I think Stephen Moss is wrong to suggest that the British have only recently become patriotic–I think they probably always were to a much greater degree than BBC programming suggested. Some kind of shift in perceptions of Britain has, however, taken place. Whereas the Union Jack used to associated with the European far right, now…
Says Gabriel Laguna here. Re his essay: I wonder if the sense of godliness induced by romantic love is why an inability to accept the existence of a deity used (sorry, can’t think of a ref) to be identified with an incapacity to love truly.