"Great Britain may have been originally so described because of its relative size, not from any claim of superiority. But the name has slowly acquired some of these more pretentious associations. Particularly in recent times, governments have actively tried to promote the idea of distinctive British greatness. This deliberate freighting matters. It does this country, and the effort to rebuild trust in politics, few favours."
"The name Great British Railways is puffed-up, misleading, tin-eared and backward-looking. It is puffed-up because, despite the purely geographical origin of the words Great Britain, the name sounds boastful for no reason. It is misleading because the railways are not great; tin-eared because the public is not so easily deceived; and backward-looking because it panders to a version of this country that no longer exists."
Names carry expectations that influence how people judge countries, places and institutions. The label Great Britain shifted from a geographic description to an implicit quality claim, acquiring pretentious associations. Recent governments have promoted an idea of distinctive British greatness, deliberately freighted onto national names. Such naming harms public trust and hinders political efforts to rebuild confidence. The renationalised rail system will replace the privatised network, and its new branding — Great British Railways — uses puffed-up, misleading, tin-eared and backward-looking imagery. The name sounds boastful, misrepresents railway performance, fails to convince the public and appeals to an outdated national narrative.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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