Census 2021

[ginger_syn]

I'll tick English. I'm certainly not Scottish or Welsh. British is much more a political identity than a cultural one, and with the decline of empire and devolution/independence, one that is increasingly anachronistic. I was born in England, I live in England, I sound English, I share (willingly or unwillingly) a bunch of cultural cues, customs and norms that are recognisably English to Scots or Welsh. I'm not an English nationalist, or any kind of nationalist, but that doesn't stop me being English.

For me the British option is the only one that fits, my family is a mix of irish and english, my mother was born in wales as was 2 of my younger brothers and sister, my dad in england as was one of my brothers and i was born in a british military hospital in germany , I don't feel welsh even though I've lived here most of my life, I'm not english, I'm not irish though I'm eligible for an irish passport, British is whats left. And I'm happy with that.

 

[Orang Utan]

Tempted to put God’s Own Country (Yorkshire)

 

[Idaho]

I suppose this shows that it's a meaningful discussion/concept, but a pointless census question.

 

[danny la rouge]

That's not a national identity.

What is a national identity? Does it have to coincide with the borders of a nation state? If so it's a bureaucratic designation, not an identity.

 

[brogdale]

Tempted to put God’s Own Country (Yorkshire)

religion was yesterday!

 

[brogdale]

What is a national identity? Does it have to coincide with the borders of a nation state? If so it's a bureaucratic designation, not an identity.

Or extant nation; that's why I was happier to 'identify with' the Jutish Kingdom of Kent.

 

[brogdale]

And we haven't even got to the ethnicity question yet!

 

[Elpenor]

Having been born, and only lived in England, I will choose English, assuming I get a chance to fill it in as I may still be living in a hotel on the date.

 

[Orang Utan]

And we haven't even got to the ethnicity question yet!

That’s a thorny one too - no separate box for GRT

 

[PursuedByBears]

Tempted to put God’s Own Country (Yorkshire)

I completed it yesterday and put Northern English

 

[Idaho]

What is a national identity? Does it have to coincide with the borders of a nation state? If so it's a bureaucratic designation, not an identity.

We Dumnonians refuse to answer such questions.

 

[brogdale]

We Dumnonians refuse to answer such questions.

ONS wouldn't allow a discrete Cornwall or Cornish tick box.

 

[Orang Utan]

I completed it yesterday and put Northern English

That’s one question I asked that to no answer: how can you do the Census before the 21st cos you can’t predict who’s going to be in the house on that day?

 

[brogdale]

That’s one question I asked that to no answer: how can you do the Census before the 21st cos you can’t predict who’s going to be in the house on that day?

Wrote in "Mysticism" in answer to Question 16?

 

[PursuedByBears]

That’s one question I asked that to no answer: how can you do the Census before the 21st cos you can’t predict who’s going to be in the house on that day?

You can in lockdown

 

[danny la rouge]

We Dumnonians refuse to answer such questions.

Hmm. Now I have to think about my Early Mediaeval identity. I live in what was Altclud, but I was brought up on the border between Dalriada and Pictland. If nationality is different from ethnicity (as it is), then I’ll need to give that proper consideration.

 

[kabbes]

Objectively that might be true, but the question actually invites respondents to describe their national identity. So, if that's how Kenny wants to describe it, I guess that's the correct response for him?

Actually, if they want me to describe it, maybe I should write them a 500 word essay. “Well, let me start four generations ago, when the British colonialists were driven out of Ireland, the Cypriots were living in small villages and a minor Italian princeling lost all his money gambling and womanising in his way across the Mediterranean...”

 

[brogdale]

Actually, if they want be to describe it, maybe I should write them a 500 word essay. “Well, let me start four generations ago, when the British colonialists were driven out of Ireland, the Cypriots were living in small villages and a minor Italian princeling lost all his money gambling and womanising in his way across the Mediterranean...”

see additional sheet 14.

 

[A380]

Mercian till I die.

 

[brogdale]

OK, so this year's Census question 15 is the ethnicity one; it is compulsory to respond:

the additions appear to be:
a) "Roma" tick box in "White"
b) a write-in option under the "Black, African background" tick box.



...and here's the similar question from the previous 3 census forms:

2011:
2001

1991

I suppose one pretty obvious question is how are people supposed to know their own ethnicity?

 

[belboid]

I suppose one pretty obvious question is how are people supposed to know their own ethnicity?

Seriously? That’s your question?

 

[Orang Utan]

Seriously? That’s your question?

I guess it’s possible to be adopted with no information about your parentage

 

[brogdale]

I guess it’s possible to be adopted with no information about your parentage

But even that presupposes that your biological parents were/are aware of their ethnic group and/or passed on that information.
For instance, my mother's 'maiden name' can be discerned as being of Irish origin or possibly a bastardisation of an Huguenot surname. She doesn't know and neither do I.

 

[brogdale]

Neither does my Father, for that matter, but he'd probably opt for Anglo-Saxon or that first white option. Not sure where that leaves me.

 

[belboid]

I guess it’s possible to be adopted with no information about your parentage

true, but you probably still have an idea of your 'ethnicity' - a highly malleable concept. And there is room for unsure in the final write in box.

 

[brogdale]

The wording of the question asks that your one response "best describes your ethnic group or background", so if you have an Irish mother and English father...

 

[belboid]

Any Other Mixed....



It's almost as if you are desperate to find problems that aren't really there

 

[brogdale]

Any Other Mixed....



It's almost as if you are desperate to find problems that aren't really there

I suppose that's right, it's just that the first 3 option boxes there appear primarily addressed towards 'mixed colour' ethnicities, it might not be immediately obvious that someone wishing to define a mixed 'white' ethnicity should tick that box.

 

[Pickman's model]

OK, so this year's Census question 15 is the ethnicity one; it is compulsory to respond:

the additions appear to be:
a) "Roma" tick box in "White"
b) a write-in option under the "Black, African background" tick box.

View attachment 257126

...and here's the similar question from the previous 3 census forms:

2011:
View attachment 257127 2001View attachment 257128

1991View attachment 257129

I suppose one pretty obvious question is how are people supposed to know their own ethnicity?

ah but it's not 'what are you' but 'what best describes' so there'll be a level of self-definition going on there

certainly none of the tick-box options really matches how i'd self-describe to government

 

[Idaho]

Ethnicity in the sense of trying to get a perfect definition of your primal ancestral roots is a load of balls anyhow.

The question should be: if a bunch of random strangers were to make a snap decision on your ethnicity, what would it most likely be?