The place and the people are the subject of a recent on-line article by Professor Eric Kaufmann analysing what the 2011 Census says about national identity. It reveals wide variation in identification across England, with Englishness concentrated, perhaps paradoxically, in the Danelaw (and some additional coastal retirement zones, mainly in Wessex). Areas around the Humber and Thames estuariesContinueContinue reading “London and the English”
Category Archives: Identity
English Is Not Enough
“What we think of when we talk of English traits really narrows itself to a small district. It excludes Ireland and Scotland and Wales, and reduces itself at last to London, that is, to those who come and go thither.”Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)Identity today is in flux: so the Census results tell us. There areContinueContinue reading “English Is Not Enough”
Devon’s Difference
Racial purity is a fancy term for in-breeding. Those who like that sort of thing will carry on doing it. And those who don’t, won’t. In a free society, politicians shouldn’t normally be that bothered either way.Genetics becomes politicised when it is used to bolster or attack treasured historic identities. Such identities should be strongContinueContinue reading “Devon’s Difference”
Roger & Out
Over on the east side of Mercia, a seven-year old boy has been told by the local council that he’s not allowed to fly a pirate flag in the garden. It’s a breach of planning law, one that could mean a fine of up to £2,500. And no, it’s not the council’s fault that theyContinueContinue reading “Roger & Out”
Knowing Our Place
Alex Salmond, setting out the Scottish Government’s programme at Holyrood earlier this month, poured scorn on Tories who had described plans to promote ‘Scottish Studies’ as ‘indoctrination’. “I cannot imagine any other nation,” he said, “where teaching your own history, arts and literature in an impartial way would be dismissed in such a negative fashion.”TryContinueContinue reading “Knowing Our Place”
Wessex Regionalists 