10 who just think there’s free money and who think that waving a union jack and sending yachts and aircraft carriers around the world shows what a great power we are.”

August 4, 2021
Anything but En-Tice-ing

Nikolay Kalinin calls out Reform UK leader Richard Tice for spouting nonsense about Covid-19, vaccines and fertility

Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice is the kind of bloke I’d most definitely not want to take down the pub. Known for supporting policies that would bring chlorinated chicken into Britain, the founder of Leave.EU previously ludicrously claimed that Brexit would prevent an “Orlando-style atrocity” by Islam extremists and also that “immigration without assimilation equals invasion.”

In an attempt to attract publicity to his now dying party of fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, Tice has now claimed that “forcing” young women to have the COVID-19 vaccine will “mean increased still births, miscarriages, disabled children, infertility.” This is an absolute lie that is not backed up by any sort of evidence.

When criticised for his blatant stupidity, “lobbyist who carries a poison pen” Isabel Oakeshott’s current squeeze cited the websites of Yellow Card and VAERS. In doing so, he simply showed that he is clearly ignorant of the fact that not only are both of these schemes reliant on voluntary reporting that is biased and inaccurate, but also that he is unaware that Yellow Card itself presented inaccurate information about the vaccines.

Tice has subsequently apologised and deleted his original tweet, but the point is that we cannot ignore such insanity, because there are actually people in the United Kingdom who believe such tosh when it is force fed to them.

The piffle coming from Reform UK is just as bad; recently, the party started whingeing about a video they shared being removed from social media channels for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. In it, they specifically stated that masks don’t protect against COVID-19 – claiming that “the only proper clinical study – which was carried out in Denmark – showed masks make no statistically significant difference in reducing transmission.”

In reality, the Danish study “didn’t look at whether mask-wearing protects others by stopping wearers from exhaling the virus,” meaning that saying that masks don’t have a significant effect is very much a flawed claim.

Furthermore, the party has published a graphic on Twitter that attempted to back up their anti-mask agenda by claiming that a YouGov poll concluded that 56% of 19,000 people surveyed would stop wearing masks following ‘Freedom Day.’

In addition, Reform UK fails to acknowledge that YouGov also conducted a survey which concluded that 71% of Britons support face masks remaining compulsory on public transport and 66% backed keeping face masks compulsory in shops and some enclosed public spaces.

All-in-all, this demonstrates that Reform UK is nothing but a party of prattling pillocks who, though they claim to be teachers, messiahs and protectors of freedom, are actually trying to lower the population’s average IQ in order to get them to believe their tosh and grant them power.

What especially upsets me is how Reform UK presents itself as an “anti-establishment” party, despite the fact that its leader and founders are anything but non-establishment. Both Farage and Tice went to boarding school, and Tice himself is a former member of the Conservative party and a multi-millionaire based in Belgravia. However, because they present themselves as the opponents of the “metropolitan elite,” their claims are somehow automatically legitimised by the public – no matter how inaccurate they are.

Uppingham educated Tice should do what Farage did; sod off from politics and take his rambling rantings elsewhere, they have no place in a civilised society.

Pictured top: Self-declared “cause based campaigner” Richard Tice with his so-called ‘journalist’ lover Isabel Oakeshott.

The Reform UK leader was previously deservedly “roasted” for an “utterly creepy advert” that “read like an advert for condoms” in 2019.

July 26, 2021
A Sticker Not A Solution

Nikolay Kalinin calls out Grant Shapps’ decision to replace ‘GB’ car stickers with ‘UK’ ones as utterly ludicrous

There are so many things that Conservative MPs could focus on right now.

They could work on reviving British business – if they truly care about Brexit – or strengthening links between the different regions in order to prevent them from declaring independence, but instead they decided to instead obsess about car stickers. Yes, you heard it right, car stickers.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps recently announced that production of traditional ‘GB‘ motifs used by British drivers abroad will be discontinued in favour of a legal emblem stating ‘UK.’ Their reasoning? The Daily Mail reports it is being done “as an attempt to win over unionists amid heightened tensions over post-Brexit border checks” and in order to “send a clear message about Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.” Exactly how the new rule will “win over unionists,” however, was not explained by the minister.

Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger responded to the announcement by stating: “I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB.”

However, another Tory MP told the Mail: “The United Kingdom is stronger because it has the link with Northern Ireland because if you say Great Britain you are excluding Northern Ireland. I think it strengthen the ties at a time when we have got a problem.”

If the transport secretary really cared about “including” Northern Ireland within the country, he would by this point get on with the construction of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland that Boris Johnson pledged to build a few months ago, which would benefit national trade and establish an easier connection between Northern Ireland and the rest of UK.

Policy like this affirms what many online satirists and journalists have been saying: The Conservatives care about anything but the people they’re supposed to represent. Instead of passing legislation designed to help people, they introduce initiatives that are either pointless, such as One Britain One Nation Day, or do things that make life worse for people, for example by not closing the country in time when the Delta variant began to spread.

COVID has exposed even more how these people absolutely don’t care about the public’s wellbeing, because while Boris Johnson has pledged to remove the rule of compulsory mask-wearing in shops and public transport, a recent poll by YouGov has concluded that 71% of people in England, Wales and Scotland want mask-wearing to be compulsory after July 19th, with 66% saying that the rules should remain in shops and enclosed public spaces.

If you need more evidence, just look at the Conservatives trying to suppress the right to protest with the Policing and Crime Bill, which Labour proposed to amend by introducing a minimum sentence for rape. Unsurprisingly, the Conservatives voted against the amendment. They don’t care about the people who suffered violence in their households during lockdown, because as Labour MP Angela Rayner stated, the Conservatives are “more interested in protecting statues than protecting women.”

The Conservatives need to realise that even though they have a 363-seat majority, that does not grant them immunity from public scrutiny and accountability. They still have a job of representing the people, and it’s about time that they started doing that, instead of passing laws that are unnecessary and pointless.

Pictured top: Aside from being “beguiled” by the e-scooter lobby, as we reported on Sunday, Grant Shapps is now set to inflict his plain personal obsession with ‘UK’ stickers over ‘GB’ stickers on the British public.

Shapps’ decision has been ridiculed on all sides of the political divide. It will not only anger Brexiteers, but also those whose loyalties still are to the European Union.

Of the move, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP remarked: “That is a bit bloody rum. I can’t see the point. It seems to me to be a complete waste of money when we don’t need to be wasting money. It also seems to be a slap in the face for people who are proud to be GB. It is a waste of time, a waste of money. I don’t know why we are bothering.” Going further, ‘The Sun’ added: “The AA described the move, which was settled on in May but not announced, leaving them feeling left ‘in the lurch’ as stocks of some 50,000 ‘GB’ motifs are now completely worthless.”

Previous advice, such as shown in this video shared on YouTube in February, is now out of date. Those that don’t follow the new rules, ‘The Sun’ concludes: “It will be a legal requirement to slap the ‘UK’ one on your car, and rule flouters could face fines. These will be down to the individual countries.”

July 7, 2021
The Nonsense of One Britain, One Nation

Nikolay Kalinin joins those mocking the “godawful silliness” of the One Britain, One Nation campaign and slams it as anything but true patriotism

It seems that because five years have passed since Brexit, the government has decided that the only problem that now needs solving is the public’s supposed lack of patriotism – and so they have decided to make muscular unionism an official government policy.

The first hellish component of this ‘plan’ is the One Britain, One Nation day, named after the campaign group of the same name, which according to its website aims to “create a strong, fair, harmonious and a proud British Nation – celebrating patriotism and respect for all our people.”

The campaign has even produced a song which was performed by schoolchildren, which was so disturbing that even GB News host Kirsty Gallacher stated: “I don’t want my children singing that”, even going as far as calling the tune “propaganda”.

The campaign promoted much-expected backlash on social media, with many comparing the campaign to something from the Hitler Youth, while LBC host James O’Brien said on air: “If I played you (the song) before Brexit and said that the Department of Education is encouraging all children in the country to sing this song at school, I don’t think you would have believed me.”

It seems that the government haven’t learnt their lesson, because American-born Tory MP for Beaconsfield Joy Morrissey announced recently on Twitter that she will be campaigning alongside the British Monarchist Society to “put a portrait of Her Majesty in every home, company, and institution that would like one” adding: “It is time to rediscover our pride in being British!”

As expected, the response on social media was dominated by condemnation, with many calling out the campaign as pointless at a time when the pandemic is the issue that needs focusing on. Journalist Ian Dunt responded: “If these people had the slightest idea what there is to be proud of about Britain, they’d not be coming up with this godawful silliness.”

The indy100 meanwhile wrote in their article about the issue: “The Tory party are almost becoming post-ironic. Perhaps Morrissey is angling for the Queen to bestow some sort of honours upon her, to which we say – nobody likes a teacher’s pet.”

I am not against the idea of putting up pictures of the monarchy in one’s home; we all have the personal freedom to do that, and I respect it. However, when an MP from the ruling party starts a campaign aiming to put up pictures in every person’s home, this begins to look like an act of utter ridiculousness and an attempt at indoctrination.

Morrissey also seems to have forgot to read the room, because a recent YouGov poll revealed that only 4% of the people in the UK have a portrait of the Queen in their house, which means that the public is simply not interested in the idea of having a picture of the monarch put in their sitting rooms. What Morrissey has done here is fail the most important task for an MP – to know, understand and react to what her electorate wants and needs.

Regarding the One Britain, One Nation campaign, I am not against teaching children about their country. Obviously, children should learn about their country and the communities within it, but why should the government force the schools to teach this romantic image of the nation to the children, when they could just give them all of the knowledge and let the children decide how they feel about their country? That would be much better, because not only does it reflect the idea of personal freedom, but it also allows children to strengthen their critical thinking.

I also find it extremely ironic how these ludicrous announcements were made at the same time when Savanta ComRes published a poll revealing that even five years after the EU referendum, the people in this country are still divided over the issue, with the results showing that 51% of the people would vote remain if the referendum was conducted in 2021.

If the government truly cares about uniting the people of this country, why not try harder to fix the divide between the more prosperous parts of the south and the less well off parts of the north? Why not, also, instead, give more money to local councils as opposed to spending it on a ‘royal yacht’ that will be nothing but a showboat for Boris Johnson’s ego? That would be true patriotism.

Strong Britain Great Nation pic.twitter.com/snumT2lfTh
— Rosie Holt (@RosieisaHolt) June 23, 2021

Education secretary and “Tory love rat” Gavin Williamson’s decision to back the “brainwashing” One Nation, One Britain campaign has been described as “hyper-creepy” and “stomach churning.” The campaign is supported by, amongst others, “dandruff disaster” Sir Malcolm Rifkind and “get on yer’ bike” Lord Tebbit.

June 25, 2021