From patriotic parody to threat: Flanders and Swann, the Likely Lads and Reform | Letter

2026-02-19 - 17:43

The boundaries between satire and nationalism are ever more blurred, writes Alex Heaton Stuart Heritage rightly observes the satire that is inherent in For He is an Englishman, the “patriotic” song from HMS Pinafore, cropping up in popular culture (‘The rallying cry of the rich and horrible’, 17 February). For a more xenophobic but equally tongue-in-cheek exploration of the same vein of nationalism, screenwriters need look no further than A Song of Patriotic Prejudice, by Flanders and Swann. In this paean to the English, every other nation of the UK is rubbished through caricature, and the rest of Europe dismissed in a few lines (“The Germans are German, the Russians are red, and the Greeks and Italians eat garlic in bed!”). Continue reading...