In Spite Of Inevitable Wailing, The SPFL Took The Correct Decision On The “Anthem”.

This coming weekend will be the coronation. It hardly needs pointing out that few, if any, of us will be watching it with our Union Jack hats on. We’ll be a little bit busy watching our club win this title, the culmination of a long season but one where this outcome was never really in doubt. The strength of this side is amazing, and we’re due this.

The SPFL, in recognising that, has left it up to clubs how they want to handle this. There was a call for all of them to “play the anthem.”

But it’s a matter of choice, and that’s precisely as it should be. Hearts may well choose to do it … but our fans will express their deep disgust and contempt for it if they do, and the curtain twitchers can think what they want.

Across the city, there will be “celebrations.”

Muted ones, considering the sobering reality which faces The Peepul in the aftermath of the cup semi-final. But for a day they will forget that they are second best and cast themselves once more into the supremacist role. They will continue to tell themselves that this slavish devotion to monarchy makes them special.

There is a wonderful scene in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver in which the campaign director of the New York Senator Charles Palantine – who’s running for President – argues on the phone with a supplier. The slogan they have chosen for the campaign will be familiar; “We Are The People.” What makes the scene wonderful is the reason for the argument.

The campaign has taken delivery of the latest batch of campaign badges. Their slogan has a very specific inflection point. But the buttons which have been sent to them have emphasised the wrong word. We hear just one side of the argument that follows, but it’s instructive nonetheless.

“You delivered two boxes. I think it’s a total of 5,000 campaign buttons. Now, all the ones we had before had – our slogan is ‘We are the people,’ and ‘are’ is underlined. These new buttons have ‘we’ underlined. That reads ‘’We are the people.’ Well, I think there’s a difference. ‘We are the people” is not the same as ‘We are the people.’ Let’s not fight. Look, we’ll make it real simple. We don’t pay for the buttons. We throw the buttons away, all right?”

It astonishes me that there are folk in our media who pretend not to know what the difference is. This is not semantics. The underlining of one word or the other changes the whole meaning of the sentence and our whole understanding of what is being implied.

The celebration of monarchy is, by its very nature, supremacist. It is a reminder that we don’t live in a meritocracy but in a system far darker and less conducive to upwards mobility.

For those who spit fury at Muslims or Jews and believe in all those stories about secret cabals running things behind the scenes, or secret plots to take over and subject us all to Sharia Law, a reminder; we do, in fact, live in a religious state here in Britain as anyone who has studied the oath we’re all being encouraged to take makes clear.

James Connolly summed up what monarchy best represents in his famous essay on the “Visit of King George V”, written in 1910.

“(Neither) in science, nor in art, nor in literature, nor in exploration, nor in mechanical invention, nor in humanising of laws, nor in any sphere of human activity has a representative of British royalty helped forward the moral, intellectual or material improvement of mankind. But that royal family has opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it has befriended every oppressor. Eulogised today by misguided clerics, it has been notorious in history for the revolting nature of its crimes. Murder, treachery, adultery, incest, theft, perjury – every crime known to man has been committed by someone or other of the race of monarchs from whom King George is proud to trace his descent … We will not blame him for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for their crimes.”

The truth is, the number of people in this country who honestly care, who would classify themselves as dyed-in-the-wool monarchists, is probably pitifully small.

The number who would classify themselves as hard-core republicans, probably isn’t that much bigger.

Most people simply could not care less, whether they find the pageantry of these things mildly interesting, amusing or outright repulsive. Their fascination, of whatever variety, will last only as long as the day itself and they’ll put it all out of their minds.

For the SPFL to have forced every club to play the anthem would have been frankly disgusting, forcing conformity in what should pretty obviously be a personal choice.

Those who want to kiss the ring are welcome to do it, but this country, for all its sins, still allows freedom of thought, choice and ultimately expression. As we’ll see if Hearts decide to play it.