Being English matters to me because being English connects me to the history of this Island, its landscape, its culture, its language, its interactions with other peoples of this island, its art, its music. It differentiates me from people of other cultures or origins. I am not French. I am not Kenyan, Pakistani, German (although I am closer to the South Germans than many), American, Brazillian and so on. I am English. To tell me that identifying with the people of my country doesn’t matter is deeply insulting. If you don’t identify with a people and a place then I feel sorry for you.

Tell the Scots and the Welsh that being Scottish and Welsh doesn’t matter and see what reaction you get.

Kate
I am not surprised how difficult it is for you to express yourself and to say ‘I am English’ – look around you, and the other ethnicities around us, do THEY feel awkward about expressing their national/cultural identity? Far from it. Why do you think that is?

I think that the socio-political propaganda has brainwashed people into feeling that the ONLY people who are not treacherous fascist racists among the English are the upper-middle class and the rich! In most other countries, the issue of their native cultural identity [I know so from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway... these are European countries that I have visited... and even from Wales and Scotland! All these people do not have the same awkwardness about their love of their national Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, Norwegian, ... Welsh and Scottish culture]

For goodness sake! How many working class people were actually responsible for the oppression of the British Empire? How many working class people were responsible for the worst attrocities of the British Empire? Didn’t just about every nationality in Europe take it in turns to oppress?

I am sick and tired of the propaganda of reverse racism which sometimes exists in this country. We have had two world wars in which millions of working class people were butchered in order that people could enjoy their cultures and national freedoms free from the oppression of the greed and selfishness of others… free from uncontrolled serfdom and a lack of political representation… be proud to be English.

Ed could have put his point across better, but I do agree with him, in many ways I feel as insulted as he does by all this phoney separatist propaganda under the guise of phoney togetherness. These political-propagandist-social engineers are FAR worse than any individual extremist grouping existing today (which we’ve been ignoring for years anyway!).

When I say I’m proud to be English/British, what I mean by saying it is that I’m proud of certain things about this country, being tolerance, freedom of speech, equality, secularism etc etc (although I obviously realise that these things could be better than they are!)

Of course these aren’t things mutually exclusive to this country, so I’m proud of any country that shares these characteristics with us (such as Germany and France).

Basically, being proud to be of a certain nationality should be based on ideals and not a plot of land.

I’m English too. I think being “proud” of your nationality is a bit silly, like being proud of being left-handed or having freckles; I was born with a nationality and did nothing to deserve it, for good or ill.

What Englishness gives me is a connection to other English people, English history and English culture. I can, of course, be connected to other places and cultures by traveling there or by interacting with people, but, by dint of birthplace, my biggest connection is to England and English people.

I think I’m fairly free to make of this what I want. The aspects of English culture I like, I embrace: Blackadder, Half-man Half-biscuit, broadly tolerant attitudes towards personal conduct, freedom of speech, religion, thought and so on. Some of these are fairly uniquely English and can only really be meaningfully discussed with others who are likewise steeped in English culture. Others are somewhat more widespread or, indeed, notably foreign in origin (as most worthwhile English food is, for example). The aspects of English culture I dislike, I reject: class deference, the tendency to disparage those who earnestly try to succeed at things, Big Brother (in both senses).

The thing is, Englishness is always going to mean *something*. It has to, if only because it consists of the sum of things that make sense to English people that don’t make sense to anyone else. Pride in Englishness, if it’s to be a thing worth having, should come from working to ensure that those things are good things, that to the extent we have unique cultural achievements, those achievements are morally, intellectually or spiritually (in the broadest and least religious sense of the word) worthwhile. In that sense, English culture has been host to many good things as well as bad things, and the duty of anyone who wants to call themselves English is to ensure that the good things prevail. From a left-wing perspective, that would mean promoting values of solidarity, tolerance, mutual aid and respect, and so on. Since we *have* a culture, even if only by default, we should want it to be the one we’d wish for, not simply the one we’ve been handed by history.

“National identities rise out of oppression and uniting in the ability to be free.” This isn’t the case – there is a massive difference between national conciousness ( perception of belonging to a nation) and nationalISM (identifying with some sort of statebuilding project)..

There are people in Scotland who are oppressed – but they are oppressed by poverty , discrimination or racism….no one in Scotland is oppressed because they are Scottish Scottish.

“the English pinned them down for so many years that they want to separate themselves”… in what way was Scotland “pinned down”??? Scotland wasn’t a conquered by England ( unlike Ireland – who’s relationship was colonial) In 1707 a Scottish oligarchy – having just seen it’s own nascent imperial project (Darien) go dowwn the tubes almost bankrupting them in the process – – went into partnership with a developing capitalist class in England – Ruling class Scots got access to a developing empire, English Capitalism got rid of a potential competitor and destabilising infuence on their doorstep.. No one has ever said Scotland CAN’T leave the union (unlike Ireland,India)

You are right though that Ed is wrong to say we need to talk more about Englishness..we don’t. The prospects of success for combatting a divisive ideology centred on national identity, by encourtaging more discussion of another national identity are not high.

English is something you are when you are not busy enough being something else…..

This article sounds like someone drunkenly talking in a pub without thinking about what they are saying.

Kate has little understanding of history or culture and hence no connection to England. I pity her.

Thought Milliband was all over the place, embarrassing himself (as a secular, social-democratic Jew) trying to play this particular card.

I’d say Englishness is tied up with a racial conception – do minorities describe themselves “Black English” or “Chinese-English”? I think the tendency is to say “-British” as that’s the national identity, not the ethnic.

“The White Dragon of our Blood unfurls its wings within, Our people awaken and the dark spell fetter fall away; The Wolves of Woden gather again in Wild Forests To hunt down the enemy within.”

I,m german alot of people (in germany) cant bear all this talk about national pride makes us feel guilty.
also i find it strange that people feel pride at somthing they were not involed in i.e great works by writers, sporting displays and brian eno albums.
my advice take pride in your werk, friends and loved ones and try to make the place were you live be it village city town or cave a more intresting place.

liebe

marus