27 AUGUST 2005, Page 17

English, actually

From Marcus Pitcaithly

Sir: Elisabeth O’Flynn has misremembered (Letters, 20 August). The chorus to ‘Song of Patriotic Prejudice’ goes, ‘The English [not British] are best’. The distinction was dwelt on by Michael Flanders in his lead-in to the number, and the first verse leaves one in no doubt that he meant what he wrote:

The rottenest bits of these islands of ours We’ve left in the hands of three unfriendly powers: Examine the Irishman, Welshman or Scot, You’ll find he’s a stinker as likely as not.

Marcus Pitcaithly Rhynd, Perthshire