Wednesday, February 20, 2008

97% of British people would rather forget about British food

Bearing in mind my current, completely unscientific poll on national identity, the latest Sunday Times/You Gov survey on the same subject makes for some interesting reading.

So, the basic figures for England, Scotland and Wales are that:

42% consider themselves primarily British
41% English
8% Scottish
4% Welsh

As this was an either/or question, I think those are rather promising results from a Unionist point of view, especially taking into consideration the further breakdown in terms of age- in the age group of 18-54, a majority considered themselves primarily as British.

Regionally, in England and Wales as whole, it’s almost neck and neck, with an average of 44% considering themselves British, 43.6 English.

Scotland’s figures are rather starker in that regard, with a 22-68 breakdown in terms of British/Scottish. But bearing in mind that is an either/or choice and also taking into account recent apocalyptic assessments that something like only 5% in Scotland regard themselves as primarily British, I don’t think it’s anything too much to worry about.

What is perhaps most interesting is on what side of the fence the supporters of the three main parties fall:

Of those who intend to vote to vote Labour in England, 45% regard themselves as British, 34% English.
For the Liberal-Democrats it’s a whopping 52% versus 34% in favour of Britishness.
But for the Tories, the party of the Union, the True Blue Brits, it’s 40% British, 51% English. With the Conservatives soon to make a decision on how they attempt to solve the Devolution Democratic Deficit, that is perhaps the only worrying stat in this particular survey.

And the most puzzling one?
3% of the population believes that a love of British food best sums up what it means to be British.
Who are these people?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting post, however, most interesting is:

"And the most puzzling one?
3% of the population believes that a love of British food best sums up what it means to be British.
Who are these people?"

I can't help but laugh, what is 'British' food?

O'Neill said...

Beats me... butI suppose you could make an argument for The Great British (aka English,Ulster, Irish,Scottish) Breakfast, but whether we really want to be encouraging newcomers to overdose themselves with cholestrol is another question.

Anonymous said...

Surely a Sunday Roast is the epitomy of British food.

Anonymous said...

... or maybe even the 'epitome'?

Anonymous said...

"Surely a Sunday Roast is the epitomy of British food."

No. That's English. "British" is like "Scandinavian" - a less precise, broader and essentially geographical description. I can't think of any exclusively "British" food.