The favourite tactic of those who don’t like English nationhood or culture is to call into question the very existence of English identity and culture. Professor John Denham gives his answer to an article in the New Statesman. I came across his letter, reproduced below, in the edition of The Week published December 7.
Feeling English
To the New Statesman
Alex Niven tells Jason Crowley that the English “don’t exist as a national culture because we were an imperialist internationalist culture”. Why is it such claims are made by people who don’t feel English, but not by those who do?
The Empire – which engaged the Scots and the Welsh as much as the English – was British. Boris Johnson and his allies are Anglo-centric British nationalists who rarely talk about England. Those who emphasise their English identity, by contrast, tend to be sceptical about the Union and want the interests of England itself protected.
England’s future story must reflect the nation as we are today, building on English and British identities as we now know them. Condemning Englishness with inaccurate caricatures simply makes that harder.
Professor John Denham, Centre for English Identity and Politics, University of Southampton.
Incidentally, Professor Denham mentions the Scots and the Welsh as having a role in British empire-building. He could also have mentioned the Irish who literally fought for it. Some of the most famous regiments in the British Army were Irish. One only has look at the battle honours awarded to Irish regiments to realise the vital role they played in establishing and maintaining the British Empire.
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