Here's a few of Mark Mardell's points about English nationalism on today's The World This Weekend:
- There are multitudes of meaning within Englishness, from George Orwell's England of suet puddings and red postboxes, through the Blitz and "our finest hour", to John Betjeman's tennis whites and teacakes. What ties together many notions of Englishness is a nostalgia for a country which no longer exists, and perhaps never did really.
- So do we now reflect that early England, effortlessly expanding, already inclusive of Jutes, Saxons, Angles and Danes, or a Tudor England defining itself as a Protestant bulwark against continental Catholicism?
- What has endured is a kind of double vision, the result not of contusion but deliberate confusion, where English identity is layered over and overlaps with British identity. English nationalism leans heavily on this ambition for a greater Britain, a larger vision of itself, whereas Irish and Scottish nationalisms happily, essentially, reject Britishness. The Scottish Parliament was set up 21 years ago and since then there has been an imbalance.
- Despite Billy Bragg's song, it seems likely a search for a new England will gather pace this year, but defining Englishness is a tricky thing.
- Despite the association over the years with the flag of St George and the way it has been used by semi-fascist groups, English nationalism or England, the concept of Englishness, surely is inclusive? You look at London, the most metropolitan, cosmopolitan city in the world perhaps, isn't Englishness inclusive and not ethnic?
That is just a stream of incoherent consciousness.
ReplyDeleteBadly written whilst gazing through a rose tinted metro-liberal lens and ill thought out gibberish.
I'm sure the Jutes, Saxons, Angles, Danes and Romans were all welcomed with open arms and just, well, integrated into English life, playing cricket and listening to The Archers!
ReplyDeleteAnd that Protestant 'bulwark' sounds so nice! No conflict with the English Catholics, just like living with 'moderate' Muslims next door!
It says it all when Mardell says that London, that most un-English of cities is the height of Englishness. Mardell is most definitely a 'nowhere' man, it is a pity that he can't get it into his head that culture is produced by 'somewhere' people.
Hear hear.
DeleteThis will be one of the bbc's new themes,pseudo analysis and opposition to the government's post brexit direction. It will collect a range of foreign liberal experts to disect "key issues", always from an objective perspective, as some people will say.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's clearly their next try-on narrative ..."Boris and Brexit will break up the Union but England by itself makes no sense...there is no Englishness".
DeleteOf course, the irony here is that the BBC is, somewhat oddly a unionist organisation (with the exception of N Ireland, which it hates being part of the UK).
But they are prepared to play with fire and promote Scottish independence in the hope they can break the Conservative Party.
It probably is their best option at this stage.
'Some say' that the BBC in England promotes the break up of the umion.
Delete'Some say' that the BBC in Scotland promotes the union.
They must be 'getting it just about right'. (Ha!)
I see him all I conjure is a lump of gammon. Ironically.
ReplyDeleteI have the same feeling whenever Matt Frei appears.
DeleteWould he or anyone at the BBC talk so patronisingly about Irish or Scottish nationalism.
ReplyDeleteWhy not Chaucer, Shakespeare and the Beatles instead of teacakes and tennis whites?
Can you be a semi-fascist any more than you can be a semi-virgin? Or as semi-communist?
Talking of communists, Mardell's recent, unrequited love letter to Communist China didn't half make him sound like a Maoist.
The Anglo Saxons effortlessly expanding? It took them about 400 years to overcome the Celts and even then, they held on in their strongholds.
DNA study has also shown that most Celts stayed put and became part of the "English" population.
Just to list all the things that remind me of Englishness at its best: the English language, the Common Law, Magna Carta, our constitutional monarchy, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Agatha Christie, the Beatles, the Stones, and a huge range of incredibly inventive singers and songwriters, the Chartists, football, rugby, lawn tennis, cricket, crosswords, Noel Coward, Ealing comedies, Carry On films, Steptoe and Son, Gladstone, Churchill, Atlee, steam power, industrial revolution, Palace of Westminster, St Paul's Cathedral, River Thames, E Type Jaguar, a huge range of scientific discoveries and technical inventions...I could of course continue for another hour...
DeleteBut for Mardell, all he can come up with is suet puddings, post boxes, tea cakes and tennis whites - and dishonours the Battle of Britain (note - Battle of Britain, not England) by shoving the Blitz and "Our Finest Hour" in that mix.
What is it about BBC "commentators" like Easton and Mardell that they really find it so difficult to put their finger on what constitutes Englishness. If they went to another country they wouldn't accuse them of "nostalgia" for referencing figures and events from their collective part. "Nostalgia" is a boo-word used to undermine English people's sense of Englishness. Mardell talks respectfully of China's past, referencing their amazing continuity stretching back of thousands of years.
Of course there are numerous Irish, Welsh and Scottish people and, more recently, people from all around the world who have become part of English culture. That's another aspect of English culture: it is one of the most open in the world.
The problem that Mardell and his pals have is that through the BBC prism they mistake London for the UK and the UK for London. By most counts London is not particularly English. Its diversity through colour race creed and language give the population of London an identity that, although championed by the BBC, is unembraceable to the majority of the UK.
DeleteIt's true the BBC clan are happy in London - the pre-eminent "World City". But they have the PC virus in them and whether they are like Alex Massie (lives in the Borders where there are virtually no migrants) they still follow the PC creed.
DeleteThey will still spout all the central dogmas wherever they live:
- All migration is good.
- Mass migration is even better.
- Advanced economies depend on migration to succeed.
- Diversity is good and creates a strong country.
- All cultures are of equal merit.
- All religions are of equal merit.
- We should respect other countries' interests even if they don't respect ours.
Is there any prominent BBC presenter in radio or TV who resiles from the above points of dogma? I doubt it!
While the BBC luvvies think cultural diversity is wonderful, very few live outside their white ghettos in London or in the country. Probably none live in the ghettos where nearly everyone is not white. Their real experience of multiculturalism is a Polish plumber, Nigerian cleaning lady and going to Chinese/Indian takeaway in London, none of whom have any impact on their safety as none of them walk the streets of the non-white ghettos where they may be intimidated or even mugged by unsavoury characters resentful of any white person invading their territory.
DeleteThe BBC have been denigrating any notion of Englishness for as far back as I can remember. In truth, for Mardell and his ilk it doesn’t exist, except as a delusion in the minds of people they would despise. Now with feigned sincerity he is trying to redefine it as multiculturalism, as if the two concepts were even compatible. This really has nothing to do with Mardell’s vision of Englishness. It is simply a BBC style warning shot should any of us dare to defend the idea of a nation state with boundaries and a character that has evolved through our history.
ReplyDeleteThe unsatisfactory part of the BBC's stance on Englishness is that they and London in general are the custodians of our cultural heritage. They are deliberately evading the responsibility they have taken from us at the altar of an idealised multiculturalism.
DeleteThis is true. Shakespeare is withering on the vine. Hardly seen or heard on the BBC and certain plays virtually verboten now. Same with Christopher Marlowe's work.
DeleteOf course, none of us want culture preserved in aspic but the BBC have been drowning ours in formaldehyde.
It's not an exaggeration to say English culture is being sacrificed on the altar of multiculuralism, Aztec-style, with its heart being ripped out first.
Humour rich in pathos replaced by vindictive, poisonous, politicised comedy. Intelligent, lively and insightful prose replaced by low grade virtue-signalling blocks of words representing only joined up wishful thinking. Resounding and deeply contemplative poetry replaced by unpleasant, chippy doggerel.
Even the excitement of English sport is being bled from it, to be replaced by more virtue-signalling about race, gender, access, overcoming barriers to participation, mental health initiatives.
Likewise science and technology. The BBC palms off politicised opinion as "climate science". They are far more interested as to whether there is "balance" of ethnic and gender representation in science, rather than if anything interesting has been discovered.
Agreed MB. Englishness is also founded in simple Christian belief - fairness, 'do unto others ...', respect for others, respect for figures in authority - and now of most relevance, respect for Auntie - she tells us the truth doesn't she?
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