The 21st Century English are having an identity crisis. No, I'm not likely to start raving some sort of nationalist or xenophobic agenda. That isn't me.
Brexit may be taking us to the collapse not only of the European Union, but also to the collapse of the British Union. I cant think of a time when it is more appropriate to consider, who are we? Who are the English?
English identity has become entwined with the British Union for so long, and so deeply, that it has submerged. Our nationality is British. So what is English? Living on a Thetford council estate several years ago during an International football tournament, I could see the red crossed flags all around me, with gangs of youths shouting out Inger-lund! Yet the St George doesn't even have any official recognition within the United Kingdom. When Scotland leaves the Union following Brexit, we might need to consider that. Football fans seemed to connect with their version of Englishness increasingly from the nineteen nineties on. In politics, this has transferred to a newly emerged English right wing "nationalism", as expressed by groups such as the English Defence League. The term Little Englander can be employed to belittle such a stance. English pride emerges decades after the collapse of the Old British Empire. Like a cargo cult, perhaps driven on by some sort of fear.
