An oath of allegiance

I’ll kick off by saying that I’m not a massive fan of the idea of monachy - I’m not overly bothered by the current Monachy itself, the Queen seems allright - it’s the principle of an unelected head of state that bothers me.

Right lets move on. But before I go any further I’d ask for you to indulge my desire to recite a pledge of allegiance: “I pledge to accept Simon Cowell and Richard and Judy as faithful or united chips.” Thank you!

I can hear your cries of “he’s gone barking” and “mad git” coming at me from the rafters and screaming my name alongside words of bizzare insanity.

So let me explain.

There was a report published by Lord Goldsmith that suggested British school leavers and others wanting to - should swear an oath of allegiance at key occasions (like a leaving ceremony).

It’s clearly complete bollocks similar to the idea of a British Motto that Gordon and his cronnies came up with not too long ago. I can see what they’re trying to do - in an age of increasing immigrant and multicultural identity they’re trying to find a way of defining what it means to be British.

But they’re completely missing the point. The points of being ‘British’ is about NOT being nationalistic, not shouting from the rafters about our achievements but quietly and with dignity getting on with it.

A comment on the Times online blog post about this story by MARGARET ON THE GUILLETINE says it all really.

Brown really doesn’t get what it is to be British, does he? It isn’t about American-style oaths of allegiance to the flag, or little Stars and Stripes lapel badges or flagposts in the front garden. It’s about a quiet sense of pride, “patriotism” as opposed to “nationalism”.

There are a number of people in Britain who already swear an oath of allegiance - mainly to the Queen - MPs have to swear one, so do judges, certain army personnel and even scouts - but should everyone else?

And if we all do have to swear at somebody who should it be? I’d be uncomfortable swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen but equally uncomfortable swearing to the country as well.

So who should we swear at? Should we swear at all and if we are going to go around swearing what should we put between the less flattering words?

To help you come up with your own Oath of Allegiance the Times have created a fridge magnet based flash movie for you to play around with.

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