t’s that most wonderful time of the year. April 23rd: St. George’s Day. A time to commemorate England’s patron saint and celebrate what England and the English have given the world (apart from constant apologies). Extraordinary and lasting contributions across science, technology, culture, sport, language and governance, with the nation itself often acting as a catalyst for modernisation and global connectivity.
Except, of course, nobody will be discussing any of that.
There is a double standard at the heart of modern Britain and much of the world. One so familiar that it often passes without comment. Expressions of Scottish, Welsh, or Irish identities are routinely celebrated as rich, authentic, and even heroic. Yet expressions of English identity are treated with suspicion, discomfort, or outright disdain. The same political and cultural elites who champion diversity and the preservation of national traditions everywhere else recoil when the English attempt to do the same.
This imbalance becomes even more striking when set against Britain’s own historical understanding of itself. For centuries, ‘British’ and ‘English’ were largely interchangeable terms. England formed the demographic, political, and cultural heart of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its institutions, language and traditions formed the backbone of what came to be understood as ‘British’ identity. To be British, in everyday usage, often meant to participate in a largely English cultural framework; one that, crucially, was not experienced as exclusionary by most of its citizens but as a shared national story.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member