Today is St George’s Day

Above: puppet St George and the dragon. Today is St George’s Day. There are widespread popular complaints that it is not a national holiday.

I was returning on the ferry to Holyhead once, and the boat was absolutely packed so that people were sitting on the floor and in every available space they could find. Once you got a seat you didn’t dare leave it in case someone else took it (plus it was a rough crossing and there was a great deal of projectile vomiting in the corridors, so it was dangerous to walk around). I managed to get a seat at a small side table, and the chair opposite was taken by an old man (Irish) just back from the Arran Islands.

We talked for most of the journey. He described his holiday in the Arran Islands and his life in England. Then for some reason we talked about the national characteristics of the inhabitants of the British Isles.

“The Welsh pray on their knees and prey on their neighbours” he said. “The Scots keep the Sabbath and anything else they can lay their hands on. The Irish don’t know what they’re fighting for, but they’re prepared to die for it anyway.”

Pause. He looked at me steadily. The boat lurched from side to side.

“And the English?” I asked him. “What do you say about the English?”

“The English are a self-made nation” he said, “thus relieving the Almighty of a terrible responsibility.”



Above: St George’s Day used in a marketing promotion.

One of the developments I have been recording over the past few years is the rise of English nationalism. It is one of the few examples where you can see an historical trend manifesting itself before your eyes. Over the last decade we have seen English nationalism go from relatively rare phenomenon to mainstream opinion (although it has not yet crossed over into political demands – mainly because politicians don’t know how to respond to it).

In the two hundred years since the Napoleonic wars English nationalism has been an inert force. To understand this we have to realise that nationalism is almost always the reaction of a people and culture that feels itself (rightly or wrongly) under threat. England has traditionally been such a safe and secure place to live that there hasn’t been any need for nationalism (even at times of greatest threat during the First and Second World Wars “England” was able to mobilise international coalitions to repel external enemies – I use the inverted commas since international perception equates the United Kingdom with England).

It is probably too early to try to identify with any accuracy what may be causing national unease and anxiety. Commentators have suggested the following (in no particular order): the rise of Scottish nationalism with its anti-English bias (the “support any team but England” prejudice is seen as grossly insulting); the botched attempt to cut England up into self-governing regions; the (apparently officially failed) policy of multi-culturalism which has often resulted in English culture being air-brushed out of existence; the Scottish accent of the New Labour government; the very high rate of immigration from Eastern Europe; the emergence of politically correct versions of history which attempt to apportion guilt and blame; the rise of “home grown” Islamic terrorism etc etc.

My own view is that the causes of English nationalism are probably more subtle and go back several decades (although possibly brought to a head in the last ten years). I see English identity as being inextricably bound up with English rural life. There is no such thing as an English urban identity (rash statement I know, but even London is typified as a collection of villages).

Even when the majority of English people (who I define as people who call themselves English) live in urban areas their instincts are to move out to suburban areas (imitation villages with mock Tudor houses in tree-lined avenues), buy second homes in pretty rural villages, or (ultimately) retire to the country.

This is a very ancient impulse and probably dates back to Anglo-Saxon times (the invading Saxons abandoned the Roman cities and settled in the countryside, unlike the Franks in Gaul who kept Roman city culture alive). Even in the medieval period London was the only sizeable English city (in contrast to Italy which had many large city states). Pevsner in his book The Englishness of English Art stressed the importance of the romantic landscape in English national expression.

Over the last fifty years the decline of the English countryside (and decimation of wildlife), the pollution of the rural environment, the increasing ugliness of urban townships, the increase in motorised traffic, the obsession of the government with city-based policies, the menacing image of the “inner city” etc have all contributed to a crisis of English national identity and an anxiety that “England” was disappearing, thus leading to a rise in English nationalism.

But that’s just my view – the real reason might be something entirely different.