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| | Scotsman.com News - Scotland's national anthem - Standing out against the patriotic pomposity of national anthems |
 | | From National Anthems of the World, published by Cassell, can be gathered a mixture of exhortations, adjurations and demands, "Let tyrants fear/tremble/flee/perish; arise, march on, fly the flag, raise the torch, smite the foe, God defend, forfend, intercede." In fact, "God this, God that," we sing and shout. |
 | | Most national anthems are pieces of patriotic pomposity, overblown pride with arrogant and often near-nonsensical aspirations. |
 | | I would stand as stiff as a rolled umbrella while the anthem adjured God to save the king, scatter his enemies, confound their politics and - in the never-sung lines - hoped that the monarch would "like a torrent rush, rebellious Scots to crush". |
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