‘A very English chat’ campaign invites the nation to ask, ‘What does England, Englishness and being English mean to me in 2026?’
From the Magna Carta to windbreaks - what unites us being English in 2026?
Jo Cox More in Common Network asks to share your 5 objects that define your England to tackle division
Creating a new museum telling ‘The story of England 2026 in 50 objects’ ahead of St. George’s Day.
A new campaign, ‘A very English chat’, aims to tackle England’s growing social divisions and polarisation by encouraging people to share the five objects that define their Englishness in 2026.
Working with the Jo Cox Foundation’s More in Common Network, with support from campaigners Billy Bragg, Kojo Koram, Caroline Lucas, and Daze Aghaji, the project aims to start an extended series of conversations, getting people to chat together around what unites people rather than what divides them.
Responses will co-create a virtual ‘pocket museum’ telling ‘The story of England 2026 in 50 objects’ to be launched for this year’s St. George’s Day celebrations (April 23rd). Suggestions so far have spanned from the Magna Carta, through to the eccentric story of the ventriloquist dummy who was in the ‘D Day’ landings, to the seemingly mundane of beach windbreaks.
The campaign aims to bring greater cohesion and togetherness to an increasingly divided country by untangling a complex issue around English identity in an easy-to-engage way. It moves the conversation away from to wave a flag or not, to a more nuanced, wider ranging, more generous chat around the things - from the historically significant to the seemingly incidental or amusing - that connect us and tell a bigger story.
Objects can be anecdotes, artefacts, books, food, music, nature, people worthy of recognition, places, anything that captures their feelings or stories of an affinity, or not, with England.
The ‘pocket museum’, so-called because it can literally fit into your pocket, will be manifested in a range of creative media from decks of cards, posters for schools and public spaces, giant screenings, T-shirts, tea towels and more.
The ‘A very English chat’ campaign seeks to grow more compelling national narratives around the principles of fairness, inclusivity, democracy and law. Like a mosaic that creates a bigger picture than the sum of its parts, the process provides a safe, friendly, and generous space enabling people to give themselves permission to explore, through a respectful conversation, a subject that can create division and hatred.
Environmental campaigner Caroline Lucas is the author of ‘Another England’ that explores English identity and the country’s underlying narratives that she believes are fuelling division. Singer and author Billy Bragg recently launched a ’Stop the Hatred’ campaign in response to scenes across the country of a divisive, intense, and hateful nationalism.
The initiative is being delivered with the support of the Jo Cox Foundation’s More in Common Network, Absurd Intelligence, Steps to Togetherness, and Community Organisers campaign groups, working with social enterprise Grow Social Capital which devised the pioneering idea of ‘pocket museums’ enabling communities to tell their collective story, from the bottom-up.
The campaign is providing free resources including ‘A very English chat - Conversation starter’ an ideas catalogue with over 101 contributions from a range of academics and community activists sharing their five English objects, and ‘A very English chat - Toolkit’ enabling individuals and community groups to have respectful conversations or workshops around a subject that can spark division and hatred.
The campaign is entirely self-funded using a crowdfunder appeal to support its work. Further details at its website, www.averyEnglishchat.org.uk where free copies of the ‘A very English chat’ workbooks can be obtained and also where anyone can share their ideas for contributing to ‘The story of England 2026 in 50 objects’ which will be launched in advance of St. George’s Day (April 23).
Commenting on their campaign Caroline Lucas, “This project could not be timelier and more important. With the UK more divided than ever, by bringing individuals and communities together to share their own reflections on national identity, we can discover far more compelling and inclusive stories of who we are and who we can be.”
Billy Bragg added, “Patriotism is about giving a shit about your country. Identity is always contested. We’ve seen that with the arguments about flags on lampposts. But what do those symbols mean? This project to bring Englishness into focus could not be more timely.”
Kojo Koram said, “At a time when conversations about identity can so easily become polarised or exclusionary, this initiative offers something generous, open and unifying. England has always been shaped by layers of history, culture, creativity and dissent. To explore that richness through shared reflection, feels both necessary and hopeful. It reminds us that England isn’t just something that is but something we can continually make.”
Daze Aghaji, Environmental Activist and Reality TV Star added, "English identity is being pulled apart by fear and exclusion, our feeling of who we are is collapsing before our eyes. Our culture has always been built from conversations; historically in the coffeehouses then at the pub, with the kettle on, even between festival tents! Making space for these conversations is how we begin to reimagine belonging to each other, this country and the land again.”
For further details please contact Andy Green of Grow Social Capital CIC on andy@growsocialcapital.org.uk or call 07815 884 525
Copies of ‘A very English chat’ are available here www.averyEnglishchat.org.uk Its free ‘Conversation Starter’ report contains suggestions of English objects from the historically significant like ‘The Magna Carta’ (1215) to the seemingly mundane like ‘Windbreaks’ - ‘flapping, futile and essential, its stripes as English as the flag of St. George’ according to contributor Peter North, to the curious story of ‘Bertie’ the ventriloquist doll who was among the D Day landing forces in June 1944.
The campaign’s ‘Toolkit’ offers free DIY workshops for any community group working to bring people together and more deeply explore people’s perceptions around English national identity.
Social enterprise Grow Social Capital CIC has co-created ‘pocket museums’ in projects as diverse as telling ‘The story of Cockney in 50 objects’ (check out at www.moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/our-museum/ ) through to ‘inner-city district of Cardiff, ‘The story of Splott in 50 objects’ (Check out at www.inksplott.co.uk/the-story-of-splott/ )