paulbysea
pfm Member
I don't feel very English, to be honest, and don't have a clear idea of what it means and this is especially so for me. My family heritage is a mix of various white Europeans thrown in with English and Scottish ancestry. I don't like the jingoism that sometimes seems to go with a lot of English sentiment. The use of the English Flag and the Union Jack is very tied up in my mind with the extreme right's use of these during my youth and I don't like these associations. Intellectually, I know that many people who display these flags are doing so for good reasons of wanting to support a team or some such. Maybe it is because I am not interested in sports that I don't have positive associations with the flags. I was a teen when the UK joined the EEC and I soon felt more of an attachment to being European than I did to being English. I have and still would put being British ahead of being English.