Identity crisis

I have just read the Independent Monitoring Boards’ (IMBs’) annual report, covering prisons and immigration detention centres. They certainly paint a depressing picture of the latter, describing them as causing “harm without accountability.” However, one small section in the coverage of immigration centres really got me down. 

It was the statement that staff in one facility were wearing badges of the St George’s Cross pinned to their uniform, and the IMBs were concerned that this might be associated by those being held there as having a connection to far right-wing political groups. People might feel intimidated. They wrote: “The board felt this risked perceptions of bias or even intimidation among detained people, especially in the light of recent anti-immigration protests in which flag displays were prominent.”

It was not the fact that the staff were wearing the badges that concerned me. This was after all during the summer of 2025, at a time when the England women’s football team were successfully defending their European title. Nor was it my thinking that perhaps the IMB were oversensitive on the issue, or “woke” if I must use that rather daft word. It was the recognition that over recent years we have all allowed reactionaries to steal the flag from the rest of us for their own purposes, leading to this type of concern. 

Kick off time

In years gone past, during major international sporting events, hordes of motorists displayed flags. Virtually every house in my street had one hanging out of the window. Today, people are reluctant in case they be associated with extreme groups for whom they have no liking. That is very sad indeed. We should not have let them take the St George’s Cross, and the Union Flag, away from us. For a few weeks, the hoped-for national success united everyone, until the inevitable disappointment. 

A sense of collective identity is important for everyone; it is the third level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. That is why people join clubs, play sports, even become gang members. Statements made by the fake patriots that seek to exclude people from identifying with this country are dangerous and harmful because those who feel excluded by this behaviour as they are not considered English, or British, can become frustrated and angry. 

This time around, there seem to be more teams taking part in the World Cup than there are members of the United Nations, and it is going to run on forever. That is why I have plenty of time to start thinking about the idea of identity, with particular reference to the English. I don’t want to put the mockers on our chances, but both we and the Scots won our first games so it looks like we both may be around the tournament for a bit longer.

There is a clear Scottish identity. Their history is important to them, and a lot of it reflects conflicts with us English. It is easy to identify their culture, of which they are proud. There is a Welsh identity too, with an ever-growing pride in their language, and, again, a record of disputes with the English. They have their music and poetry, and traditions that are not just paraded to entertain tourists but to celebrate who they are. And the Irish, too, have a very strong national identity. Even those from Northern Ireland recognise their Irish base through music, art, and disputes with the English. Never suggest to anyone from any of these proud countries that they are in fact English.

However, it is much harder to find out what constitutes English culture. Sir John Major once described it as sitting at a cricket ground whilst sipping a warm beer. I am not sure that does it for many today, but alternatives are hard to find. There is no doubt that different parts of England have strong local identity. Liverpudlians love their city. Ditto Mancunians and Brummies. I am from London and love this place. And as for those from Yorkshire, also known as God’s Own Country, they are proud too and it is best to avoid a debate as they will explain their reasoning for hours on end. 

Some in Cornwall want to reclaim their own language, and don’t suggest to someone from Devon that they are from their neighbouring county as that would likely lead to a row. They even have major disputes over the correct way to apply jam and clotted cream to a scone. So, if you consider all these issues, it is easy to see why it is hard to find a national identity that is positive and accurate. Citing Shakespeare, Chaucer, Britten, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Constable, Turner, Gainsborough, and more does not do it for me either. Sadly, I am not sure many of those climbing lampposts to hang up the flag would recognise any of their work even if you locked them in their van and forced them to listen to the Enigma Variations for a couple of hours or recited Hamlet’s soliloquy.

People like to belong

People like to be part of a group. If we tell our neighbours that they are not British, or English, because of their colour or religion, they can be resentful. And it is not so easy to define who qualifies to be English, or more accurately, why we decide some people are not. Nobody has the right to take that decision.

For example, my late first wife was born in Northern Ireland, to Northern Irish parents. She moved here at 16, we eventually got married and had a daughter. My wife Margaret would say she was Irish and British. I was born here, with English parents, and English grandparents. I am English and British. So, our daughter, born and raised in London, is part English and part Irish. My son in law was born in London to parents from the Republic of Ireland. So, my grandsons are a result of all this mixing, born in London but with mixed parentage, but being as they are white, no one is going to suggest they are not English as they run around in their England shirts during the World Cup.

My wife now is Malaysian, and our two children therefore are part Malaysian and part English. They are not white, so some of the flag wavers might dispute their national identity. It really is a colour thing. As Malaysia does not recognise dual nationality, they will have to pick a nationality one day. To me, they can pick the one they want. It makes no difference to me who they are at all. They are my children, and I am proud of them. Malaysia has a positive approach to all the nationalities who form their population and celebrate with national holidays all religions and all races who live there. England does not. It could be that difference that makes up their mind, but it will be their choice.

Some politicians look to find problems where there are none. They suggest that there is anti-British, anti-English, indeed anti-White bias. For instance, the Bank of England has decided to replace famous historic faces from bank notes with native animals and birds. Kemi Badenoch is furious about this, saying it is trying to erase our past. I too am furious, not because of losing Churchill et al from my money, but because they have not included the red squirrel. That is a native species which is now endangered by immigrants, those being American grey squirrels. That is a tragedy. Surely our native wildlife is a source of national pride, or is it just pictures of dead people? The Bank of England had conducted a survey of what people want on their tenners and our flora and fauna were by far the most popular choice, but clearly for some it does not matter what the riff raff require.

My street in east London has a wonderful community spirit. When my mother passed away two years ago, the entire street attended her service. Neighbours from all religions and none, mixed colours and cultures, in other words, friends. When I pass away, I hope the same thing will happen, though not for a few years. That is surely the English and British tradition, getting on together and supporting each other. Tolerance. So I thought.

I really do not understand those who say that our culture is threatened by immigration, whatever that culture actually is. I fully support everyone being integrated into society. A strong nation can absorb, adapt, and even learn from others. However, looking at those who run the small shops we depend on, and the staff in doctors and dentists, as well as hospitals, I would say that people already are fully integrated. But perhaps the English have developed an inferiority complex, having moved from what my favourite book, ‘1066 and All That’, described as being “top nation” to being perhaps in the lower half of the international conference league. We need to improve our self-esteem. So, I have a few suggestions for developing an identity around which we can all gather.

A new England

There are a number of actions we could take to give us a new sense of English identity that are positive and include everyone. First, the national anthem. There is no English national anthem, we share one with the rest of the United Kingdom. All the devolved nations have their own. Also, it is a dirge, and has minimal reference to the country, just asks God politely to look after one man, the King. I have no problem with asking God that, after all it worked with his mother as she lived to be 96, but it would not stir me to gird my loins and go into battle, sporting, or military.

We need our own. People have suggested Rule Britannia, but as that references Britons and also ruling the waves it is not really relevant, and given that the departing Defence Minister John Healey pointed out our Navy consists of six rowing boats on the Serpentine, one of which has woodworm, it won’t work. Land of Hope and Glory is better, but demands we widen our borders and grow mightier, and I feel that retaking the Empire would not be appropriate, and, as the above-mentioned Mr Healey says, is not achievable.

I would go for Jerusalem, which has in the past been used at cricket test matches and other sporting occasions. Even though it asks two questions, did Jesus walk on England’s pleasant land, and was Jerusalem built here, with the answer to both being no, it is stirring, tuneful, and everyone can sing along. Flower of Scotland and Ireland’s Call, those two nations’ wonderful sporting anthems, are reasonably new, but I would not invite those who produce our Eurovision entries to compose a new one for us. Let us go for Jerusalem. The Welsh of course have Land of my Fathers, but they sing anything magnificently anyway.

I also have a problem with our patron saint. It isn’t just that George has nothing to do with this country, or that he never fought a dragon, but more that he is part-time. He is patron saint of eight nations, so cannot spend much time on us at all. We have local alternatives to pick from, who would dedicate their saintly being to our cause full time. 

The first I would suggest is St Edward the Confessor. He was King of England, built Westminster Abbey, and was a very holy man. The only drawback is he was so holy he felt lust was a sin, and refused to have sex with his wife, so did not leave an heir to the throne. That resulted in two claimants, Harold the Saxon who ended up with an arrow in the eye, and William the Norman who put it there. We ended up occupied by the Normans from France for several hundred years. So, while Edward was holy and had local connections, he fails on the defending our nation part of the task.

The other, who I prefer, would be St Alban. He was a Roman soldier but lived here, converted to Christianity, saved the life of a priest by sacrificing himself, and was executed. He is buried in the cathedral named after him, and is said to be England’s first Saint, so he gets my vote. His ‘day’ is on 22 June each year, so there is a high chance of decent weather then, whereas 23 April can be a bit wet and nippy.

Shared values

There never were ‘good old days’, as some claim, before ‘mass immigration’. Go over past decades. In the 1900s there was poverty. In 1910-20, the First World War. The 1920s saw the great financial crash which impacted on the 1930s. Then came the emergence of the Mosley fascists. The 1940s gave us the devastation of World War Two, followed by austerity as the country needed to recover and yet the NHS and welfare state were formed. The 1950s saw Britain humiliated over the Suez crisis, then in the 1960s there was more economic hardship. Then in the 1970s came chaos. 

In the 1930s when Mosley and his followers tried to intimidate east London’s Jewish population, people got together to stop them. In 1978 the National Front tried it too. They were to march through Barkingside in Redbridge as their target was the large Jewish community who lived there, not Muslims, Sikhs, or anyone else. But everyone from all parts of Redbridge arranged mass counter-demonstrations so the police banned all street protests. In the same way as groups had stopped Mosley in Cable Street, people united. But too many have forgotten that. Anti-Semitism has existed in this country for centuries and was wrong then and still is. It must be challenged. 

Down the end of my road there is a large Catholic church, and opposite is a Sikh Gurdwara. A mosque is a just quarter of a mile away, so going to the shops along there I walk past nuns and priests in their religious garbs, as well as Sikh turbans and hijabs. And everyone is comfortable with this, as they should be. Nobody around here feels intimidated, or that their culture is being lost, mainly because we don’t actually know what that means. There certainly is no English fashion style, just a cheerful mix. We do not have an equivalent of lederhosen, and thank goodness for that.

Then there is the suggestion that different religions are not British. People with strong religious beliefs have something special, provided that it recognises and respects others from different faiths and is a force for good. Nobody has ever explained why only people of one religion should have access to heaven. What sort of God would expel Gandhi or Mother Teresa from eternal bliss because they were the wrong faith? Access must be based on their lives and achievements, not how, or indeed if, they pray. 

My culture

Our culture is certainly not John Major’s warm beer and cricket grounds, which is just as well, because at this moment our England cricket captain is suspended because he was at a nightclub and broke the curfew, and his vice-captain could not take over because he did the same thing not so long ago. Not really an admirable cultural act, warm beer or whatever they were drinking.

So, I suggest our culture should be community support, as it has been in the times that everyone got together to block the path of those who would divide us. It is the support we can give each other, and the creation of positive identities for young, and old. No one should be excluded from school, and then from society, and left to struggle. That path will lead them only one way. Supporting and encouraging those who need it shows us at our best. And increasing funding for community support and activities is the way to achieve it. Bring people together, do not leave anyone outside.

So here is a model of inclusivity. I have two friends who live near us in Redbridge, both doctors working in a local NHS hospital, both from Malaysia. Their two children are at a local primary school who on England match days during the World Cup have all the pupils attending school in white England-themed T-shirts, and the following day the lessons start an hour late so they get a lie in after a late night watching the matches. 

These lessons are based around the games, covering Maths, English, Geography. All united in pride, all loving it, and probably if everything goes as it normally does, all to be united in ultimate disappointment. It is shared, and that has to be a good thing. And these two share this with my grandchildren, who are all proud of this country. Just try and tell me why some of them are not part of this country and our future.

Perhaps a look at finding new national emblems might be a way to start a discussion on national identity. If it happens, vote for St Alban and Jerusalem. When is the next game?