tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post2748727323585028063..comments2024-03-28T17:49:01.125+00:00Comments on Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness: Why devolution needn't mean the end of Britain.Owen Polleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00567787385096905811noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post-79887143307193527862009-08-26T16:41:33.532+01:002009-08-26T16:41:33.532+01:00FD,
That's true. But I think it is related to...FD,<br /><br />That's true. But I think it is related to a deeper trend: the parcelling up of sovereignty and passing it up and and down the food chain...<br /><br />That's most commonly cited in relation to the EU, but international treaties from non proliferation to climate change agreements operate in an ah hoc version of the same way...<br /><br />Britishness is weaker because British sovereignty is weaker than it has been at any time since the last Act of Union. <br /><br />I'm just not convinced it matters as much as we think it does.Mickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09172035156183790535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post-12310183030015133702009-08-25T13:07:24.878+01:002009-08-25T13:07:24.878+01:00I have a lot of sympathy with your point of view h...I have a lot of sympathy with your point of view here. But is 'Britishness' the right place to start? I've posted <a href="http://livingwithrats.blogspot.com/2009/08/lets-have-more-slack-in-union-jack.html" rel="nofollow">some thoughts in response</a> on my blog.juliandobsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09950217029171103273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post-6316346557331034782009-08-22T10:23:09.496+01:002009-08-22T10:23:09.496+01:00There was an interesting survey in The Economist a...There was an interesting survey in The Economist a few months back which revealed that a high % (in the 70s from memory) of British Asians felt British- this was a much higher % that French Arabs/N.Africans etc felt French. France has followed a very integrationist and assertive policy with regards national identity, until recently it didn't even acknowledge there was such a thing as a French-Arab etc. <br /><br />The typical British Asian will have a different idea of Britishness than a loyalist from NI, a stockbroker from Surrey or whereever...but does that matter, as long as all three have the same pride in being British?O'Neillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02531858236570346203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post-27906735175476176672009-08-21T10:24:07.351+01:002009-08-21T10:24:07.351+01:00Chekov
"It is commonly asserted that ‘Britis...Chekov<br /><br />"It is commonly asserted that ‘Britishness’, in so far as it is exhibited at all, is characteristically understated, unostentatious, even unspoken. How can we encourage greater loyalty to the United Kingdom, its politics and its institutions, without adopting the nationalist methods which we seek to counter?"<br /><br />The common assertion is wrong. This is the problem. People's view of Brishness has been shaped by the 60's generation and afterwards. Between a pincer movement of multi-culturalism and local nationalism expressions of Britishness were systematically curtailed. This lead to people opting for understatement etc and the present generation thinking that this is the way it always was. It wasn't.<br /><br />If you go through any newspapers especially pre WWII open large and public displays of patriotism were a norm not an oddity. <br /><br />The last Queen's Jubilee showed that given the excuse the people were pretty damn happy about getting an opportunity to express it.<br /><br />An identity that refuses to assert or communicate itself doesn't last.fair_dealnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2623721153002721356.post-55168127218914382672009-08-20T17:36:22.940+01:002009-08-20T17:36:22.940+01:00It never ceases to amaze me that a country whose f...It never ceases to amaze me that a country whose former colonies are great enthusiasts for federalism (USA, Canada, Australia, India, ...) has never considered federalism for itself. Instead we have endless arguments about integrationism vs. separatism, as if there were only two options...andrewghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01363738196403434636noreply@blogger.com