St Georges Day is only 3 days away, have you got anything planned? St George is the patron saint of England and St Georges Day falls on the 23rd April every year. I would say celebrated on the 23rd but, of course, it isn't.
Kids aren't encouraged to celebrate St Georges Day at school, the government won't make it a national holiday and there is a distinct lack of any government (local or national) backed St Georges Day events. You may recall having seen a St Patrick's Day parade through London not long ago on the news. This was arranged by the Mayor of London's office. This same office have also busied themselves organising other festivals and parades for events such as Diwali.
A quick glance at the calendar for the 23rd of April on the london.gov.uk website shows that The Globe Theatre are celebrating St Georges Day. There is an event at Trafalgar Square for St Georges Day as well ... although it isn't actually to celebrate St Georges Day, it's to show the Olympic Committee that we are not racist and to celebrate diversity. That's nice. There's an event at the Cenotaph and another at Covent Gardens organised by the Royal Society of St George.
So ... what exactly is the government of the capital of England doing to celebrate St Georges Day? Absolutely bugger all. Again. As usual, they've left it all to other people to organise and then claim it all as their own work by putting it in their St Georges Day events calendar.
Elsewhere around the country it's pretty much the same story. The government is reaffirming it's position that England is a group of disparate regions under the control of it's superior partners in the United Kingdom and that anything that might give any ideas of unity, belonging or (perish the thought) Englishness must be supressed or at the very least, ignored.
St Georges Day is an ideal opportunity for the people of England to show Tony and his cronies that England is not a group of artificial regions, it is not the UK's cash cow and that most importantly we are English. If you have a St Georges flag, fly it. If you don't have one, buy one. They're available from many places, including Clintons Cards. If you can't afford to buy one, print one and stick it in your car window. If you have a website theme it. Just do your bit to show that you are English and proud of it. Send a clear message that we won't go away just because we're being ignored.
English first, British second.
Here endeth the sermon.