England has given the whole world a common language. When we were in China a teacher from Kenya delighted in showing students that the English language didn’t come from the US as they thought, but from a tiny island nation close to Europe. As an Australian of British heritage I’m very proud of the literature, music, art, and all the things Paul mentions. There is an obvious English identity if you aren’t actually English yourself. I can’t get over how much England has contributed to the world in the past and continues to do so in the present.
Very well summarised Paul, thank you. This article reminded me of Sir Roger Scruton’s idea of ‘oikophobia’ - fear and hated of one’s own home and people, as a direct psychological reaction to fear of xenophobia. And at root I think that’s what this elite self-hatred is all about - they were all raised on the idea that the deadliest of all sins is racism, and having been fully indoctrinated with this idea, they are driven to always and everywhere prove their purity by demonstrating total hatred of their own culture. Scarily irrational stuff really.
That’s an interesting definition of nationalism, the Oxford reference definition is “A political ideology and associated movement intended to realize or further the aims of a *nation, most notably for independent self-government in a defined territory”
A rough ‘rule of thumb’ quote I picked up somewhere but instructive enough in most circumstances I found, but as always, generalisms break down in the particulars very often…
I just want to comment as an outsider. I'm Scottish to the core, but like one of my heroes, Billy Connelly, I consider myself a complete anglophile.
I love travelling on the train from Glasgow to London and passing all these little towns and villages with their square tower churches with a StGeorges flag on top. A truly timeless old English scene.
I agree with Paul about the role of Scotland in the Empire. Up until the 1960's cultural "revolution", Scottish schools used to boast about how we were really the people in charge of the Empire. Think of the huge Scottish influence in Canada, India, NZ etc.
I've given up arguing this point with deluded Scottish Nationalists who try to wash their hands of Scotland's role in it.
England must stick up for it's own culture with pride.
Way back in the late 80s I lived in East Ham when it was still majority white English/ British, I don't believe by the way that being English/British is related to skin colour.
However when I revisited the area a few years ago I was utterly shocked by the demographic changes I saw. There was hardly any sign of the old white working class in the area I walked, from Upton Park to East Ham.
I finally decided to go to an old pub I used to frequent called the Central Hotel just off Barking Road. It was still there and proudly displayed in one of the windows was a StGeorges flag. It looked like a defiant gesture. I remember thinking "quite right" don't be ashamed to fly your own flag. The liberal elites would hate it, no doubt.
Thanks for expressing these ideas forcefully and kindly. The irony is that as the world becomes more global, smaller and homogeneous, we need our local identity all the more. Despite what your friends on the left may think, we are not nostalgic for the glory days of Empire (well maybe bashing Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler) but value what we have at hand in our language, landscape, history (the rich tableau of good and bad) and religion. I don’t understand the need to trash it all by people who can manage without a national identity but will deprive others (generally less wealthy) of having one. The people who enjoy visiting a remote corner of Italy (‘so Italian, so real, no tourists’) but would decry doing the same in their own home.
England has given the whole world a common language. When we were in China a teacher from Kenya delighted in showing students that the English language didn’t come from the US as they thought, but from a tiny island nation close to Europe. As an Australian of British heritage I’m very proud of the literature, music, art, and all the things Paul mentions. There is an obvious English identity if you aren’t actually English yourself. I can’t get over how much England has contributed to the world in the past and continues to do so in the present.
Yet another highly relevant and intelligent polemic Paul, may I copy it and put it out on social media, acknowledging your authorship ?
Of course.
Very well summarised Paul, thank you. This article reminded me of Sir Roger Scruton’s idea of ‘oikophobia’ - fear and hated of one’s own home and people, as a direct psychological reaction to fear of xenophobia. And at root I think that’s what this elite self-hatred is all about - they were all raised on the idea that the deadliest of all sins is racism, and having been fully indoctrinated with this idea, they are driven to always and everywhere prove their purity by demonstrating total hatred of their own culture. Scarily irrational stuff really.
I think we need a debate on what being English/British is. At first I thought it was a sense of fairness but that is common to humanity generally.
I would like to see Patriotism embraced in schools without being jingoistic. Teach history as it is, good and bad.
Patriotism is love of one’s country. Nationalism is hatred of everyone else’s….
That’s an interesting definition of nationalism, the Oxford reference definition is “A political ideology and associated movement intended to realize or further the aims of a *nation, most notably for independent self-government in a defined territory”
A rough ‘rule of thumb’ quote I picked up somewhere but instructive enough in most circumstances I found, but as always, generalisms break down in the particulars very often…
A great, insightful topic and you are right Paul. The media and other ‘bien pensants’ dismiss and ridicule such a thing as a ‘British Identity’.
I just want to comment as an outsider. I'm Scottish to the core, but like one of my heroes, Billy Connelly, I consider myself a complete anglophile.
I love travelling on the train from Glasgow to London and passing all these little towns and villages with their square tower churches with a StGeorges flag on top. A truly timeless old English scene.
I agree with Paul about the role of Scotland in the Empire. Up until the 1960's cultural "revolution", Scottish schools used to boast about how we were really the people in charge of the Empire. Think of the huge Scottish influence in Canada, India, NZ etc.
I've given up arguing this point with deluded Scottish Nationalists who try to wash their hands of Scotland's role in it.
England must stick up for it's own culture with pride.
Way back in the late 80s I lived in East Ham when it was still majority white English/ British, I don't believe by the way that being English/British is related to skin colour.
However when I revisited the area a few years ago I was utterly shocked by the demographic changes I saw. There was hardly any sign of the old white working class in the area I walked, from Upton Park to East Ham.
I finally decided to go to an old pub I used to frequent called the Central Hotel just off Barking Road. It was still there and proudly displayed in one of the windows was a StGeorges flag. It looked like a defiant gesture. I remember thinking "quite right" don't be ashamed to fly your own flag. The liberal elites would hate it, no doubt.
Thanks for expressing these ideas forcefully and kindly. The irony is that as the world becomes more global, smaller and homogeneous, we need our local identity all the more. Despite what your friends on the left may think, we are not nostalgic for the glory days of Empire (well maybe bashing Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler) but value what we have at hand in our language, landscape, history (the rich tableau of good and bad) and religion. I don’t understand the need to trash it all by people who can manage without a national identity but will deprive others (generally less wealthy) of having one. The people who enjoy visiting a remote corner of Italy (‘so Italian, so real, no tourists’) but would decry doing the same in their own home.
As a Wolves fan, and after our defeat by the Villa at the weekend, I am certainly not inspired by Watkins or Konsa!