In search of a homeland
A personal story of myth, memory, Scotland and the longing for community.
ByBritish identity
Defend multiculturalism from the right – and the left
Britain’s overlapping identities set us apart from France’s secularism and the US’s civil religion.
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Is becoming “British” impossible?
After 16 years of living in the UK, I am finally a citizen, but find I have gained no great…
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The right don’t own tradition, but they can keep Morris dancing
How do we connect with the past when this impulse is often exploited by the worst people imaginable?
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The meaning of Essex
Built for commuters, the county created a brash new consumerist identity. But its success has come at a price.
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Why Britain isn’t as broken as you think
The UK is beset by crises and plagued by culture wars. But the road to a happier and more modest…
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The long shadow of the Iraq War
How do you mourn soldiers killed in an “unjust” war? For years the town of Wootton Bassett showed us how.
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This England: Dog’s dinner
This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain –…
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What does it mean to be British?
America has its Dream, France its Republic – but Britain suffers from a failure of imagination.
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Our Shamima Begum obsession
Her story has been told and retold in countless newspaper articles, three podcasts and three documentaries. Why can’t we look…
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The quiet revolution in black British identity
Black Britishness used to mean people from Caribbean backgrounds – but now it is more varied than ever.
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As a unified sense of British nationhood fades, we must ask: what is England?
As the UK fragments, we are experiencing a reawakening of English national consciousness.
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