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I'm English, by George - and proud to say so
Why all this guilt and self-hatred? The English have a great deal to be proud of, as much as or more than any other culture on earth.
There can be no doubt, on the eve of St George's Day at the close of the 20th century, that English identity is under threat. Why this should be so, whether it matters and how great the threat really is are separate questions; the threat itself is not in question. It is fine these days to be Scottish or Welsh or Afro-Caribbean or Punjabi, and it is usually fairly fine, or pretty much acceptable, to be British, though the word has become something of an awkward euphemism; where once English used to mean everybody British, British these days tends, oddly enough, to mean everybody except the English. Being English is becoming something of an embarrassment in many circles, both to those who are and to those who aren't. Anyone determined to avoid giving offence can only talk about being British; in our contemporary muddles about race, identity and devolution, English is becoming an unword. This may not yet be felt to be so in most people's private lives, but it is so increasingly in radio, television, newspapers, in schools and universities, in the public services and, of course, in the Government.
Our Scottish Chancellor, Gordon Brown, displayed an unmistakable contempt for English identity this week in some remarks he made to the New Statesman. Asked where England fits in to his vision of a redefined Britain as the world's first "multicultural, multi-ethnic and multinational state", yet a Britain with neither a parliament for England nor elected regional assemblies for the English, he replied coolly that "English people can see themselves exactly as they want to see themselves. There are Yorkshire men and women, Cornish men and women, who are also British." So much, then, for English identity and centuries of English history. Some cultures are clearly more equal than others. In the face of insolence like this one cannot help sympathising with Alan Ford's controversial programme, shown on BBC 2 on Tuesday, The Race that Dare Not Speak its Name.
Mr Ford is the factory worker from Leicester who accepted an invitation from the BBC's community programmes unit to express a personal view not normally reflected in the media; he feels passionately that while every other ethnic group here is encouraged to celebrate its identity, particularly the Scots and Welsh, and often with large subsidies, Englishness is actively discouraged, and linked with racism. The middle class media and intelligentsia are forever sneering at England, he protests. If this sounds familiar, it is. George Orwell said much the same thing in 1941: "England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality in Left-wing circles it is always felt that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse-racing to suet pudding."
Little has changed, except that sniggering has been replaced by a discreet censorship. Much printers' ink has already been spilt on examples of things English being deliberately ignored. My favourite example, also used by Alan Ford in his programme, is the book published by Routledge in 1997 called Studying British Cultures. Written by leading academics in British cultural studies, it has only three references in the index to English/ness, and all are brief, dismissive remarks in the introduction. Equally striking in its small way was the case of the English pub landlady in the documentary who could not get an extended licence for St George's Day, as it is "not a special occasion", whereas the pub down the road got one automatically for St Patrick's Day.
The joke is, of course, that this programme, protesting against the suppression of English identity, proved its own point, when the BBC decided that part of it should indeed be suppressed. What was transmitted on Tuesday had been toned down by the BBC's controller of editorial policy - that same executive, Philip Harding, who achieved notoriety recently by issuing a booklet to BBC staff advising against tactless use of the word English.
I am torn between incredulity and rage. What is so wrong with being English? Why is the English liberal establishment so ashamed of it? Why all this guilt and self-hatred? The English have a great deal to be proud of, as much as or more than any other culture on earth. I can understand the long-standing resentment of empire, from those whose forebears were colonised, though they do not seem to extend their animosity to the equally imperialistic Scots. And I can understand the resentment of other peoples living here, who chose England in preference to their own countries of origin, and cannot forgive the English for receiving them: no good deed goes unpunished, and other ethnic groups may feel understandably vengeful. But I cannot understand the complicity of English establishment liberals in their own destruction. And I cannot understand their feelings of guilt about an imperial past which ended long before they were born.
I sometimes suspect that the ethnic apologetics with which English liberals seek to appease their own guilt and other people's resentment is actually a particularly English form of racism. To me, as an American on my father's side, one of the most unattractive aspects of Englishness has always been false modesty. It's called self-deprecation, but springs from a deep sense of superiority (not unjustified, and all the more annoying for that) and it was traditionally both a ruse to placate inferiors and a game to tease equals - a national form of self-aggrandisement and exclusion. These days the self-deprecation with which the English accept their marginalisation in their own country may not be quite in the grand old English manner. But it is deeply insincere for all that.
Those contemporary English liberals and intellectuals who cry stinking fish in their own backyard, and celebrate every ethnic identity but their own, do so out of the same deep sense of superiority as their forebears, but it is today a superiority which they cannot bring themselves to acknowledge to themselves; that would be racism, and indeed it is. And that is why the hypocrisy of English self-deprecation is greater than ever before, and why it is accompanied by a new bad faith and a new subliminal guilt. It is dishonest and patronising; respect to others depends on truth to oneself. I believe it may be this which has distorted contemporary discussions of ethnicity, race and identity. It is understandable that these questions should provoke so much anxiety and confusion; they are painful and intractable subjects. But no good purpose can be served by dangerous and dishonest self-deprecation, which others will take only too literally, with disastrous results; that is one aspect of Englishness, at least, that the English must renounce, at the end of the 20th century.
The Daily Telegraph | Thursday, April 22, 1999
Comments:
Couldn't agree with this lady more. An old topic but one that is surely in debate amongst the English people, since devolution has been granted to the other 3 nations of Britain, except England.
It is only fair that England should re-claim their identity also, from the British state. Along with the Scots, Welsh and Irish.
In Scotland they do not fly the Union flag/jack and nor do they in Wales, they fly their own national flags, so, lets do the same and raise our grand old ragged banner we call the St George Cross.
Posted by: Christopher Reeves | 16 Oct 2005 23:55:31
Dear Sir or madam.
The Scots/Welsh/liberal left are doing their darnest to make England and it's flag synonymous with racism.
What they do not recognise is that they are in effect making racism fashionable.
Posted by: Fred Bishop | 17 Oct 2005 00:25:17
Thing is, "the English" who actually just live here and get on with their lives, do not put their nationality down and have no shame whatsoever of their origins or national flag.
The PCers are now going out of fashion and its just embarassing to have to read about their dying struggles in the media, whilst they attempt to cling on to power.
They're history, let's not give them any more space in the newspapers.
Posted by: Della Petch | 17 Oct 2005 21:00:34
i am quite pleased that i found this web site, as i am a english person at college but can not say so because other nationality's in my college can find it offencive if i say that i am so. but of corse they can say they are morrocan and black or albanian, so why can i not say that i am english?i am proud to be what i am, and will die saying i am english. wether you may think i am a racist i do not care as for i am fed up of this whole situation of me being ashamed of what i am. if i say i am english british or whatever, i am laughed at but all the other students it is cool for them to be black or morrocan. i have black friends who would agree with me on my oppinion, and why is this country going so bankrupt, what about my poor family who have worked all those years but will not get a pension. but yet these immigrants who come here from there "poor countrys" and get nice cars and houses with out jobs will get a pension. i think our goverment has to stop worrying bout all these immigrants and more about our ENGLISH culture, i live in the real world and i think it is bout time others start joining it.
Posted by: chloe | 5 Dec 2005 20:04:11
CHLOE is right.
I to am proud to be English and I do not mean British I mean I want to air my views on ethnic people without any fear of being missunderstood to tell the world I to am a person.
And if anyone comes to England they must accept English Law.
Jack
Posted by: Jack Butterworth | 24 Jan 2006 14:29:04
Well, well...i wonder what there is ashamed to be about? Try the following: empire,food,cold (weather, people, manners)
I say: goodbye to the English and good riddance!!
Posted by: Ayesha | 20 Jul 2006 13:42:37
What you write, Minette, is what I've been railing about for the last week. See Stephen Pollard's blog. By the way, if you don't mind, I'm making Monday Minette Marrin day on my blog.
Posted by: James | 26 Jul 2006 15:32:44
Every culture, intertwined. That is the goal for which we should aim. Hegemony of all the positive traits: the nonexistence of belief in the erroneous nation, an erroneous God and greed. Unseat prejudice, patriotism and evil where they might be found.
Posted by: Sam | 5 Mar 2007 20:17:50
so ayesha you say good bye and good riddiance to the english eh? well im not sure what country you are from,and quite frankly i don't care. although i do care about stupid people like you insulting my heritage and my country. if you don't like the english so much you why you on this website eh?
Posted by: chloe | 16 May 2007 21:30:36
Mother of parliamentary democracy,maker of English common law that is used throughout the English speaking world.The oldest nation state in Europe.Inventor of nearly all the major sports played world wide. Home of the agricultural revolution and of course the industrial revolution too.The land of Beowulf,King Alfred The Great,Athelstan,King Harold,Lady Godiva, Aethelflaeda warrior princess of the Mercians.Home of the great English reformers and dissenters Wycliffe,William Tyndale,Social reformers The Lollards,The levellers,Scientific giants like Newton ,Architects like Wren,and a long line of the greatest writers such as Chaucer,Shakespeare,music to delight us - Henry Purcell.Endlessly creative and inventive from earliest to modern times.
On top of that we can also boast the greatest gift to the world,English itself.
Yes, I too am English and proud.
Posted by: Mark Taylor | 9 Jul 2008 16:50:51
i agree with the authors comments entirely,but it is all a problem of our own making.When Mrs Thatcher introduced the poll tax,anti fox hunting,gay rights,save the whale,down with the bomb,these attract major demonstrations or riots and yet we true ENGLISH men and women sit quietly by while our freedom and identity is eroded until nothing more will be left,we are a disappearing race and untill we protest and shout louder we will disappear in to obscruitity,LONG LIVE THE QUEEN GOD BLESS ENGLAND!
Posted by: Paul Mason | 28 Aug 2008 19:25:17
