This group is here as a celebration of England and all things English. I feel that now, more than at any other time, the English culture and the very idea of being English is under attack, and it is about time we started to grab back a bit of what has been taken from us over the last thirty years.

During that time the English people have been subjected to a constant policy of de-culturisation. One of the results of this is that, nowadays, instead of associating Englishness with our unique history, sense of humour, the values that our people have always placed on freedom, politeness, fair play and tolerance, many people can only see as far back as two world wars and one world cup. (Having said that, if you are going to shout about anything, it's not bad subject matter is it?).

England and Englishness are the only things that everyone in the country has in common. They should be the things that unite us and bind us all together. This is unlikely to be realised when different cultures are constantly rammed down our throats, serving only to highlight the differences between us, setting up barriers and "tribalising" people.

Throughout our history we have always given more to this world than we have taken and for this we should start celebrating our country and our history and stop apologising for it. Being proud of who we are shouldn't be seen as a threat to anyone else, it should in fact be something positive. Seeing ourselves as one people under one flag, and by being proud and confident in our identity and our country, can surely only bring benefits to us all.

So if you are a proud English patriot, a foreigner with a strong English bloodline, or merely a person with a defined sense of respect or admiration for the English, you're free to join this group.

Feel free to discuss anything here from music, to food, sports, movies, games, history, recent/current social events or even dating: I'm not all that bothered. Theres only one major rule in the group, and thats don't spam. Enjoy.

Jeremy Paxman wrote: It is a mark of self confidence: the English have not spent a great deal of time defining themselves because they haven't needed to.

Arthur Bryant wrote: The value set by her people on the freedom and sanctity of the individual, on justice and fair play, on mercy and tenderness towards the weak, and their dislike of lawless violence and their capacity to tolerate, forget and forgive have been, for all England's past mistakes and faults, a very real factor in human evolution

Winston Churchill wrote: When I warned them (the French Government) that England would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, "In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." Some chicken! Some neck!

Arthur Bryant wrote: All ultimately intermarried to produce a race of many strains, which may account for the paradox that a people famed for stolid, patient, practical common-sense; a nation as Napoleon said, of "shopkeepers", has produced more adventurers, explorers and poets than probably any other in history