It is St George's Day and the road to Ludlow this morning had a few St George's flags on it, as if defining the border with Wales. And my friend Joan sent me a postcard of an international St George from the church of St Julien le Pauvre in Paris, which I remember as a small Romanesque building on the Left Bank. Thanks Joan!
I am uncomfortable with St George. I do not feel English but I do feel British. There seems too much jingoisim attached to any celebration of Englishness, too many lagered up skinheads drunkenly attacking the police at international football matches. Perhaps there is too much colonial history attached to England, too much xenophobia and racism; but I also believe that English people should celebrate Englishness. In my ideal UK, there would be no monarchy or House of Lords or established church and the 'Union' would be a loose confederation of semi-detached nation states; Wales, England, Scotland and (perhaps even) Ireland. Billy Bragg wants an independent England with a new capital in York, a fresh way of looking at old issues. 'I don't want to change the world, I'm just looking for new England...'
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