Piggybacking on the English thread, I thought it might be fun to put together a list of the things that feel distinctly English to us. Not the traditional stereotypes of tea and scones, village fêtes and all the rest, as I suspect many of us don’t actually do half those things in 2026! I mean the little quirks, attitudes and contradictions that perhaps capture the reality of being English.
Our instinctive cynicism. Whether it’s NHS management, SEN provision, policing, local councils, planning applications or government policy, we seem to have a natural tendency to look for what’s wrong before we acknowledge what’s right. We’re not always very good at giving ourselves, or anyone else, credit where it’s due!
Our wonderfully dry humour. The sarcasm, the self-deprecation, the understated observations and the ability to find humour in even the most ridiculous or difficult situations. Sometimes, a joke is simply how we get through things.
Our relationship with sporting hope. Watching a major tournament with the absolute conviction that England will, somehow, find a way to lose in the most heartbreaking fashion imaginable, while still singing, chanting and daring to believe that this might finally be our year. There’s something quite endearing about that combination of pessimism and unwavering hope!
Our attachment to the past. There can be a tendency, particularly among some older generations, to look back to the Second World War as a defining moment of national pride. I sometimes wonder whether we’ve held on to that chapter of our history so tightly that we haven’t quite worked out what modern English identity looks like beyond it. My father-in-law talks about the war with such familiarity that you’d almost think he’d been in the trenches!
Our complicated relationship with history and accountability. I think we can sometimes find it difficult to acknowledge the harm caused by our country's past, while being rather quick to celebrate the good we believe we’ve done. The conversations around colonialism and slavery are a good example.
There’s a difference between recognising that something was eventually brought to an end and taking an honest, thoughtful look at the role we played in it. Perhaps we could be a little more comfortable with holding both truths at once, without feeling that acknowledging the harm somehow diminishes everything else.
Our changing relationship with fairness and tolerance. I’ve always associated Englishness with a sense of fair play, a certain decency and a willingness to let people get on with their lives, even when they’re different from us. Sometimes, looking at the country today, I worry that we’re losing a little of that spirit. But I also believe there’s still a great deal of kindness here, a genuine desire to help people who are struggling, and a deeply rooted sense that fairness and justice matter. Those qualities are still worth holding on to.
None of this is meant as English-bashing, and certainly not as a suggestion that we’re all the same. Every country has its contradictions, its blind spots and its lovely little quirks.
I actually love being from the UK, and I think there’s a lot about Englishness worth celebrating. Perhaps part of that love is being able to look at ourselves honestly, with a little humour, a little humility and a bit more kindness.
I’d love to hear what others would add to the list. What feels genuinely English to you, beyond the usual stereotypes?