Gordon Brown has made it his mission 使命 to foster 扶植 "Britishness". He's long argued that a greater sense of national identity 民族特征 would help fight Al Qaeda-inspired extremism 极端主义 and keep the different parts of the United Kingdom bonded¹ together 紧密联系在一起.

So even before he became Prime Minister, Mr Brown had suggested the idea of a patriotic² 爱国的 celebration similar to America's Independence Day or Bastille Day in France.

But the British version of these national holidays never really got off the ground 实施. Many critics 批评人士 ridiculed³ 嘲讽 the idea - arguing that the British didn't actually like to be overtly⁴ 公然的/公开表现出来的 patriotic.

It must be said, voters 选民 might have been a bit more excited by the prospect⁵ 前景 if it had meant an extra day off work. But it became apparent ministers 政府大臣部长们 were just thinking about turning an existing public holiday 公共假日 into a "Great British Weekend". And embarrassingly 令人尴尬地 the public holiday they had in mind 心里想的 wasn't actually a holiday at all in Scotland.

So now the idea of a Britishness day has been quietly dropped 放弃... and the government's gone back to thinking of other ways to encourage a bit of national pride.