Are these exiting times for those of us who are proud of our English identity and who wish to see the English nation assert itself? There is certainly much to be optimistic about for the days ahead. The realistic prospect of Scottish independence has been a much needed catalyst which has gone a long way in bringing the “English question” out from the fringes and gradually into mainstream debate. There are indicators that more English people than ever before identify specifically with England and cherish an English national identity. St George’s Day appears to be growing in popularity year on year, especially in certain areas of the country. Devolution has accentuated and highlighted the differences between England and the other nations of the UK and it looks as though a process has been set in motion which will eventually see a disintegration of the UK as we know it.
Ben Alltimes
There are, however, many challenges still to overcome. The hated New Labour regime may be gone, but many of its key proponents still lurk behind the scenes waiting for a political comeback. So much harm was done to England in those dark years that it is almost impossible to know where to begin when we come to analyse the damage. The Tony Blair years were a high point of Anglophobia, a time of misguided social experimentation and great demographic change. The millions of immigrants who flooded into England have established significant, divided communities in our cities. Large numbers of English people are still wedded to the idea of the UK, or are at best confused about their English identity. Anglophobia is still rife amongst the ‘progressive’ urban elite who view traditional Englishness as an anachronism, as a barrier to the shiny new, multicultural, borderless world they are trying to fashion. Many normally patriotic English people have been cowed into silence by a sinister system of censorship and thought policing, which harshly penalises anybody who deviates from the state-imposed orthodoxy.
England itself has seen many physical changes since 1997. The country is overcrowded, bruised and battered. The English countryside, that timeless bastion of deep Englishness that we all see in our mind’s eye, is under threat as never before. A drive through the countryside is a depressing experience these days. Many beautiful historic inns lie boarded up and abandoned, or have had their guts ripped out and were turned into (yet more) Thai restaurants. Village shops and schools are also closing and church attendance dwindles in rural areas as the Church of England’s wishy-washy, PC version of Christianity becomes increasingly irrelevant to contemporary English people. It is true that many rural communities have adapted to the changes and are thriving, but this is by no means typical of the English countryside today.
The situation in English towns and cities is far worse. Their centres have become indescribably bland and featureless, full of chain stores, fast food outlets and multi-national coffee chains. There is consequently very little to distinguish one town from another and there is very little to be seen that could be called distinctively English. Yes, there are still some touristy places that hold on to more distinctive forms of English townscape and commercial activity. Yet we have not been as wise as many of our continental European friends who have managed to preserve the best of the past whilst ensuring that their cultural identities live on in the modern world. In a country like Greece for example, pride in Greek culture and identity is tangible and this manifests itself in the way people live today rather than just being a historical relic. This is hardly the case in many urban area of England.
I live in south London. It is a depressing place to be a patriotic Englishman. The place barely feels like England at all, with foreign languages being spoken all around and many people of foreign origin making no effort to adopt or (even respect) the wider English way of life. I don’t really blame the immigrants, because these people have never been expected or encouraged to integrate into their host country’s culture, nor to even understand it. The state policy of multiculturalism has expected immigrants to be loyal only to the British state, but has actively encouraged them to retain and flaunt their foreign cultures in ‘Britain’ for the sake of glorious ‘diversity.’ Anybody who dares to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, that ‘diversity’ has actually weakened and divided English society perhaps beyond repair is treated as a racist pariah. The truth is that the English have already been far more tolerant and accepting of newcomers than might be reasonably expected of any nation, yet we are still treated as closet racists who need yet more multicultural ‘educating’ until we wholeheartedly embrace the destruction of our own way of life and culture.
Scotland and Wales practice civic nationalism, but they can afford to do so because the percentage of immigrants to those countries is miniscule compared to that that of England. In reality, Scottish and Welsh nationalism and national identity are based on ethnic and cultural ‘Scottishness’ and ‘Welshness’ promoted from the top down to permeate every area of national life. The relatively few ethnic minorities in those countries are generally able to integrate easily into the core native population and to adopt its culture, which is consistently presented as a fashionable, healthy source of pride. There is little chance that ethnic minorities in English cities will be able to do this because of their sheer numbers and because positive English identity and culture is not positively promoted (nor even discussed) in English civic society, in its schools, institutions, media and politics. All we get fed is a vague ‘Britishness’ which can mean almost anything and which consequently means nothing at all. English identity is seen as little more than supporting a mediocre football team.
In English schools the ethnic minority children are actually more likely to have a far greater understanding of their cultural background and identity than their English classmates. There is a great emphasis on “celebrating diversity,” yet English identity is so often sidelined and ignored despite England being the historic homeland of the English people. There is certainly no attempt to generate assertive English national pride and feeling which is dismissed as ‘jingoistic,’ ‘racist’ or not ‘inclusive’ enough (a mortal sin.) The English children I have met seem to have a vague or even negative view of what it means to be English, yet nobody has yet been able to explain to me how this will help our country and society in years to come. I always grew up thinking that it was natural to be patriotic for your nation, yet children today are seemingly being brainwashed to accept global governance where nation states are things of the past.
It seems to me that we desperately need an English parliament to fight for the cultural identity of the English people and to create a healthy focus for English national consciousness. An English parliament would legitimise English identity and would not give Anglophobes the option of opting out of Englishness because of their warped ideology. An English parliament would be able to decide what is best for the English nation and would make decisions that would protect and defend the English way of life.
Of course there would be different parties with different agendas in an English parliament, but we hope that parties will come to prominence that actively champion English culture and which recognise the right of the ethnic English to be considered the native people of England, whilst simultaneously encouraging a healthy civic English identity to flourish and develop. In time, an English parliament would lead to the development of other English national institutions. There would be a real English NHS, a patriotic English National Curriculum suitable for an independent England. There would be a museum of England in London, local English cultural centres, a proper English national anthem and an English Broadcasting Corporation. Englishness would not be seen as a spurious, lunatic-fringe concept but would come into the mainstream of national consciousness with the cross of St. George flying high over the Palace of Westminster.
We have had enough of a British parliament running England for the benefit of the British and European Unions rather than for the benefit of the English nation. We have had enough of the three party monopoly of our political system. We have had enough of Anglophobia and vilification of English identity. We cannot live in a “United Kingdom” which is not loved by many of our supposed compatriots and which is a really just a moribund relic of a long-gone Empire. It is not fair that the Welsh and Scots are given political voices and are encouraged by their leaders to maintain their distinct identities, whilst we English are buried under ‘Britishness’ and all for the sake of some sinister ‘progressive’ agenda. England needs to speak and it needs voices which will speak on its behalf. We cannot afford to ignore this golden opportunity until the referendum. We must seize the day and speak up for the 50 million, for this ancient and ever-young nation of England. We may never have such an opportunity again.
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