I’m not sure that I entirely agree with Nels Abbey’s conclusion regarding what constitutes Englishness, although ethnicity is certainly one factor that is used by others to determine whether you pass that test (Dear Suella: I was born in London and raised in Oxfordshire. What do you reckon – can I be English?, 5 March). As someone who is white and of mixed first-generation Polish on my father’s side and English/Welsh extraction on my mother’s side, I have mixed feelings on this subject.
As a child, I initially had no doubt that I was English until one day in the 1970s when I was asked at school, during an important football World Cup qualifier, which team I supported. When I responded, “Poland”, I was informed by my classmates that I was therefore no longer English.
