Saturday 6 November 2010

Competition: a definition of Cornwall

There is no prize for this competition but in a shameless attempt to give the usual suspects something to comment on, I wonder if any can suggest a 21st century and Cornish version of some of George Orwell's imagery from The Lion and the Unicorn (I did warn you I was about to read it again.)

I wonder if the "nationalists" and "anti-nationalists" (I fear I've been unable to think up better labels) will find anything to agree about. Please accept that as part of the challenge.

No more than 30 words each, but you can of course submit as many comments as you like. For example, Orwell thought that England was (partly) defined by "the old maids biking to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn morning." He also thought England was a family, with the wrong people in charge. A country of pubs, and people with bad teeth. He was rude about the ruling classes, who he thought were stupid, but not wicked like Hitler or Mussolini. I won't quote the whole essay but if you're really keen it won't hurt to read it.

Let's give it a week, then I'll put my neck on the block and rank my favourites. You can be political, poetic, romantic, geographical, historical - whatever you want. I might be able to persuade my superiors that the best entries should be read out on air. No prizes - far too much BBC paperwork for that (and no money) - but of course, it's the taking part that counts.

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