What is English culture?

[Castello]

As has been noted in another thread, Billy Bragg has said that he is proud to be an english patriot and at the same time be strongly opposed to the BNP and other far right nationalist organisations.

He has also talked about a lost/forgotten english culture. The scots,welsh and irish all with some justification are proud of their cultures. This makes me wonder what are positive examples of english culture, particularly ones that have faded in recent times.

Please can we keep this thread free of negative racial and cultural stereotypes and focus on the positive.

Ill start with Mayday. I dont mean the bank holiday, nor the socialist holiday, but the idea of a english fete with a maypole and morris dancers and people having a day off work to celebrate life. perhaps a bit twee and maybe being looked at through rose tinted glasses. It does however seem essentially english to me.

 

[smudge]

Standing up for the downtrodden.

Cockles on Palace Pier.

Cocking up in World Cups.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Sitting on a beach, knowing that it doesn't belong to anyone and that no-one can charge you for being there.

Being on top of the South Downs, trampling over graves that are 3,000 years old and looking out at the same views of the weald and the sea that were around then.

Visiting Pevensey to see a Norman castle and discovering that the Romans were there 1,000 years earlier and that there is a concrete structure in the corner that was built in the 1940s to help repel invaders.

Discovering how much my own ancestors moved around the country during the last 300 years - from Leicestershire, Shropshire, Yorkshire, Ireland, Scotland, Durham, Northumberland, Essex, Hampshire, Warwickshire, Cheshire ... and wondering where they were 600 years ago and how many of us will be in Sussex in 100 years time.

Beer.

Watching my village cricket team that is playing on the same ground as they did when they were founded in 1758.

 

[The Spanish]

Sitting on a beach, knowing that it doesn't belong to anyone and that no-one can charge you for being there.

I would say that little fact is one of the more depressing aspects of English history/culture, that from time immemorial the only patch of land the average Englishman can pitch up on without being hassled by a f***ing baron or someone, is one where you will f***ing DROWN if you stay there, bothering no one, for 24 hours.

 

[bhaexpress]

I would say that little fact is one of the more depressing aspects of English history/culture, that from time immemorial the only patch of land the average Englishman can pitch up on without being hassled by a f***ing baron or someone, is one where you will f***ing DROWN if you stay there, bothering no one, for 24 hours.

Oh dear, so who's taken over the National Trust land and which bastard has bought up Regents and Hyde Parks ?

Actually English culture is best displayed by our tradition of moaning but not complaining.

 

[Seagull64]

 

[Gwylan]

.. brought to us my immigrants, If you're going to include fish and chips, then curry must be on the list too.

It's the sort of thing that shows how ridiculous the ENA and other barking right-wing groups are when they go on about "English culture". Just how many things that we take for granted are actually indigenously English?

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

Roast dinners.

Support for the underdog.

Sense of fair play in sport (old-fashioned and waning, I know - but I still believe in it).

 

[The Spanish]

.. brought to us my immigrants, If you're going to include fish and chips, then curry must be on the list too.

It's the sort of thing that shows how ridiculous the ENA and other barking right-wing groups are when they go on about "English culture". Just how many things that we take for granted are actually indigenously English?

it is almost painful to read stuff like 'well fish and chips come from immigrants', 'chicken tikka masala is our national dish how wonderful', or 'well the east end has been receiving immigrants for the last 8 billion years' without wanting to gnaw your own arm off out of boredom.

no disrespect but whenever i hear people saying stuff like that, to make some sort of cack handed point about how the unprecedented levels of immigration to britain (insert well what about the saxons normans response at this point if anyone is really that thick and can only repeat arguments heard from other dullards) is totally normal, i really despair for any sort of sensible debate about England and Englishness.

Yes people like curries now and perhaps some jewish bloke invented fish and chips. great stuff. it makes me laugh how people make out those facts go to prove, even in jest, how a culture has been distorted to a point where arguing that rapid change may not be a good thing, is pointless and laughable.

no mention of the culture that has probably affected our eating habits and culture more than any in the 20th century, the good old US of A. Funny how both daft sides of the culture debate forget this one.

 

[cunning fergus]

.. brought to us my immigrants, If you're going to include fish and chips, then curry must be on the list too.

It's the sort of thing that shows how ridiculous the ENA and other barking right-wing groups are when they go on about "English culture". Just how many things that we take for granted are actually indigenously English?

Eh? Do you mean the Potato was an immigrant? As in travelled to Europe in mid 1500s with European (including British) sailors from South America. It then put down roots (pardon the pun) and has been intensively cultivated in the UK/Ireland since around 1580. I doubt any country in Europe could claim to be the genesis of potato cooking beyond any other.

As for fish, which particular group of immigrants told the indiginous Brits that they could eat the flappy silvery things in the big bluey-greeny wobbly thing?

As for barking right wing groups you will recall around that time (1588) English culture was very much under threat and people understood very well what the difference was between England and other European countries.

Indeed many people died to protect it then and since.

No doubt when the Armada sailed round the Isle of Wight on that balmy August day there were thousands of English 'lefties' gathered on the coast berating the English Navy for fighting off the Spanish because they were desperate for the introduction of Tapas Shoppes and Bullfighting in merrie olde Englande.

 

[sammy g]

The NHS, no death penalty, tolerance, ethnic diversity, The BNP being hammered in the polls in the last election, particularly in Barking where many groups across the political and racial spectrum worked together. Blackadder, the Young Ones etc.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Four day championship cricket,or cricket on the village green. Oh yes please.

 

[Return of the Rev]

justice,mercy,freedom,courage and the rev

 

[cannedheat]

.. brought to us my immigrants, If you're going to include fish and chips, then curry must be on the list too.

It's the sort of thing that shows how ridiculous the ENA and other barking right-wing groups are when they go on about "English culture". Just how many things that we take for granted are actually indigenously English?

Oh dear, its Fanny Craddock.

 

[pasty]

Afternoon tea anybody?

 

[User removed 4]

As has been noted in another thread, Billy Bragg has said that he is proud to be an english patriot and at the same time be strongly opposed to the BNP and other far right nationalist organisations.

He has also talked about a lost/forgotten english culture. The scots,welsh and irish all with some justification are proud of their cultures. This makes me wonder what are positive examples of english culture, particularly ones that have faded in recent times.

Please can we keep this thread free of negative racial and cultural stereotypes and focus on the positive.

Ill start with Mayday. I dont mean the bank holiday, nor the socialist holiday, but the idea of a english fete with a maypole and morris dancers and people having a day off work to celebrate life. perhaps a bit twee and maybe being looked at through rose tinted glasses. It does however seem essentially english to me.

The celtic thread got locked before i could reply to you , in answer to your question why didnt i go to celtic park and voice my complaints ? i didnt have to i did that when celtic came to stamford bridge, well heres a question for you , how about you see me at a brighton game and repeat the ' gesture ' you left in the form of a smiley at the end of your last post ?

 

[fleet]

Lords - the home of cricket

 

[Meade's Ball]

Colourless women with hunched and crooked spines battling slowly with the elements, floral plastic hoods chained protectively to their curved purple scalps to fight the spittle and more, and manifold tins of petfoods and unkillable meats wheeled strugglingly behind.

Museums filled with treasures we once had the right to steal rather than buy, and beautifully-written descriptions of their histories on walls.

Round-stomached men in pubs with knitted christmas jumpers worn as an apology or as punishment.

Estates shoved into the centre of posher areas to make classes entwine and accept one another.

Bonfire night.

Expert weather forecasts and unattractive television presenters.

 

[pasty]

 

[Milton Keynes Seagull]

English culture as defined by the scribes of the North Stand Clique is to be belittling, patronising and rude to anyone who deviates from their politically correct view of the world or has the temerity to opine patriotic sentiments. To do this you have to be nostalgic about the past working classes and infer that after a hard day at the coalface the average miner would not be looking forward to a few pints, but went to to the library to immerse themselves in Brecht and Harold Pinter, and of course Marxist Leninist theory. However you must condemn the current working class as chavs, morons and fodder for the Jeremy Kyle show, unless they come from one of the ethnic minority communities, who are of course, exciting, vibrant and enlightening. You remain a marxist and progressive while enjoying the comforts of the standard middle class Englishman, and alleviate your guilt feelings by giving donations to any overseas appeal but not to those on home grown soil and extol the desires of any people on the planet to protect their identity and culture as long of course as its not English, which much be denied and ridiculed.

You do this by posting at length on football forums, and desperately try to give the impression that football fans in the new millenium are nostalgic about The Clash, into every facet of alternative culture, reminisce about binge drinking exploits alongside sexual crudity and various visits to restaurants, as long as it involves ethnic cuisine.

The use of gangsta rap stars and other black icons as avatars is standard, as is the use of pretentious French quotes or obscure references to little known comedians, indy bands and trendy terminology.