Jeremy Corbyn, the national anthem and the broader picture
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Version 0 of 1. I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to sing the national anthem is a sign of disloyalty to the country or disrespect to those who served in the war (Silence for God Save the Queen, 16 September). I have two insurmountable problems with God Save the Queen. As far as I know, very few – if any – democracies have an anthem that celebrates a head of state rather than the country itself. (Even North Korea’s anthem avoids any mention of a “glorious leader” etc.) As a republican I, like Mr Corbyn, would be a hypocrite to sing this. I am also an atheist. If I don’t believe in a god – and I am assuming here that all gods favour Queen Elizabeth, an assumption that might make for an interesting theological debate – how can I appeal to that god to save my Queen? Great emphasis has been placed on the Churchill/second world war connection. The Battle of Britain was about a dire need to save the nation from the immediate threat of invasion, an act of desperate and courageous heroism. But, more broadly, it was also about defeating Hitler and his totalitarian state. No doubt all Germans under Hitler were expected to sing Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Alles on pain of public criticism if they did not. I would have thought that part of the democracy the soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel fought for was the freedom not to be forced to sing our anthem – an irony that seems lost on Nicholas Soames, his friends in the media and, sadly, some of Mr Corbyn’s colleagues. Also, in terms of the people who served in the war, many were atheists or republicans, or both. If they did not sing the national anthem with the required gusto would Mr Soames castigate them? There are lots of politicians and people in public life who would always sing the anthem. Some have fiddled expenses, lied in court, abused children, broken promises, failed to pay taxes on huge incomes. But they always sang the anthem. Mr Corbyn wanted to be true to himself – what a nice change in a leading politician. Perhaps he should have mimed it?Alex WoodNorthampton • Steve Bell’s cartoon (16 September) highlights just one of the many problems that Labour’s newly elected leader brings with him. When he attends formal occasions he has accepted the responsibility to represent the Labour party, not just his own views. Jeremy Corbyn is now the leader of Her Majesty’s opposition. To refuse to sing the national anthem is disrespectful on so many levels, but particularly to the Labour party. Gill EmpsonEdwinstowe, Nottinghamshire • Intentionally or otherwise on Jeremy Corbyn’s part, the media frenzy over his non-singing of the national anthem serves to highlight an important issue. You don’t have to oppose the idea of monarchy per se (though you probably do that of a hereditary monarchy) to viscerally loathe the wearisome conflating of two separate things: a society’s honouring of self-sacrifice in war, and uncritical, often mystified monarchist beliefs and associated forms of patriotic feeling. It’s this conflation, ideologically rightwing though incessantly trumpeted as “natural”, that unites the Labour peer Admiral Lord West’s contention that “singing the national anthem is a sign of loyalty to the United Kingdom and British people” (ie not singing suggests disloyalty) and the journalist Allison Pearson’s tendentious implication that Battle of Britain pilots died for George VI (she wrote “Queen”). We’ll hear a lot more on this issue as Remembrance Day approaches. The fact that the great patriotic soldier-poets such as Sassoon and Owen, upheld in our schools’ literature syllabuses, were animated by passionate opposition to the conflation and hypocrisy it so often conceals is ritually forgotten.Michael AytonDurham • Anne Perkins is correct (The national anthem may stick in Corbyn’s craw, but it is his job to sing it, 15 September, theguardian.com), and Corbyn should have been more sensitive both to the context of situation and the people he was collectively representing. However, what needs to be untangled by Corbyn and all the commentary is the distinction to be made between the affection and respect in which the longest-serving monarch is held as an individual by the majority of British peoples, and the fact that modern Britons are constitutionally subjects of the crown and not citizens. Many people might be surprised to learn this, and there is a case to be made that it is no longer appropriate in a modern democracy. Equally, half our parliament consists of unelected placemen and women in the House of Lords; including bishops who represent only an ever-dwindling membership of the Church of England for which disestablishment is long overdue. If it is Corbyn’s intention to make this point, then he chose the wrong time, place and means to make it in such an oblique, unarticulated way. To provide the tabloids and the Murdoch press such an opportunity to discredit him so early in his leadership was naive in the extreme.Haydn ThomasSidmouth, Devon • Words matter. I can affirm my sincerity as a juror without pretending to believe in god. I can pledge love and allegiance to the person I marry without promising to obey. But I cannot become an MP or sing my national anthem without doing either. I am forced to lie. Coercion to say words you do not believe is totalitarianism. Denying this fact is censorship. Perhaps you had better run this letter past the heads of all world religions and the Queen before you decide to print it.Adrian TownsendOxford • Scotland and Wales have their own stirring anthems, England needs one too. A song that unites the country so monarchist, atheist and committed republican can stand side by side and be proud of their country. Until we achieve that, Jeremy Corbyn shows us to stand respectfully and keep our mouths closed. Alternatively, there is the Methodist hymn: “When wilt thou save the people, / O God of mercy when? / The people Lord, the people, / Not thrones and crowns, but men.” With a bit of tweaking I always used to sing this. The main difficulty is that there are two syllables in people and only one in Queen.Brenda BanksTeignmouth, Devon • In 2000, Tony Blair mimed Jerusalem as he tried to court the WI. The ladies booed him roundly. John Redwood got the bird when he mimed in Wales. At least Jeremy Corbyn stood true to his beliefs.Dennis RustonAshby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire • We salute those who died for freedom, then lambast those who choose to exercise it.Alasdair McKeeLancaster • I suspect that had Mr Corbyn sung the national anthem, the same people who criticised him for not doing so would have accused him of hypocrisy. David Cameron is forever banging on about British values, and two of his favourites are tolerance and decency. Perhaps he could start practising them while also asking his friends in the Conservative party and the press to join him. As an atheist and a republican I am capable of being respectful without singing a song, and arguments to the contrary belong in the playground. Like the new Labour leader, I am a male in my 60s who has a beard and an allotment. I agree with many of his policies and am as much of a threat to the security of this country as he is. Having re-read the last sentence, I should make it clear that neither of us are a threat.Hugh GemsonTaunton, Somerset • I am delighted to see that Jeremy Corbyn, by refusing to sing along with the national anthem, has upheld a tradition of his North Islington constituency party. It was around 1972 that several members were expelled by the constituency Labour party for refusing to join in a rendition of God Save the Queen at the party’s annual dinner: they were later reinstated by Labour’s NEC. Some years later many of the gang who had engineered the expulsions left the party to join the Social Democrats. I wonder if a little bit of history may be about to repeat itself?Harvey GoldsteinLondon • People are dying as a result of being sanctioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, the government has executed two British citizens by drone without trial, cuts to tax credits mean the poor are getting poorer and the rich richer, unions are being attacked, the government wants to repeal the Human Rights Act, there’s a GP recruitment crisis, there’s a teacher recruitment crisis, there’s a massive shortage of school places, there’s a crisis in A&E, magistrates are resigning at the injustice of the justice system, lawyers are on strike over cuts to legal aid, a disabled man is forced to bath in a paddling pool due to the bedroom tax, we have the lowest housebuilding starts since the second world war, manufacturing is declining, exports are declining, billions are being wasted on HS2 and free schools. And yet we allow ourselves to be sucked into faux outrage by rightwing newspaper owners who avoid paying millions in tax over whether who did or did not sing the national anthem.Simon GosdenRayleigh, Essex |