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By Newswire
September 10 2012

A new report from think-tank British Future called ‘Team GB: How 2012 Should Boost Britain‘, published today, finds that Britons felt as a nation we don’t talk enough about our achievements, and that most want London 2012 to have “a lasting positive impact on British society” (58% agree/15% disagree).

In a poll carried out for British Future’s report, Jessica Ennis topped the table as the Olympic athlete most likely to make the nation proud to be British, followed by Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins.

In the post Olympic period, most people see the BBC, as a publically funded broadcaster, having a responsibility to show a wider range of sport, with 71% agreeing that the BBC “should show sporting events that bring the nation together”.

Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, said: “We liked being the people that we were this Olympic year. For it to change our society for good would be an unexpected surprise. But if we wanted it too, it could.”

In the report, he calls for the BBC to commit to more coverage of women’s sport so it is “not just in prime time once every four years” and can inspire our daughters, as well as adding “let’s stop talking about needing to reclaim the flag from the extreme fringe when the inclusive meaning of the Union Jack today is better represented in children’s facepaint than flailing neo-fascism”.

British Future had also carried out some work charting public attitudes and associations to the Union Jack earlier this year in its This Sceptred Isle report, it revisted the question post Olympics and found a rise in the number of people associating the flag with “modern, diverse Britain” and “Team GB”.

Overall, the public felt that the 2012 Olympics has been positive for the mood of the British public (86% positive, of which 53% very positive), and good for the way that Britain is viewed by the rest of the world (78% positive, of which 41% very positive).

The report also calls for:
* A new school sports day/national sports day — held on the same day around England, Scotland, Wales and NI
* As much women’s sport on TV as men’s
* The Olympics park to stay open for another month so public can visit, and new Superstars-style TV programme

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