Sad Sprinter
Established Member
This seems to be a conversation that's impossible to avoid, so I thought I'll make a thread outlining my thoughts on the matter.
'Great British Railways' is a terrible name, its too long and awkward and sounds like a fake name for a railway in a TV show. British Rail is clearly a better name. I certainly think it smacks of the Tory Party's Americanisation of British patriotism, which I think will just turn more people off patriotism in this country. Clearly, it's an attempt to boost the Union, but I'd bet that extending HS2 to Glasgow/Edinburgh, despite the business case, would do more to boost the Union in Scotland than the GBR name.
I've seen some posters adopt the school of thought that the name change 'panders' to a specific section of the public. This I disagree. I'll describe myself as a patriot, but I find the Tories' current idea of patriotism embarrassing. I don't think there is a section of the public who craves American style patriotism. The Red Wallers (if they are the section of the public people believe the GBR name panders to) will probably take the reopening of old supply chains for the railway industry any day than Union Jacks on trains.
Perhaps a more deeper topic, but I do wish we could see the term 'British' meaning 'a person of the island of Britain', be them Welsh, Scottish, English or Cornish including of course the people of Northern Ireland. 'Briton' seems to be a lot less emotionally charged word. Perhaps 'Great Brittonic Railways' would be a better name. Being half Welsh and half English, I am 'British', both identities are important to me. The word is so politically charged there is no longer an acceptable identity to give someone from Great Britain that feels at home with all the island's national identities. A great shame.
'Great British Railways' is a terrible name, its too long and awkward and sounds like a fake name for a railway in a TV show. British Rail is clearly a better name. I certainly think it smacks of the Tory Party's Americanisation of British patriotism, which I think will just turn more people off patriotism in this country. Clearly, it's an attempt to boost the Union, but I'd bet that extending HS2 to Glasgow/Edinburgh, despite the business case, would do more to boost the Union in Scotland than the GBR name.
I've seen some posters adopt the school of thought that the name change 'panders' to a specific section of the public. This I disagree. I'll describe myself as a patriot, but I find the Tories' current idea of patriotism embarrassing. I don't think there is a section of the public who craves American style patriotism. The Red Wallers (if they are the section of the public people believe the GBR name panders to) will probably take the reopening of old supply chains for the railway industry any day than Union Jacks on trains.
Perhaps a more deeper topic, but I do wish we could see the term 'British' meaning 'a person of the island of Britain', be them Welsh, Scottish, English or Cornish including of course the people of Northern Ireland. 'Briton' seems to be a lot less emotionally charged word. Perhaps 'Great Brittonic Railways' would be a better name. Being half Welsh and half English, I am 'British', both identities are important to me. The word is so politically charged there is no longer an acceptable identity to give someone from Great Britain that feels at home with all the island's national identities. A great shame.
