The narcissism of the England-bashers

It is often repeated that the late Roger Scruton coined the phrase ‘down with us’ to encapsulate the attitude of those who forever deprecate their own country and culture. Although there is no proof he uttered those precise words, like so many pithy epigrams, it captures a piercing truth. It is also a mindset that remains in rude health today.

The propensity to self-flagellate about one’s own nation has long been a tendency of ‘progressives’. The eagerness shown by Birmingham City Council (Labour-run) and Tower Hamlets Council in east London (headed by the ‘democratic socialist’ Aspire party) in pulling down recently erected Union and St George’s flags is a case in point.

But more wanton self-loathing has also been on display. The other week it emerged that civil servants working for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were invited to take part in an hour-long seminar on the ‘guilt of being British’, offering staff the chance to explore ‘the emotional weight of colonial history’. Then last week, Labour peer Thangam Debbonaire called for the removal of the statue of 18th-century soldier and administrator Clive of India from outside the Foreign Office. She said the ‘shocking’ representation of this bad man was ‘not helpful’ for modern-day diplomatic relations with India.

Debbonaire joins the gallery of politicians and activists who have objected to statues representing individuals from Britain’s past, ranging from Sir Winston Churchill and David Hume to Edward Colston. This stems from the assumption that what most people did in the past was morally wrong, and that it is our duty to atone for their sins.

Apologising for the perceived misdeeds of our ancestors has been with us for decades, but its two modern variants – ostentatious self-abasement by individuals, and a self-hatred that’s taught in schools and promoted by institutions – are particularly virulent and conspicuous strains.

Teaching children to feel ashamed of their country has been in slow ascendance for decades, accelerated in recent years by the rise of hyper-liberalism. The fashion for grandiose statements of ersatz guilt found an early overt manifestation in 2000, when Australian band Midnight Oil appeared at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics to perform their trademark tune, ‘Beds Are Burning’, decked in black overalls prominently displaying the word ‘Sorry’. Both the song and the printed message referred to the violence of colonisation visited on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by British settlers centuries before.

Atoning for the crimes of one’s ancestors remains one of the easiest, most vacuous and mendacious gestures of our times. It is facile because breast-beating on behalf of someone else’s wrongdoing takes no courage compared with expressing remorse for one’s own failings. It is disingenuous because, while ostensibly an expression of humility, it is really a gesture of self-glorification.

To apologise for the depravity of figures from the past is to declare yourself morally superior to them. To do so in front of the public or students is to convey the same message to people in the present: that you are a better person than them, too – more sensitive to the wickedness of people who are not you.

Far from being a sign of meekness, remorse expressed as loathing of one’s own heritage is one of the highest forms of egotism and self-love.

ADHD: spread by social contagion

One of the least surprising aspects of the trial of Ricky Jones last week was his claim that he suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In seeking mitigating circumstances for his outburst at an anti-racism rally – in which, referring to ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’, Jones said, ‘we need to cut their throats and get rid of them’ – his defence argued that he may have been affected by ADHD, a condition that can trigger ‘emotional arousal’ and ‘override deliberate decision-making’.

The suspended Labour councillor joins the roster of those who have recently sought to blame this condition for their questionable conduct. Others to have made the same claim this year have been the Canadian pop star Grimes and British left-wing motormouth Owen Jones. Jones insists that his ADHD medication was responsible for his notoriously hyperactive and erratic performance on Piers Morgan Uncensored earlier this year.

Now that we are better informed of the role of social contagion in spreading trans ideology, it would be timely to apply the same concept to the recent, rapid and decidedly fishy spread of ADHD self-diagnoses. As with the belief that one’s body does not align with one’s true gender, ADHD is hard to gainsay because it is impossible to disprove. As with the vogue for trans identity, it also appears suspiciously fashionable.

It can be regarded as a sub-category of that all-encompassing, vague and often dubious modern malaise of ‘mental illness’. But ADHD is a particularly useful sub-variant, in that it allows its sufferer to absolve him or herself of responsibility for bad behaviour. Expect to hear of more self-diagnoses soon.

In defence of the Angelus

A letter in the Irish Times this week bemoans the Republic of Ireland’s continued custom of playing the Angelus on RTÉ television and radio – a one-minute broadcast of bell-ringing, a homage to a Roman Catholic devotion commemorating the incarnation of Christ. William Burke of Cork writes:

‘The Angelus is a throwback to a bygone era, to the stern religious society of the past. It does not ring true in the Ireland of 2025. The removal of the Angelus may be denounced as “cancel culture” by some. But many others wouldn’t even notice its absence.’

In 2020, the paper received a similar letter demanding the cancellation of the Angelus, in which Gary Doyle of County Kildare argued: ‘Ireland is now a country with a diverse population in terms of gender, colour, nationality, religious belief (or the absence of the same) and sexual orientation, and our national broadcaster needs to reflect this’.

This cry has long been common among Ireland’s progressive vanguard, especially those obsessed with the Church’s historical attitude to women and homosexuality. They claim the Angelus is an anachronistic throwback to a time when most Irish people were observant Catholics.

This complaint is typical of literal-minded secularists. In reality, the Angelus is observed and beloved in Ireland for much the same reason the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4 is held in affection in Britain: it is taken literally by few people. Much as the Shipping Forecast induces a kind of reverie laden with nostalgia, for many the Angelus conjures feelings of continuity, community and home.

It is cherished precisely because it is anachronistic, harking back to an Ireland many still remember with fondness. Whenever I hear it, I do not feel compelled to go to mass. Rather, my mind drifts back to childhood summers in my Uncle James’s family home in Ballsbridge, Dublin. I expect that for countless adults in Ireland today it triggers similar wistful thoughts and memories.

Patrick West is a spiked columnist. His latest book, Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Times, is published by Societas.