The narcissism of the England-bashers
Hating your own nation is the highest form of self-regard.
Patrick West
Columnist
22nd August 2025
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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 strain
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.
