I will reiterate again it was the British Empire not the English Empire..Is an apology really going to achieve anything..If the UK government issuing an apology makes anyone feel better then by all means petition them
Perhaps i will go and ask Macron to apologize for the Norman conquests data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I'm not envious,maybe a little fed up of the narrative of the poor downtrodden Scots,give them a referendum on a monthly basis if they want ,,it makes no difference to me if Scotland remains in the union or not,or even if there is a union of any kind...All i will say about independence is if Scotland are allowed another referendum the other members should have the same..
I do wonder what Nicola Sturgeons reaction would be if england was given a vote on independence,i doubt she would be happy
And were any of them forgiven,,ok maybe the Catholic Church ,they can forgive themselves..
What even is English culture?
I can't celebrate something I can't even define.
When did France or Italy or Denmark apologize for invading the UK? - sorry I think I missed those.
Winners write history, they don't apologise.The Danish Vikings and the Norman invasion bascailyl became, "us".
Why does it have to be defined? Or celebrated for that matter?
I see this as something that would improve the prosperity of England. If Scotland thinks they will be better off leaving, why should I be afraid or ashamed of wanting the same for England?
I'd go further than just independence. I would go full Republic, scrap the hol, proper regional government and a major rethink of our place in the world.
I'd keep trident and stay in NATO but look to reduce our interventions in world affairs.
I'd be happy to be Switzerland in the North Sea, but without the burdens of being in the single market.
There is a lot of English Culture and Heritage, Matt.Perhaps you need to go out of your front door and find it?
I think nationalism in any form is ridiculous. Taking pride in being born or residing within a set of imaginary lines on a map seems a bit absurd to me.
While I sort of understand the need for the Welsh and the Scots to embrace nationalism to defend the version of their culture they've decided to hold onto, to protect it from dominant English neighbours. I still think it's all just a bit backward.
To me, English nationalism is no more than a stick that certain elements in our society have decided to use to beat those that perceived as different.
I was addressing Matt's question about Culture, not Nationalism.
Wow.
Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Dickens, H G Wells, Sherlock Holmes, Tolkien, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, D H Lawrence.
You honestly have no idea?
I haven't started on pop or rock music yet. Or a million other things.
If only there was some kind of resource.
Anglophile - Wikipedia
Culture of England - Wikipedia
Oh.
I believe that one of the main differences between other countries celebrating their own culture, achievements and lifestyle and Britain is that we do not have a 'National day'. We do not celebrate any revolutions, civil wars, or independance from a colonial power. Partly because there aren't any dates in recent history where we radically changed. We were top dog! (Had we lost WW2, history would be very different, and years later, maybe we would be celebrating independance from Germany- who knows)
I don't agree that our own pride in Britain is any different to other countries celebrating. There is always a degree of 'we invented everything' I was reading the other day Mexocoo believed they invented colour tv? ....Edison invented everything at the turn of the century according to the US. (I'll give him credit for being patents savvy)
So celebrating England, and that sort of thing has always been very understated, and open expressions of nationalism, considered rather vulgar. There just wasn't the need to go flag waving. We were confident of our culture and national identity. And that is way before the far right muscled in on flag waving.
I'm quite comfortable with the way we are. No need to invent some contrived nationalism