Sunday 22 July 2012

DEMOCRACY AUDIT


I know that the type face is quite small (get the whole thing here), but I thought that these were interesting figures relating to how people saw themselves in a situation where they were forced to chose between being Scottish (or English or Welsh) and being British.
Table 1.1c: Trends in ‘forced choice’ national identity, 1974–2005: percentage responses

1974
1979
1992
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
Lives in England








English identity
n/a
n/a
31
34
44
43
38
40
British identity
n/a
n/a
63
59
44
44
48
48









Lives in Scotland








Scottish identity
65
56
72
72
77
77
72
79
British identity
31
38
25
20
17
16
20
14









Lives in Wales








Welsh identity
n/a
57
n/a
63
57
57
60
n/a
British identity
n/a
33
n/a
26
31
31
27
n/a



















One means of measuring the impact of attempts at reconciling or moderating societal divisions could be the extent to which people regard themselves as belonging to their particular national group, or a larger whole. Table 1.1c contains data on this subject applying to Great Britain (that is, excluding Northern Ireland). In England, the percentage of people describing themselves as English rose from 31 per cent in 1992, to 40 per cent in 2005; while those describing themselves as British fell from 63 to 48 per cent over the same period. In Scotland, there has been a far stronger rise in national identity over a longer period. The percentage of people describing themselves as Scottish has grown from 65 per cent in 1974 to 79 per cent in 2005; while the percentage citing a British identity has fallen from 31 per cent in 1974 to 14 per cent in 2005. In Wales, national identity has been more stable, being chosen by 57 per cent in 1979 and 60 per cent in 2003; while those regarding themselves as British fell from 33 per cent and 27 per cent over the same period.

5 comments:

  1. Lurgi gone?

    At first glance it seems that the concept og English identity is actually rising but by 2005 had not become fully implanted.

    I wonder what would be the result of a more up to date poll and especially after the cluster fluk that is the 'lmpix in re white and blue.

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  2. Nope Wolfie... It's worse. That's why I chose something I could paste...

    I'll make an appointment with the vet tomorrow... Big injection... no more pain!!! LOL

    It is interesting. I would have thought that they should have been able to get more up to date figures. I just thought it was interesting that few Scots, even in 2005, would chose British over Scottish. Of course many feel both, and whether they like it or not they ARE both...and will continue to be.

    The overall effect of the games may be to make people feel more British. They will presumably hear the UK anthem; there will be much waving of flags; and presumably GB will do quite well on home turf.

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  3. Talking of the games... the top item on the BBC24 9 o'clock news (yes, that's how sick I am; I'm watching the Biased Broadcasting Crap) is Bradley Wiggins win in the Tour de France.

    First of all congratulations to him. It's a great achievement for him. But the very first thing they did (still in the headlines section) was to go to Cameron, at one of his country estates, for his opinion. At this point I was obliged to turn the tv off or be violently sick.

    Who in the name of goodness wants to know what Camerprat thinks of (Sir) Bradley Wiggins' achievement?

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  4. These surveys are pretty meaningless now with nearly 4 million non English speakers entering the UK since 1997 ( Office of National Statistics )
    I doubt if many of the new arrivals completed any surveys.
    Going by birth rates we will be a muslim dominated country by 2050.
    40 years is nothing in the grand scheme of things. We've been around for about 300,000 years.
    Luckily I will be well brown bread by then lol.

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  5. I rather doubt that Scotland will be Muslim dominated, Monty.

    Most of this immigration stuff is an England problem and of little interest to us now, and hopefully in 2 years' time will be of absolutely no interest at all.

    The fact is that people, whoever they were, whatever god they worshipped or indeed didn't worship, and whatever their mother language were asked to choose whether they felt British or Scottish and, most of us see our identity as Scottish, over the years getting more so as a rule.

    In fact looking at members of our local party, we have quite a few 'immigrants'. (I have no idea what their religion is; I've made it a practice all my life to regard that as none of my business.)

    The ones I've met are great people, with very strong feelings about their adopted country... and that that adopted country should shake off its colonial ties with mother England. They work hard for the party too.

    ReplyDelete