anti-English

This is a pretty good distillation of the English Question by the BBC.

A campaign for an English parliament has grown and is backed by some opposition Conservative MPs, but has not yet entered the political mainstream. The Labour government maintains that an English parliament would overshadow the rest of the United Kingdom. Cornwall, an English county with a separate Celtic identity, has seen a campaign for its own assembly, backed by all five of the county's Liberal Democrat MPs.

According to the most recent census data, about 95% of the population of Scotland and Wales identify as White British, rising to 99% in Northern Ireland. The comparable figure for England is just under 85%. Therefore most of the British debate about ethnic diversity, immigration and national identity in fact applies to England.

This sensitive political question is further complicated by two factors.

First, British and English institutions and national identifiers such as flag, language, anthem and popular culture largely overlap. As a result, markers of specific English identity, such as the flag of St George, tend to be unofficial, while similar signs of Scottish and Welsh nationhood are sanctioned by the separate institutions of those countries.

Second, Scottish and Welsh nationalist movements have long been part of the political mainstream, and are seen as champions of legitimate historical national identities. English nationalism, on the other hand, is more often portrayed as a reaction to non-white immigration and the exclusive province of the neo-fascist right.

This makes public discussion of English identity politics difficult, as politicians on the left and right have discovered, as accusations of racism and appeasement of minorities are exchanged.

The one area where English identity is able to develop without political controversy is the realm of culture, and sporting teams are often the most comfortable focus for national loyalty.

The BBC is getting better at differentiating between English and British, as this landmark article shows, but it still unfortunately apes the UK Government in its discrimination against England. The BBC as much as our political classes are to blame for the 'political controversy' surrounding English identity. There is no BBC England, no English channel (see iPlayer), and the BBC would never commission a season of programmes celebrating English history, culture and nationhood, as it does for Scotland. The best we English can hope for is a costume drama or two, or a non-commital speculative look at Englishness like Made-in-England.

You can enjoy a Scottish, Welsh and British history portal on the BBC, but there's nothing for England.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/history/

And if you're looking forward to the Proms, then this is how the BBC advertises that multi-national celebration of Britishness.

Still, I suppose it's for the best. The BBC would want to be accused of being racist.