I always understood that God Save the Queen was the British anthem and that Land of Hope & Glory was the English national anthem?

It does irritate me though when people are criticised for not singing the anthem, when modern Britain surely allows us each the freedom of our opinion on the matter.

If Ryan Giggs is happy to play for the Great British Team (England) then he should be proud and happy to sing (or at least stand to attention) for the National Anthem, if not then he should decline to play, simple as that.

Yet another nonsensical letter submitted to this page.

Mr Williams obviously requires some history (and spelling) lessons. Does he not realise that God Save the Queen is the British national anthem, it is not the English one.

References to the Queen's forebears are completely irrelevant in the context of this subject.

Perhaps a more relevant debate would be over declining educational standards.

And, Tom, what is your decent (sic)?

Are you Norman, Celtic, Jute, Anglo-Saxon, Roman, Norse, Hugenot, Jewish, Romany or Neanderthal?

Do we really need an anthem at all? I could never see the point of singing to some imaginary old bloke in the sky, to save someone who is about as necessary as mudflaps on a tortoise.

If it is to be re-written, I think her Shirleyness should get the job, the ultimate accolade for years of worship.

Tom Williams' letter assumes that the problem Scots and Welsh have with this anthem is that it's about the monarch. I'm sure that's true for some, as it is some English people, but surely the biggest issue is that they see it as synonymous with England specifically - thanks to the fact that English sports teams have appropriated it for themselves.

Considering that God Save the Queen is the British anthem, I've always thought this was odd.

So yes Tom, we could write a new British anthem from scratch - one that holds no meaning or resonance for anyone, but the easiest solution would surely be for English teams to start using something else (Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem etc) and thereby cleanse our existing British anthem of its English associations. Surely it is the implied Englishness of the anthem that makes the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish wince the most, not that it's about a monarch which they in any case share with us.

@ stu - to be pedantic Britain refers to only England, Scotland and Wales. UK includes N Ireland. Btw I rather like Jerusalem, even though it is about England but prefer, as some of you may have guessed, the Internationale.

Would you like some cheese to go with your whine?

What a ridiculous (and as often is the case, completely inaccurate) letter. God Save the Queen is the British anthem. It is also the English anthem for some sports (but not others). But it is the anthem of Great Britain/the United Kingdom.

If anything God Save the Queen should remain the British anthem and a different anthem should be used for England. At the Commonwealth Games there is a different English anthem (as the four nations of the UK play separately). The Queen is after all - despite what the Yanks think - NOT Queen of England, but Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. There has been no Queen (or King) of England since 1707. Look it up if you don't believe me.

This is complicated, it is not that the English teams have “appropriated GS the Q for themselves” it is the other way round England has been left with it. Whilst Scotland and Wales have to a certain extent gained some political independence from GB and enhanced their nationality England has been denied that choice.

It was suggested that the English play Jerusalem but as yet that has not really been adopted, perhaps it might be were we to be granted an English National Parliament.

The point here is should a Welsh or Scottish player sing the British national anthem If they are playing for the British team, of course they should and perhaps they could have a though for the poor English who are denied both their own nationality and their own anthem.

By the way in case we forget the Crowns of England and Scotland were combined under a Scottish king.

the big issue and its obvious: there is no such"nation" as gb or uk. gstq is the national anthem of the english. its the queen of england not queen of britain despite wat apologists and revisionists say.the welsh,scots and irish should have some balls and refuse to compete under the union jack and with team england. let the english sing their song to defeated scots and english royal glory while their country(england) is mired in modern day poverty and disolution

the prime minister of so called great britain cannot b a roman catholic. the king or queen cannot b a catholic either. is this a"nation" u want to b a member of? house of lords?obe/cbe? subject or citizen.? oath to the queen? wat year is this!!? the one thing I m sure of (i m half english) is that the english people r not stupid. this ridiculous situation will one day b rectified

Yes, whatever the rights and wrongs, God Save the Queen is the British anthem. I too would prefer Jerusalem as an English anthem, given the way the Welsh and Scots display their separate identity with Land of my Fathers and Flower of Scotland.

But 'our' sportsmen and sportswomen are not, and should not be, under any obligation whatever to belt out a song, whatever it is, before or after a competition. I noticed that the England team sang God Save the Queen with some gusto before every match in Euro 2012 - and still got knocked out in the quarter finals.

It was also pointed out recently, in the Mail on Sunday of all papers, that Sebastian Coe didn't sing the anthem after winning gold in 1980 and 1984.

what i would like is. all ways look on the bright side of life

Why would anyone want to sing God Save the Queen? It is a dreadful dirge, the most boring national anthem ever to be played or sung.

For those interested in the subject see Krishan Kumar, 'The Making of English National Identity'. It's a fascinating red.

This idea that the "Queen is German" is nonsense.

You have to go all the way back to King George III (Crowned 252 years ago) before you find the head of the family who wasn't born in England, to English parents.

How long does a family have to have been 'English/British' in your eyes before we will allow them to call themselves that?

What an oversight by the Olympic selection body, not holding anthem recitals before evaluating the sporting capabilities of our athletes.

That would have weeded out the likes of Giggs, Wiggins and Farah at the outset who clearly aren't appropriate to represent our nation through their lack of singing voice.

I bet Beckham would have sung along, but instead he was reduced to merely looking gormless (or gorgeous, your call) on a speedboat to preserve the British (or his brand) image.

Of course all England players when playing for England bellow out "God Save the Queen" ok some do.. whilst others stand there unable to utter the words.

One can be proud to be British/English/Scots/Welsh or Northern Irish, one can be proud to represent these in sports but one does not have to be a Royalist to do so.

New song please one that embellishes the entire nation and not some Old woman who has no power what so ever.

Whilst I'm aware that even the most distinguished celebrity can suffer stage fright and lapse into stupified silence, there is a difference between that and deliberate disrespect. I believe it's really simple. If you want to participate, be prepared to sing the official national anthem. If you don't want to do that, then get lost and let someone else have a go. I like the anthem just the way it is.

i feel sure betty windsor must be thoroughly bored constanly listening to the same boring dirge wherever she goes.

time for a new anthem. is there not a gilbert and sullivan ditty that may do.

Why do we criticise our sportsmen so? They have performed magnificently during these Olympics, winning a hatful of medals. Who cares if they sing along with the national anthem or not.

For those of you paying close attention, many gold medal winning athletes from other countries have also remained silent during the playing of their anthems. Does anyone mind this?

Can someone please curtail Stiofan's gibberish

Perhaps the author should not stop at the Queens germanic heritage but all anglo saxons? Maybe going back to Africa were human life is alledged to have begun? Congo anthem anyone.

I really liked the now aced radio four theme song, symbolic in that it marked the shift from world serve to a channel which is quintessentially British. There was a very well supported campaign to save it!

A

I've always understood that the human beginnings was in some lake in South Africa. Doesn't that make us all South Africans? I suppose that would make the Olympics a bit one sided. On the other hand we may win the World Cup by default.

At the end of the day I'm happy to be British and English.

I also consider myself to be from Telford, albeit via Merseyside origins.

Where-ever we consider ourselves to be from there will always be a path in the family tree that will be contradictory.

Anyway, going back to watching the Olympics so I can watch the British Hockey Team stuff the Aussies!!! :)

Does it matter?? I am quite happy with what we have and respect for Queen and Country is entirely a persoal choice. We are all mongals anyway. There is no such race as English, they are mixed bag of celts, picks, germans danes, french any any other invasion military or civil that passed in our history. What we do operate under a common theme of the UK consisting of it's composite parts of England Scotland Wales and Ulster.

We could create division in towns like Shrewsbury by insisting on the English anthem being sung by our many Welsh inhabitants and similarly anywhere else, Liecester and Bradford come to mind. Most poeople only want seperate indenties because it protects the football teams and I'm not interested in that.

A meaningless dirge and a cringe-making embarrassment every time I hear it. Let's have something cheerful like the Italian National Anthem.

Mr Williams your letter is irrelevant. We have a national anthem.

We could just sing 'Remember O Thou Man' to remove any Royalist baggage but still keep virtually the same tune. Although it is a bit religious and downbeat, just like GSTQ.