UKIP has just launched a booklet on “Restoring Britishness”.

It starts off trying to define the subject.  “UKIP believes Britishness can be defined in terms of belief in democracy, fair play and freedom, as well as traits such as politeness.”  [Nigel Farage’s tirade against Herman van Rompuy in the European Parliament is perhaps an indication of what they mean by politeness.]

UKIP goes on to lambast the “British Cultural Left” and the”current British establishment” as the threat to Britishness.....

“The British cultural/Marxist left has spent decades undermining British values and institutions. It has cast even the most sober and understated expressions of pride in nationhood as 'racist' and casts Britain as a historical villain guilty of slavery, colonialism and various other real and imagined wrongs. The current British establishment ironically is anti-British in important respects. This world view often relies on large grants to its 'equality' and 'diversity' quangos and strategic positions in the media, education and the legal system. The cultural left has also supported multiculturalism and supranationalism, both of which undermine a unified sense of being 'British'. UKIP opposes multiculturalism and political correctness and promotes uniculturalism, a single British culture embracing all races, religions and colours.”

These are the beliefs which pro-Europeans have to accept as being held by a significant proportion of the British public.  UKIP won 13 seats in the European Parliamentary elections in 2005 with 17% of the vote.  What is it about nationalism that creates such narrow-minded, bunker mentality?