Trad-ing them in

There is outrage in the press. The BBC has just announced that it will remove both Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia from its famous Last Night of the PromsAn eight-week season of daily orchestral concerts held in London every summer. . After a furious outcry, it is forced to backtrack, and the tunes are reinstated.

Is this 2024? 2020? No - it is 1969, and the musicians are simply a little bored of playing these stirring dirges year on year, just as some of the public is a little bored of hearing them. The BBC wants some fresh meat to revive people's interest.

But the decision has come at a sensitive time. Much of the British EmpireA group of countries that were once ruled or controlled by the UK, including Australia, Canada, India and large parts of Africa. has dissolved in the last two decades. In this atmosphere, some see the BBC's decision to drop Rule, Britannia as a renunciation of Britishness itself.

Today, we are once again having the same conversation. This time it is musician Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a soloist at last year's Last Night of the Proms, who says the song "makes people feel uncomfortable" because of its associations with colonialismThis refers not only to the material realities of colonial rule, but also to the mindset of the colonising powers and their ways of justifying empire. Most Europeans believed that empire was a moral good, because it imparted 'civilisation' to 'primitive' cultures and so helped them to develop. and slavery.¹

Defenders say it is traditional to play the tune. But as the story from 1969 shows, "tradition" can be a tricky thing to pin down.

Back then, Rule, Britannia aficionados likewise argued it was traditional to play the ditty. But in reality the programme for the Last Night had been fixed just 16 years earlier, in 1953 - hardly an age-old custom.

And the 1953 programme had itself been criticised for dropping old traditions. Originally it left out Henry WoodAn English conductor born in 1869.'s Fantasia on British Sea Songs, but a concerted campaign saw it reinstated. The Times ran the headline: "Tradition Triumphs".²

Many historians think that most traditions have not actually been around for very long. For example, we tend to think that judoA modern Japanese martial art. has been a fixture of Japanese martial artsSports that emerged as a form of fighting or defending yourself, often in Japan, China or Korea. for centuries. In truth, it was only invented in 1882.³

Historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger even wrote a whole book in which they argued that many traditions were invented very recently, and only claim to have ancient roots.⁴

But are traditions good for us? In fact, this is a debate stretching over two hundred years.

In 1789, the French RevolutionThe overthrow (and subsequent execution) of France's king and aristocratic government in 1789. The revolution became infamous and influential worldwide. broke out. Many French people criticised the old ways of doing things, like the tradition that aristocrats should not pay taxes but the poor should, as irrational and unfair.

But thinker Edmund BurkeIrish statesman, economist and philosopher. Often regarded as the founder of modern British conservatism. disagreed. He claimed that traditions always exist for a reason. If we think they are irrational, he suggested, then this is probably because we do not really understand them. Something that has survived for centuries will always be more rational than an idea that someone dreamt up a few days ago.⁵

Others, however, argue that societies are always changing. A tradition that was suitable for a society of the past might be unsuitable for the present.

That is why for some, a song written to celebrate Britain's imperial aspirations is divisive when so much of Britain is now made up of the descendants of those whom it colonised or enslaved.

But for others, British history belongs to all of us, and maintaining its traditions should be unifying, not divisive.

Should traditions be preserved?

Yes: Traditions are what bind us together as a nation. They give people a sense of place and identity, and remind them of our common purpose. To sacrifice them is to deny our history.

No: Times change and we change with the times. Britain is a multicultural society and its traditions need to be updated to reflect this fact. And most traditions are not so old anyway.

Or... The truth is that traditions are always appearing, changing, disappearing, reappearing. Perhaps the only true tradition is altering our traditions.