John Redwood, talking about completing the census form, is an extremely grumpy man this morning and with good reason.
However, this sentence puzzled me:
He does make valid several points (and several not so valid ones, e.g. it would be over my dead body that I'd permit either Labour's devolution experiment or Salmond to remove my British identity) but it is not clear whether he still considers himself a UK Unionist.
Again, he should come out and clarify where exactly he now stands on the Union.
However, this sentence puzzled me:
On the Census form they forced me to decide was I British or English? I always used to think of myself as both.Now, I haven't seen the final English/Welsh census form but the draft that I did look at put the question thus:
How would you describe your national identity?If he no longer feels British then fair enough, he should come out and admit it but, as far as I'm aware, the form isn't forcing him to make that choice.
You can choose more than one
He does make valid several points (and several not so valid ones, e.g. it would be over my dead body that I'd permit either Labour's devolution experiment or Salmond to remove my British identity) but it is not clear whether he still considers himself a UK Unionist.
Again, he should come out and clarify where exactly he now stands on the Union.
2 comments:
John Redwood is probably voicing an anger felt by many English people. I think the last census did not allow people to call themselves English. To no ones surprise (except of course the ruling elite) many English people were annoyed at finding it was possible to be Irish, Scottish or Welsh and British but not English and British.
The more that Devolution emphasises the separateness of Scottishness, Welshness and (Northern) Irishness then the more that the Englishness that remains is exposed.
And the more that Englishness is exposed the more it is attacked and the greater the attempts to suppress it.
And yet the same people are behind both things, Devolution and suppressing the English.
And they wonder why they're fomenting a backlash?
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