matthew try this.
ONCE WE WHERE REAL MEN.
or maybe WHERE HAVE ALL THE REAL MEN GONE LONG
TIME PASSING.

george william taylor, hull, uk

Not worth dying for, Dad

RogerD, Torbay, England

Hmm ... 'Crown Jewel' or 'Cricket & Crown'?

Glenn, Portland, USA

Much Ado About Nothing

michael newman, Brisbane, Australia

Gone to pot
Magna cock-up
Desperandum
By red tape we're bound
Where's the escape tunnel
Get me out of here

Peter Ashford, Fleet, Hants

Somehow my entry didn't make it first time, so here goes once again. How about:
"Britannia waives the rules"?

alan, cologne,

Dear dear Matthew Paris, thank you thank you for this joyously witty article that has cheered me up no end as I sit here 'suffering' as an ex-Pat in the obscenely warm Caribbean - what was I thinking? I was just telling my Caribbean hubby why I was chuckling so much, and it came to me, what my motto for the UK would be 'Careful! Nothing is sacrosanct here. Nothing :0)' I do feel it requires a smiley face at the end. :0)

Julie Ann Hilton, George Town, Cayman Islands

What is the Polish for "The Promised Land"?

Bricknell, Prestwick,

What's the Latin for "Tax and Spend"?

Henry, London,

love them all, but my motto would be

"EXCUSE ME!"

which is suitably gnomic as can be read as passive or aggressive, and is as free or as full of meaning (given our Island Story) as one might hope for.

Oliver

Oliver Harwood, Cambridge, England

The Once and Future Country?

Spencer, Wiltshire,

The motto that underpins the British sense of community?
'Not In My Back Yard'

cal buffery, Abergavenny, wales

Motto for England

lie back and think of Scotland.

peter keeping, LYTHAM ST ANNES,

New Labour, are up Zarathustra mountain. Peacock's with broken feathers.

Stanley, Sutton-in-Ashfield, England

My suggestion for a national motto is:

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

D. Wilgoss, Cheam, Surrey,

'Always envied by the world'

Martin Shaw, Ongar, Essex, United Kingdom

A Motto ?
How about : Aaaaaaagh !
Are we really so insecure with ourselves that we need a motto ?
How very touchy feely.

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

How about:
"Those who would trade freedom for security will deservedly lose both".
A welcome reminder of what is important in the non-war on terrorism.

Joe, Devon,

Sorry, Mattew, but walking around declaiming a "national motto" is just not British.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

What the British have given us we must now give back -- with a vengeance.
I propose that the motto of my British-public-school model missionary College founded by English bishops during colonial times, Esto Perpetua (..”be thou forever’’….) be given back as the British motto. The Labour party might want to adopt it for themselves, considering that the British PM must have been told this by Tony Blair every morning? …. (Be thou forever Chancellor.)
That’s tangential, but the spirit of giving back when a country is in need is the reasoning that animates this suggestion. That, and the fact that Esto Perpertua in my language (Sinhala) sounds exactly this:
“(we)…..burnt down the verandah.”
That’s the problem with Latin. It’s hard to pronounce, and conveys unnecessary gravitas when it doesn't convey the unintended.…
It’s a language as dead as dead can be
-- first it killed the Romans….. now it’s killing me....

Rajpal Abeynayake, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka

"things can only get better"?

that might be tempting fate, though, as it has already been used and proved inaccurate.

we could always try:

"we also promised a referendum".

jem, london, uk

It's unpleasant enough having to memorise our 'people's core values' (or whatever it is this week) in the office. Do these goons seriously think they can unilaterally tell us who we are and what we stand for?

To use another untraceable Google quote - if this is the answer, what is the question?

Tim, London,

Perhaps a better motto would be "Get a Life!"

Robert Lipfriend, London,

"Land of tax and squander"

James Young, Aberdeen,

Quietly, modestly and with fortitude.
Discrètement, modérément et avec force morale.

Something the real British do rather well.

UACK, Bolton, UK

How about: "Working Towards A Slogan-Free Britain"?

Sue, San Antonio, USA/Texas

Continuing the Orwellian theme of James of Canberra, what is wrong with the classic "Big Brother is watching You".

We have got one anyway on the royal coat of arms.

Brian Vallance, Corfu, Greece

Given new labour's record in government how about Britain's motto being :- "Work. What's the point?"

D Cage, Highworth, Wilts UK

Taking into account the egregious PC lobby and its campaign (successful thus far) to put aggressor/perpetrator before victim, all in the cause of 'human rights', how about: Who you lookin' at?

anne, bournemouth,

A quick review of this list of mottos for states (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_mottos) indicates that as far as everyone else in the world is concerned the nation states which make up the United Kingdom already have quite a wide variety of mottos available

I assume then that the government is actually seeking a motto for "Great Britain" as a unified entity (rather than those several rather separatist ones already avaialble).

I believe "Caveat emptor" would be appropriate.

Bob, Reading,

I think what Michael Wills may have had in mind was what all progressive thrusting organizations have to have these days; a "Vision Statement". All the progressive churches of various denominations have one these days. It takes a great deal of effort and causes enormous controversy before the "Boss" puts his foot down and insists on a compromise solution being adopted. After that we all forget about it. It appears at the top of various bits of stationery, but no one takes any notice. Life goes on as before.
I say let Michael Wills have whatever he wants and move on.
Who cares?

Nigel MacNicol, Oakham, Rutland, UK

Sneer all you like Parris but I bet Clare collage has a motto and I bet you know it off by heart.

Sion Williams, Notts,

To our leaders, we don’t expect “He without sin to lead us” so please don’t undermine our intelligence by telling you are all great, and truthful.

Michael, Sheffield,

How about...

'Are We There Yet?'

steve ward, troon, scotland

Lovely to see that rarity – a paean to Birmingham, most civilised of English cities, and the only one still genuinely committed to high culture.

Paul Lay, London,

We apologise for the inconvenience.

Stephen Bird, Järvenpää, Finland

surely, before any competition to find a motto, we should have a vote on whether we want a motto? I suspect the vast majority would give it a wide berth.

if it seems rather a trivial matter over which to have an election, perhaps we could combine it with a general election and a referendum on europe.

if we are to have a motto, it should be "don't take yourself too seriously". although, of course, if we believed that, we wouldn't have a motto.

we could spend the money wasted on this new labour masturbation on, say, clean water and education for an african village. then let them come up with a motto.

jem, london, uk

honi soit qui mal y pense

Redcliffe, London,

Just to say that people getting on buses without touching in does not necessarily mean they haven't paid. Many of them will have season tickets loaded onto their Oyster cards, as I do. I pay more than £1700 a year for mine and don't particularly feel the need to 'clock in' for what few journeys I take on bendy buses.

Of course I wouldn't mind doing so if it meant that the selfish minority who really don't pay get caught - but that isn't the case.

Marcus Cotswell, London, UK

How do you know whether the people getting on the no.12 bus 'without paying' have travelcards?

Adam, London,

Perhaps the motto: 'It's out of our hands now' would appeal to anti-immigration football fans?

Geoff Cornford , bexhill-on-sea,

'Warning you are on CCTV'

Gareth, Ulverston, UK

Sadly our culture and reputation is such that perhaps our motto should be (spoken loudly) "DO YOU DO CHIPS?"

Nick Brett, Swindon, UK

Dr Johnson's "Example is more efficacious than precept", would be the perfect motto for Britain -- assuming we need one, which is doubtful.

John Evans, Exeter, England

The Anti-Smoking Nanny State

Eddie, Edinburgh, Scotland

nicked off someone on the motto blog - !"greatness is within us all"

mount, dorset , gb

I feel sure that in Rhodesia, where Matthew hails from, that he would have been brought up on classical English literature, as were my friends Ron from the West Indies and Abd from Egypt. Contemplating London deep in snow with Dickens, or the Scottish Highlands with John Buchan, going to sea with CS Forester and the British Fleet, must have given them all a feeling of intimacy with the country of their settlement. But nothing could have prepared them for the reality of the place. Matthew still speaks with a practiced passion as though each and every sentence has a small possibility of becoming immortal; Ron would tell you of the trials he underwent to become a citizen and that now they let anyone in. Abd, a Palestinian by birth, would really prefer his homeland. It is almost as though a nation of great intelligence, self-will and dignity, could only be itself through romance. So, perhaps, we should borrow from Bernard of Chartres, "We (are like) as dwarfs on the shoulders of giants".

Malcolm Turner, Alsager, England

How about "Open All Hours" as that's what illegal immigrants and bogus asylum seekers think?

George, Glasgow, UK

If we must have a motto, or mission statement, or national jingle, or whatever it is - haven't we got one that many in this country have been singing with gusto for two or three centuries: 'Britons Never Will Be Slaves'.

David Kirwan, Sale, Manchester,

I'm not sure the Tudors' motto is that post-modern. Translated it is:

What you see is what you get.

P A K, Cambridge, U K

New Zealand's motto should be, prior to a rugby World Cup, "Let the All Blacks not climb up their own bottoms"

Iain Lindsay, Christchurch, New Zealand

PS - Matthew, you are brilliant on National Radio - "a fan"

Iain Lindsay, Christchurch, New Zealand

I'm sorry, its too late

(Black Adder goes Forth)

Matt Kenny, Perth, WA

The Tudors motto, so I've heard, was "We are as we are perceived."

- Quite post modern actually

Glenn Schaefer, Holbrook, USA

better one
forever at war, anywhere anytime

based on the simple fact that it will be difficult to find a 10 year gap in Britain's 500 history when it has not been at war with someone somehwre in the world and now Brown is preparing for a war with Iran

Kala Singh, southall, Middleex

The Times is right to view this push for a motto with suspicion. Let us not forget that mottoes are most favoured by totalitarian regimes as in " Death or Socialism " [ Cuba ] or the Orwellian " Four legs good, two legs bad ". Readers familiar with Animal farm will recall that this transmogrified into " Four legs good, two legs better " when the pigs learned to walk on their hind legs, thus demonstrating how mottoes can be used to manipulate public discourse and quickly degenerate into slogans.

James , Canberra, Australia.

Wonderful! Also (as I do not believe in banning anything) can we all agree to burst out laughing whenever someone uses the expression "punching above our weight"?

Ken Nielsen, Sydney, Australia