Rule, Britannia! dominated the news cycle in the UK this week, overshadowing face masks, a nation-wide exam fiasco, and even Brexit.
Pulsar analysis shows the debate, which surfaced in the media on Sunday, dominated headlines and took up a bigger proportion of air time than any other event.
With the Brexit transition at a perilous stage and exam crisis rumbling on the news will have come as light relief to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who waded into the debate earlier in the week.
The PM called for an end to “self-recrimination and wetness” as he returned back to work following a holiday in Scotland. He said:
“I just want to say… if it is correct, which I cannot believe that it really is, but if it is correct, that the BBC is saying that they will not sing the words of Land Of Hope And Glory or Rule, Britannia! as they traditionally do at the end of The Last Night of the Proms.
“I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general bout of self-recrimination and wetness,” he said during a visit to Devon on Tuesday.
“I wanted to get that off my chest.”
Related: “Back to the office with you!” say Britons who are no longer of working age
