Bringing home Brown’s Britain

According to the Sunday Times, Gordon Brown’s speech on British identity hasn’t exactly gone down a storm in his native Kirkcaldy.

The man at the bar introduces himself as Rab
Bowland, TB. He says that just like me he is also a “True Blue”.
However when I clarify the situation and describe myself as a British
patriot there is a flicker of anger in his eyes. “That’s a weegie
accent you’ve got there so why the hell are you proud to be British —
you’re Scottish, man,” says Bowland. Cowdenbeath folk, Bowland adds,
are as Scottish as cholesterol and have the fake tans to prove it.

It appears reclaiming the flag from the BNP will be a pushover
compared with disentangling it from the morass of contradictory
loyalties that exist in the minds of many of Brown’s constituents. (Sunday Times)

The piece has sparked a lively debate over at Slugger O’Toole.