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Letters – April 2026
Submit a letter for consideration about this month’s edition by emailing the Editors: Miss Hardeep Matharu and Mr Peter Jukes on letters@bylinetimes.com
The Cult of Patriotism
Re Caroline Lucas’ column on patriotism (‘That’s True Too: Very English Identifiers’, 12 February 2026): the Tolpuddle Martyrs were English; so were the judges who sentenced them. Robin Hood was English; so was the Sheriff of Nottingham. Every national history includes both heroes and villains. Isn’t it somewhat puerile to seek pride in a claim that one’s own nation has been more heroic, less villainous, than others? Surely celebration of English socialist heroes is better followed by proud identification with international socialism than by three cheers for England?
Lucas exhorts us to reclaim patriotism by contributing to a project entitled ‘A Very English Chat’. ‘Very English’, ‘quintessentially English’: the clichés draw on smug constructs of national character that surely derive little from empirical research; that are, if not sheer myth, at least class-based.
To be for one’s nation yet not against other nations is like wanting a competitor to win a race but not wanting the other competitors to lose. Patriotism has inspired so many to fight/die/kill for their country. I mourn its victims.
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