.Inspired by a typically thought provoking post from Norman Geras on the 'being English' debate I was inspired to think about my own identity and had these thoughts:
Genetically I am quarter country Welsh, quarter country Scots, half central Englander. Culturally I was born into the urban northern working class, by choice I am a Francophile, European, post WW2, proto first wave feminist, an original fan of rockn'roll, teacher, historian, sociologist, occasional painter, professional writer, mother, grandmother, storyteller, ex- red-head. And several other things. Oh - and I am the granddaughter of miners and an auctioneer and valuer, the daughter of a psychiatric nurse and an electrician and the wife of a manager in industry.
Oh - and I am most definitely my evolved self.
Where Being English is in this I have no idea! But at least this list makes me as complicated as we all are in the modern world. Anything else is too laughably, ridiculously reductive.
Being driven by politics, even prejudice, to claim to be 'English through and through' seems to me to be against the subtle, complex, tacit identity of the true citizens of these islands,
What list would come near to defining your identity, dear reader?
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