There are seven verses of this nonsense, but mercifully the public only ever have to stand (or preferably sit) through the opening seven lines. During which time, the song makes no reference whatsoever to Britain or its character, just lines of fawning, cap doffing, obsequious grovelling to the Queen, unelected and head of the only family in Britain exempt from the government’s benefit cap and bedroom tax.

If I were monarch and a song as poor as this was sung about me and used to represent the country I reigned over, then I’d be checking my powers to see if I was still allowed to lock the composer up in the Tower and cut off their head.

Consider the opening lines: God Save our Gracious Queen; total hooey, first word – God…ah, the state’s imaginary friend, designed (in part) to frighten us into subservience. This is followed by: ‘Our’ Queen… really, when exactly did we get to choose? I thought we were merely her subjects, her rôle and authority imposed upon us; she is not ours, we are hers.

Where most countries’ anthems aim to instil pride and uplift the spirits, Britain has one intended to crush them. There is no mention of our country’s greenness and pleasantness, nothing about its’ people and their collective values, their contribution to humankind, to science, to democracy. The lyrics exclude us, put us in our place, remind us who’s in charge, they are a mechanism to help prevent the levers of power from reaching the hands of ordinary people.

This is no Flower of Scotland, no Marseilles, the jauntiness of the national anthems of Brazil and Italy is wholly absent. And if you’re a republican and an atheist then Britain’s national anthem has nothing for you. So good on you Jez C, your respectful silence spoke a thousand words, whilst also allowing you to fully absorb the ridiculous spectacle of dumb patriot Defence Secretary Michael Fallon standing with his gob wide open in those stills from the Battle of Britain Commemoration as he sang his heart out.

We supposedly live in a democracy, with freedom of expression, freedom of choice; giving people choice, that’s what the Conservative government claims isn’t it? Yet when a public figure…this time it was Jeremy Corbyn, but previously it’s been sportsmen and women or other public figures…fails to sing the National Anthem with sufficient gusto – or even at all, when they fail to sing what are overwhelmingly politicised lyrics that run contrary to their beliefs, they are admonished with loaded and emotional terminology by the Establishment’s cheerleaders. So it turns out that we never did have a choice, and as so often, those who shout loudest about ‘British’ values such as tolerance, democracy and freedom of speech, are the first to traduce them when sentiments that they don’t like are expressed.