It’s not fair, I want one or why the idea of England is a fallacy.
On this 300th anniversary of the union of Scotland and England I find it perplexing that there are calls to separate England and give it its own parliament and legislature. The argument seems to rest on it not being fair that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have one.
When developing location brands one looks for those things that make a country distinctive, the things that make the population proud, the things that make it attractive to tourists and inward investors.
England is no doubt the economic powerhouse of the United Kingdom - its population is 10x that of the next biggest nation, Scotland. However there are no cultural, demographic, natural or geographic reasons why England should see itself as a separate entity. Indeed one of our great strengths as a British nation is our diversity and international outlook.
Our exports are labelled as British, not English: British fashion, British design, British music, British fair play, British democracy. Even London is somehow British rather than English.
We should stop saying “It’s not fair!” like some truculent five year old and start thinking about what works in the world.