how I raged at the man with the scruffy hair & raincoat ! stood next a smart Mr Sarkozy at the Rugby world cup final in Paris & announced as the Primeminister of England, .... He Who refuses to acknowledge England itself.What a political mess labour has got this country into,this will gather momentum,it will not go away,EU &all ,will have to listen to the people of England.. Brown is as good as it gets ! no i dont think so...

Speaking of Sarko, what *will* force Brown to speak about Europe will be the Blair4President thing...

And can we expect Plaid and the SNP to sit idly by in all this? It depends on what is more important - independence or being respected by the ruling class...

I'm English and will never regard myself as British.

"What Labour now needs to do is to revisit what I think of as the ‘democratic republican' strand in its heritage - the strand that goes back to Milton's thunderous prose and Tom Paine's magnificent audacity: the strand that emphasises self government by free and active citizens in a polity they own".

In another post in OK recently, David Marquand identified this same tradition with the best of Englishness. So is DM saying Labour should now espouse the cause of English civic nationalism (or even English republicanism); or is he talking about British republicanism (British people as "citizens in a polity they own")? The logic of Brown's constitutional reforms does point towards a British republic in all but name. But in that case, would we the English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and other peoples - plural - of Britain 'own' the republic / polity, or would it own us? Perhaps it's in that polarity that the ambiguity of Brown's reform agenda - posed between citizens' rights and the prerogatives of the state; and between 'shared' and imposed Britishness - lies. Cf. my post "Gordon Brown and the Appropriation of Britain".

David, aka Britology Watch

'Brown’s Britishness must address both England and the EU'

He probably should address both England and the EU - it would be right to do so - but 'must'? By raising the question of England, he raises the question of whether he has a mandate to be Prime Minister, as he sits for a Scottish seat and Scotland has devolution. If he makes a case for the EU, he will be attacked for not giving us the referendum on the EU constitution he promised. You seem, in your article, to be implying that it is in his interest to raise these issues. It clearly isn't.

Moderator,

The link from David Marquand's article at openD does not bring you here, but to the OK post from Jon Bright titled 'Irish Republicanism must embrace British identity here. I can see the connection someone might have made, but it is not the one intended above.

Over to you to fix.

Moderator: Thanks very much Keith for taking the trouble to point this out - it's fixed now. Your gentle sense of irony also appreciated.

Britishness is like the holy Grail, you can search for it but it will never be found, British is a word, there is no feeling for it except in the case of recent immigrants who have been told that England is Britain. The only time I felt British was when I served in the RN, we were all in it together with a "Common Purpose" and a common enemy, now I am English and the enemy is the Macmafia led by Gordon Brown, a co-signee of the Scottish Claim of Right, an English hater (he never uses the E word) and a man, seemingly, unable to run a whelk stall. Oh how I love to see things go wrong for him and his Government , long may it be so.

"Constitutional reformers have a tricky tight rope to walk in the coming months. I believe very strongly that Brown is as good as it gets. It would be folly to undermine him: no better Government is remotely in sight."

The exception, ironically, might be Brown's own countrymen in Scotland, some of whom no doubt feel they've already got a better Government.

'Brown is a good as we're going to get' This statement takes inanity to new levels. I think we can all guess what kind of 'reform' movement we can expect from the government: more 'deregulation' and subsidy for the corporate sector, and the 'rule of law' and market discipline for the rest of us.

"now I am English and the enemy is the Macmafia led by Gordon Brown, a co-signee of the Scottish Claim of Right, an English hater (he never uses the E word)"

Gordon Brown is not an English hater, he is just an opportunist.

Why do you think he goes to England games and is anglifying his speech?

He may have signed the Scottish Claim of Right, but I'm sure like many Labour hypocrites he was a CND member while his party was in opposition. Opportunism.

He wraps himself in the Union Jack in an attempt to play down his own Scottishness. The so called "MacMafia" as you put it, have little interest in Scotland, but plenty in their careers, that's why they're blocking Scottish independence, and keeping England down. Don't be fooled into thinking the man is popular in his home country. Many of us can see him for what he is.

It's an unpleasant thing to say but I think Gordon Brown is a political coward - he won't do anything radical.

Also, I think the article understates the strength and significance in Scotland of the concept sovereignty of the people - perhaps because so much of this sort of thing is 'below the radar' of the London-oriented media.