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Saturday 21 January 2012

English Nationalism on the rise? Predictions on next week's opinion poll


I am looking forward to the IPPR's event this Thursday (the 26th): "The dog that finally barked: The new politics of Englishness" http://www.ippr.org/events/54/8436/the-dog-that-finally-barked-the-new-politics-of-englishness.

In preparation, we have been treated to a series of tantalising and carefully orchestrated leaks by this very media savvy (and connected!) Labour Think-tank; for example, on the BBC's Today programme, Professor Richard Wyn Jones outlined their main findings explaining that there seems to be a growing "politicisation of English identity". The following link will replay this very interesting interview >>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9678000/9678426.stm
and there has been this:-
http://www.ippr.org/events/54/8213/ideas-on-the-3rd-floor-the-dog-that-finally-barked-england-as-an-emerging-political-community
and especially this article, by the Director of the IPPR, Nick Pearce:- "Learning English: what Gladstone and Disraeli have to teach us about the English question". Here is the link >>> http://www.ippr.org/?p=636&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=17
in which Nick Pearce says:- "79 per cent of voters in England believe that Scottish MPs should be barred from voting on English-only laws. Importantly, support for reform in this area was even greater among the growing proportion of the population in England who emphasise their English over their British identities, suggesting evidence of the politicisation of Englishness."

I must congratulate the IPPR on their media tactics (and connections). They really are milking this event for all that it is worth!

Nevertheless I am looking forward to hearing their findings, with some anticipation after my introductory discussion with Guy Lodge, their 'Politics and Power' Associate Director, which I wrote about on the 3rd of January: The "growing sense of Englishness is becoming politicized"! Here is the link >>> http://robintilbrook.blogspot.com/2012/01/growing-sense-of-englishness-is.html

As someone who, for over a decade, has been an actively campaigning English nationalist, I have had the benefit of innumerable relevent conversations. I wonder then if I can therefore predict these YouGov/ IPPR findings? Well here goes!

My predictions are:-

First: I expect that people in England will be shown to be becoming increasingly very likely to identify themselves as having English National Identity. On the stump, I would say that I increasingly rarely come across people who consider themselves to be "British" (until we get onto passports or benefits etc.
If I am right in this prediction, it will confirm that the official attempt to indoctrinate "Britishness" and the official anti-Englishenss have both failed. The English Democrats and the non party lobby group, the Campaign for an English Parliament, can then take some credit for having, almost unaided, kept the sacred flame of Englishness alive!

Second: I expect that this IPPR/YouGov survey will show that those people who identitfiy themselves as "English" are increasingly wanting to see changes to the British constitution to give a proper voice to English National Interests.
However I would expect that these people will not be very clear about exactly what remedy they currently seek. This lack of clarity isn't very surprising because the British Political Establishment's main tactics so far have been either:-
1/ to lie, to try to conceal their desire to break up England into "Regions"; or
2/ to try to bamboozle us to "dissolve our petty (Englishness) into the greater European whole"; or
3/ to try to trick us to accept some unworkeable House of Commons voting wheeze ("EVEL") as a placebo.
None of these will prove, in the end, to be acceptable to a resurgent English nationalism but, at present, I suspect, that many English people are deceived and they are therefore likely to be unclear as to exactly what reforms they want.
If I am right in this prediction then both the English Democrats and the CEP have got some work to do yet to get the call for an English government and Parlaiment firmly established.

Third: I expect, for somewhat the same reasons, that English people will, currently, be very confused as to which Political Party to support. I expect that the largest proportion will be suspicious of, and just grumbling about, all Parties, and also one of the other larger proportions will be those who admit that they don't yet know which Party to support.
Then there will be sizeable proportions who are still deceived by Labour, or by the Conservatives, or by the Liberal Democrats, or by UKIP.
I have been lobbying YouGov to include the English Democrats as a possible voting option on their Opinion Polls and, if I have been as successful as I believe, then people will have been asked in this poll, for the first time, if they will be considering voting English Democrats.
We have to recognise that we are still much younger, much less wealthy and have much less brand recognition than the Greens, the BNP and UKIP. I therefore suspect that we can only expect to be at 1% or 2% but, as the media wakes up to a realisation of the potential political strength of English nationalism and as we get more coverage, I expect that we will leapfrog over all those minor British Nationalist parties like UKIP, the NF and the BNP and also over all those minor Internationalist Left parties like Respect, the Greens and the SWP.

All in all I predict that next week will be a great week for English Nationalism.

Also I predict the start of great things for the English Democrats - if we can improve our brand recognition and get English people to stop grumbling that "They" should do something - rather than us all together getting on with doing it ourselves! That is our challenge but we can accept it with a more determination when we know whether the opinion polls confirm that our own People are with us!
We need more volunteers and we need more money but our Cause is right, our Cause is just - and it has the increasing support of the English Nation!

19 comments:

  1. When did English in schools get changed to Literacy? It annoys me to hear my 13 year old son say he had a literacy lesson. I have GCE English on my exam certificate????? How have we let this nonsense perpetrate our childrens education. We speak English, not LITERACY!! Help!! Disgruntled Dad.

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    1. I believe it's about to change back Anon.

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    2. We don't speak English; we speak Common English koine - Engkoine. The soul of the English nation lies in New English derived from Old English, see David Cowley's - How We'd Talk if the English had won in 1066

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    3. Raden Topo Wresniwiro23 January 2012 at 11:08

      I hope they don't mean to change English (language) to Literacy. I will be disappointed too if they do. Literacy is a part of English. I am fond of English, I got my English Certificate too, and am still studying it for literature.

      Do ask your son's school to explain your concern.

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  2. Robin, I think you have got it pretty well right.

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  3. Excellent post Robin. There are rumblings though that you will need to curb certain underground dirty tricks operators in the EDP to win the support of moderate English nationalists. UKIP has of course recently partially endorsed the idea of an English Parliament and may go on to adopt this policy formally.

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    1. Ian, Thank you. I have serious doubts that UKIP will adopt any policy which gives a real voice to England. Did you see this item? Here is the link >>> http://juniusonukip.blogspot.com/2011/12/farage-and-nuttall-v-ukip-wales-party.html

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  4. Robin I agree with Paul Rogan you have got it pretty well right. Speaking to some otherwise intelligent friends of mine they comment that because English MPs vastly outnumber the others in Parliament they look after our interests and that an English Government would only be yet another level of bureaucracy that we have to pay for. They just don't get it! Our English MPs are certainly not looking after our anything. We oh so badly do need an English Government, and for the most part it would be so nice if we could detox or replace some of our serving MPs.

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  5. I expect some dirty tricks to start to appear against ED's if history is anything to go by! Should success for us start to translate into hard votes, as we all wish- then the threat will be well recognized early in by vested political interests.
    Fireworks to ensue then- so keep a 'clean slop chit' - as we used to say in the Navy, and lets take them all on!
    Bon Voyage Robin, at the helm :)

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  6. "Another level of of bureaucracy" ?? Like the extra level the Scots, Welsh and N.Irish enjoy? Well, I hope you tell your 'otherwise intelligent friends' that if the governments of England, Scotland, N. Ireland, and Wales are properly structured to form a Federation of British States with only Foreign, and Defence affairs managed at Westminster, bureaucracy should be reduced. And, perhaps the English Parliament would be better able to address the North/South divide and apportion funds/investment across the WHOLE nation instead of perpetual support in London and the South East to the detriment of the other regions.

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    1. To do that, the English Parliament should be in Leeds

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  7. A friend of mine has recently returned from a trip to the antipodes to see relatives. He was surprised to see how English the places that he visited felt, and the people were and how far we had moved from our comfortable and predictable 'shire' ways at home. If we don't succeed quickly the most English places will be far from England. What a tragedy.

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  8. Great Blog and nice to end on a flourish. Our challenge is to convert this latent pro-English sentiment into votes at the ballot box. The YouGov initiative will be another way of doing this, increasing the profile of the Party and helping to break down the pschological barrier most people face when switching age old political allegiances by making us more familiar.
    It baffles me that the English Democrats, being the moderate, thoughtful bunch, haven't already stolen the thunder of UKIP and the BNP but I suppose these things take time, effort and a little bit of luck.
    Much improved website and I am grateful that the headlines change much more often making frequent visits worthwhile.

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  9. Laurence Williams22 January 2012 at 23:01

    Dear Robin, great blog, well written as ever, but as for leap-frogging UKIP, not yet! Brand recognition is king and the EDP haven't got that yet, though they have the right name and flag of course! As soon as the great English public wake up [not too long now with the Scots Devo and eu cobblers], then the stage will be wide open...
    exit stage left the liblabcon, enter stage right UKIP & EDP!

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  10. Raden Topo Wresniwiro23 January 2012 at 10:59

    Well done, Robin. Great. We need more exposure in the media for our cause. We need more fireworks and ammunitions to be seen doing for England and Englanders.

    Topo

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  11. Well here is the report - even better in most respects than I said!
    http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/8542/the-dog-that-finally-barked-england-as-an-emerging-political-community

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  12. The only disappointing element is that the ED's aren't seen as a party that sticks up best for England.

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  13. Interested to read the comment about the Antipodes. A couple of years ago I said that Australia would be the New England. Now, however, we hear that their Welsh Labour prime minsiter is determined to press ahead with the further multiculturalisation of the Lucky Country. In the end the English will not have a homeland anywhere but that is the plan of the masters of the New World Order who are no doubt leaning on Julia. Remember the White Australia policy? The same masters heaped on guilt and shame to such an extent that they knew it would crumble and they could press ahead with their aim of putting an end to all white countries and all white people. As regards New Zealand, I hear it has moved on from the 1930s and is now like England in the 1950s, must be paradise then.

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