News

On 1st January 2014, Britain opens its borders to Romania and Bulgaria. It is a moment being greeted not with fanfares of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, but with the more reluctant mantra ‘we have no choice’, with a heated public debate polarising around two viewpoints.

2014 will be the Year of Identity, argues Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, in his Ralph Miliband memorial lecture at the London School of Economics. Addressing the theme ‘Is there a progressive case for national identity?’, Katwala looked at how identity will help to shape key choices about the future of the United Kingdom, Britain’s place in Europe, identity and immigration. Below is the full text of his lecture.

Englishness is on the rise. On Wednesday 20th November a wide range of people came together to debate this question in Manchester as part of the Festival of Englishness, co-hosted by British Future, IPPR and the Social Action and Research Foundation. Listen to what various speakers at the event had to say.

One million British Muslims support wearing a poppy to mark Remembrance Day, showing just how marginal the views of “anti-poppy” extremists like Anjem Choudary are, writes Steve Ballinger.

The Discovery Museum in central Newcastle was full with over 100 engaged local people who had travelled from Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough on a cold night to debate what – if anything – it means to be English in the 21st Century north-east, writes Matthew Rhodes.

Anthony Clavane’s most recent play – Playing the Joker – which performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, once again addresses the themes of identity and belonging, northerness and class, framed within the context of the game of Rugby League, writes Matthew Rhodes.

The issue of northern identity has resurfaced recently. Since the deindustrialisation of the 1980s – and with social mobility reversing at a disturbing rate over the last 30 years – the gap between north and south has grown bigger. With London’s rise as a political and cultural superpower, what are the chances today of another Eddie Waring breaking through and rising to the top, asks Anthony Clavane.

In British Future’s latest report, Do Mention The War, we highlight why the first world war remains a pivotal cultural reference point for understanding the last century and how it shaped the country we have become today. It draws on original research into what the public know and don’t know about the first world war, why they think next year’s centenary will matter and what they want it to be about.

One artist’s plan to paint every inhabitant of St Davids, Britain’s smallest city, will act as a valuable social history of an integrated Welsh community. Grahame Hurd-Wood, 55, has already spent 14 years producing pictures of people in the city, ranging from councillors and bishops to children and students, and plans to spend the next few years painting the remainder, writes Jemimah Steinfeld.