RADNOM'S BEST OF BRITISH

Too often today we are made to feel ashamed of being British. While others are encouraged to celebrate Diwali and Black History Month, often by stamping on the Union Jack and being made to vote for Malcolm X as “Greatest Briton Ever,” we English are made to feel ashamed of our heritage. In fact, Britishness is a dirty word. How often, nowadays do you hear politically correct mothers saying, “Don’t tread that Britishness into the carpet.” Well, to fight back - here’s my list of fifty reasons to be proud of this island nation.



Anti-Climb Paint
Asbos
Auto-Trader Magazine
Binge Drinking
The Bratz range of Girls’ Merchandizing
Childhood Asthma
Congestion Charges
Croydon
Dierdre’s Photo-Casebook
Dixon’s
Echinacea
Eccles Cake
Easijet
Those free cellophane gloves you get from petrol stations
Garden Decking
Hen Weekends
Hospital Superbugs
The Isuzu Trooper
J. D. Wetherspoons
Key Stage Two In Anything
Leylandia Hedges
The MMR vaccine
NCP Carparks
Nectar Points
Oyster Cards
The Otis Spunkmeyer Range of Biscuits
Pitbull Line-Dancing
Ringtones
Sales of Il Divo
Scrappy bits of polythene in makeshift roadside memorials
Shiny Toilet Paper
Signs Saying Unattended Packages Will Be Removed
Smooth Classics on Classic FM
The timeless comedy of Hale and Pace – especially the so-called ‘unfunny’ later series.
That painting by Jack Vettriano where there’s that couple and that bloke with an umbrella
Virgin Mobile One to One
Wheelybins
Yakult
Zigzag Lines outside schools

BEYOND THE SUSPENDERS

Looking through my old files, I come across my postgraduate thesis: Beyond the Suspenders: Changing Styles in Interior Decor In the Backgrounds of Fiesta Readers' Wives 1971-90.