Writing to The Guardian - surprise, surprise - in letter published on 22 November one Jim Grozier, from Brighton, states the name “England” should be consigned to “the waste bin of history”, its “parts” replaced by “neutral” names.
Perhaps Mr. Grozier is one of those English intellectuals George Orwell described as being “ashamed of their own nationality”? The letter was in response to an article on English national identity and is reproduced below. Make up your own mind!
" I heartily agree with Alex Niven that “building up the English regions” is a much more practical solution to the current identity crisis of the UK than “the quest for an artificial, unitary Englishness”. Who can honestly say that they identify with a region stretching from Land’s End to Berwick, defined largely by geography, and encompassing such huge disparities in wealth and opportunity on the way? Perhaps it is time for someone to come up with new, “neutral” names for the various parts of England, independent of past affiliations and rivalries, as was done during the major upheaval in local government in the 1970s, and to consign the name “England” to the waste bin of history."
Jim Grozier
Brighton, East Sussex
This gentleman does not appear to have heard of nations, old and new, encompassing much bigger areas with greater regional variations than England, and whose populations are content with their belief in Nationhood.
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