by Sebastian Milbank, The Critic
In the recent European Social Survey, respondents were asked how emotionally attached they were to their country, from a score of 1 (not at all) to 10 (very emotionally attached). Whilst all countries reported majorities of citizens with affection for their country, Britain stood out starkly as the country in which the highest number of respondents reported indifference to their nation, with a median score at the dead bottom of the European countries polled. The numbers are echoed elsewhere. According to worldwide Pew polling, Britain leads the world in those who are not proud of their country, with an astonishing 29 per cent of Britons not proud of the United Kingdom.
This lack of comfort or affection with our national identity amongst a significant portion of people is always at its most evident on St George’s Day, when a cavalcade of commentators take perverse pride in naming the national saint a Palestinian or a Turk, before proceeding to deconstruct every element of popular English identity, from the Anglo-Saxons to fish and chips.
This impression of elite disinterest and disapproval was not much helped when the mayor of London Sadiq Khan got the date wrong, and wished everyone a happy St George’s on Tuesday, proclaiming that “diversity is our greatest strength” and calling the English flag the “St George’s day flag”.
Today, the St George’s cross will be flying across England, but it remains the most attacked and demonised symbol in the national imagination. This has only intensified following controversies over nationalist groups tying flags to telegraph poles, presented by supporters as a patriotic gesture, and by opponents as a divisive and intimidatory gesture directed against ethnic minorities.
Read also: Is London an English city? by Wessie du Toit, UnHerd