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The Labour Party has flag problem
Labour Party activists in England have complained about the Union Flags plastered all over the party literature that is being distributed prior to the English local and mayoral election on 2nd May. They worry that British and Minority Ethnic (BAME) voters might associate it with the far right. Some commentators, however, took to Twitter to point out…
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Embrace the St George’s Flag
Last week, on the platform previously known as Twitter, a young, black English woman posed an interesting question. She asked, what is the difference between Rachel Chinouriri’s use of England’s Cross of St George in ‘The Hills‘ and Beyoncé’s use of America’s Stars and Stripes on her new album ‘Cowboy Carter’. Unfortunately, before much of a debate…
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Segmented Branding and the Negation of England
As previously noted, the Labour Party has a flag problem, with some Labour MPs rejecting the party’s campaign material because it is plastered with Union flags. In light of some of the comments this story has generated, I wanted to say a bit more on this. One MP ‘queried why the party could not use “segmented branding”…
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Is the Conservative Party an English nationalist party in all but name?
We keep on hearing that the Conservative Party is now an English nationalist Party in all but name (for example, see Tory grandees such as Clarke, Major or Pattern). But is it really? As Aughey noted back in 2010, the putative English nationalist calls for an English parliament, voiced by some Tories immediately post-devolution to…
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Toxic English nationalism
The National reports some interesting comments from Stephen Reicher regarding English nationalism. I think there is little doubt there are toxic nationalisms in the UK, but it is more English nationalism than Scottish nationalism that is the problem. I think it is quite telling for instance, that in the campaigns during Covid you could use…
English Commonwealth 