If English nationalism is on the rise, no one has told the English
The rise of English identity is largely myth
Little happens on St George’s Day. There is no bank holiday on April 23rd to celebrate England’s dragon-slaying patron saint. Traditions are few. Morris dancing, an English folk dance with bells and flailing handkerchiefs, is mercifully rare. A politician may post a message against a backdrop of an England flag. Tedious liberals point out that St George was Turkish and dragons do not exist. Beyond that, England’s national day passes with no fanfare. England is absent.
Open a book, read a broadsheet newspaper or head to an academic conference, however, and England is everywhere. Britain is experiencing “a reawakening of English national consciousness”, argued Jason Cowley in “Who Are We Now: Stories of Modern England”. Englishness is “the motor force behind” ructions in recent British politics, say Ailsa Henderson and Richard Wyn Jones, a pair of academics. Another author warns Britain “cannot survive English nationalism”. This is a genre fond of quoting G.K. Chesterton’s poetry: “Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget/For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.” According to the intelligentsia, the people of England are screaming.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Wot’s up wiv Ingerlund?"
Britain April 22nd 2023
- English schoolchildren are still missing months of classes
- A deepening crisis in Scotland’s ruling party
- The first big test of Britain’s voter-ID requirements is imminent
- Britain’s emergency text alert is a signal of something bigger
- Britain’s inflation rate is not falling fast enough
- Britain needs to embrace road pricing
- If English nationalism is on the rise, no one has told the English
From the April 22nd 2023 edition
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