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Apparently lots of people's attention is turning to celebrations of Britishness at this moment, what with us having the Olympic handover, and a shitload of medals and such.
The thing is, we Brits aren't that good at unreserved nationalistic pride - witness Steve's suggestion of adopting Mna-Mna for the National Anthem, here. The Last Night of The Proms aside, we like to be faintly self-deprecating and ironic about our displays of patriotic fervour. We don't do all that flashy stuff like other nations. Yes, we know the world would be a better place if we were still running it, but we don't like to rub it in other nation's faces too much. We just cock our national eyebrows at their antics, think about how we had a proper parliament when they were still all hurling rocks at each other, and smile smugly to ourselves.
Obviously, there has to be an exception to every rule, and so it is with this one. There exists an enormous, bright red, supersonic, two-fingered salute to the idea that we Brits don't do flashy, and I saw it cavorting above Torquay today.
The Red Arrows' sole purpose of existence is to show the rest of the world that Our fighter pilots are Better Than Yours, and maybe you can fly excitingly up a canyon at breakneck speeds, but we can do it in formation, nine strong, and trailing red white and blue smoke as we go; and when we get to the end of the canyon we'll wave at the children on our way past. Yes, they are environmentally unsound, and yes, they cost a fortune... But bloody hell they're impressive.
Bollocks to a national anthem (new or otherwise), let's just get the Reds to do a flypast every time we win a medal in 2012!
A pretty picture to illustrate something we all knew anyway: roughly 2/3 of the population earn less than "average" wage.
(hat-tip:![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
andrewducker, here)
And finally, because I know you love them, a poll, inspired by Mat's dad suggesting we take the scenic route home and then being all stunned when I thought that meant going through the countryside instead of along the coast.
Poll #1249284 Scenic Routes?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
The thing is, we Brits aren't that good at unreserved nationalistic pride - witness Steve's suggestion of adopting Mna-Mna for the National Anthem, here. The Last Night of The Proms aside, we like to be faintly self-deprecating and ironic about our displays of patriotic fervour. We don't do all that flashy stuff like other nations. Yes, we know the world would be a better place if we were still running it, but we don't like to rub it in other nation's faces too much. We just cock our national eyebrows at their antics, think about how we had a proper parliament when they were still all hurling rocks at each other, and smile smugly to ourselves.Obviously, there has to be an exception to every rule, and so it is with this one. There exists an enormous, bright red, supersonic, two-fingered salute to the idea that we Brits don't do flashy, and I saw it cavorting above Torquay today.
The Red Arrows' sole purpose of existence is to show the rest of the world that Our fighter pilots are Better Than Yours, and maybe you can fly excitingly up a canyon at breakneck speeds, but we can do it in formation, nine strong, and trailing red white and blue smoke as we go; and when we get to the end of the canyon we'll wave at the children on our way past. Yes, they are environmentally unsound, and yes, they cost a fortune... But bloody hell they're impressive.
Bollocks to a national anthem (new or otherwise), let's just get the Reds to do a flypast every time we win a medal in 2012!
A pretty picture to illustrate something we all knew anyway: roughly 2/3 of the population earn less than "average" wage.
(hat-tip:
andrewducker, here)And finally, because I know you love them, a poll, inspired by Mat's dad suggesting we take the scenic route home and then being all stunned when I thought that meant going through the countryside instead of along the coast.
Poll #1249284 Scenic Routes?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
Which is more scenic?
View Answers
Flat blue stuff with occasional boats?
4 (17.4%)
Lumpy green stuff with lots of trees and plants and animals and stuff? 13 (56.5%)
Ticky boxes 4 (17.4%)
Special Snowflakes 2 (8.7%)
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