Who Am I?

Amongst several unrelated careers, I have been a writer, researcher and magazine journalist.  I was involved in party politics many years ago but have no party affiliations today.    As this report illustrates, most people’s views don’t fit neatly into political boxes.  Mine are a mixture of socialist, green, liberal, and traditional conservative.  I have decided to post anonymously, for the time being, because I don't want to mix this with other (non-political) things I am involved in online.

My sense of patriotism has grown from two sources.  One is a deep love of the land.  I have walked, cycled or otherwise visited almost everywhere in Britain, over the years.  The other source, paradoxically, is spending time overseas.  One of my careers involved international comparisons, within Europe, where I would often observe either: we do that better in Britain, or: they do that better here and we should learn from them. 

Half of my family has roots that go back to Ireland at the time of the potato famine – a shameful episode in our history, which has given me a visceral dislike of empires and imperialism. I lived in France for a while, and also feel an affinity for French culture.  Neither of those things make me any less patriotic.  Another reason for setting up this website is seeing friends of different races, some of them born and raised in Britain, feel threatened by the rise of the far-right.  Some of them see flying flags as directed against them.  That is a sign of national failure which we all need to address.

I have never felt the need to write or say very much about all this before now.  We, the British, are not used to explicit expressions of patriotism.  The words sound faintly preachy (can I live up to them, or am I a hypocrite?)  But patriotism is a sentiment not a virtue.  It can’t be measured or compared.  If you feel some love for your land, then you are entitled to express it in your own way, with no criticism implied towards anyone else.