Jon Bright (London, OK): Sunny over at Pickled Politics flagged up an interesting poll today on Britishness run by ICM. Standout result is that fact that 59% of British Asians report they 'feel British' (completely or a lot), only 14% less than the figure for Whites (73%).
Raises many more questions than it answers of course - how were the interviewees distributed around England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland? What is the trend - is Britishness falling among Whites? Is it rising among 'British Asians'? How is a British Asian defined? And having been subjected to a telephone poll myself (an incredibly aggressive, exhausting experience when questions on an absurd variety of topics are rapid fired over 15 minutes), I'm always a little sceptical of the accuracy of things like this (by the end of mine I was willing to say anything just to get the guy off the phone). But it feels at least like a positive indicator - a suggestion that multiculturalism is compatible with a cohesive single identity. Is this because, as Peter Facey suggests below, 'British' is by definition a supranational identity, something that has already absorbed (to whatever extent) distinct cultures? To put it another way: if Britishness dissolves under the pressure of devolution, would 59% of Asians living in England call themselves 'English Asians'? Looking forward to the next poll already.
