The suggestion that Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory should be axed from the Last Night of the Proms is not, as No 10 suggests, a distracting focus on the symbols rather than the substance of a problem (Rule, Britannia! will be played at the Proms but not sung, BBC confirms, 24 August).
Symbols matter. They act as dog-whistles and means of legitimising discriminatory ideologies. The substance of racism in the UK is underpinned by an inaccurate nostalgia for a “Great Britain” which spread its “civilising” influence across the world in the 19th century and stood alone against the powers of European fascism in the 20th century. The jingoistic, flag-waving Rule, Britannia! of the Last Night of the Proms feeds into this false narrative, implying that to be British is to be a white imperial victor.
A confident, forward-looking nation – as the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, claims we are – would not feel obliged to maintain archaic and offensive traditions, nor lack the creativity to build something more meaningful in its place. Why not hand the Last Night of the Proms to up-and-coming conductors and composers, to select or compose pieces that respond to contemporary Britain? The Last Night of the Proms could become a moment to reflect on the UK’s culture, diversity, unity, and disunity through music, rather than a tone-deaf refusal to let go of a myth of British exceptionalism.
