Except the ones that did last Friday. Thank **** that includes my daughter.
looks like theyve almost all broken up by this friday
I wouldnt expect mefty to know the scottish term dates
But youd really expect the Department for Education to have some sort of a clue
Is there a special salute that goes with this song? (I don’t have kids so haven’t received any directives.)
I have taught mine to use their 2 middle fingers…
Peace to all worlds!
Can't we just repurpose some boring old hymns?
Stand up, stand up for Boris
The woke-left will be cross
Pile high the covid bodies
He doesn't give a toss.
2 proud provinces.
Britain – E&W
Great Britain – E&W&S
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – E&W&S&NI
Surely Britain would be the historically British areas of the UK - southern Scotland, Wales and a couple of bits of northern England (but not most of England)?
I think it’s a naff idea but don’t quite get the “divide and rule”?
Antiwoke Britler Youth vs Unpatriotic Communist Wokie ‘culture-war’ pantomime innit? It’s the one post-Brexit clickbait gravy-train that will keep on rolling.
Most edifying:
More edifying still if you read the comments:
Two important points that should be noted:
1) Britian is only "great" because for hundreds of years we basically press-ganged an Army and Navy together, and set off round the world in an orgy of murder, rape and pillage, and basically invaded other countries against their will and stole all their stuff. (go have a look in the "British" museum if you don't believe me)
2) Mass singing is an absolute indicator that those people who are singing are helpless and doomed. Sat on the Titanic, in the middle of the cold atlantic, waiting to die, no hope of rescue, yup, lets have a sing along to pass the time till we all die slow horrible inevitable deaths. Same for the Blitz. Waiting for a bomb to land on your head, nothing you can do about it? yup, a quick sing song will pass the time till all your internal organs are burst and plastered around and made external by the shock wave of a 1,000 pounder going off close by.
If you have any actual power as a member of public when it matters, don't blinking well sing, get up and out and sort your self out
😉
The best thing about this is that if the religious nutjob that is my son's head teacher (my son is 10) insists on doing this too, then he will instinctively do the opposite (whatever that is). The best thing is that he's developed this healthy disdain for ideologues without any help from me.
When I told him the previous (temporary) head teacher (who he really liked) was also very Christian he said "I know, but he never went on about it all the time". Hopefully he's learning that the more desperate people are to force ideologies on you then the more he is better ignoring them.
My daughter (13) is a bit more conformist (and anything for a quiet life), so she may well just sing along thinking "this is a bit weird/naff".
The more desperate people are to 'belong' the more stupid they make themselves look. Great, isn't it!
BTW it's no coincidence that the most popular mass singing events occur at religious meetings, where oppressed and helpless people try to make themselves feel better by "bigging up" in song some completely arbitrary and entirely made-up god in the vain hope that there lives might get a bit better (rather than actually doing something that might actually achieve that effect)
And of course the religious leaders make a tidy packet out of their sheep, er, sorry, i mean, flock don't they.......
It's just been part of the headlines on R4 PM and will be covered in the programme.
No doubt that will enhance it's legitimacy/relevance in the eyes of the flag shaggers.
It's nationalistic bollocks.
1) Britian is only “great” because for hundreds of years we basically press-ganged an Army and Navy together, and set off round the world in an orgy of murder, rape and pillage, and basically invaded other countries against their will and stole all their stuff. (go have a look in the “British” museum if you don’t believe me)
Yes but we aren't allowed to say that because the gammons get angry.
Re divide and rule it is relevant in that they are deliberately stoking a contrived 'woke' vs 'anti-woke' to appeal to their base and keep everyone distracted from them enriching their friends and turning the country into a one-party oligarchy.
I think it is more normally used in the context of say, the empire, when we would deliberately stoke conflict between rival factions to keep them from fighting us instead, so sort of relevant - it's the same kind of perpetrators anyway.
Just played it to my son (10) with no preamble and he said:
"What the hell is this 'cringe'?"
Makes me proud!
Yes but we aren’t allowed to say that because the gammons get angry.
All the more reason to say it.
If you're really lucky you can drive them back to their final defensive line:
"We weren't as bad as the Belgians".
Hahahahahahaha!
I wouldnt expect mefty to know the scottish term dates
Actually my sister-in-law is a teacher in Scotland and she breaks up on Friday which according to this Scotsmen article is quite common as it is the end of term date for 20 of the 32 education districts, and another one is next week. Although why anyone is worried about tweets by the DofE when Education is devolved beats me. However I guess the nationalists never like to miss an opportunity to air a grievance however tenuous.
But frankly this seems to be the usually group of constantly offended getting their knickers in a twist. The DofE sent a tweet out encouraging a successful local "inclusion" initiative (which as been going since 2013) the day after the Education Secretary was asked a question on it/for his support in Education questions by a local MP. This followed a question by Esther McVeigh in PMQs a few months ago. This could have been part of some plot to wage a culture war, or more likely, it could be because she is married to the aforementioned MP. There was also briefly a parliamentary group supporting the initiative and it did have a Labour member who was chucked out...by the electorate.
EDIT: A good rule is to ignore Twitter furores, sadly the media doesn't becuase it is a easy and cheap way to generate content even for the so called quality end of the market.
“One Britain, three nations, well perhaps four if you count Northern Ireland but definitely united except for those who consider themselves northerners and don’t even get me started on the Cornish”
I like this. Just needs a bit of noodly jazz behind it and I think we can all vaguely scat along.
On the other hand we used to be a whole bunch of warring kingdoms, back in the good old days (sometimes still referred to as "the dark ages") with plagues and smiting, and barons and peasants and stuff. The sooner we're back to this comfort zone the better.
Esther McVeigh
she is married to the aforementioned MP
Let's hope she's not the brains of the relationship. But, then again, she probably is.
Led by donkeys....
It’s given Kash Singh a great opportunity to get his message out on the airwaves. Sounds like a great guy. Doesn’t seem to understand the questions about the other UK nations put to him, but then why should he? He’s trying to do something good in England really, isn’t he.
mefty
Free MemberAlthough why anyone is worried about tweets by the DofE when Education is devolved beats me.
I dunno, is the tweet about something that's claiming to be One Britain One Nation and unifying people across the whole country?
This could have been part of some plot to wage a culture war, or more likely, it could be because she is married to the aforementioned MP.
Ah just nepotism that conveniently happens to fit in with the current creepy nationalist agenda then, which is fine obviously.
Although why anyone is worried about tweets by the DofE when Education is devolved beats me.
https://twitter.com/educationgovuk/status/1406990765906145281?s=20
Now Mefty, which bit of this communication suggests they are only talking about England?
Antiwoke Britler Youth vs Unpatriotic Communist Wokie ‘culture-war’ pantomime innit? It’s the one post-Brexit clickbait gravy-train that will keep on rolling.
Mr Singh thinks a great song written by primary school children and that the "day" is their idea. He also thinks this country is a great place to be and wants to help make it a better place after retiring as a police inspector. He seems upset that adults and senior politicians are knocking the song written by kids for the "day".
I'm really glad we have people like Mr Singh in this country making it a better place even if it might most cringe, as I expect most songs written by primary school children do
He’s trying to do something good in England really, isn’t he.
Maybe the kids see themselves as British, I know it's unfashionable on here but others may see the country as it is rather than being obsessed with creating difference, division and grievance...
Doesn’t seem to understand the questions about the other UK nations put to him, but then why should he?
Details, dear boy, mere details. We've had enough of experts, dontcha know...
Mr Singh thinks a great song written by primary school children and that the “day” is their idea.
He’s ace. The problem was a government department ‘encouraging schools across the UK’ to get involved in something that isn’t designed for such a thing. If it was, it (hopefully) wouldn’t make the mistakes of only using English lions, being a school event when many Scottish schools are closed, etc. The department got this wrong, he didn’t.
see the country as it is
Yep, and that's the problem.
I particularly like how they are including children in the yellow vest protests, wonder if they realise how French that is.
Quite curious as to who funds ONOB, not much about governance on its website and it seems a bit strange; the polished promotion by someone who was basically a relatively minor lid in a regional police force
Mass singing is an absolute indicator that those people who are singing are helpless and doomed.
I don't agree. In tbe Estonian national library is an amazing photo of something like 10% of the population in a purpose built singing stadium where they celebrated together. The motivation traditionally may have been anti-soviet patriotism but it certainly seemed a euphoric and hopeful gathering!
the polished promotion
It’s not really “polished”, is it! But it is a great local initiative with big ideas. Well done them. It needs a lot of work to be ready to use “across the UK” though. Not least the song.
So a year ago on Brexit day they announce the new Union flag paint job on the RAF plane to much ridicule. This year they announce this but when that goes tits up and receives even greater ridicule the Government need a biggerer distraction so they ask the Navy just to get a bit too close to Crimea.
Tin foil hat time? Probably. Would I say Bozo would think of such a thing to distract from Brexit day and the disaster it is? Definitely
My friends are dead, my heroes disgraced and my enemies are in power
Yep, and that’s the problem.
I don't think Mr Singh and the primary school kids are the problem.
Sadly people like you will be trawling through his social media and personal life to find a way to "other" a guy trying to make his country, (which I imagine he sees as the UK (GB&NI) which I'm sure he'll be cheering on in the Olympics) a better place. Those people are the problem.
Mr Singh seems completely sound. Neither he or the primary school kids are the problem here.
This year they announce this but when that goes tits up and receives even greater ridicule the Government need a biggerer distraction so they ask the Navy just to get a bit too close to Crimea.
A tweet promoting a successful local initiative. No compulsion, no instructions, no change to policy.
The left do the work of both sides to create a culture war. The exposure before the furore would have been minimal. Now it's a lead item on the news to be dissected and analysed with the usual talking heads building it up. All the while Mr Singh tries maintain his cool as he and the kids are dragged through the mud.
Quite curious as to who funds ONOB
They blocked me on Twitter for asking, but someone else linked to two National Lottery grants totalling £20k.
Having said that, Mr Singh sounded like he meant well on R4, even if his geography is a bit weak and his musical tastes a little odd.
The left do the work of both sides to create a culture war.
Ah yes it's the left that's the problem, as usual. This government has been accused of deliberately stoking culture wars by the people they refer to as experts in their 'independent' reports.
But of course some liberals on twitter are the problem.
It looks like a decent guy with a poor grasp of geography (and UK and Irish politics) let some kids write a song to promote anti-racism in the local area (attempting to de-toxify the union flag, etc).
Had it remained local no one would have cared and he could have kept doing what he was doing.
The national government then either took a massive shit in their own pants or they decided to make it a national thing in order to wind the provinces up.
It's always difficult to tell with this government if they are evil or just really ****ing stupid.
All the while Mr Singh tries maintain his cool as he and the kids are dragged through the mud.
Won't someone think of the children!!!
I hate to tell you but pretty much no one is 'going after' Mr Singh and they certainly aren't going after the children. Can you please stop trying to play the victim by proxy?
Mr Singh is coming out of this looking pretty good (although he should maybe read a history book if he wants to take his campaign national).
I'm pretty sure if someone told me to write a song about how great Britain was when I was 8 I would have written something similar.
No, I think everyone is pretty much in agreement that the government are the only ones at fault here and what they are doing has very sinister connotations.
But yeah, keep accusing us of making children cry, by all means.
I used to be a kid. We had to sing all manner of weird stuff. Kum baa ya (wut) etc. No one knew what they meant. One nation under a groove won't faze them.
The lyrics are crazy “we are Britain and we have one dream to unite all people in one team.” What about the refugees in the boats in the channel trying to come into the country. They obviously can’t join the team because they are not rich enough. Maybe they should amend the lyrics to say you can be part of the team as long as you earn above £35k a year.
No, I think everyone is pretty much in agreement that the government are the only ones at fault here and what they are doing has very sinister connotations.
But yeah, keep accusing us of making children cry, by all means.
What did they do? A tweet suggesting schools join in a successful local campaign? Don't like the song, how about get the kids to write their own in your school. It's manufactured reaction to something minor
As for making kids cry, I'm sure the kids of Birmingham loved the hair trigger media comments.
What about the refugees in the boats in the channel trying to come into the country.
The ones fleeing the EU? The current refugee situation is appalling and complex and no country in Europe comes out of it well. But they are leaving a safe country for a dangerous boat trip to a place that plenty on here seems to think treats them abominably. The issues behind each trip may be complex but ultimately they start from somewhere safe before they get in that rubber dingy. What the UK needs to do is come up with a way of legitimate means of entry but even that won't stop the people smuggling as those excluded will still continue to flee the EU.
I wonder how many of the kids that composed the song were refugees themselves or children of refugees?
A tweet suggesting schools join in a successful local campaign?
A tweet encouraging the singing of a song with a very fascist-sounding message, by a government that has strong anti-democratic, nationalistic/xenophobic/jingoistic tendencies.
singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/one-britain-one-nation-day/page/3/#post-11933673
So the refugees can’t come here and be part of the team but you can if you are rich. The government could provide a safe route for refugees to enter this country without resorting to a hazardous crossing. The government allows people with plenty of money into this country through the entrepreneur route. In fact they will even come to your hotel suite and process your application if you pay the fee. Yes unite all people in one team as long as your rich enough.
The left do the work of both sides to create a culture war...while Mr Singh tries maintain his cool as he and the kids are dragged through the mud.
The idea that the ex-cop and some Bradford kids are being "dragged through the mud" is a creation of your own imagination.
dragged thru the mud?
Don't be silly, all I'm seeing is Gavin Williamson being completely useless and screwing up again.
(With bonus points for claiming to be a one nation movement & not realising that by holding it in the 25th he was excluding Scottish kids)
Britian is only “great” because
it got bigger when it joined with scotland. Britain is england and wales, Great britain is scotland england and wales.
I suspect the tweet from the DOE was deliberate to stoke the "culture wars" the tories seem to enjoy and to help create the enemy within
I wouldnt expect mefty to know the scottish term dates
True. Most Englanders have no idea so many things are devolved and different. Don't forget NI have different term dates too.
But youd really expect the Department for Education to have some sort of a clue
At work we have actually had to correct someone senior in DfE about the education systems in Wales, NI and Scotland being both devolved and different....she was in an online meeting I attended in lieu of my CEO. She was happy to have someone with Scotland in job title and was commenting and asking the room why there was never anyone else from Scotland engaging with DfE.
it got bigger when it joined with scotland
How far back are we going?
Great Britain is the bigger of the two main islands. The smaller one is now called Ireland, although part of that is now part of the UK, that is often also referred to, confusingly, as Britain.
I still like telling Little Britain types that Great Britain was named after Brittany by the French. I think I used to believe it as well.
One Nation under a Gove?
*Applauds* 🙂
One England One Nation under God. The revolution will not be televised.
maye next time the home office try a forced deportation, the crowds surrounding the van can sing the song at them
@tjagain your definitions are archaic.
Britain is an abbreviated form of Great Britain:
Britain is the island consisting of England, Scotland, and Wales, which together with Northern Ireland makes up the United Kingdom.
Collins Dictionary
England, Scotland, and Wales
Cambridge Dictionary
The island containing England, Wales, and Scotland. The name is broadly synonymous with Great Britain, but the longer form is more usual for the political unit.
Lexico.com
Great Britain is:
England, Wales, and Scotland considered as a unit. The name is also often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom.
Lexico.com
Great Britain and the united kingdom are not the same thing
Yes Britain as england and wales is archaic - its also correct
Using britain and great britain as synonyms is simply wrong.
None of those definitions mention all the islands either - some of which are in one unit but not the other ( channel islands, Isle of man etc)
its horribly complex, few get it right ( including me)
Agreed. It is complex.
Why shouldn't Britain and Great Britain be synonymous?
That point aside, I think school children in the sceptred isle (which inexplicably refers to England ... and last time I checked it isn't even an 'isle' - was John of Gaunt being ironic?) should be tattooed with the image i tried to link to as it provides the best explanation and comes from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Beautiful.
Why shouldn’t Britain and Great Britain be synonymous
because they mean different things ( at different time even more difference)
great britain is larger britain great refers to size not to quality
because they mean different things ( at different time even more difference)
I think time is key here. I don't think they do mean different things anymore. That's how language works.
I was taught that unique was one of a kind ... nowadays I regularly hear tautologies like "very unique." It doesn't matter how much i might want to tell people they're wrong, it won't make me right.
It's change. It's disconcerting. It is.
Incorrect is incorrect. 🙂
thge reason I think its important to understand Great britain is larger britain is because people assume the great means fantastic when actually it means large
Yeah..... a (well meaning) swing and a miss. I think this is what they were going for, first 10ish seconds are indigenous language. It was used by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a segue during the period where people were locked down, and people really liked it. Although not explicit, the message was "we're all in this together"
We have a very special -physically distanced- performance of ‘I Am Australian’ by the students of Broome Primary School and children across Australia.
The ABC would like to thank the Mabu Yawuru ngan-ga language team and Yawuru Traditional Owners of Broome for providing the translation of the song and for assisting us in the making of this video
I just view this as incompetence by the DofE. They re-tweeted something (which isn't "just a tweet" these days - it's effectively a press-release) without really thinking about what they were doing. Had somebody with half a brain looked at this before re-tweeting it, it would have set off alarm bells.
I'm offended enough by what the Tory government and their cronies are doing deliberately, but what pisses me off more is their sheer incompetence.
But the world isn't black and white.
And your point illustrates mine. The meaning of Great isn't fixed. Just as myriad once meant 10,000 but nobody would suggest that today.
Meaning is different to intended meaning.
A journalist, for example, wouldn't dream of using Britain to refer to England and Wales because (aside from tjagain of Tunbridge Wells 🙂 ) nobody would recognise the intended meaning. They would write England and Wales, because they know what that means.
Weird that I'd be horrified at my daughter singing that at school but when she asked me to teach her this after seeing it in the ABC every day I was more than happy to...
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We'll share a dream and sing with one voice
"I am, you are, we are Australian"
I don't think it's about the song but whether you are actually proud of where you live and the people there.
Bizzare coincidence posting that at the same time as batfink
Weird that I’d be horrified at my daughter singing that at school but when she asked me to teach her this after seeing it in the ABC every day I was more than happy to…
yeah, I sent a link to the video to somebody else last night - and played it on my phone before I sent it. My almost-5-year-old came running over and started singing along.
Bizzare coincidence posting that at the same time as batfink
Smoko time here in NSW
Coffee time in Melbourne 😉
Coffee time in Melbourne 😉
I get all my coffee from Melbourne - five senses beans at the moment. Obviously give the bags a quick wipe down first. We're all Australian certainly - but don't want any of your dirty Victorian germs up here in Sydney.
Currently waiting to hear from Gladys whether I can leave my house today
Sturgeons not impressed
" Asked about the initiative at an event for EU citizens today, the First Minister said: “I have to say when I saw it on social media yesterday I assumed it was a spoof, I didn’t think it was real.
“I’m trying to imagine the outrage there would be if the Scottish Government was insisting or even encouraging Scottish school kids to sing some song about how great Scotland is.
“People would be – and rightly so – up in arms about it. It’s ludicrous and it perhaps says everything about the disinterest the UK Government has in Scotland that they’re asking this to happen on the day Scottish schools go off on their holiday."
She added: “Every aspect of it is ludicrous and I think it says sadly so much that we know about the misguided priorities, the hypocrisy and just the ridiculous nature of a lot of what this UK Government is doing. "
Typical; we send you coffee, you send us Peta Cretin
She added: “Every aspect of it is ludicrous and I think it says sadly so much that we know about the misguided priorities, the hypocrisy and just the ridiculous nature of a lot of what this UK Government is doing. “
it's hard to disagree with that.
Typical; we send you coffee, you send us Peta Cretin
Whereas this ^ FAKE NEWS. She's Victorian.
The good news is that we've sent you something else (from a Sydney birthday party) - enjoy your lockdown!
A journalist, for example, wouldn’t dream of using Britain to refer to England and Wales because (aside from tjagain of Tunbridge Wells 🙂 ) nobody would recognise the intended meaning. They would write England and Wales, because they know what that means.
That would be nice, but all too rare. Most journalists either haven't caught up with devolution or don't care, with the result that England-specific issues are just reported aas applying (implicitly) UK-wide. Sometimes Scottish differentness is acknowledged, less so for Wales. "England and Wales" is currently a single jurisdiction (Scotland and NI are separate judicially) but with increasingly divergent laws (albeit not so many of the big important ones). The policy of the current Welsh government is to create a separate jurisdiction. "Local prisons for local people" as they don't say.
One Nation under a Gove?
(We don’t need) this Fascist Gove thang
From much earlier but @mefty I hope we've broken up for holidays otherwise as of this moment I've 45mins to travel 100 miles back to work. Oh and tell the kids as they all thought yesterday was the last day.
Sadly people like you will be trawling through his social media and personal life to find a way to “other” a guy trying to make his country, (which I imagine he sees as the UK (GB&NI) which I’m sure he’ll be cheering on in the Olympics) a better place. Those people are the problem.
I can assure you I won't. Believe it or not I have better things to do.
But if you think there is no issue with a jumped up non-entity plastic patriot like Gavin Williamson trying to get school kids to sing North Korea style, then you live up to the latter part of your username. I'm not even going tinfoil hat with this - just pointing out how yucky it is that a bunch of (otherwise) political no-hopers are tapping into a seam of xenophobia and nationalism to promote themselves.
It's idiotic nonsense
Have made it clear to the kids that they should refuse to participate and I look forward to backing them should the need arise
So a year ago on Brexit day they announce the new Union flag paint job on the RAF plane to much ridicule. This year they announce this but when that goes tits up and receives even greater ridicule the Government need a biggerer distraction so they ask the Navy just to get a bit too close to Crimea.
Tin foil hat time? Probably. Would I say Bozo would think of such a thing to distract from Brexit day and the disaster it is? Definitely
Hmm looks like I wasn’t the only one who thought this
“Yes it was Brexit Day and yes there is a by-election coming up, but coincidences happen right?
Well not everyone is convinced...”
Have made it clear to the kids that they should refuse to participate and I look forward to backing them should the need arise
I've told the kids they should not feel forced to participate and if they get into any 'trouble' I'll happily back them up.
As above, my son will probably (at most) mouth along with a defiant look on his face. Or s****ing.
My daughter might conform and mumble along whilst thinking 'WTF'.
The best we grownups can do with stuff like this is shrug and ridicule it should the need arise.
Been desperately trying not to comment on this thread but something is driving me absolutely mental.
It's not "DofE". It's not "DoE", it's DfE. [b]DfE![/b]
😉
(also +1 for TJ's definition of Great Britain vs Britain still being relevant)
I don't agree with everything Schopenhauer says but the general jist of his thoughts on education ring true.
Just because early imbibed errors are often deeply engraved and indelible
and the power of judgement is the last thing to reach maturity, we should keep
children up to the age of sixteen free from all theories and doctrines where
there may be great errors. Thus they should be kept from all philosophy,
religion, and general views of all kinds and be allowed to pursue only those
subjects where either no errors are possible as in mathematics, or none is very
dangerous as in languages, natural science, history, and so on. Generally they
should at every age study only those branches of knowledge which are
accessible and thoroughly intelligible thereto. Childhood and youth are the
time for collecting data and making a special and thorough acquaintance with
individual and particular things. On the other hand, judgement generally must
still remain suspended and ultimate explanations be deferred. As power of
judgement presupposes maturity and experience, it should be left alone and
care should be
`
taken not to anticipate it by inculcating prejudices, whereby it
is for ever paralysed.
but remember kids
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength
Surely Hanlon's razor applies.
Its difficult to take seriously the idea that there is some sort of overarching scheme to indoctrinate children and fire more shots in the ongoing culture war. Versus the slightly more prosaic explanation that's it just another badly though out brain fart from a department ran by Gavin "Fireplace Salesman" Williamson
