Over the past couple of months I've been reading a great deal about the concept of Englishness, it has timed perfectly with the erection of flags around so many of our towns.
There's a couple of quotations that I have come across over the past weekend that have resonated and, perhaps, suggest why the flag flying has taken over.
In his essay The Lion and The Unicorn George Orwell wrote "In the working class patriotism is profound but it is unconscious. The working man's heart does not leap when he sees a Union Jack, but the famous insularity and xenophobia of the English is far stronger in the working class than the bourgeoisie."
Contrast that with the words of sociologist Krishnan Kumar in 2014: "Bereft of empire, no longer a global economic or political power, confronted by seccessionist movements without and by 'alien' cultures within - the English seem to have found it best to turn in on themselves. Never having had an identity as an ethnic group, never having needed one, they are now... in the process of inventing one."
It seems to me that the flag flying epidemic stems from both of these extracts. Englishness has never need a strong identity (and indeed didn't even need one in the Second World War), but the loss of status - particularly felt by those who have been left behind - means all of a sudden we need to discover one, and one which may be deeply affected by the xenophobia Orwell identified 80 years ago.
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Why are the working class searching for Englishness?
Monday 27 October 2025 at 09:24
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The constant suicidal narrative
" FLAG EPIDEMIC"?
I think those two words don't go together at all.
As a foreigner, I believe that hanging out English and British flags doesn't affect me in the slightest. And why should it? On the contrary, I'm proud that the whole country (the majority) has good as one.I came here 20 years ago for a sporting career, it didn't go as I'd imagined , but by then I already had friends and a life here. I respect the country I live in and I'm grateful to it. I don't se myself as a victim, even though after the Second World War we were handed over to th USSR for the greater good and peace, and we Poles were banned from tasking part in the victory parade so as not to upset STALIN...... Now after 40 years of Russian slavery and far left regime, we poles are deeply divided nation, 50/50 left v right, and from history I know that we unite in a slap of a finger when a treat or trouble comes from outside.
I believe that politicians and main stream media are turning the brains of working class people into mush, which is why they've enough and are taking ac tons like this. They demand an attitude of shame from the youngest years, which is ridiculous and a scandal. I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE FROM THE VERY FIRST IMPRESSION. I have tremendous respect for your culture and traditions which is my duty as a foreigner, and there is nothing wrong with it. Simple as
As for George Orwell, please read "1984" ( it was banned in communist Poland)- we Poles have already lived through it, and the UK seem to be just entering that climate... unfortunately.