Englishness

This subject has been on my mind for quite some time now, possibly and subconsciously, years. Once again I have to mention Ray Davies from the Kinks as I think his style and influence has cleared up lots of things that I have been chewing over. There was one thing the other day that someone said to me about England that has stopped me from writing this update sooner. I wont go into it now but I shocked me, not because of its content but the fact that it was so obvious.

So what is Englishness? What does it mean to be English? And does merely being from England constitute Englishness? Throughout University I have had quite a few EU and international friends, and of course Ive had arguments as well as agreements as to what makes England a great and a not so great country. Oh and of course I have a non English partner who is always there to assert criticism or admiration of our funny culture. The most common trait that all these people have commented on is the English politeness. Hello! Oh thank you! Oh you re welcome! hello dear! Take care now! Bye! Bye! See you! This kind of thing. Then theres the obsession with the weather. The obsession with tea. Then the football, oh and the bloody french bastards (and the fucking Germans!). Bloody sheep shaggers. Those Scot gits. And the stupid Micks/Paddies/Leprechauns .Public transport. Margaret Thatcher. Monty Python. The Office. Then theres fish and chips. Pie and Mash. Chicken Tikka Masala. Egg. Bacon. Sausage. Beans. Fried bread. Fried tomatoes. Mushrooms. Oh and the two separate tap syndrome rather than one tap that controls the hot AND cold water. Bad teeth. The Queen. Sunday Roasts. Baths (?!). Del Boy....the list goes on. But what I want to look at is the real Englishness. What I have listed are just the jolly little sentimental things that people generally attach to the average Englishman. To be fair its true that a lot of English people spend an awful lot of time during the average week talking about the above average subjects. No, what I want to look at is the underbelly of our little country. The Real Englishman.

The real Englishness is a complete paradox. We all moan about how shit our little island is and yet we do absolutely nothing about it. In fact we do the complete opposite and continue to behave the same way we have for the past two hundred years: yep thats right, a bunch of die-hard conservative twits. To be truly English most of your time is spent moaning about how bad your country is and how great it used to be. To be truly English you must rant on about the how poor the NHS is and the amount of blacks living down your street. Last year saw the biggest amount of people to leave the country and settle abroad. I read a supplement in the Guardian a few months back about what type of people move abroad and why. The overwhelming majority were young-middle aged middle Englanders, seeking a new place that will remind them of what England was 50 years ago. ('when I could leave my front door open and not have to worry some bloody asylum seeker will pinch my TV'..). This trend startles me and I don't know where to begin. I have no fears about England or the current Government. The only thing that bothers me are my fellow Englanders I have to share it with. There are much bigger problems in other countries that make our woes look tiny. This brings me on to the comment that I heard earlier this week that really made me conclude Englishness. My partner who has been in this country for 4 years said that she has only incurred problems from English people, and never from anyone who is none-English or indeed an ethnic minority. In fact its hard to get beyond the polite Englishness of 'oh hello dear' and actually find a real English friend.

This comment opened up an ocean of thought for me. Every time she has been jogging its always someone throwing things at her or shouting some obscure abuse. If she has walked through town Its always white English people who want to start an argument or trouble. The same has always happened to me. I have only really had trouble with white people who have problems with my appearance, 'oi hippie' or 'gay boy'. Of course this does not represent the majority of English people or Englishness but it does beg to ask the question is it really worth to start questioning other cultures when our own is so deficient?