Listening — because I’m middle aged and
middle class and a bit of a ponce — to Kwame Anthony Appiah’s Reith Lecture about Country, which discusses the
validity of the nation state as a measure of identity in a modern,
interconnected world, and he keeps returning the question, “where are you from?” It’s a complex and
occasionally painful query for many people, whatever colour passport they
wield. I usually say “London”. It feels right for me (Appiah also discusses how national and civic identity is often as much about emotion as reason) and usually leaves the
other person satisfied.
What do you say?
