England is made up of 56 million people, most of whom have broadly progressive views. Most think the income gap between rich and poor is too high, hope for serious action to prevent climate breakdown and are broadly opposed to racism as they understand it.
And when a small group of them kneel on the turf of Wembley stadium this weekend to assert that Black lives matter, a majority of the 56 million will support them in doing so, whatever the right-wing media tells you.
But countries aren’t just the individuals who reside in them. They are the organisations and power structures that hold these people together and exclude ‘others’ at their borders. They have governments with social security programmes and military-industrial complexes, health services and armed police, taxation systems and prison systems.
