St George's Day

It's that time of year again when we celebrate the patron saint of England, St George, famous for rescuing a damsel in distress by killing a dragon. The fact that St George was far from 'English' (in terms of the modern map of Europe, he would probably be Turkish) and that dragons only exist in the confines of children's story books (and Game of Thrones for the big kids out there), seems to do nothing to dampen peoples 24-hour patriotism-fest each 23rd April. I will admit, even I used to dig out my 'Cross of St George' cuff-links for St George's Day, so I am not immune. Some, however, go a lot further and use it to drape everything in the red and white. There are growing calls each year for the day to be made a Bank Holiday, a day to celebrate national pride, if you will. Is it important that we have such a day in the calendar?

Other countries do seem to have a day that centres on a date with national significance, the day that they see as a defining moment. For the US this is Independence Day (4th July) and for France, it is Bastille Day (14th July). Russia Day (12th June), only introduced in 1994, celebrates the re-emergence of Russia after the end of the Soviet Union, a holiday that is not universally popular as there are many who still yearn for thos good old Soviet days (not least, Vladimir Putin, seemingly). For the diehards in Russia, there is still Defender of the Fatherland Day or Victory Day that date back to the Soviet era. The Italians have Republic Day that celebrates the date when the monarchy was retired, the Spanish have...well, shedloads of public holidays, most of which are regional (including, in Catalonia, St George's Day celebrated on the same date as ours). You get the idea: national days exist in so many other countries, but not here in the UK.

In the UK, apart from Good Friday, Easter Monday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, we can't even be arsed to give the others proper names! Instead, we just call them "Early May", "Spring" and "Summer". No, no, no - we don't want to be seen celebrating anything like the Signing of Magna Carta, the establishment of habeas corpus, the discovery of the structure of DNA or the even the first four minute mile. I realise it's not eveyone's cup of tea, but even military victories (Trafalgar, Waterloo, Battle of Britain, VE-Day for God's sake) are not commemorated by a national holiday. When considered in the context of the rest of the world, we come across as a little bit wierd in that respect.

I am not advocating here for a blind patriotism that borders on the jingoistic: a love of country that makes us blind to its imperfections and shortfalls. The US brand of partiotism can seem a little 'strong' for us Brits as it seems to be an over-demonstrative love of one's country that leaves us thinking "Get a room!". The chants of "USA! USA! USA!" at sporting events can feel intimidating for the non-Amenricans rather than being (for the most part) an innocent and total belief in the Land of the Free. Their very upbringing delivers a relationship to nationality and the national flag so different to ours. In contrast, we either shy away from such overt demonstrations of patriotism or else we head to head to the dark side of 'loving' our country, that of jingoism and xenophobia.

There are things in our recent and more distant past that are huge blots on the national copybook - our involvement in the slave trade, our treatment of nationals in countries fighting for independence against the Empire, our involvement in the war in Iraq based on non-existent 'evidence' to name a few - but overall, I still think this is a pretty decent country and I am still proud to call myself 'British/English' (there is another debate!), despite our current 'leaders' who seem intent on destroying the systems that are the source of much of that pride for me. Perhaps we should have a national holiday to have a bit of a crow about how good this country can be. However, rather than 23rd April and celebrating a Turkish dragon-slayer, I would suggest another date - how about the 5th July, the date in 1948 when Trafford General was 'opened' as the first NHS hospital in Britain. Now that is something to be proud of!