My country and I
From Mr Randhir Singh Bains Sir: Your leading article (21 October) right- ly criticises the Runnymede Trust report on British identity. The report is not only divi- sive but also dangerous. It presupposes that British identity is not primordial but an artificial construct. Such an assumption is tantamount to abetting the fragmentation of British society.
The report also claims that British identi- ty is racial; but race alone cannot form national identity. If it could, then Europe, being predominantly white, would be one country; the Middle East, being predomi- nantly Muslim and racially not dissimilar, would not be a conglomeration of states. National identity is linked to land, i.e. nation state, not just to human traits such as race and religion.
Britain is a nation state, not a `community of communities', as the report claims. Asian soldiers who died in the Falklands war died for their country, not for their community. When the Indian community was being badly treated in East Africa, nobody in India was willing to die for that community. People would sacrifice their lives for their country, but not for their community.
Multiculturalism is a fine idea. It was introduced in the Seventies to provide space for immigrant culture. To stretch it into areas — British history, monarchy, etc. — where it does not belong, as the Run- nymede Trust seems to be doing, is bound to be counterproductive.
Randhir Singh Bains
Gants Hill, Essex
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