Is it still politically correct to call this country England?

[Kos]

Or is that another piece of our heritage that the do-gooders will try to take away? Perhaps we should rename it Engsovietstan?

[Quizmonster]

Provided you're actually in England, it's perfectly politically correct to so call it. However, it is not correct if you use it in circumstances in which you actually mean Britain or the United Kingdom.

[Ewood27]

So far you can still call that part of mainland Britain that isn't Scotland or Wales "England", but you mustn't acknowledge St George or fly his flag, no no no.
Furthermore, you mustn't call yourself English. If you're not Scots, Welsh or Irish (or of course foreign) then you may call yourself British. Those others can call themselves British if they wish, but they have a choice, and most of them don't seem to choose British. Don't believe me? Think back to the last census: "Scottish, Welsh, British, Other" - or some other wording giving the same choices.
Perhaps when we have our shiny Regional Assemblies that nobody wants, "they" will finally be able to get rid of England as a name. We'll still have to pay more in taxes than those from the other parts of Britain though.
Can I get down from my high horse now?

[FredPuli]

Only if you first put down the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph you are carrying, Ewood.

[archbishop]

The latter is a most excellent newspaper and I'm English.

[kags]

Ewood27 you have not quite recalled the census questions correctly. There was a question about "Country of Birth" which offered England, Wales and Scotland among other alternatives. The "ethnic group" question did not give "English" as an answer, but neither did it give Scottish or Welsh - just "British" so this was not particularly discriminatory against England.

[sarah123]

The only reason why some politcal-correctness-gone-mad people get twitchy about saying England, English, and flying the St George flag is simply because these symbols have been hijacked by thugs, football hooligans, racists and the like. We should take back our traditions from them and show them what true Englishness is! From an English Yorkshirewoman

[Ewood27]

Kags. did you perhaps fill in your census form in Scotland or Wales? A dim rusty memory suggests that there were differences in the wording. I did mine in the wilds of deepest Surrey where I live, and I'm sure the "ethnic group" or "nationality" question only allowed "British, Scottish, Welsh or Other". There was some acid comment in the papers about it, and I for one went in as "Other - please specify" and "English".
Please don't get me started on political correctness. I can't ride two high horses at once!

[kags]

Re Census form - I have one in front of me, an English one - I worked for it it 2001 and still have my sample forms. There was a bit of contoversy over the ethnic group question beause you couldn't put English, but you also couldn't put Scottish or Welsh, only British (you could put Irish). The other controversy was that if you are black or Asian British you couldn't put British as your ethnic group, you had to put Caribbean, Indian etc etc. I think Sarah123 made a good point about the highjacking of the flag by the BNP etc. I also think that the English are rather lazy about their national day, on 23rd Arpril this year a colleague of mine mentioned it was her husbands birthday - I said something about St George's day and she, plus several others in the room just looked blankly at me!

[kags]

ps I am English myself by the way

[Ewood27]

It seems my memory was at fault over the census questions. The advancing years, you know. The basic point remains, though, that Scots and Welsh are quite free to trumpet their Scottishness or Welshness, but we English are positively discouraged from calling ourselves English. I quite agree that unlike Scots, Welsh and Irish the mass of English people don't know or care about their patron saint St George's Day, so maybe it's our own fault to some extent. I just feel I'm being sidelined from being a proud citizen of the hub of the British Empire to being stateless in my own country, and I don't like it.

[firefly]

Was it ever politically correct to call this country England? The Angles didn't come from this country anyway.