ABSTRACT
The interviewees' responses reveal a high degree of engagement with the complexities of discursively producing Britishness and Englishness. Nandi and Platt found that all BME groups, with the exception of Northern Irish Protestants, have a higher identification with Britishness than white UK people. The assumptions underpinning the political claims for Britishness and the death of multiculturalism, both of which posit that the pre-existing solidarity of white UK nationals contrasted with ethnic minorities' preference for religious and/or racialised identity over national identity. Apparently it is White UK, and 'Other white' people who need to be more engaged with Britishness, that is, if people accept the logic of the Britishness project. For those identifying with the ideas of being British or English, the past might be a more attractive prospect than the present for a lot of reasons. The views of Britishness raise the question of whether the British Empire is finished or un-finished business.
