The past is a foreign country; you remember the lovely meals, the better weather and the prettier locals. You forget the screaming row on the first night, the broken shower-rail and the closed museum.
This year, there’s a sense that we no longer as a nation really know what what ‘Englishness’ really is, beyond Downton Abbey and the talky bits of Skyfall. But here’s the thing: we never had a sense of what ‘Englishness’ was.
The good old days when England spoke with one voice weren’t good; they were just old. Those great national writers, who defined the condition of England – Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell – weren’t speaking for a wider constituency than Michael Arditti, Zadie Smith or Julian Barnes do: they just didn’t have any competition, and time is on their side. People might have taken to the streets to hear news of imperial advance or to celebrate the nation: but they didn’t have Twitter, iTunes, Tumblr, Facebook, Netflix or TV. They had to take what they could get.
It’s not that we used to speak with one voice and now we are divided; it’s that the other voices used to be censored and now they can breathe freely, too. The nature of flags is that they stand for a lot of things: the person who puts a brick through a window and the builder who repairs it are probably united by a mutual hatred of John Terry. Somewhat engagingly, when you ask English people about England and Englishness, they can’t really identify what they are: but they’re proud of them anyway.
That’s about where Labour should be: proud of England, but not seeking to create a new narrative of a progressive England, of Chartists and mixed-race cricketers. Less than a week from the county council elections, Labour could yet have its thunder stolen by a United Kingdom Independence party that appeals to a half-glimpsed English yesteryear with a populist line on immigration. The temptation then will be to come up with a new narrative for a ‘progressive England’; not, however, one so progressive as to avoid a rightward tilt on immigration. But that approach won’t work, only the awkward parties are rewarded for frothing at the mouth. In any case, UKIP have peaked too early; their showing next week will make it easier, not harder for the Tories to squeeze their vote come 2015. Labour shouldn’t worry about what Nigel Farage says about England and Englishness this and next week; it should worry about what it will say about the condition of England this and next year.
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Stephen Bush writes a weekly column for Progress, the Tuesday review, and tweets @stephenkb
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Labour ought to care about England, but it doesn’t. The simple, undeniable fact is that Labour is a racist Anglophobic party, just like the other two mainstream parties.
There is a united Englishness, a welcome breeze of identity and reborn cultural recognition, not to be confused with the hate filled British parties. Sadly Labour are an Anti English Anti England racist party, not unlike the BNP. The people of England can see this. The Question is what will Labour do?
‘It’s not that we used to speak with one voice and now we are divided’.
Ha! The Welsh literally don’t speak with one voice!
Why do you Labour types always pick on England? What about Welshness, Scottishness and Irishness. Those nations are far more divided than England with their language and sectarian issues. Why are they never asked to define themselves?
We English are united in being fed up with this Disunited kingdom and will probably choose to bring it to an end!
Fine if the English want to celebrate St Georges day that’s up to them but I don’t see why the Cornish should suffer more state sponsored English nationalism in Cornwall. We have our national day, St Pirans day, on the 5th of March and don’t need the government telling us we should celebrate the patron saint of the country next door.
I think we should make St George’s Day a bank holiday if we get re-elected and introduce English votes for English MPs or look at turning the House of Lords into an English Parliament with a referendum.
Britain is Great. Notwithstanding some few disputes on the football field and in the HP we have a free voice. [Call me anything you want to – don’t call me late for breakfast! my ex Army dad used to say].
[PS: Its not rocket science to see that Labour will romp home to win the 2015 election – but wish there were more cohesiveness on age-disparity & how ‘Labour’ PR people tackle the message to the different age groups. The Lib-Dems in Cornwall have their ‘Marketing’ messages down pat – a letter[flyer] from the local Council prospect, immediately backed up by a letter, the next day, from the ‘revered’ Paddy Ashdown – Paddy’s “Waste-not-Want-not” message to Council is SPOT-ON !.
Wakey-WAKEY you PR-Spin-Gurus at Labour HQ. 2015 may be ‘in the bag’ for Labour, but nobody gets Congrats’ till the fat lady has sung. And no one likes smug complacency either.