What is “Englishness”?
Written by director
It seems that the questions about how Englishness is to be defined have arisen in the context of demands for a separate parliament for England and, interesting though the subject may be, it is not directly relevant. Indeed, how Scottishness or Welshness are to be defined do not appear to have been prominent considerations whilst schemes were being devised for powers to be devolved to Scotland and Wales [and, for that matter, Northern Ireland]!

Given the marked reluctance to accord a similar (if not greater) degree of self determination for the 84% of the United Kingdom’s citizens living in England, one may reasonably conclude that questions about defining the English and Englishness are intended merely to divert attention from that issue. This conclusion is reinforced by the inordinate number of non-English politicians presuming to pronounce upon England’s future or, rather, England’s lack of future as a national entity.

Opponents of England scheme to fragment her into nine ‘regions’, claiming that local associations are stronger than any sense of English national identity. Moreover, they plan to fragment England to a more politically separate extent than any other part of the United Kingdom. For example, it is possible for British citizens in any part of the UK to stand for election to the Scottish and Welsh assemblies, but no one who does not either live or work or operate a business in the ambit of the Greater London Assembly may stand for election to that body.

Paradoxically, these assertions about the strength of local associations in England arise from ‘national’ divisions in other parts of the UK. Unlike the England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all divided by having another indigenous language. Yes, there are communities in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland which communicate mainly or only in Irish Gaelic, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic etc respectively. In contrast, the English have a common language, which is not only shared by the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish, but many other nationalities! Moreover, in geographically large nations with significant differences in regional languages, such as China and India, English is used as the lingua franca.

The plain fact is that, despite its diversity, England has a degree of commonality and its people a unity which the minor nations with their language, religious and other differences can only envy. It is this very unity which the anti-English have abused by attempting to convert the English, and only the English into British in England. This has enabled non-English individuals to benefit from what is available in England by reason of being British, whilst retaining their Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish identities in their respective homelands.

The English Lobby exists to support English people in their efforts to retain their English identity without being discriminated against.