1/ English nationalism is angry, vacuous, and uncaring. It makes up for its lack of positive content through antagonism to the other - to all those whether foreign or English who don't fit the angry white native stereotype.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
2/ English nationalism was born late, not out of enthusiasm or pride, but out of the pain, humiliation and loss of status caused by the collapse of empire and the Celtic rejection of English supremacy. So English nationalism is negative, angry and empty.
3/ The English nationalists are angry because the only England they know and want, is the one they cannot have, of white English imperialism. They want the feeling and status of imperialism without an empire. It's impossible, and so they rage.
4/ So when the angry Englanders were offered the promise of a victorious fantasy war of independence against the EU, which would wipe away the humiliating stain of imperial collapse and our bedraggled entry into the EEC as the sick man of Europe, they eagerly grasped it.
5/ And what is England as a society, culture or community? Our language divides us more than unites us. We are bitterly divided by class, education and culture. We support the same national sport teams, but that's about it.
6/ The heterogeneity of population and culture in England is of course a threat to the English nationalist idea, so groups are marginalised and excluded - so for example the 'chattering classes' and the 'liberal metropolitan elite'. Real England is 'decent (white) middle England'
7/ The issue of English nationalism ties into the disposition of those who feel socially and economically insecure to seek safety in the tribe. And with the decline of working class communities and the Labour movement, the only available tribe for many is the nation.

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More from @nickreeves9876

17 Dec
Now and again I argue that Brexit is, in part, a result of a mostly English failure to accept the humiliation of the collapse of empire. So many English cling to an imperialist mentality, even while inwardly seething at the absence of empire. Imperialists without an empire - sad!
An empire doesn't disappear gracefully or voluntarily. An empire collapses because of defeat and rejection. The collapse of the British empire was a humiliating defeat, but it was dressed up as a graceful withdrawal. So the English never faced up to the pain and humiliation.
So rather than the English working through the pain and loss of defeat and finding a new identity, many of them hid the pain inside themselves, where it has become a kind of malign festering abscess filled with loss, grief, pain, anger and rage.
Read 4 tweets
15 Dec
"Brexit is a con, a trick, a swindle, a fraud, a deception that will hurt most of those people it promised to help."

Imagine Labour had spent 4 years speaking out as clearly, honestly and courageously as David Lammy in 2019. Would we have Brexit? I think not!
People tend to assume that a section of the white working class are unshakeable attached to Brexit. But is it so surprising that they have backed Brexit when Labour have absolutely failed to denounce it, leaving resistance to a motley crew of relatively marginal political actors?
Is it surprising that a pro-Brexit political view has predominated in part of the population when for over 4 years Labour has abandoned the fight and allowed the hard and far-right to all but monopolise the debate?
Read 5 tweets
7 Dec
1/ Alistair Campbell @campbellclaret is entirely right that Labour has let the Brexit right get into their heads. In spite of Corbyn & hopelessly inept Labour and LibDem campaigns 2nd referendum parties gained a clear majority of the popular vote in 2019.
theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/we…
2/ Had Starmer been leading Labour and had it conducted a reasonable campaign then it might have boosted its vote by 4-6% at the Tories' expense, putting it at around 37% vs the Tories on 38.5%.
3/ Had Labour and the LibDems cooperated in key seats - much easier with Starmer as Labour leader than Corbyn who was toxic to the moderate Tory voters the LibDems needed to capture we would almost certainly have had another hung Parliament & quite possibly Starmer in Number 10.
Read 7 tweets
4 Dec
Brexit was built on the politics of fear. Fear destroys rational thinking, & elicits primitive emotions which drive people to identify an enemy, and seek safety in a tribe behind strong defences. The tax-dodging Brexit billionaire press then told people that the EU was the enemy.
Having said that, a fear-inciting propaganda only works when people already feel insecure and uneasy. Many of the main Brexit backing areas are suffering from post-industrial decline and the crumbling of communities and social structures. People feel neglected.
Those, white native folk feel that in our rush to end discrimination against minorities they have been ignored, while the economic and social world their families inhabited for generations disintegrates leaving them adrift in a new alien reality.
Read 8 tweets
3 Dec
Starmer signals Labour may vote for the trade deal.

He risks tying Labour's fortunes to a lousy deal whose effects will further erode the shrinking pro-Brexit minority.

And how can he credibly criticise a deal he has voted for? Labour should abstain.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
My big worry is that after many months of silence on Brexit, voting for a deal will be a signal that Starmer intends to turn a blind eye to Brexit after January 1st, no matter how severe the consequences. Everything will be subordinated to winning back the red wall.
Once Brexit is in the bag the enthusiasm behind it will deflate very fast Support for Brexit was always about being against something. Many people will lose enthusiasm, a smaller number will cease to support it altogether. Meanwhile anger against Brexit may well increase.
Read 4 tweets
2 Dec
If @Keir_Starmer makes Labour vote for a deal he will tie himself and Labour to the deal and all its adverse consequences, and Labour will once again be treating loyal Labour voting Remainers as doormats while sucking up to Tory voting red wall Brexiters.
theguardian.com/politics/2020/…
Given that Starmer is engaged in a battle with Corbynist die-hards, it seems an act of tactical idiocy to act in a way which will disillusion or enrage many of Labour's Remainers most of whom are his natural allies against the Corbynists.
Starmer should let the Tories sort out their Brexit among themselves. Let then own it and let them be accountable for the consequences. That's the line Starmer has been following so far, so why wreck it at the last moment by tying his and Labour's future to a crap Tory deal?
Read 5 tweets

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