"I Pledge Allegiance"

I have three major issues with this alleged "pledge of alleginace" that the Government wants to bring into use:

1. I have an issue pledging unfaltering allegiance to any ideal, people or belief when all three are subject to change. I have no problem with the Queen but I will not pledge allegiance to a group of inbred tourist attractions, and I will certainly not pledge allegiance to "Almighty God".

2. The whole thing smacks of another quick fix marketing ploy by this useless, wet Government to try and get people like Daily Mail readers off their back. Anyone that can't see through their smoke and mirrors and look at the real issues such as the bubmling of every data-centric scheme, failing economy, the growing Government desire to monitor every move one makes under the guise of keeping you 'safe', the overstretched, depleted military, the health service buckling under its own incompetance, the general social disillusion amidst the population, growing divides amongst communities and a cabinet of ministers who are more ineffective than a tissue in a gunfight, is deluding themselves by thinking this will mean anything.

3. Apparently the intent of this "Pledge" is to make people "proud of being British again". I have a small suggestion for the Government; instead of wasting time on vague, pointless incentives to make people proud of their British heritage, DO SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY MAKES PEOPLE PROUD TO BE BRITISH FOR ONCE. The only sense of pride this country has is in its history, because we have nothing else to be proud of. Take this for example; the Government grants hundreds upon hundreds of asylum applications every year from people who are under no danger in their own country and just want to come to Britian because its Britain. They have turned down the application of a young man who is running from the very real threat of being deported to Iran and executed just for being gay. He has tried to apply to Denmark for asylum, but they too have turned down, and he now faces being returned here and then deported. Had he been granted asylum in the first place - this man who has spent the last few years studying and qualifying at a university here - he would not be in this horrifying predicament. Where's "diverse Britain" now?

So, should the "Pledge" ever come into action, you can be damn sure I won't ever be swearing by it. The Britain of today is one full of good ideas, but inept practitioners, more interested in themselves than their responsibility to the people that employ them. If you're proud of your country you have to be proud of all of it - present as well as past. And right now, the past is all the British have left to trade on.