No Oathing Please

I am repulsed, annoyed, revolted, irritated, sickened by the idea of pledging an oath of allegiance to the Queen and country. Needless to say, I have fantasized many times about sitting down in protest against the British national anthem if I happen to win an Olympic Gold medal. Imagine that - an athlete making his own historical mark of personal integrity by having the courage to silently protest the absurd calling: "god save our queen" - redundant on a number of levels, I'm sure you'll agree. With regard to the monarchy, Thomas Paine wrote: "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right." The sooner we can shirk the childhood indoctrination into supposedly divine autocracy, the sooner Britain will formulate a true cultural identity.