Monday, 11 September 2006

Common Ground


I came across Common Ground while training as a planning officer in the early nineties and I'm delighted to see that they're still about. Their message is one of "local distinctiveness" and they've recently published a book called "England in Particular" which celebrates it and promotes its recovery.

Image from the Common Ground website.

The book works on one level as a quirky and instructive compendium of English particularity; even eccentricity. But on another level, it illustrates that English patriotism it not the exclusive, wrong-headed preserve of the British National Party but something the mainstream can (and should) celebrate if we are to retain the distinctiveness that everyone can enjoy, participate in and develop. Whether born here or not.

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