Greater Britain?

Further to yesterday's post, I glanced at the Matalan summer catalogue.  It's just out this week.  Matalan is a fashion retailer. 

I stopped to look at this double-page spread in the Men's section.

On the left you can see "Sam", "Liam" and "Max" in One Directionesque repose.  In this contrived shot the target demographic looks early 20s, probably C2 social group (Matalan is low cost fashion), too cool to be interested in issues of state governance.  On the opposite page is a selection of "Rule Britannia" summerwear aimed at this demographic.

Look carefully at the right-hand page.  You may need to click on the image to see it properly.  Among the Union Jack flip flops, flag tab polo shirts and flag print swim shorts is a t-shirt featuring a lion's head and the slogan Greater Britain.

Greater Britain?

It has been a long time since the concept of Greater Britain has been espoused.  Probably not since the 1951 groundnuts scheme in Tanganyika.  "Wider still and wider" as a conceptual idea has not been popular among young fashion-conscious men since the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

But these things do not happen by accident.  Attitudes to these designs would have been tested and re-tested among focus groups long before they made it into the Matalan summer catalogue.  Especially in these hard times valuable catalogue space will not be allocated unless the product managers are sure the items are going to sell on a large scale.

Which must indicate society is changing.

Not everyone is going to like this.