Is citizenship just a bit of paper? Dolan Cummings

Описание: What does it mean to belong – to a country, a culture, a civilisation?

In this provocative and wide-ranging talk, we explore the deep tensions between citizenship and belonging in modern Britain and the West. From the strange status of “Britishness” to the hollowing out of national identity under liberal universalism, this talk challenges the idea that citizenship is just a passport or a legal status. It asks what kind of real community sustains a nation – and whether we still have one.

Drawing on thinkers from Aristotle to Scruton, and weaving in lived experience, literature, religion, and history, this is a compelling argument for restoring national identity as something felt, inherited, and fought for – not abstracted away under the banner of “diversity” or flattened into EU-style bureaucracy.

If you’re tired of being told your homeland is just a postcode – that culture doesn’t matter, or that tradition must always give way to change – this is a call to rediscover the roots of political life in real, lived belonging.

This video is a lecture from The Academy 2025. The subject of the weekend event was "Upheaval: Why politics needs a new language".
You can find out more here: https://ideasmatter.org.uk/upheaval-w...

Dolan Cummings is a writer and author. He is author of the Substack blog, L’esprit de l’escalier