English Commonwealth

Point taken. Though the exceptionalism of Brexit was deeply polarising and shows the limitations of that approach.

Your initial question was what is uniquely English.

I'm not claiming that anything is uniquely English or British, and I don't think it's useful or necessary to make people define their identity in that way.

I haven't said anything is uniquely British.

Popular sovereignty - "we the people" - isn't decided by social scientists looking for unique cultural traits.

The "we" - the nation - is self-defining. Though unique cultural traits might strengthen national sentiment.

And, possibly, a collective sense of obligation or purpose.

These are lacking between Ukraine and Russia. And, dare I say it, increasingly between the nations of the UK.

But national identities are not set in stone. Nor are nations homogenous (there's little commonality between Alaska and Hawaii, yet both might feel strongly American). What makes a nation is not shared traits but, rather, a collective sense of self.

The onus is then on someone to prove their national identity by reeling off a list of cultural traits that are specific to that national identity.

It's an interesting question, and one that my Ukrainian guests have been grappling with. Russian occupiers tell them they're basically Russian, that there's not much 'unique' about them.

Says @ailsahenderson.bsky.social, if you read the article.

What does uniqueness have to do with it? Is that what you think national identity equates to?

Not a priority to keep the Union together, English voters say on St George's Day THE attitude of English voters toward the Union have been revealed in a new report published on St George’s Day.

"Grievance with the Union, and how England is governed, continues to suggest that the English feel their voice is not heard, and their culture and identity are not given the attention they deserve."

Happy St George's Day 🤨

Here's Starmer invoking 'the British people' in regard to the abolishment of NHS England.
bsky.app/profile/pete...

Westminster politicians routinely fail to specify that their health announcements relate to England and prefer to talk about 'the NHS' rather than 'NHS England', so the abolition of NHS England will make little difference as far as #SayEngland and #ThatsDevolved are concerned.

The BBC includes this explainer in their rolling coverage of the UK Government scrapping NHS England.

YouTube video by WildCamCraig A British History of: Wild Boar (4K Documentary) (CC)

Wild boar and English radical history.

#CharteroftheForest
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0a...

Surely one of the reasons that the issue of ethnicity is so totemic in discussions about Englishness and who belongs, is that English identity cannot rely on democracy, representation and citizenship, because Britain denies us the normal trappings of nationhood.

I will never be truly English According to the disgraced former home secretary Suella Braverman, born Sue-Ellen, after J.R. Ewing's alcoholic wife in the hit TV show Dallas, I am definitely not English. In a Telegraph article she ...

Suddenly the debate over English ethnicity has flared up again. But why does neither the Left nor the Right engaged with the issue of making England a democracy?
www.eclecticblue.org.uk/i-will-never...

Independent Scottish Media since 2007. Please donate & support us here: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/backing-be...

NI voters still favour the Union over a united Ireland – but gap narrows to 7%, poll finds The gap between support for Irish unity and Northern Ireland staying in the UK has narrowed in the past year.

Latest @lucidtalk.bsky.social @belfasttelegraph.co.uk poll Q on border poll:

If there was a referendum on the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the week, how would you vote?
- 48% NI to remain in the UK
- 41% Leave UK and join a United Ireland
- 10% Don’t know
- 1% Wouldn’t vote

Council shake-up sees elections delayed in nine areas Angela Rayner says the reorganisation marks a generational power shift but the Tories say it is a

Preventing the electorate from having a say on the abolition on local democracy in England.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

No 10 defends decision to change name of HMS Agincourt submarine Spokesperson denies decision to change name to HMS Achilles was made to avoid upsetting the French

😂

"Asked whether Keir Starmer was proud of the English army’s victory at Agincourt, his spokesperson said: “Absolutely, and also proud of our role in the second world war.”"
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Steve Leach and Colin Copus: The worst local government white paper in living memory The system that emerges from reorganisation will be unfit to inherit the name ‘local government’, wr...

The system that emerges from reorganisation will be unfit to inherit the name ‘local government’, write the emeritus professor of local government and emeritus professor of local politics at De Montford University.

I don't think @jimmcmahon.co.uk answered this question.
www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=20...

UK Labour correct the Daily Express by specifying England.

But Keir Starmer refuses to #SayEngland.

Depending on which source you read, today's pothole announcement can be about England or Britain.

Devolution It Is Not: A Closer Look at the English Devolution White Paper Explore the English Devolution White Paper, its proposed changes, and whether it represents true devolution or a patchwork solution.

"England still remains without a common voice on its issues. In the absence of that voice, the question remains: can true devolution ever exist without an English parliament, or will we continue to see patchwork solutions that only address part of the problem?"

Mayors from across ‘the country’ On the 12th Dec Rachel Reeves headed up to Darlington to meet with regional mayors to talk about their plans to make every part of Britain better off, and to visit Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) …

When UK parliamentarians talk about England as 'the country' it is understandably divisive. Members of a multinational, union parliament should not refer to England as 'the country'. If you mean England, then just #SayEngland.

Well, except that yesterday’s white paper does nothing to give England national political institutions like NI, Scotland and Wales have.

Is every English strategic authority really going to be represented on the council of the nations and the regions alongside the 3/4 first ministers?

No one says that countries have to be homogenous, many have north-south or east-west divides. They're imagined constructs.

That's not to say that that the North doesn't have specific needs that have been over-looked. Or other parts of England for that matter.

Yeah, he's a bit of a North of England activist, who sees the North as a separate country that opposes the Tory/Thatcher South. Along with Andy Burnham and Phillip Proudfoot.

They're not comfortable with English identity. They're in a minority though.