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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.
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Quote 1: "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."
Quote 2 "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."
Conclusion: The actual opposition to immigration happens in Scotland and Wales which is why the proportion of ethnic minorities is considerably less in those two racist countries.
The kicking out of Romanians in Northern Ireland gives evidence to this indisputable fact.
Add to this the number of reported racist attacks against White British (that would be English, but I can't actually say English because that would be racist) in Scotland, then it is reasonable to assume that the most scurrilous racism in the UK happens outside England. However, as the proportion of non-white immigrants is so low in the UK outside England, then white English people are the only available victims.
Therefore, those who portray English nationalism as "a reaction to non-white immigration" are filfthy liars, probably of white British, non-English ethnicity, working in places of influence, such, as politics and the media.
I've been saying for a long time that this much touted "British" tolerance is in fact English tolerance.
The way the BBC ignores English history drives me incandescent with rage.
I notice they've revamped the BBC trust pages recently:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/index.shtml
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/ace/
Would it be worth while contacting Alison Hastings en masse? She's the trustee for England. 85% of the population - one trustee...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/who_we_are/trustees/alison_hastings....
"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."
Yeah, portrayed in articles like this, by authors such as this one!!
Who wrote this and how can we complain?
How do we object to this damned Proms poster. Arghhhh!
All I seem to do is phone and email the BBC complaints department...
The BBC is truely institutionally racist towards the English - and I think that phrase should be used at every single opportunity. The message of their wilful and disgusting discrimination towards the culture and heritage of 50 million people needs to be driven home.
I look forward to the day that this Godawful Newspeak governmental organisation is broken up and flogged off.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
And yet the article you quote from still says, "This Kingdom of England had a distinct identity until it was subsumed into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707". England wasn't 'subsumed' into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. For a start, the state was called simply the Kingdom of Great Britain at that point, in any case. And England has largely been subsumed into Britain only in much more recent times, especially under New Labour / post-devolution; and that, in large measure, with the active collaboration of the BBC! Throughout most of the history of Great Britain and the United Kingdom (created by the Union with Ireland in 1800), England has retained its own distinct identity, even in the political sphere.
I agree with you that the BBC has shown more signs recently of acknowledging the difference between England and Britain. Another example was the report on the last Queen's Speech on the BBC News website, which went through the speech bill by bill detailing which UK countries they related to. They've also been making more of an effort to refer to England in day-to-day reports about policies and bills relating to England only.
But it's extremely patchy and inconsistent, and the general practice with regard to key policy areas at the election (e.g. health, education, social care and spending on all the above) is to let politicians talk about these things unchallenged as if they were relevant for Britain as a whole. One example last week: on the same Today programme, they let Nick Clegg introduce the Lib Dems' English education policies as if they affected the whole of the UK, but then later discussed the social care bill and did suggest that the proposals related to England only - but only negatively, by referring to the fact the free social care already existed in Scotland (casual listener: 'oh, but aren't we talking about "Britain"?'). Ironically, they then had a discussion in which Andy Burnham did state explicitly that the social care proposals related to England - unprompted by the interviewer, I have to add.
In essence, the BBC still fundamentally peddles the myth that Britain is the nation, and regards England as a non-distinct part of that nation (hence the 'subsumed' epithet) while treating Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland as distinct national sub-parts. That's true of its politics pages as much as its history ones.
Also, it occurs to me that on the actual Last Night of the Proms, you see plenty of Flags of St. George (and Red Dragons and Saltires) alongside the Union Jack. Not that you'd know it from the picture.