• nationality

How do you define nationality? For some I imagine that this is fairly straightforward. I find it a little more challenging. I know that I'm English, because I was born in England. In some parts of the world it is easiest to define oneself as English because being British is apparently synonymous—and somehow less clear. The phrase “Ah, English...Manchester United!” must be taught in schools around the world. I know that being English makes me British, but I also know that my country of origin—on official forms—is better described as UK, as this describes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Besides, despite being happy to write British, I feel a certain pompousness about writing the “Great” in Great Britain: I can hear Cilla Black (an English 60s pop idol still going strong as a TV host) expressing the view that (referring to Margaret …