ON April 23 we will celebrate St George s Day, England and Englishness. The defining characteristic of Englishness is an obsession with fair play and tolerance and the refusal of intolerance in others. For hundreds of years our country has attracted peopl

ON April 23 we will celebrate St George's Day, England and Englishness. The defining characteristic of Englishness is an obsession with fair play and tolerance and the refusal of intolerance in others.

For hundreds of years our country has attracted peoples from across the globe because of that characteristic and continues to today. The English and other British peoples have risked and continue to risk their lives to defend us against those who seek to impose their views on others.

It is tolerance that makes Englishness adaptable to change. We may not have suffered military invasion since 1066, but we have absorbed influences from across the globe.

A simple illustration is England's cosmopolitan choice of food from Chinese, Indian and Italian to even fish-and-chips, which originated in Portugal. People from those countries may say our versions of their foods are different, but that misses the point. Eating a curry, England's' favourite dish, made to English tastes, is a light-hearted example of how the English adapt.

St George was a Christian, and English culture and law are based on Christian values. The English must not, at the drop of a hat, cast out a culture developed peacefully over centuries to accommodate uncompromising liberal demands.

So, why does potty St Neots Town Council refuse to fly the English flag?

Let's use those expensive flag poles at the Priory throughout next year to show St Neots is proud to be English. Next week we should all celebrate St George, England and St Neots.

BARRY CHAPMAN

Secretary, Royal Society of St George

St Neots area branch