I will need to read more of your writing to know more about the iniquities you are suggesting, but am interested to know about.
At least you have the right to vote in your chosen country! I will have to become French to partake fully and I don’t see that happening.

I thought this post was a little weak - just a little vignette about a disappearing, dare I say, stereotype that annoyed me when I lived in England, but which made me smile and a little nostalgic when viewed from afar. I am glad to see that it has provoked one of the most interesting reactions I have had.

I never harp on about how ‘England is great and Scotland is crap’. I love Scotland and visit often to see friends or just for the sake of visiting. What I do harp on about is democracy and the lack of it under New Labour’s asymmetric devolution. I’d rather retain the Union but not at any cost, either we address the inequity inherent in the United Kingdom’s constitution or each nation should have its own constitution that affords equal democractic rights to each citizen under that law.

Looking at my own posts, it does seem that I’ve become more conscious of my Englishness having lived in a “real” foreign country (one with a completely different language and culture) - I embrace it though and hope that it doesn’t pass, as you suggested. The danger is that it becomes overpowering and exclusive - I chose to live in France and don’t want to keep harping on along the lines of “England is great, France is crap”.

I’ll have a longer read of “What England Means to Me” and might add my 10 pennyworth.

Thanks for reading!

I wouldn’t worry about it, it passes.

If you want to get it off your chest you can always write an essay for What England Means to Me