Britishness

There is an article in today's FT by Professor Sir Bernard Crick criticising Gordon Brown's views of Britishness. GB says Britishness is necessary to hold together the Union rather than simply a rational calculation of mutual advantage. Crick argues that GB is confusing "nationalism-as-tradition-and-national consciousness" with "national-separatism". GB says that Britishness must express "shared goals" and Crick is rightly sceptical about GB wanting this to be taught in the "new citizenship curriculum" which applies only to schools in England.
I do not believe in having a separate English Parliament but do believe that in Westminster only English MPs should be able to vote on education and NHS legislation relating to England. I also think it would be a bad idea to separate from Scotland, not least because, were Scotland to become independent it would almost certainly join the Euro and, in my humble view, that would undermine sterling and our economic sovereignty.