Patriotism on Parade - the Beaker Festival of Britain

It's a funny old country at the moment. As the Government builds a railway that will be completed after most of us is dead, and Liz Truss says we could walk away from trade talks with both the EU and the US - basically leaving just Mars and Narnia as the only viable options - there's been a outbreak of cynical patriotism. You can't eat a continental breakfast anymore. It's got to be Full English. Complete with Danish Bacon, baked beans (an American dish), sausages (invented in Iraq) and fried onions (originated in Turkey).

From blue passports, to the Tory suggesting we should sing the National Anthem while desperately staving off Coronaviruses both old and new, to Priti Patel trying to send everyone back where they came from. Personally I'm not looking forward to that, but then I'm from Luton.

And if cynical patriotism is where you're at, then being a post-Enlightened community it is our duty bravely to lead from the rear. And so we are proud to put our patriotism on parade in the Beaker Festival of Britain.

In the Culture Zone, we'll be playing e-books by Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, and JRR Tolkien. Displaying the work of Grinling Gibbons. And laughing again at the comic genius of Spike Milligan, the sumptuous music of George Handel, and swooning over the brilliance of Audrey Hepburn. And who can forget the plays and wit of Oscar Wilde?

In the Faith Zone, we'll be marking the bravery and faithfulness of St Augustine of Hippo, Saint Andrew and St George.

In the Sports Zone, we will be celebrating the successes of such great British sports people as Kevin Pietersen, Manu Tuilagi, Jofra Archer, Tessa Sanderson, Greg Rusedski and John Barnes.

In our World of Science and Medicine we'll be marking the discovery of those great Brits: Florence Nightingale, Hans Krebs, Mary Seacole, and Earnest Rutherford.

And of course, in the Politics Space we'll be marking the groundbreaking achievements of Nancy Astor and Andrew Bonar Law and the bravery of Richard the Lionheart and Edward IV.

But probably not Boris Johnson. We believe he may have been born abroad.

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