Gordon bids us toil

The Prime Minister has launched his British identity initiative. It’s a collaborative event and a national conversation about shared values.

These values live in the popularity of our common institutions from the NHS, the BBC, to the Queen - and even more recently in UK-wide support for the Olympics, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Make Poverty History and action on climate change.

via. Oh sweet Jeebus, I want to die now: that’s what we’re all about – sitting on our arses in front of a fucking telethon. Actually that probably is what we’re all about these days, but never mind.

I think I’ve probably said this before somewhere but the most depressing thing about New Labour’s national identity monkeyshines isn’t just the implied authoritarian paternalism, but the sheer small time, low rent tinpottery of it all. It makes me think of Paraguayan Admirals, of the fifty third verse of the Swaziland national anthem, of the rotary club improving lecture, of correspondents to local newspapers who write under pig latin pseudonyms, of community singing by inmates of methodist Sunday schools accompanied by kazoo and triangle, of Tubman bids us toil:

Tubman bids us toil in the gleeful way,
Saving every moment of the precious day,
Whether big or little we must work,
So in your small corner don’t shirk and lurk!

Yes, Gordon bids us toil. Well fuck off Gordon, I’m too busy watching some daft twat sit in a bucketful of cold sick for charity.

Comments

[sg]

count yourself lucky. In Australia one of our "enduring national values" is "mateship." Another one, apparently (and can't you just believe it from our history of genocide and the White Australia Policy) is "a fair go for all". The former gets trotted out every ANZAC day (what could better define "mateship" than getting stupidly slaughtered for your betters in the mother country?) and the latter is a central theme of every election campaign.

I mean really - our national values reduced to the kinds of phrases you hear drunk louts using around the barbie? At least your national values are the genteel conversation around the tv telethon. Fair go mate, telethon's are what mateship's all about!