What does “to be English” mean? Archbishop of the Church

In a text published in today’s Daily Telegraph, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell questioned why being patriotic has become a taboo in England and called for building an “expanded vision of what it means to be English” and for the country to rediscover a sense of “national unity”.

“Many English people feel left behind by urban elites in London and the South East, and by decentralized governments in the face of powerful regional identities in Scotland and Wales. Their honest cries are often underrated, deliberately misunderstood, or dealt with,” the Archbishop wrote. Cottrell as xenophobic backwards.

He stressed that most voters who voted for Brexit, in his view, did so on the basis of identity, not economic issues, but the concerns were never answered. “The English, who are no longer British, who were not European before, and who are certainly beyond the riches and possibilities of London, want to know what happened to their country. No questions of identity and purpose have been asked before.”- He emphasized the hierarchy.

In his view, the mandate, which included the transfer of many powers to the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, was a good thing, but the same was not available to England, which led to an identity problem for the English. In addition, London, with its economic advantage and strong powers, “began to feel like a separate country.” “Even in England, there’s London and the rest,” he noted.

The Archbishop of York said: “What we need is an expanded vision of what it means to be English as part of the United Kingdom. It will help us rediscover a national unity more divided than ever in my life.” He called for those areas in which, in the case of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the powers should be delegated to the local governments, the English should also be able to make their own decisions, with the British government and Parliament dealing only with the whole of the country. Issues.

The Archbishop of York is the second most important hierarchical head in the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury, but since Justin Welby, in the latter position, is now on vacation longer than writing a book, Cottrell actually runs the institution.