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What Does It Mean to Be English? Alex Answers

Maximilien Robespierre

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What does it mean to be English — culture, history, citizenship, or something else, and what about Suella Braverman? In this conversation with Alex we test the definitions people actually use, and where English and British stop meaning the same thing. Is English identity something you can explain clearly, or does it fall apart the moment you ask for rules?This video is a straight discussion of English identity with Alex. We look at how people define being English in everyday language, how that differs from being British, and why ancestry, passport, culture, and history keep getting mixed together in current UK debates.

You will hear:

Where common definitions of English identity hold up
Why “English” and “British” are not interchangeable
How culture, history, and citizenship get used in the same argument
The practical problem with tests that only say who is not English

The aim is clarity, not a slogan. If you have followed the wider argument around English identity, British identity, and who gets to claim either, this is the version that puts the question to a guest instead of a clip.

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20 Comments

@MaximilienRobespierre1 Creator 17 hours ago Pinned

Are you English?

@thegamingeconomist3831 16 hours ago

I'm old enough to remember the HIGNFY episode where Ian Hislop said he was English, but he was born in Wales. Asked if he was in fact Welsh, he said that other things determined one's nationality. Paul Merton then quipped that he was Swedish because his furniture was from Ikea.

@baqaqipekhebi7148 16 hours ago

It is such a stupid argument! So what if I can trace my ancestors back to the Conquest! Does it make me a better citizen?

@MelissaGarrett1980 16 hours ago (edited)

I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate and say I don’t care a jot if someone is English. I care if they’re a good person. By so many metrics discussed, I shouldn’t be English – even though I was born here, am Christian, and am as white as a milk bottle. But I also have Dutch, Irish, Scottish, Jewish, and Romany blood. I don’t much like tea and I hate the idea of a Royal Family. I never go to the pub. I don’t drink. I don’t support any English teams. So, am I English?

@MrDWhit 15 hours ago (edited)

Everyone's individual but I'd say ethnicity is ancestry, culture is upbringing, citizenship is law, and identity can involve all three.

@Janet-l1t7x 16 hours ago

"What does it take to be English," Now there's a question it's difficult to answer politely!

@jorgea1995 16 hours ago (edited)

For me its personal to the individual. I feel like we shouldn’t tell people either way whether they’re english or not. For example I was born and raised in England I love Britain I love being part of this country and see myself as culturally British but I don’t see myself as English. I’ve always seen myself as culturally british but ethnically Portuguese because I feel really connected to my Portuguese roots even though I really love this country and feel connected to it as well. I’ve even had debates with my own girlfriend and her telling me I’m basically English and that I should support the England national team and me pushing back at that a little bit. So for me it’s individual to the person and how they feel. I met someone at work a while ago that family is from Bangladesh but they see themselves as English more than Bangladeshi, and they don’t really feel much affinity with Bangladesh, whereas I don’t see myself as English I see myself as Portuguese first but feel very culturally British. So its gonna change depending on the person and how they feel. Either way its valid

@josephturner7569 8 hours ago

I love the seaside. I'm from Doggerland.

@hannahofori4639 16 hours ago

Amazing debate.👍

@mikmook4781 16 hours ago

They want to define English as something fundamental. A racial definition. Race is not a scientific concept. I know there's some awful history there with "racial science", but it really doesn't exist as a meaningful way to categorise people these days. To define yourself by the colour of your skin seems pathetic. That all you got? English blood? What blood type is that? Eight major blood types and "English" isn't one of them. Most people would agree with a cultural definition. That is difficult to define, but people want to find certainty here too. Being English means being Christian, supporting the monarchy, and being proud of your history. OK. I'm an atheist who dislikes the monarchy and thinks that there are a lot of problematic things in our history. I've read Shakespeare, but I'm probably a traitor because I don't hate the RNLI. I could probably trace my English heritage way back if I could be bothered. Probably be some Irish an Scottish in there somewhere. But I've always hated the "Who do you think you are" sort of shite.

@timothyharris4708 13 hours ago

I have lived in Japan for over fifty years, and my wife is Japanese. I have worked for Japanese institutions throughout my time here. I have not taken Japanese nationality (though acquaintances have), and am a permanent resident. Had we had children, they would have had Japanese citizenship. What I wish to say, is that it takes a generation or two for people, however much they know on an intellectual level about a nation's history or on a practical level (playing bagpipes or the Tsugaru shamisen, say) to FEEL fully a part of a society. A childhood in the new nation is of immense importance.

I should also like to say that "culture" is not some homogeneous thing reducible to eating rice, playing bagpipes, drinking green or black tea, etc. and all the other sentimental things that people too often suppose constitute a "culture". A national culture is a fissured and ever-changing thing, filled with often bitter oppositions. That needs to be recognised.

@user-ov7hp2cw1h 8 hours ago

Identity is a learned behaviour!

@CalCo-3924 16 hours ago

Thank you Mr Robespierre for trying to look at the debate holistically. Mostly agreed with the overall sentiment, but felt very uncomfortable with the debasement and mocking of others ideas of their identity. Is this not what we are all trying to discourage. Integration and acceptance is far more effective just as you catch more flies with honey.

@CLIPPITERMINATOR 16 hours ago

Mandatory Morris dancing.

@elaineread15 16 hours ago

One word, two meanings.

English as an ethnicity.
English as a nationality.

@BiffaTW 5 hours ago

This is simple: there is an English ethnicity, made up largely of Anglo-Saxon, Danish/Scandinavian settlers/invaders that mixed with some of the native Briton population and are the people who founded the country, culture, language etc.. but that's distinct from being part of the nation of England: being born and raised here. Many ethnic English will have Irish, Scottish or Welsh (among others) ancestry making them not 100% English. Obv. Suella is primarily of south Asian origin primarily.

@killerfunghoul3948 17 hours ago

No Freddie didn’t come over as a refugee, he was a British citizen from birth as Zanzibar was a British protectorate. He emigrated due to the conflict and overthrowing of the Sultan.

@rationalmale9216 2 hours ago (edited)

Bagpipes are an ancient instrument used for hundreds of thousands of years before Scotland was created- in the Middle East and other places and I am a passionate Scottish patriot

@ThatGuyThanus 6 hours ago

I’m technically English/British, but I don’t think of myself in those terms.. I’m not a big fan of labels and pigeon holes - at least for myself..
Each to their own, but I think humans are complex, and there are so many vary.. I’m just me, an individual..

@blueshield11754 15 hours ago (edited)

This is really interesting. Firstly, the UK is a political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, the Principality of Wales and Northern Ireland. "British" is not a nationality, but a colloquial name coined at the time of the union with Scotland to describe a citizen of the UK, and your passport describes everyone as a British citizen. Defacto however, everyone in the UK is either English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish, and each nation is recognised in varying forms while allowing for political or cultural preferences in Northern Ireland. So is Suella Braverman, English? A quick search on Wikipedia, says she was born in Harrow, therefore I'd say yes! There are subtleties on that in terms of domicile, for instance in Scotland In the 2014 referendum, all people on the voters role in Scotland could vote, including people from the rest of the UK and foreign nationals, but it should be at its core where you were born, subject to being a UK citizen at all.