My ears pricked up when I heard that we should, according to our illustrious Chancellor of The Exchequer, have a national holiday called a British Day to celebrate being British. This all makes a change from the polemic surrounding sexual offenders, suspected offenders, List 99 etc and its impact on the Education Department and the teaching profession.

So having a national day for ourselves is meant to put the world to rights in a parochial kind of way. I have thought of other purposes this platform may serve, however, others can cogently comment on those.

Meantime, I decided I wanted to hear what Gordon Brown actually said and I therefore visited the BBC site. First problem, no 'Real Player'. Therefore, I was met with a happy picture and silence - to be truthful, there was the odd click in my headphones that might pass for something, though not effective communication.

I then pfaffed around for ages trying to obtain the basic freebie 'Real Player'. I did eventually succeed and installed it onto my system. By that time other pressing domestic needs arose and I have not yet got round to setting up the performance of Mr Brown's dulcet tones. My interest in hearing about G B's ideas of British-ness has waned.

This got me thinking - has all this silent kerfuffle (bar clicks) presented me with a metaphor for what British Day would really evolve into, if it ever did evolve :?: